It seems that stick shift has become a sticking point, at least for American car buyers. Throughout 2019, less than 2% of all the cars sold in the US had a manual transmission. This sad picture includes everything from cute two-seater commuters to — surprisingly enough — multi-million dollar super cars built for ultimate performance.
But aside from enthusiasts like myself, it seems no one cares too much about this shift away from manual transmissions. According to this video report by CNBC (embedded below), the fact that demand is in free-fall suggests that Americans on the whole just don’t enjoy driving stick anymore. And it stands to reason that as more and more people live their lives without learning to drive them, there would be a decline in the number of teachers and proponents. It’s a supply and demand problem starring the chicken and the egg.
But giving up the stick is one more example of giving up control over the vehicle. It’s not something everyone cares about, but those that do care a lot. Let’s grind through the ebb and flow of the manual transmission — more lovingly called the stick shift.
Automotive Nirvana
Sure, it’s tough to grind your way through the process of learning to drive a manual. The curve is steep, and in a way, the reward is a lifetime of extra work to operate the car. But I don’t see it that way. Yes, the manual transmission requires constant effort and attention, especially in stop-and-go traffic, but the instincts and physical motions that move the car quickly become second nature. It sounds a bit touchy-feely, but you really are one with the car when you drive a manual. Plus, the limb interdependence you gain from developing this coordination can make you feel like { insert: whomever you think is the best drummer of all time } as you’re shifting and drifting.
The way I see it, the advantages of increased control far outweigh the disadvantages of inconvenience. I don’t think we should lull ourselves into a false sense of security where cars are concerned and keep giving up control little by little. We are strapping ourselves and our children into two-thousand pound death machines here — we should want as much control as possible.
It’s ultimately my car and my safety that are at stake, and having such control over the car gives me peace of mind. I’m not out there racing or going off-road or anything, but I live in a place that gets a wide variety of winter weather, and I want a car that’s good in the clutch. With a stick, I can downshift to slow the car down instead of just hitting the anti-lock brakes and hoping for the best. Plus, if the battery dies in the middle of nowhere, chances are good that I can roll-start the car given a sufficient hill.
Automatic for the People
There’s more to the technological shift than the convenience versus control debate. The automatic transmission appeared around 1940 and was a total luxury item at first, kind of like cars that parallel park themselves today.
For the first several decades of of their existence, automatics were seen as mechanically inferior compared to the precision of manual transmission cars. But people kept buying automatics, and automatic transmission technology kept driving forward, fueled by the average consumer’s interest in the undeniable convenience. Now, automatic transmissions are largely computer-controlled, and it’s impossible to argue that a human can shift faster.
As the video points out, there are some cars that straddle the line between manual and automatic in an attempt to balance the power between man and machine. Some of them are semi-automatic, meaning you have a little more control than just downshifting from D to L on a hill, but there’s only one clutch. My husband’s Acura RSX is a semi-manual — an automatic with a manual mode that lets you flick the gear shifter up and down (the wrong way!) to change gears. It has two clutches, but both are computer controlled, so it’s pretty fake feeling compared to total mechanical control of a true manual.
A Tale of Two Continents
The decline of the stick shift seems to be a strictly American phenomenon, which is somewhat ironic given the history of American car culture. The stick still has a firm stake in European car markets, though.
Given that hills and stop-and-go traffic exist there, too, I figure the downshift in American sales of manuals must be a matter of taste, or come down to lifestyle differences.
In the UK, automatics are still a sort of luxury. If you learn on an automatic, your license reflects that — and you’re simply not allowed to drive a manual. It’s difficult to imagine the opposite — as in, needing a special license to drive a stick in the States, but if it came to that, I would obtain it quickly and carry it proudly.
We taught our daughter to drive stick … a Civic Hatchback. On one hand, she was excited to be “special” and on the other hand…it was a bit of a challenge (it’s a bit hilly around here). When it got totalled, we gave her our Vibe (also stick) and got ourselves a Civic Si. Without getting the mid-life crisis trim level, it’s about impossible to find something that’s stick and has seat heaters.
It does appear to be a dying art, but I really think it adds to the situational awareness of driving.
I insisted that our daughter take her Illinois driver’s test on my Acura Integra RS-X with a stick. She passed first time. When I loaned her my car to drive to high school, her male classmates were shocked that a girl drove stick.
