My previous Tacoma had the 6 speed manual. I really loved it. It was a 4 door, short bed, TRD Sport. My current Tacoma is an automatic because I wanted the long bed. It's too bad that they don't offer the manual with the 4 door cab and long bed. I would have went for it.

 

My neighbor is 53 and he's never driven a stick. Ever. I was shocked when he told me that a year or 2 ago. He's also never used a lawnmower.....

 

Waaaay back when I was sixteen and living in Massachusetts they issued two types of licenses for automobiles. A manual license and an automatic license. At the time my dad's car was a 1952 Oldsmobile with Hydramatic. I had a friend who's dad owned a '50 Dodge with 3 on the tree. On the day of my test (a Fri the 13th) the car blew its muffler, so that car was out. My folks rented the second story apartment of a two family house. The owner of the house owned a green '48 Plymouth. He let me use the car, but drove me to the test. I never sat behind the wheel of that car, until my test - I passed. BTW, I learned how to drive a manual in Drivers Ed in HS on a black '55 Ford Customline.

Lou

 

Interesting, I could not find manual on the Tacoma, until going into the powertrain box on the build. That's sweet it still comes in a stick in 2021. It's one of those things, I remember hanging with this woman from Norway in the early 90's. She was into photography, I was into photography. She used Canon, I used Nikon, and this was 35mm. She focused manually, I've always used autofocus. Both of us genuinely liked the way we did things. With a camera? I have always used autofocus, never manually focused. So I believe sure, people can also say why use a manual transmission, especially if they never have before....

 

I believe it!

 

My Dad, my he reset in peace, Never mowed a lawn, never used a washing machine, never vacuumed a rug, never washed a dish and the list goes on an on. He did however drive a manual, he had no choice if he wanted to drive. However, I remember being with him when he dropped off his '50 Nash for service and they gave him a loaner with a manual. He kept forgetting to depress the clutch He was NOT a very good driver

Lou

 

#privilege

 

When I was 21, I got a 32 y.o. roommate. He asked me how to use a washing machine, had never used one before lol It was the first time he moved out of his parents' house as he got in an argument with his dad.

My wife grew up with servants, she won't admit it....sometimes, it's hard to lose that, either go too far, or still too bossy. When I was first getting to know her, her fathers' friends would always offer me scotch, which I don't like. One time I said hey Tony, want some shrimp? I was out of line, I quickly realized, very embarrassing. Tony was the driver ahahahahahahaha

She's a nice person but it's hard to take the first 18-22 years of upbringing out of oneself...

 

I gotta admit, I never used a washing machine until I moved out of my parents house lol

I did use a lawnmower!

 

So your Dad did, at least, make you do something for your allowance LOL.

(j/k)

 

Oh my Dad made me do all kinds of things, my Mom was the one who didnt lol. The only thing laundry related she didn't do was iron. My dad and I were on our own for ironing. I basically dry clean everything as an adult lol

 

OK here's a crazy feature that would be cool to come back....how about a manual choke? It was before my time, but my snowblower does have one. Why should starting an engine be a push of a button? It should be more challenging than that!

My mom and I had this discussion a week ago. Why won't kids shovel snow or rake leaves, for money, today? I did it with a shovel, and also with a Kubota tractor that had a front end loader. I'm not even sure if a Kubota can have a manual today, ours was an 8 speed but could not change gears while moving...

 

Because social media teaches them that they don't have to. Social media and social apps distract them too easily - they would much rather be making fun TikToks, attempting to make viral YouTube videos and doing "challenges" for Instagram. You can also blame some parents for being glued to their screens during their kids' prime years for shoveling snow and raking leaves (IMO, approximately ages 10-14). Once they hit 15 or 16, they can get jobs that pay much more for doing a lot less.

As a kid, I never got allowance, and my parents didn't necessarily "make" me do anything, it was more or less just an expectation. I learned how to do house chores around 12 years old, everything from laundry to lawn care. My wife's brother is a successful tradesman and is the same age as me, but does not know how to do his own laundry. On the other hand, he's been rowing his own gears since he learned how to drive, and I never bothered to learn to this day.

Times are different. People are different.


Edit: Also, you could get a Kubota M8 tractor with a KVT (CVT) tranny if you wanted. http://kubota.ca/en/m8#features

 

Because their parents don't do those tasks. A landscaper is hired to mow the lawn, clear the leaves, plow the driveway. Everywhere? No--but definitely in my area.

I don't remember anyone growing up that had a landscaping service for these tasks, so neighbors were glad to pay kids to mow or shovel.

 

My yard is a postage stamp--1/5 acre. Growing up, my parents' house was on a full acre--along with that came mowing the lawn with a 20" push mower, and raking leaves to no end. It was like a 5 day event. Everyone around me does hire someone to do their lawn, because a crew shows up with a trailer and the zero turn radius machine and does it in minutes. I hear that's $50 right there. In my town, they come 2X a year and vacuum the leaves, wow, to me not bagging them is a forever luxury. Then, we had a sugar maple fall, so now we have half the leaves of before.

One thing that really caught my eye was when the varsity ice hockey team was raising money for their trip to Finland--they were at the entrance to Wawa and you know if you were so inclined, you could drop $20 or $40 in their $500 ice skates lol But I really did think, why not rake leaves or shovel snow instead of waiting for that $20...

another feature to return to cars, how about a sideview mirror that use a cable, and the pass side where you had to reach over to adjust it? That's cool. Why not go retro and introduce cool features that are gone. Roll up windows, maybe not!