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The end of the manual transmission is near?

popularmechanics.com

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Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#31

Post by mattnewton »

bl0b wrote: post #12

I hope that someday there will be an option for an electric car with a manual transmission. Regardless of how small the market would be and how little practical sense it would make

My understanding is that gearboxes trade torque for rotational speed, and electric motors have plenty of the later but with less torque than exploding hydrocarbons to push pistons. So my guess is that in addition to be unnecessary (electric motors can do a lot of rpm with constant torque), it might be really hard to make a manual transmission electric car drive well with more than a couple gears. And switching between them wouldn’t be anything like the experience of an ICE car.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#32

Post by scythe »

bl0b wrote: post #12

I hope that someday there will be an option for an electric car with a manual transmission. Regardless of how small the market would be and how little practical sense it would make

It might make more sense than you think. You'd almost never need more than two gears, and apparently they are bringing multi-speed gears to EVs:

https://www.currentautomotive.com/the-past-present-and-futur...

But it would only be of interest for the "sport" vehicle market, because EVs with one gearset work just fine.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#33

Post by FractalParadigm »

electric_mayhem wrote: post #8

Nothing protects your car from theft by millennials like a manual transmission.

I know it's a memel, but as a millennial with a 6MT, I know far more people in my age group who own manual cars, than older people (say over 45) who can drive one period. My brother an I are capable, as is my dad; one of my four aunts can, and none of my 7 grandparents can either. If I start looking at co-workers (fairly broad and distributed age range of 20-70) the same rings true, the only people daily-driving manuals are under 40, while easily 2/3 of that 20-45 age group can drive manual; conversely of those in the 46+ range, it seems closer to 1/3 are capable of driving, and almost all of them because they have a manual classic.

People seem to forget the automatic transmission started mass production in 1939, and take-rates in the US well-exceeded 50% by the late '60s/early '70s.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#34

Post by carom »

elboru wrote: post #20
bl0b wrote: post #12

I hope that someday there will be an option for an electric car with a manual transmission. Regardless of how small the market would be and how little practical sense it would make

I don’t have any data to back this, but my guess is that a big portion of those who prefer stick will also prefer gas vs electric.

I have a manual (2018), I'd buy an electric for the acceleration but they need to make it a $30k autocross car. Don't mind if it's a death trap, just fast and cheap.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#37

Post by hedora »

kyleee wrote: post #17
tjr225 wrote: post #13

Manual transmission fetishism is perplexing to me. I’ve owned two manual transmission cars… an old Hyundai Elantra and an even older Toyota pickup. I can’t think of a single reason I would not rather have the automatic version of either. I also presume manual transmissions will continue to be available to the enthusiasts and professionals/sportspeople who have an actual reason to desire them.

neither of those cars sounds particularly fun to drive, so that's probably where your disconnect is. it's very fun to row through the gears of a moderately sporty car; that's where people's "fetishm" (more accurately "preference") comes from

Back when mustangs used gasoline and were sports cars, I compared a V6 (non-turbo) manual with a V8 automatic. The V6 was much more fun to drive and got better fuel economy.

My tiny ultra-efficient EV blows them both out of the water on mountain roads though.

There's one exception: the RWD EV's front end likes to skid while decelerating into turns. I prefer the Mustang's habit of breaking the rear end loose while accelerating out of turns.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#38

Post by midoridensha »

tjr225 wrote: post #13

Manual transmission fetishism is perplexing to me. I’ve owned two manual transmission cars… an old Hyundai Elantra and an even older Toyota pickup. I can’t think of a single reason I would not rather have the automatic version of either. I also presume manual transmissions will continue to be available to the enthusiasts and professionals/sportspeople who have an actual reason to desire them.

How old? Back in the 90s and before, manual transmissions were clearly far superior to automatics. They had more gears, they were far more reliable (automatics routinely broke down), and they had significantly better fuel economy. The only reason to drive an automatic was sheer laziness.

Fast-forward to today, and it's all changed. Automatics have at least as many gears, they're more reliable (they don't need the clutch changed every 100-200k), and they have significantly better fuel economy. The only reason to drive a manual now is basically nostalgia.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#39

Post by williamscales »

noizejoy wrote: post #11
Swizec wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes the good ol' "Tap the breaks before an overtake" trick. Just as god intended. /s

I thought we were slowing down due to the roundabout anyway? So that’s a different context than what you’re describing?

We've slowed nearly to a stop for the roundabout, entered it when it was clear, and now need to put on some speed to get going again at the speed of the other traffic.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#40

Post by falcolas »

tenpies wrote: post #30
recursivedoubts wrote: post #7

I reiterate my compromise proposal: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32397975 I will give up my manual transmission, if you will bring back pull-knobs, twist knobs and other tactile switches for the main controls of my vehicle, with the appropriate tactile feedback at set points so I can set them without looking. After thinking on it, I am going to raise my demands, however: you also need to produce cars that are…

Can I add a request? A car that doesn't phone home. That is, one that the government is utterly unable to remotely turn off, monitor, or impose distance quotas. One that cannot be hacked through a poorly secured server in a car maker's server farm or government server with the username/pass admin/admin.

Forget about the government, I’m more afraid of insurance companies or the manufacturers themselves imposing such limits.

Fortunately shielding against one shields against both.

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