In South Africa the majority of cars has a manual transmission as we call it. You know the one with the clutch. I personlly have a Suzuki Swift with a manual gearbox and drive it as I was taught by my Dad in the late 80″s. This is the rule and I will most certainly teach my boys the same. 1st is to get the wheels turning only. Ypu drive in the other gears. 4th is only used if you are over 60km/h. 5th is only engaged over 80km/h or for coasting downhill. Never engage Reverse while the wheels are turning. And this is the most important rule. Always take your foot off the clutch once you done changing gears. Never rest your foot on the clutxh while driving. NEVER!
In Brazil it used to be the case that having an automatic was a luxury 15 years ago but when I went back this year, even the relatively stingy Taxi driver I’ve known for the past 18 years, and who used to pop his car in neutral and cost down long hills and pop it back in gear to start it… well he now drives an automatic Toyota Camry (he doesn’t know how to use the radio, but he drives like a wild man at times so it’s for the best).
I would say for now they are still considered luxuries, but soon… that will change, as automakers prefer to standardize.
I live in Portugal, Europe. They teach you, and it is a requirement, to use the engine to break; it’s considered the most secure way of holding back a car down hill. There’s even a road sign saying “keep in low gear” on high grade down hill roads. Your brain ends up simply automating gear shifting so it’s a non issue. Manual let’s you drive in a more fun way if you want.
I always thought in America you guys used auto transmissions because of safety / liability, like in you can never let the engine stop while starting to move (here, if you do, in whatever situation, in the driving exam, you fail the exam right there). That’s the critical skill with a manual transmission… starting to move up a high grade hill while having cars behind you, or control the car to be stopped (this we call, literally translating, “to make the clutch’s point”).
Some of you have never driven down a sketchy, 1 1/2 to 3/4 of a lane mountain pass in a blizzard, and it shows! Subaru is a great car, and popular here for the snowboarders. But, there’s real snow out there that cars just aren’t going to literally plow through. You know you’re having a good time when you have to winch your 4wd out of a snowbank! 😆
i figure the internal combustion engine will fall out of favor within a few decades anyway, at least for commuter vehicles. when you got solid state batteries, modern nuclear power plants, possibly fusion if iter isnt a flop (and if no nuclear you still benefit from the economy of scale burning fuel in a power plant with modern environmental controls), better infrastructure for evs, and the costs are likely to come down quite a bit. and when everyone’s in electrics the whole “save the manual” debate will be moot, as you generally dont need one with evs.
Funny thing though, “So you want to do an EV conversion, first find a car with a manual transmission….” LOL
Having been a truck driver for the last 26 years, we resisted-at first-the move to automatic truck transmissions. However, once we got stuck in traffic without the old 10 to 13 speeds, we all became believers! And yet we still disparage the newbies who CAN’T drive a manual transmission. With a splitter, there’s truly an art to negotiating between the low side and the high side in traffic! But that just means I enjoy driving my 6-speed Honda Fit even more-zippy and responsive!
My dad taught us on manuals, and in driver’s Ed we also used a manual and automatic. First few years of our marriage all we had was an o’ Ford truck (manual brakes, manual trans, manual steering, two wheel drive). Finally we got a car and automatic. See we had ‘enough’ of standards. Comes a point in life where standards are to much ‘work’. Winter time driving is so much easier. Got a 4×4 auto truck and so much easier on hills. No longer grumbled about going to work, heading ‘up town’ and worrying about stop lights, hoping not to ‘stop’ on the steep incline especially in the winter…. No no going back to a ‘standard’. Now I just enjoy the trip(s) summer or winter.
It’s progress, get used to it. Let’s get starting handles back and hand operated windscreen wipers too.
I come from the country of the stick drivers, Germany, and i want my transmission. Why do something, like stirring up your gas tank, that technology can do way better for you? And with electric cars on the rise the stick will vanish anyway.
Price:
Automatic: $5000 and up. Replacing a 6 speed automatic after you have owned the vehicle for over 10 years = more then the cost of the vehicle.
Manual: 200 bux….
The real problem is that cars are not automatic enough. Most driving in the UK consists of sitting in traffic on overcrowded and poorly planned and unmaintained road systems. My kind of automatic would allow me to lounge across the back seats doing the crossword while the car took care of the trip without input from me.
I don’t think less people are learning to drive stick, I think more people are buying used stickshift cars then new because auto makers don’t make manual cars for the cheap anymore.
