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

On the topic of Land Cruisers (not what this thread is about), I would love to experience driving the new Land Cruiser 70s Australia/New Zealand has.

 

I wish it was a simple click in the opposite direction on my tcase knob but going into 2low is not bad at all. You can click the button and go to 4HI before you even stop. You don’t need to be in neutral for any of it even into low, you just need the clutch held all the way to the floor. So I can get into button clicked mode and 4HI before I’m stopped, and then just a quick click to 4low while holding the clutch. It takes less than 2 seconds to shift into 4low in my experience. It has never NOT shifted when I’m sitting still. So it’s no big deal. I use it almost every time I get home to back into my driveway.

you can also drive around with 2low enabled and the knob in 4HI. Then when you get to where you need 2low, it’s just one click of the knob. Yeah, would be super nice if we had a better ratio from the factory, but at least this mod makes the best of what it can and it’s fairly easy to use in a way that isn’t a big inconvenience.

would be nice if they at least gave us a 4.5 or 5.6 reverse ratio like the Jeep and bronco manuals do.

 

Maybe for you, for many of us, control has EVERYTHING to do with it.

 

That's one of the reasons I traded in a newer automatic SUV for my 2.7L 5 speed manual Tacoma. Although I'll admit I miss being able to play music from a flash drive, I like the somewhat crudeness of the Tacoma in comparison. I was going to wait until I retired to do that, but saw a very rare 2.7L manual access cab in my state, priced very well. Being a 4 cylinder manual also was an advantage for me, being my preference and priced lower than the typical Tacoma around the same year and mileage. Yes I took a hit the way the market has been, but in the long run it will be worth it.

I enjoy driving my 2007 Tacoma to and from work and every day I drive it. It is so much more enjoyable than the SUV I had. To me, that's what counts. Yes, modern automatics are typically more efficient and I can certainly see why they're preferred by most. I've never been part of the majority and am grateful Toyota built the particular truck I have.

 

As always when you say this, that doesn’t make it true. Quite the contrary actually, the manual is easier to operate in the engine’s power band than the automatic is since you’re naturally choosing gears as you go. The automatic always wants to be in the next gear. Take the low torque 3.5L that makes all its power up high. The autos are always trying to live below 2000 rpm. How is that a good match at all? They don’t want to shift unless you floor it or limit gears. Meanwhile where the auto would choose 5th or 6th, I’m in 3rd with the manual.

That automatics are ‘better’ is simply opinion like anything else. They aren’t better, you just prefer them. And I say the same for the manuals. Personally I despise sitting behind the wheel of an automatic transmission-equipped vehicle. It’s all opinion and either is fine.

 

Agreed, I hate the thought of sitting in the front left seat of my car and feeling like a passenger.

 

When I bought my first frontier (only auto I’ve owned out of 5 vehicles), I only took it because I needed something quick and couldn’t for the life of me find a manual. Not one single day went by where I didn’t say while driving it, “damn, I wish I could have found a manual”. It was on my mind literally every time I drove. Eventually traded for the manual when I finally found one and it was fantastic. Then that truck (not the manual but other things) had big issues so I traded it for the manual Tacoma. Gonna stay in a stick as long as I possibly can. At least I have my old manual Jeep if I can’t continue to buy them new, but I hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

Damn, if all y'all had bought more manuals maybe there would be more out there.

 

Look at how hard they are to get. It’s not because folks didn’t buy them. It’s because they don’t make many of them. They don’t want to, hurts their EPA rating if they don’t get to control the shift points.

Toyota could quadruple the manual production and still sell all of them. Many people want manuals but give up trying to get them because it feels nearly impossible. None of that is due to people not buying them, quite the opposite really.

 

I don't think this is right. I saw somewhere that when you factor in that the manual is only available in trd trims, it's about 14% of trd trims are sold in manual. They calculated it this way since you can't get the manual in an Sr, sr5 or limited.

I also think if toyota offered more manual tacomas, they would sell. Alot of people have money burning a hole in their pocket and if they can't find a manual in the one dealership they go to, they just buy the auto.

Supposedly toyota doesn't make more manuals as it hurts their overall epa milage average that they have to meet.

 

That’s essentially how and why I ended up buying my ‘22. When I ordered it, there was some rumblings that the ‘23 model year would be the 4th Gen which is said to be automatic only. Even though manuals are still available in for the ‘23, I’m happy I didn’t wait. If I’m lucky, I’ll get 15+ years out of this truck, and by then who knows. I’ll be early 60’s if not dead. YOLO.

 

Funny, between my wife and myself, we've owned over 20 cars with manual transmissions; our son has carried on the tradition and has owned roughly 20 himself.

 

That's likely to happen. My Tacoma is 15 years old, I'm in my mid 60s and not dead.

 

Toyota is listening. I don't know how many of you took the survey Toyota sent out after buying your truck, but they had a question about the most important item that influenced your purchase and one of the choices was the manual transmission. I chose that as my primary reason.

 

I think I read your mind when I filled out my survey.

 

There's may be more out there that like manual transmissions than I thought, or was lead to believe based on newer vehicle trends. It would be encouraging if Toyota is in fact listening. Maybe they are - I believe the manual transmission choice is limited to a certain model/trim now, but at least it's still there. Unlike Ford and Nissan's mid size (and full size) pickup trucks, which are only automatic now.

 

SR5 DCSB 4x4 AT - $38040
TRD OR/Sport 4x4 DCSB MT - $37,910

 

I few times now I have distilled the KissMyGrits inventory spreadsheet (which appears to be all inbound Toyotas plus the few on lots); in each case there has been one TRD model which has shown roughly 50% of the inbound inventory being manual transmissions. Yes, totally unscientific as they are each single snapshots in time, but I found it interesting none-the-less.

 

Internet numbers dont translate to real world numbers

 

Why not? Are you suggesting SR5s aren't sold at the same MSRP markup or markdown (as the case may be) compared to TRD models?