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Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

latimes.com

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Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#141

Post by _nalply »

zippergz wrote: post #35

I'm a car enthusiast, and I was a manual transmission purist for many, many years. But then I had to be honest with myself, and admit that the VAST majority of my driving is commuting in traffic. And that driving is much less annoying with an automatic. My leisure driving is maybe 5% less fun without a manual, but that's far outweighed by how much better my daily commute is. At this point, I'd only buy a manual for a…

Manual transmission is incompatible with cruise control with proximity detection, because the automated system can't shift (or it would be an automatic transmission). I would buy a car which has both (like the Smart) and manual shift in difficult conditions (like driving over mountain passes in snow). However the Smart I rented didn't have a clutch. It's weird. I don't know.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#142

Post by krzyk »

henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

> when automatic transmissions are consistently outperforming humans at fuel efficiency

Take a look at official car manufactures tables, in most cases automatic is less fuel efficient, cars where it is more efficient (at least according to the manufactures) are not as common.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#143

Post by alkonaut »

ehnto wrote: post #135

Holy crap, I didn't realise it was quite like that. I knew it was rare for people to know manual transmissions but why such a preference for automatic? In Australia pretty much everyone I know can drive manual, most cars come with the option and most cheaper cars are manual. It was somewhat of a masculinity thing too, and still is according to my younger siblings. To be honest I'm surprised the most that America does…

I think part of the masculinity thing might be down to the fact that for the really powerful muscle cars you really want auto again.

The US has no big tradition of sports cars (in another sense than muscle cars). On the other hand, Aussie car tradition is pretty Similar to the American one in terms of big engines etc so I can only explain the difference between Europe and the US, not between Australia and the US.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#144

Post by eveningcoffee »

henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

Restricted B category licence in Europe allows you to drive only cars with automatic gear transmissions. If you want to drive only such cars then you are not obliged to do full licence. But manual transmission cars are considerably cheaper and are more likely to be available (previously in the family, rental, friend etc), so it is your choice. Nobody is forcing you to do that.

Automatic gear suggester makes the suggestions based on the revolutions and if you know what you are doing (takes a little practice and understanding), is always late. Manual transmission gives you more control over revolutions. This could also mean more fun driving. You can also use your engine for slowing down etc. The same could be done with robotic transmission, but that is usually more expensive to have and you do not get to control the clutch release.

Besides, you gain better motor control of your body as a bonus.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#145

Post by Annatar »

kweinber wrote: post #7

Manual shifting is neither possible nor even relevant in electric cars or cvt (continuous variable transmission) cars. Their rise will be the true end of the stick shift.

It's possible if an electric car had a manual transmission, but no company had yet built one because electric motors cam regulate revolutions per minute with amperage and voltage. However, no studies that I'm aware of to determine whether the battery range could be extended with gear ratios have been performed.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#146

Post by finchisko »

Annatar wrote: post #137
finchisko wrote: post #131

In late 90s, when I was young and beautiful :-), I was joking about americans being too unskilful to drive car with manual, so they need automatic. But honestly, now I thing we europeans were just too stubborn not accepting auto transmission and thinking we're kind of superior because of it. And nowadays automatic transmission is becoming so popular, my 65y old dad is willing to have it.

Logic tells me that if I can do A and B because of A, whereas I can only do B because of B, I'm superior in the A, B data set compared to someone who is in just the B subset, where A, B set is driving.

don't try to find logic in it. :-) there is none. just high ego.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#147

Post by alkonaut »

henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

Automatics used to drink 10% more until very recently. It's not strange that this is still taught.

Even to this day it's probably hard to beat a good manual driver for eco perf, but perhaps average drivers do at least as well with a modern automatic.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#148

Post by vanous »

ehnto wrote: post #135

Holy crap, I didn't realise it was quite like that. I knew it was rare for people to know manual transmissions but why such a preference for automatic? In Australia pretty much everyone I know can drive manual, most cars come with the option and most cheaper cars are manual. It was somewhat of a masculinity thing too, and still is according to my younger siblings. To be honest I'm surprised the most that America does…

> No engine braking

The DSG [1] is quite nice to drive and uses engine braking.

Careful feel for the throttle is required, but the same applies to operating clutch...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-shift_gearbox

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#149

Post by westiseast »

I got my first automatic here in China, mostly because it would be really hard to sell an manual transmission car later on.

Honestly, I cannot see the point in a manual anymore. It's a part of the mechanism of the car that I have no business dealing in and should be abstracted away. Like the choke in older cars. The idea that I'm somehow a more inattentive driver now because I don't have to worry about the gear I'm in is such complete nonsense.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#150

Post by krzyk »

Interesting, here in Poland having automatic transmission is something unique and preferred by weaker drivers (and richer ones), some cares even don't have option of automatic transmission (not to mention that you usually have less engine options with automatic).
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