Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

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Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by Standardshifter »

Usage In U.S. Drops Below 10%

"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%."

http://autos.aol.com/article/stick-shif ... nlfpge0006
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by 4onthefloor »

Even if in 10 years they only sell one car with a manual transmission, and it's the most crap-tacular car, I'd still buy it for the manual.
Two pedals, two feet, too easy.

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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by theholycow »

The manual transmission may have gained some more relevance despite losing popularity. Once in a while you read about Buick's next car maybe coming with a manual; that didn't used to even get talked about, I think.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by FDSpirit »

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.
Is it weird that I smiled while reading that part? I really hope they keep manuals available here in the states. I've always had a fascination with them, just like the author, since I rode in the passenger seat of my grandfather's old Toyota truck. I was lucky enough to meet a friend who actually drove a manual. It's one of the few things I can do everyday and not get bored of.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by buster »

What is this "manual transmission" you speak of???
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by ShiftItDriveIt »

The decline of manual transmissions isn't so dramatic when you consider type of vehicle. The Mini, S2000, WRX... comes to mind as vehicles with a much larger than 7% manual transmissions. And Porsche still has a large number of manuals sold. I've haven't researched it out, but I'd guess there are more MT choices in the States now than there were in 1985.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by theholycow »

ShiftItDriveIt wrote:I'd guess there are more MT choices in the States now than there were in 1985.
Maybe not 1985, but definitely 1998. In 1985 there were a lot of cheap cars that came with manual transmissions for the lower cost. You don't see those around anymore because those are the cars that nobody bothered to keep for this long.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by AHTOXA »

MT will never go away entirely, not in the next few decades at the very least. The market is large enough as of right now. In the grand scheme of things it may seem small but it's a niche and it's not dying.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by LHOswald »

maybe we should tell the people from jersey shore to drive manuals because then you can bicker and cause drama about who can DCHT better. then everyone will drive them. then automatics can be thrown in a huge pile and melted down to be made into manuals.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by Standardshifter »

Latest Ferrari isn't going to offer a manual for the first time (458).

Not offering a manual is a bad trend in sports cars/super cars...cars designed for driving pleasure.

Manual sales in Europe have started to plummet as non-traditional automatics equal/surpass manuals in terms of fuel economy.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by theholycow »

paul34 wrote:I'd also like to see more research into "creating" crude oil, in an artificial sense. However, it may be more resource intensive than just pumping the shit out of the ground.
I'm not sure about pumping the shit out of the ground, but pumping the oil out is a HUGE net gain in energy, even after you process it into gasoline or other fuels. Even if you have to squeeze it out of tar sands or shale it's still a net gain (we currently don't do that because it's still easier to pump it out of the ground already in liquid form).

Making most kinds of renewable fuels, on the other hand, is merely about storing energy that came from some other source. You might use heat or electricity to store energy in the form of a fuel like hydrogen or even biodiesel/ethanol (which use some solar energy to grow but we have to invest a lot of energy in planting, fertilizing, and harvesting).

It's my opinion that all fossil fuels should be devoted to making gasoline. Any fossil hydrocarbon can be converted to gasoline with relatively little investment in energy - coal, natural gas, etc. The technology for converting coal, for example, is about 60 years old. Possibly crude oil should not all go to gasoline, much should be reserved for making plastics and other petroleum-based products.

Diesel is readily replaced with biodiesel, which merely needs a little more development to make it suitable for use in all diesel engines and conditions. A few additives that already get added to dino-diesel would probably fix it right up. As for electricity there's plenty of other sources than coal and natural gas, we don't need to use those in stationary power plants.

I'd even go as far as to say that new cars should not come with gasoline engines. Instead, we should be using an alternative that is not limited, leaving the gasoline supply for vehicles already on the road that require it.

Again, note that I'm not considering any alternative fuels as energy sources, but merely as energy storage/transportation media. The most likely energy source to provide that much energy would be nuclear, and would have to be one of the alternative nuclear technologies that eats up its own waste instead of making us dispose of it. I don't mind if someone has a better idea, in fact I'd love that, but the fact remains that if we need to ramp up a huge amount of energy production without using fossil fuels, nuclear would be the only way.

This whole post is assuming that Chicken Little is correct and oil can run out. If that's not the case then this is all significantly less important; then its main implication is political and economical, not a matter of whether or not 1968 Camaros will still be able to run in 2068.

Bringing this back on topic, I'd prefer that whatever alternative fuel we make is burned in common reciprocating piston internal combustion engines just like we use now. I really like them, despite all their faults, and I also like the manual transmissions that can be used with them.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by theholycow »

I always forget about butanol. That actually makes it far less important to preserve fossil fuels for use as gasoline. Why doesn't butanol get more attention?

Corn is probably not the best crop for making fuels. It helps when you use all of the plant instead of just the corn oil, though. So much waste that we discard can become fuel, really. That brings me to another alternative fuel source, algae grown on sewage. It solves a bunch of problems at once - it's an energy source, it saves the energy and effort of processing sewage, and it is easily made into fuel.

AFAIK, sugar beets are one of the better crops for the US to grow for fuel.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by AHTOXA »

I remember reading regarding using algae as a source for fuel. It's was interesting but I don't remember the limitations that were presented. My head is too clowdy to think hard as well.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by DKaz »

AHTOXA wrote:I remember reading regarding using algae as a source for fuel. It's was interesting but I don't remember the limitations that were presented. My head is too clowdy to think hard as well.
Yah algae to produce ethanol. Algae grows super fast and has way more energy potential pound for pound than corn making it a possibly source of ethanol, the main problem I believe is figuring out how to harvest that energy. There's also one species of grass with energy potential somewhere between corn and algae. It would be a good source of ethanol since they can just grow it on say the sides of highways and not farm it. The price of produce is said to be so high because farmers would rather grow and sell corn to ethanol producers for a premium.
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Re: Check The Manual (Transmission): Stick Shift Cars Going Away

Post by theholycow »

DKaz wrote:The price of produce is said to be so high because farmers would rather grow and sell corn to ethanol producers for a premium.
It is said, but it is false. There's plenty of out of work farmers. The price of produce (including corn) is high because energy is expensive. Farming uses lots of energy. Farmers aren't raising their prices and making fistfuls of dollars, they're raising their prices and barely making ends meet.
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