The unintended consequence of electric vehicles: More demand for manual transmissions

I bought my ‘15 thinking it was the culmination of a generation and may be the last to offer a manual. I’d like my kids to be comfortable driving a manual, it seems like a good skill to have, especially if they travel internationally.

 

Yup right when I first saw a POV video of driving a manual MY2016 Tacoma on YouTube I was like "they still make those with a manual?"

 

No manual = deal killer. Just wasn’t interested if it had to be an auto.

Waited 11 months. No car at all for 4 of them. It was a PITA but it was, ultimately, worth it.

In a world surrendered to computers at least, along with a steering wheel, there’s this bit of actual control. My old MR2 was pretty rudimentary. Yes, it had hydraulically assisted brakes (no ASB) and a hydraulic clutch but the steering and gearbox were manual. You had to be careful and pay attention to the road and the road conditions. My ‘66 VW was really analog and could be dangerous if you didn’t keep ahead of the vehicle in traffic. You brake too late and it’s gonna be bent metal. Man that thing was fun to drive.

I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of the Tesla Plaid smoking the competition at the dragstrip. The guy just steps on the “gas” and wins the race. He could be brushing his teeth and do it. It’s just - empty. Now, I love Teslas and the idea of charging them via solar but EV’s are a bit soulless.

"Tesla has the quickest car on the market -- just floor the accelerator and hang on," he told ABC News. "It doesn't take any driver skill."

 

They’re fun. That’s the reason

 

I can squeeze more performance out of my shitbox 09 Forester with a manual and still have a blast driving it. Can’t say the same about any of the “nicer” company cars (obviously all automatics) I’ve ever driven.

 

What’s ironic is the Tacoma manual blows

what will Toyota put their shittiest engineers on now?

accumulator, squeaky Fischer price pedal, throw out bearings, crap mapping and drive by wire parameters - and STILL WE WANT THEM

 

I aint buying a Tacoma for fun to drive, I am buying a Lotus 7 for fun to drive. The fastest Tacoma I have ever driven was a slug

 

Sounds like a lot of these guys drag race off every stoplight

 

Tesla is the shit when it comes to EV cars, and they are fast, offer tons of torque, but any doofus can get behind the wheel and act like a race driver.

 

The only Miata I ever drove was loads more fun to drive than any Tacoma I have ever driven. Tacoma is not what I would call fun to drive. Fun is a 66 HiPo 289 Mustang with 390 gears and a 4 speed. A Tacoma does not make me wet the bed.

 

Kind of what I am thinking, looking to see the last Tacoma in the 24 hours of LeMans

 

I enjoy driving a Tacoma. I also think if the Amish drove motorized vehicles, they would drive Tacomas.

 

Honestly, performance has been the farthest thing from my mind with trucks. I want 300,00 miles with nothing but oil changes.

 

I like mine, but exciting, nah, it dont do that. If I wanted exciting and fun, I would buy a Subaru WRX

 

The Amish would need a usable reverse gear for backing up buggy’s lol

Toyota hasn’t cared about us in decades

 

For some people (myself included) absolute performance doesn’t matter. The enjoyment is actually rowing the gears. I enjoy rowing gears in my truck every day.

That being said the manual versus automatic debate is effectively pointless. It’s like two opposing sports teams. Once someone picks a side, typically that’s it. Any time these threads pop up people pick sides and shout at each other. No one’s opinion is going to change because of a witty quip on a forum.

Someone could yell at me until they’re blue in the face how crappy a manual Tacoma is. On paper sure, it is. There’s plenty of stats and numbers that prove this. But unlike some arenas vehicles are both objective and subjective. Transmission preference is subjective. You could make my truck six seconds slower in the quarter mile and it wouldn’t phase me in the slightest.

 

The horse drawn wagon of the auto world, maybe I am a Luddite ?

 

Bingo. My wife loves GTI's and all of those DSG fanbois just keep repeating themselves over and over again. We have always been able to find manual GTI's, but the dealer always tries to sell us a DSG by the same statement, it's faster....ok guy. I'm sure my wife is clocking her 0-60 and 1/4 miles on the daily drive to work.

 

After 2 six figure teslas I’m in a manual taco. Article isn’t wrong… it’s the Ying and Yang

 

Even on the track, I just focus on having fun. I'm not going to break lap records anyways, so why not have fun with it like what hobbies are for?