Bemoaning the demise of stick shifts

[Tdh]

Took my daughter (16 at the time) and one of her friends to a movie a couple of years ago.  Her friend asked what I was doing not long into the ride.  Once I figured out she was asking about me shifting through the gears, I explained.  Her next question blew my mind.  She asked if that was something new with cars...

['76mintgrün'02]

My buddy Willy was helping someone find their first car and they told him they wanted one with a "prindle."

 

It took him a minute to figure out they were referring to PRNDL on the auto shifter.

 

None of my (3) vehicles have prindles.  I prefer it that way.

 

Tom

Edited August 12, 2022 by '76mintgrün'02
degenderization

[Ian]

We have all manual transmissions in our family too.  We bought (well)-used cars with manuals for both our daughters, and they both took their driver's tests with manual transmissions and had no problems.  Their friends were incredulous at how they were able to take the test with a manual.  That perspective results in the previously mentioned anti-theft deterrent of a manual, and my daughter also told me that her friends don't ask to borrow her car like they would if it was an automatic.  FTW!

Edited August 12, 2022 by Ian

[Lorin]

All the cars I want are available with manual transmissions. 

[tzei]

At paddle shift smg2 is where i draw the line.

[Mike Self]

10 hours ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

My buddy Willy was helping someone find their first car and they told him they wanted one with a "prindle."

 

It took him a minute to figure out they were referring to PRNDL on the auto shifter.

 

 

 

[visionaut]

Are your 02s demising? Mine ain’t.

 

I’ll have a stick forever, no matter what new cars come with…  so no moping or reminiscing here. 

 

BTW, I actually really like the ZF 8-speed in my 435 — slapping the shifter to the left in Sport+, and rowing your own (clutchless, with auto-rev matching) is a bit different, but can be just as fun and involving. And in auto mode it can shift gears waaay faster/harder than I can.

 

Now not having any gears at all tho’…. Lol

[TobyB]

3 hours ago, tzei said:

At paddle shift smg2 is where i draw the line.

We'd all happily compromise on the 5er having flappy paddles. 

But that came along a decade later.

 

Doesn't mean it can't be retrofitted...

 

t

[Leucadian]

At one point, I had a 2016' S4 that was stick, and that car was an absolute blast to drive.  Fast forward a couple years, I had a 2019' S4 that was DSG, and the difference in driving experience between the two was night and day.  Although slightly different engines (supercharged v6 vs turbo v6) the two cars were very similar, but rowing the gears in the 16' was just too much fun.

 

At one point I had the 19' S4, and the 02' at the same time, and as far as driver engagement, and pure enjoyment, nothing comes close to the 02'.  

 

I'm going to teach my wife to drive stick, my kids will learn to drive stick, and their kids will learn to drive stick.

 

Long live the manual transmission.  

[kiva667]

My brother is proud of the 7-gear automatic shifter on his 2016 Porsche SUV. I am unclear as to why.

[layers]

My late grandfather, born on a dairy farm 100 miles East of St. Louis in 1901, earned his "certificate of automobile repair" when he was 12.  He commented once to me in my youth that when he was young, automatic transmissions of the day provided no more gear clash than common manual transmissions (think Model-T).

[OriginalOwner]

Well, let's see ..... how dangerous is a stick shift ??  I have sea story from my dad.  Seems that when he was about 9 years old (let's say 1927), his older brother (2 years older) was already driving the family truck.  So one day my dad pipes up,  "I want to drive."  He and his brother and their dad jump into the truck.  They get a short way down the tiny country road, pull over, my dad jumps into the driver's seat, and away they go.  My dad spent so much time looking down at the gear shift and clutch, not to mention barely being able to even reach clutch & gas pedals, that he never looked up and saw them driving directly at the Columbia River ...... they were "this close" to finding out if the truck was of an amphibian design.

 

SO, that explains why my dad kept telling me, at age 12 when I was learning to drive one of the stick shift family cars on the dry lakes of the Mojave Desert,  "stop looking down, look up and watch where you're going at all times."

 

Cheers,

 

Carl

 

[Son of Marty]

I learned to drive a stick at age 8 on working on my family's alfalfa farm in Quincy WA in a ww2 surplus jeep starting syphons along a irrigation canal where 3" on ether side was a wide spot, good times.

[cda951]

I will add to all of the above by noting that 5 of our 7 cars have manual transmissions, and I only drive manual transmissions myself (Rover P6 3500S with auto is about to go to its new owner, girlfriend's company Acura SUV is what it is). I will probably only ever own manual cars for myself.

 

But I will also provide a counterpoint. Modern automatic transmissions, whether the torque converter or dual-clutch type, are quite good. I have a BMW customer who had a serial history of manual transmission 5-series, from E28 to E39 to E60 who really wanted a F10 with a manual transmission. After two years of searching, he finally found a manual F10 535i, and was thrilled.

 

However, in that car, I found the shifter to be a bit detached and vague, as is the clutch pedal feel. Shifting is more like going through the motions than actually being involved with the car (much like the steering feel and everything else with the F10, go figure). So, I would argue in that case the ZF 8HP automatic is a better fit for this particular car.

 

Another not-so-great manual transmission is the 7-speed manual of the 991-series Porsche 911. This gearbox is based on the ZF-made PDK dual clutch automated gearbox, which doesn't need the gear clusters to be oriented to fit an H-pattern shifter, but instead the locations were optimized to minimize the size of the transmission case. Therefore, the manual 7-speed requires a somewhat Rube Goldberg-style shift converter mechanism to convert the motions of the shifter, which is felt as a somewhat vague and ropey sensation to the driver.

 

The mid-engine and GT-series Porsches with 6-speed transaxles have superlative shifting characteristics, and embody everything the above article laments. 

 

The point being, manual transmissions are fantastic, but I wouldn't argue against the manufacturers in phasing them out given the current take rate. For all misty-eyed letters in Roundel  lamenting the loss of cars sold with manual transmissions, few are actually stepping up and buying them, so I don't blame the manufacturers phasing them out, given that they need to be federalized on their own. Long live the manual transmission!

Edited August 13, 2022 by cda951

[jp5Touring]

I learned to drive a stick shift around 13yo.  Rambler American three on the tree.

Figure eight course in a field, you went around a big maple tree and a couch at the other end.

Don't know what was better ?  Driving or having the biggest crush on the girl that was riding along with us.