Never Stop Driving #41: The stickshift revival
I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the manual transmission is making a comeback. The data are admittedly thin, but according to J.D. Power, 1.7 percent of car buyers this year opted for a manual transmission, compared to 0.9 percent in 2021 and 1.2 percent in 2022. Furthermore, Tyson Jominy, the VP of J.D. Power’s information network, said that the manual buyers are no longer doing so to save money or gas with small subcompact cars; instead, they’re choosing to shift themselves with enthusiast cars like Toyota Supra and Jeep Wrangler. The Wall Street Journal and several other outlets pounced on the data and surmised that the stick shift is appealing in an analog way, like vinyl records.
Several brands have added manual transmissions to their lineups. The new Integra is the first Acura in half a decade to offer a manual gearbox. Mini added manual gearboxes to four models. The new Ford Bronco has a stick. BMW, Porsche, and Cadillac still offer manual transmission models. Two new boutique supercars, the Gordon Murray T.50 and Glickenhaus SCG 004, can be had with manuals.
Here at Hagerty we welcome this news with open arms. Since 2011, our manual transmission classes, which are free, have taught 4500 people how to operate a manual transmission. Anecdotally, I’m also noticing more interest in manuals. We’ve lived in the same Ann Arbor home for 23 years and there’s usually some half-apart project car within easy view of the neighbors, so I’m well known as the car nut. In the past two years several new drivers have asked me to teach them how to drive a manual transmission, in stark contrast to our first two decades when not a single neighborhood kid asked. Of course, I obliged the requests and hope you do the same.
My personal relationship with manual shifting has, ahem, recently shifted since I bought my first daily driver with an automatic, a 2018 VW GTI. I did not miss the manual as I thought I might. Am I getting old? Also, while I initially loathed the lack of manual transmissions in high-dollar sports cars like the Ferrari 458, McLaren Artura, and Corvette Z06, I’ve come to recognize that those cars are now so powerful that—on public roads—one rarely finds an opportunity to wind the engine out between gears. I’d love to own a 458 even with the automatic transmission and am less dismissive of the feature than I used to be.
My personal transmission flexibility is generally not shared by the classic-car market. We reported, for example, that manual-equipped cars generally command high premiums over the same model with an automatic. I think this trend speaks to both a greater appreciation of analog pursuits but also perhaps a growing realization that we will lose something valuable if we relinquish driving duties to robots.
Those robotic efforts continue to advance, albeit at a slower pace than the autonomous hype machine once predicted. In February, Waymo reported that its vehicles had covered over one million miles without a human watcher behind the wheel. Cruise, the autonomous taxi company backed by GM, announced it had reached the same milestone on February 22. Both companies increased the size of the AV operational area. Waymo driverless taxis now run between downtown Phoenix and the airport. And Amazon-backed Zoox deployed its robot taxi, which doesn’t even have a steering wheel, on public roads.
Meanwhile, Hagerty video host Henry Catchpole got behind the wheel of two super compelling new cars, the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Ferrari Purosangue. A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM and 1935 Voisin C25 Aerodyne took top honors at The Amelia Concours, and the event also produced several auction records.
See you next week!
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Manual transmissions are fun when you’re young. As a senior now I don’t know that I’d be up to all the legwork.
By the way, how about the Teslas with the removable steering wheel? They apparently can come off while you are driving 😲.
I have found that I prefer manual on the road but automatic under slow/crawl off-road conditions. At speeds so low that riding the clutch is necessary, the automatic just works better. But street driving is another matter. Going through 5 gears getting up to speed, or delicately matching rpm to a gear choice, add joy to driving.
How you get to use the car and what you enjoy should factor into the manual/auto transmission choice as a “car person”. The average commuter isn’t going back to stick.
Not many lament the move from tiller steering, hand crank starters, all the adjustments early cars had on the steering column, etc. –I’m not sure “save the manuals” can overcome the apathy that being the obsolete tech brings, but you don’t go quietly into the dark night either.
I don’t think much can be made of any car sales data of the last 3 years. We remain not in normal times. If we are in a new normal –then comparing to the old data doesn’t work so well either.
Hopefully this debate will go on forever and we will always be able to consider which transmission we want/prefer. I have gone through this same debate preparing for a purchase. The part I enjoyed the most about the article was the honesty and credibility of Larry stating he has an auto based trans in his present car and doesn’t really miss a manual. I have done the same and chose to purchase a PDK 911 three years ago and have not regretted the choice.
Let’s hope that the manufacturers keep offering the stick as the basic original equipment at no charge while charging those big bucks for the slush boxes, although I understand some are pricing both the same or even charging more for the standard shift vehicle. Hope! But shouldn’t we now be pressing insurers to offer a stick shift credit/discount as it is proven to be a more effective anti-theft device than the club?
😂
Interesting coincidence, Larry: I, too, bought my first non-manual car as a 2018 VW GTI, after fifty-five years (most of them living in suburban Detroit) of owning manuals (including Beetles, Corvette, Morgan, Miata, Ferrari 308 GTB, and a 2016 GTI). And I agree that driving the GTI with the DSG transmission has proven to be a most enjoyable experience …. performance when you want it, combined with convenience.
I’ve owned or leased 38 cars with manual transmissions, from my very first car (1960 VW Karmann Ghia) to my present one (2018 Ford Mustang Sheby GT350). I autocrossed a bunch of them in the 1980s and 90s including higher speed Pro Solo events where you always want to be in the right gear. My wife was also driving a manual trans car when I met her and our first four-door car after having twin boys was a 1990 Taurus SHO with manual (and two car seats in the back). Those boys grew up learning to drive in my manual transmission cars. It’s no surprise that they both now own manual cars — Focus ST and Mustang GT.
I’m just an old fashioned girl. I want a car I can actually take control of. I live in a suburban area on the east coast but I frequently take cross-country road trips and drive in the mountains a lot. It’s hard to beat a manual when it comes to climbing steep grades or using the torque of the engine to brake on down grades.
Other advantages to manuals are:
(A) nobody is going to steal it
(B) hardly anyone is going to ask to borrow it
(C) if you get stuck in snow, mud or sand it’s possible to shift quickly between first and reverse and “rock” the car till it gets traction
(D) if the starter fails it can be rolled downhill or pushed and the clutch “popped” to start the engine
(E) the transmission lasts a lot longer than an automatic
(F) if the accelerator get stuck one can just disengage the clutch without losing steering and braking power.
I’m sure there are others that don’t come to mind just now.
When the day comes that I have to pay extra for a manual transmission I will.
I’LL GIVE YOU MY MANUAL TRANSMISSION WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM COLD, DEAD HANDS!
Many years ago my girlfriend was married to a guy in the army. Since he (and others) was often off base for long stretches, she had to teach herself to drive stick in order to get around town. Eventually she began teaching other wives how to drive sticks as well since many of the officers bought manual transmissions so that their wives couldn’t drive in order to keep them at home. That didn’ t go over so well and she was called into the base commanders office and told to stop.
Recently I searched for a daily commuter work truck and got a manual. It’s typically a boring under powered truck, but the long throw 5 speed (+ 6th gear…) make daily commuting fun again. Tired? Down shift and hammer it. Hone in on heel toe skills? Grab an extra pair of shoes to practice. And as indicated above, your of an elite % that participates in this fun
None of my current vehicles have a manual, even my week-ends only Corvette. I am 74, with bad knees. Were that not the case, my next non-daily driver would be a manual.