Manual Transmissions Were Just 1.4% of 2023 US Sales

I don't know but I can match automatic MPG with my 2011 manual pretty damn close. Maybe because I have been driving a manual for 63 years! From 3 on the tree to the 6 SPD! You haven't lived until you have driven a Mack triplex!

 

I lucked into my 23 pro manual. I have never owned an automatic and I was betting on the 24 being auto only so I figured it was my last chance.

Through the years I've had a 70 nova 396 4spd, 92 yota v6 5speed. Honda s2000, a couple turbo subarus, 2010 camaro ss with the tremec, I had a lowly 2012 chevy cruze eco with a 6spd, 2014 wrangler 6spd and now my 23 taco. I've been able to beat epa mpg on every one of them whether if it were stock or not.

On the other hand my company car is a Honda hr-v with the cvt and it is the most unexciting thing I've ever sat in including my wife's hyunda elantra

 

Around town and rural roads I've been able to at least match, if not beat the autos MPG's. Summer MPG's at 55-60mph I routinely get 21-23mpgs. That's with a 2 1/2" lift and 33's. At freeway speeds the MT just can't beat the autos final drive RPM's. At 70mph I'm running 2200rpm. At 80mph it's 2600rpms. The upside is I can hold speed even with a serious headwind and speed up without any need for a downshift. The auto is a couple hundred RPM's lower. Hard to beat the math.

 

Judging by TW - likely 115%

Oh - they try to convince you that it is the same thing because you can 'shift manually'... Yes race car autos are amazing changing gears in a tiny fraction of a second (maybe not in toyotas)... but they still suck compared to a real manual gearbox, because, well - that is not the point. Oh and those fancy autos - they still reduce the driver to a 'castrati' - as they say in Italy...

Given the option on a track between a third pedal and paddles, I'll take the third pedal every time. I may not be the fastest but I'll enjoy it more...

I'll go rafting if I feel the need for paddles.

Points (several) wholly missed, sadly. Once missed, such a situation cannot be undone. Explanations are ineffective.

Side by sides...

 

I have the exact same problem, in the 15 months since I picked up my Tacoma, no fewer than seven people have borrowed my truck.

 

Quote of the year right there

 

your experience makes me jealous... my experience is pretty much the exact opposite. my high school basically served as a feeder school for a few specific colleges. i seriously offended my guidance counselor when i had the 1-on-1 to 'decide my educational future', she laid out 5 college brochures, asked which one i was going to, and i told her "none of them". i needed something hands-on. sitting behind a desk is not for me.

the school was also actively attempting to pare down mechanical course availability while i was there. i took every mechanical elective course i could, which really only amounted to a few credit hours total. the teacher for the mechanical courses had everything so set up and planned, nothing we did was new, or attempted to develop an understanding of mistakes or adjustment. a welding project was 4 tacks with a pre-set machine, with the parts in a fixed jig that allowed zero deviation or mistakes. there was an engine teardown and re-assembly, but we weren't allowed to run it. we weren't even allowed to work on our own cars in the shop.

my experience with participating in my sister visiting those local colleges later is more even more of that-- no mechanical experiences, all core bookwork in Science, Engineering, and Math courses, again with no deviation into real world problems/solutions, just 'follow the curriculum and graduate'.

understandably, that leaves me plenty frustrated with the concept of 'higher education', when so many places seem to leave out so much physical problem understanding.

 

My Canadian Unicorn
2017 TRD OR ACLB V6 4X4 6MT OTT9 Black

 

2023 manuals are rare. but access cab trd or manuals are incredibly rare. considering a LARGE majority of manuals are crew cabs and the or access cab is a canadian only model id expect only a hundred or less were even made

 

My MPG is absolute trash, and I do not care.

I'd had a few Subarus prior to the Tacoma. Blew a lot of head gaskets over the years. Expensive engine rebuild on an Outback XT with a 5 speed, drove that for a couple years and it was a beast to the mountain and back. Started looking for a manual Tacoma after I got a bit more into fishing. Searched for months in 2020 but never found the right one. One day I'm driving to the lake in the Outback, and the transmission just blows tf up on me half a mile from home. I decide to walk through the dealers between where I broke down, and my house on the way back.

Toyota Certified Used 2018 Tacoma TRD Off Road with 6 speed manual and a bed rack just sitting there somehow. I wanted low miles used, and that's exactly what it was. With the allocation process as it is, I knew even if I had the money, finding the truck was going to be the hard part. There it was -- a short walk between my house, and my blown up Subie. It was meant to be and I've loved it ever since

 

Duocorn….2022.

 

i managed to get one of the very few 2023s

 

The only Porsche I've ever driven (excluding my Dad's 914 when I was 3) was a Tiptronic. Once I got over "I'm 18 driving a brand new 911 I "borrowed" from a friend's dad" it was a bit underwhelming. I drove the FRS at the Scion driving event and was underwhelmed with the whole experience, although I'm not certain how much more I would have liked the manual. Every time I was about to go into a corner it shifted just before I braked and it got frazzled. It drove me bonkers. I did a Focus ST event later that summer and it was night and day better. I found it MUCH more engaging.

I'm getting out of my C5 fairly soon but I love all the people that try to defend the 4AT in the C5. For me an automatic in a sports car might has well be Camry in terms of driving dynamics.

 

!!!

I have a 2nd gen [USA] AC OR MT - this config is not available in the USA in the 3rd gen..
Drove me nuts when I was 'shopping' - took me almost a year to find one within 500 miles that wasn't a rust bucket..
I ran the VIN's on the Autotrader listings and found one that the dealer screwed up on - listed it as a sport not an OR.
I called them, had them verify it was an OR - he told me I had till noon the following day to get down there to look at it or they had 4 other interested parties.

 

It's neat to see every time I got to my Local Toyota Off Road meet up each month, I am the only manual Taco, or Toyota really.

I am "That Guy," saying the manual is better in every way but in sand.

 

I found a Focus ST with a blown engine for a reasonable price, thinking about picking it up as it looks decently fun.

 

Focus ST is actually pretty cool. I remember being impressed by the direct injected motor and it puts power to the ground surprisingly well. Not your everyday run-of-the-mill Focus

 

Or rocks. Or anywhere off road, really.

 

Is that a 3" lift on 265/75/16?

Never heard of the Canadian variant before.. Access cab/longbed, with a manual 6 speed?

Beautiful truck.

 

I think it really depends on your location. When I found my 23 TRD OR 6MT, the sales manager said it was the first one they had on their lot in the last three years and they only had seen a select few TRD Pro 6MTs in that same time. Toyota only sends them where they know they can make the most due to demand. Thank goodness I found one only 100 miles from me. It's one of those purchases that I know I'll never regret.