LexFather

http://autos.aol.com/article/stick-s...togenlfpge0006

Call it a love affair that began prenatally. I was born mere hours after my mom finished helping my dad install a Hurst floor shifter in his ’55 Chevy. Later, I remember at the age of four asking Dad why he pushed on the pedal every time he moved the lever between the bucket seats of our ’68 VW dune buggy. “That’s the clutch,” he told me. “I have to do that every time I want to change gears with the stick shift.”

And so the fascination began. Shifting gears was fun, looked cool and sounded even cooler when you really wound up the revs. And in my first car, a 1976 Chevrolet Chevette, a manual transmission was mandatory to wring out what little performance its 70-bhp, 1.6-liter four-cylinder could muster. I still recall the day Dad took me out in it for my first driving test. I got in, took off with no problems and shifted up and down the gears with nary a gnash or a grind. He shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d been studying his technique for years.

Now we come to the year 2010. The ability to drive a car equipped with a manual transmission is becoming a dying art. The sales numbers tell the story: In 1985, according to Ward’s Communications, 22.4% of all vehicles sold in the United States came with a manual transmission. By 2007, the number had plummeted to 7.7%.

A quick check of vehicles for sale on AOL Autos tells a similar story. Of the 4,391,747 vehicles recently listed for sale, only 241,560 -- or 5.5% -- came with a manual.

The reasons for this situation are many. First, driver’s education classes simply aren’t teaching students how to drive a manual. We spoke with Eric Tunell at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, perhaps the most well-known and highly regarded performance driving schools in the country, to get his perspective.

“With the teen drivers who attend our programs, their family car doesn’t have a manual transmission, so they don’t need to learn,” he explained. “We also find that parents are mainly concerned with the safety of their teen driver and a manual is one more thing to distract them from focusing on driving.”
Poll
Do you know how to drive a manual transmission?

* Yes
* No

That is not to say that none of the teens who attend Bondurant classes are uninterested in the art of self-shifting. “A significant number really want to know the ins and outs of driving a manual transmission,” Tunell said. “What we emphasize at Bondurant is that ultimately it’s not about the car; it’s about the driver. Getting them training over and above what a basic driver’s ed course offers is essential.”

Another reason is fuel economy. In the past, manual transmissions got better fuel economy than automatics. Improvements in automatic transmission design, however, has helped them equal the fuel economy numbers of manuals, or at least come very close.

Modern traffic conditions have also helped contribute to the manual’s demise. In today’s stop-and-start traffic, the constant clutch-and-shift action is tiring. Combine that with the creaking knees of the aging baby boomer population and it’s no wonder manual transmissions are going the way of the dodo.

That doesn’t mean we have to like it, though. For the serious driver, piloting a car with a manual transmission is a badge of honor. Having control over your ride carries an appeal that may well go back to the time when man first rode astride a horse. That sort of intimate control over your steed is heady stuff, and a feeling not easily conceded. The conviction that the driver knows best also comes into play: an automatic transmission can’t see that just down the road is a decreasing radius turn that’s going to require you to downshift a gear or two so that you can launch yourself smartly out of the turn.

Then there is the pride one takes in a perfectly timed two-three upshift, wringing it out to the redline and listening to the symphony of pumping pistons and whirring camshafts, or perhaps mastering the black art of heel-and-toe shifting and precisely matching revs on a downshift as you drift into a corner.

Perhaps it is because, in a world that seems increasingly out of control, in the driver’s seat you are in complete control, and with a manual transmission and an open road to the horizon, that is as much as we can hope for these days.

IS350jet

LOL! Give me an automatic. I drove a stick far too long.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

if everyone had manuals no one can whine about SUA, or shifting to reverse/neutral didnt work

the poll said 92% yes and 7% no for knowing how to drive manual, I find that hard to believe

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ah man this is sat. i don't think people should drive mt day in day out, but i think it's very useful for people to know how to drive mt. imho it improved driving capability of the drivers a lot. they will know more about how to decelerate, brake, and accelerate....

i love my m3 every time i drive it

Och

iTrader: (3)

Good riddance, the only reason manuals even exist anymore is so that manufacturers can charge $$$ for "optional" automatics.

bagwell

love my manual C6; I'd never buy a sports car with an automatic that had the option of manual. Lots more fun to drive and I feel a closer, more direct connect to the motor

SecPole14

My grandfather drove manual transmission until he was 67. I hope I can beat his record.

