Are manual transmissions really that unpopular?

I'm, I ordered mine because I wanted a manual transmission, dealership didn't have a single manual on the lot.

The automatic/ you can also (bullshit) shift is not the same. In fact walked out of VW dealership when triptonic was a new thing, because the sale lady continued to try to convince my wife and I that it was in fact the same thing. Wife was pissed cause she wanted a VW, and I refused.

 

I love manuals, wife learned to drive stick in her first Tacoma. I guess for the new generation it’s hard to text and shift at the same time. Lol
Look at how many people want self driving cars! What fun is that? Guess more time to sit and be bombarded with ads while on Facebook. Manuals are a dying breed that’s for sure.

 

For someone that can work a manual transmission right, they can get higher mpg than any automatic assuming they aren't ridiculously short geared compared to the auto. Case in point i bought a 2009 tacoma AC prerunner 2.7l with manual 2 weeks ago, if a truck had an auto transmission I didn't look any more at it when i was shopping around. 500 mile radius of dfw usually listed 8 to 12 manual transmission used trucks for sale.

First half tank 303 miles on 11.12 gallons for 27.25 mpg. This next tank I'm going until fuel light comes on somewhere around 500 miles on the tank i think

 

This. I still enjoy a manual for spirited driving, my Mustang has one, but it's not a daily driver either. After a long day at work on my feet for 12 hours, the last thing I wanna do is drive in slow traffic with a manual. That's why I sold my old Tacoma and bought one with an auto! Plus trucks just aren't much fun compared to manual cars to drive, they're clunky, long throws and stiffer clutches. My 7.3 diesel has a manual, but that's only because the autos offered back then were subpar and didn't last, if I ever wind up with a newer diesel, it'll be an auto as well. I think Ram are the only diesels left you can get a handshaker in, and they detune the crap out of the Cummins compared to the auto variants so you wind up taking the short end of the stick regardless.

 

Okay fiiiiiine. Here's one.


'86

manual transmission
manual steering rack
manual traction control system
manual anti-lock brakes
manual pre-collision system (with manual pedestrian detection)

#extramanual #obsolete

/threadjack

 

I really wanted a manual, this is my first auto truck I've owned but I was going to have to order a manual, what ultimately made me go with the auto is if I ever sell the truck (which would probably be at least 5 years or so) I honestly think I would have a hard time selling a manual vs auto since pretty much no millennial has a man card anymore (none of them can drive manual except maybe like 1 in 1000 and that's being fair). Also the auto has crawl control (which honestly I give zero shits about) but again it'll probably help with the resell value since it'll appeal to a greater market

 

Like any decent millennial, I will [facetiously] place all of the blame on the generation of our parents. None of those jerks drive or buy manuals anymore, let alone teach their damn kids to do it!

I thought the same thing about the resale, although I took the other side of that bet... In 20-odd years — long after the manuals are extinct — that one old guy that really wants a manual truck will travel far and wide to buy mine from me. At least thats what I tell myself... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

It sure tells you something about their customers....

 

Damn right it does. If people quit buying them because of the lack of an available manual transmission, watch them do a 180....and quickly.

But there's little incentive to build one. Utter laziness, lack of abilty and the complete irrelevancy in a modern automatic transmission's ability to be 2 10th of a second quicker than manual in the same vehicle.

Really? That's what matters? A couple of ticks to 60 mph quicker is now how the rich measure their dicks these days? If I'm dropping $300k+ for a vehicle....I'm rowing my own gears.

 

You kind of missed the point I was making.
The people who pay 300k for a car aren't SMART enough to drive a manual. Please none of the "it takes brains to make that much money"... not if you're the retarded result of the union between the grandson of the guy who made the money and a gold digger. Then you just inherited the money. Doesn't take brains to get an inheritance.

People who are smart enough to make enough money that they *can* spend that kind of money on a car, are smart enough not to waste it on something as stupid as a car.

 

I didn't completely miss your point

 

One point that hasn't surfaced in this pro/con discussion of automatics and stick shifts is: Have you ever tried to roll start an automatic when your battery is dead?
Actually, up until the mid 60's you could do this on some models. The first car I drove on a regular basis was a '64 Chevy, 283 with a powerglide. If you could get it rolling at about 20mph, turn on the ignition and drop it into low it would fire. After '65 or '66 the GM automatics were changed and this was no longer possible. I'm not sure if the Fords or MoPars of that era would roll start. Anyway, the MT's do have that advantage over automatics.

 

This was the exact reason I own a 4 runner now. I wanted a 3rd gen tacoma in stick. They don't make them in the extended cab, only in the DCSB, which is the tacoma I was trading in. I didn't like the new engine and auto trans in the 3rd gen. I figured if i have to drive an auto, it'll be a reliable one that has been around for ten years and, bonus, it's connected to the old 6cyl, not this new jalopy. So 4runner it was.

 

I looked high & low last year for my used 6 sp MT........

ended up with a '14 SR5 pkg.....I'll be keeping it...

now with 77K miles......my off roading is done with my

'18 Kawi Teryx4 LE........

 

You can roll start any manual and yes it's very nice to have if your battery dies. I've never carried jumper cables

 

That being said the Lithium battery boost pack has, in a lot of cases, made the bump start obsolete. I've even seen a couple of rigs with dead alternators and batteries pull themselves out of the woods on just a boost pack. Not that I would recommend that but the bump start argument is less relevant with the popularity of boost packs. Of course a boost pack situation assumes the starter is working. Then again, a bump start situation assumes the alternator is still working.

There are advantages both ways. Usually to get a good bump start you try for a good slope. Depending on the experience and reactions of the driver that can go terribly wrong, as many a Youtube video will point out.

 

All three of our vehicles are manuals (Honda Fit, Tacoma, and Subaru Outback), and my wife and I have driven manuals exclusively for the last 20 years. The only, and I mean ONLY reasons I like manuals are reliability, simplicity, easy maintenance, and easy to wrench on when they break (plus you can get pretty good deals since dealerships can't move them easily). Otherwise, I hate them. They're terrible in heavy traffic, horrible for long road trips, and extremely frustrating because the majority of the population mindlessly drives their cars like go-karts (i.e. stopping 100 ft behind the car in front and slowly creeping at stop lights, slowing down on uphills and speeding on downhills, etc). Considering how other people on the road literally control the way I drive my own vehicle, I would take a self driving or electric car/truck any day.

 

I wouldn't think a road trip would be to bad in a manual? Once you're in high gear you shouldn't have to shift much. The Tacoma I had before was a 5 speed and I drove it between Montana and Arizona several times and never had any complaints. I don't miss driving one in traffic at all though!

 

Never noticed my manual on long trips with cruise control. Same thing and I like the ability to instantly drop a gear to pass

 

Correction: Any manual where there is enough battery power remaining to activate the fuel pump and ignition system. While a heck of a lot less power than the starter motor, this is unfortunately a new(er) limitation that has to be accounted for.