As long as I am physically able, I will only own a manual-transmission car. I don't care that the new generation of semi-autos are actually faster and more fuel-efficient than manuals.

It's not about that for me. It's about the intimacy and feel and connection with the car. And yes, I've had to endure hour-long, one-way, stop-and-go commutes that some days have caused me to perform what I estimate to be 300+ clutch operations.

It's to the point where I know more females than males who can (and do) drive stick.

STIG

Real man drive manual.

SLegacy99

That's pretty much how I feel about it. Driving stick forces you to pay attention and ya know coordinate your hands with your feet based on the sensory info. coming into your eyes and ears. It's really not that hard, nor does it require that much exertion. I rather enjoy the rowing of gears myself. The only thing that would change my mind would be if I were to buy a hybrid perhaps. Ahhh, when I was in high school I used to laugh at all of the tool back Mustang drivers, of which there were many, all of whom drove autos. Lame!!!

Therefore, Lexus doesn't really make my list of cars I want. The 5 series or A4 do. The new Legacy GT is only available in a stick as is the WRX and WRX STi. To drive a Corvette with an auto is a crime IMO. Automatic transmissions have improved, but many manuals still have a slight efficiency advantage and all that I have ever come across cost less and are lighter than their auto counterparts.

TripleL

Interesting Article!

I think I agree that the 'shift' to Automatic transmissions is a combination of that trannys have gotten a lot better and engines overall have gotten a lot stronger.

I remember back in 85 when I bought a new Prelude Si if you didn't get the manual you weren't going anywhere fast. I mean that 110HP engine with the 4 speed auto was OK at best, noisy and got worse gas mileage then the manual.

Plus at the time the manual was a lot more fun, worked great and was of course cool

If you look at, for example, the Lexus IS250 Manual vs Auto its almost like the roles have been reversed.

bagwell

that's why I like the Z06 (and ZR1) so much...ONLY AVAILABLE WITH MANUAL....woosies that can't drive a stick - go away

hwy1isf

iTrader: (1)

I think manuals are just old technology and out dated. The modern automatics are the way to go for me anyway. My last Vette, an 07, was a M6, and though it was a lot of fun, the F with the locking torque converter is the best of both worlds. Just look at the trend with the super cars, LF-A, Lambo, Ferrari, Posche, even the Bugatti I saw the other night, if they are not all auto, more and more of their lineup is going that way with DCT, sequential shift, or even the locking torque converter in the F. Before any one flames me I know the F is not a super car, but it has a great trans for what I like to do with it.

balutsc300

iTrader: (1)

now im wondering how do people learn to drive manual in general? i mean i learned through my dad is it just a sort of passing down the knowledge kind of thing? I have been driving manual ever since i started driving and i am sooooo used to it to the point where it doesnt bother me at all everyday. I love having the ability to control my revs it keeps me interested in my car

SLegacy99

Yeah, but I would call the IS an oddity. The discrepencies between auto, manual, and AWD are unusual.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i learned it because i wanted to. i still think that's true driving where you have more controls. funny enough, same thing for my wife. when we got our is300 (5mt), she said let's get the manual and she WANTED to learn.

fast forward to the time when we shopped for our m3, without me saying a word, she said we should get the 6mt, that's where the fun is.

technology is one thing, a lot of times auto have better or same efficiency, and a lot of times even faster than manual tranny. that's why a lot of fast cars (or supercars) go with auto or computer controlled manual setup.

but to me, speed isn't everything. i have driven the m3 dct, yup it's fast, but i feel disconnected. i like to have the controls and fun, more than just pure speed