Modern automatic transmissions get on average better gas mileage than their manual counterparts. Some of them also have many more gears and very small spans for the gears, almost like in an agricultural tractor. In a tractor you have a lot of gears because the PTO and to some extent the hydraulics require a certain engine speed. You set the drive speed mostly with the transmission. In cars the engine operates in its most efficient spot and the gears let you drive around that.
There is no question sticks are fun, and sometimes useful. Our two fun cars, my vette and her Z car are both stick, as is my 4×4 truck, though next truck may be an automatic. Our daily drivers on the other hand are all autos. Even in the small city we shop in, traffic and red light make a manual transmission suck. One of my cycle friends used to complain that driving through downtown hurt his clutch wrist on his harley. There is no question that for in town an auto is a lot easier.
My fav though and it was just about car jack proof was my old Chevy truck. It had a 3 on the tree shifter and if you did not know exactly where to drop the lever you would get the shift levers stuck between gears and you would have to get under the thing with a big screwdriver and shove one of the levers forward or back until it was freed up again.
Driven stick my whole life. Love em. Never want an automatic again.
Also, there’s nothing like going into a corner on a loose substrate road and dropping down a gear and pitching that bitch sideways.
For stick-shift to be so unpopular…. Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond sure did make a career and one of the most popular television shows ever out of sloshing cars and other vehicles around side to side… I should re-watch the entire series and do a tally of stick to auto cars featured.
Not to mention, even though less than 2% of NEW CARS sold are stick, there are exponentially more than that that are BUILT or REBUILT to be manual transmissions.
I will also mention, for eco-warriors, that buying a used car saves a ton of carbon debt. Buying a stick, saves even more carbon. I can get MUCH better gas mileage than the sticker rating on a manual, despite having a heavy foot sometimes. That never happens on an automatic or hybrid. On those cars, heavy foot = crap mileage. This is mostly due to the fact that ICE engines (in general) operate at their highest efficiency rating when at about 80% of their maximum output. And the basic gearing and programming of the car. So basically line up your rev counter between the rpm’s that output the highest torque curve and shift at the top of said torque curve.
Also, I know that THIS POINT is going to be lost on 99% of people… If you PAY ATTENTION to the lights in your town you will have noticed that they are all on a timer. You can time your pace with the lights so you A) never really have to stop, you can pop it in neutral and coast, breaking early and gently so you don’t lose that rolling momentum, and B) accelerate fast enough and hit the proper speed in order to make the next green light before it changes.
In the town i currently live in, there is a huge highway with an irresponsible amount of red lights all up and down it. People get up to 60, race to the next red light, then stop for 2 or 3 minutes, then do it again. The road is so straight and long, you can see some 3-5 miles of lights ahead. For these, I simply ‘stay behind the pack’ and coast it out a bit slower. I literally never have to stop, and I save tons of wear on my clutch.
These methods save a ton of fuel, and are made much easier with a manual transmission. Where you choose when to shift, or to just not be in gear at all.
As for traffic jams…. You can usually just toss it in 2nd and leave it to sort of idle by looking not one car head, but some 50 cars ahead… watch the waves of break lights and leave plenty of space in front of you. you’ll see truckers doing the same “pacing” technique.. until some moron cuts them off. Which brings me to my next point… driving on the highway is more about the empty space you leave around your car than it is about the space your car occupies. Most people just spread out left to right, ride asses and do wtf ever they want… which is why we have traffic jams. Leave room for other cars to get in and out of the ramps, leave the left lane wide open for faster traffic. if someone is behind you, get out of the way. If you don’t get out of the way, you are literally trying to cause an accident. As far as passing goes… put your foot down and get around them. Nobody wants to sit behind your crappy car and wait 30 minutes for you to try and pass a damn truck at .02mph faster than the truck.
lastly, in America, we teach people to obey the signals. once. when they are 15. Driving education should be continual, and more rigorous. It would probably benefit a lot of people to see the mutilation of accidents up close and in person as well as getting into accidents on purpose. Yes, get in a car and smash that wall at 35mph.
I could honestly say that I think forcing people to drive manual transmission cars, would make them MUCH better drivers. It also raises the barrier to entry. You have to put in more effort to stop and go, than just pushing a button with your foot, so it makes people think more about the decisions they make.
I’m euroean, italian, and we have alwais had stick shifts. 95% of cars on the market have stick.
We think that automatics are for lazy old businness men or ladies, or just americans.
My wife used an automatic car for few years but we didn’t appreciate it. Now she drives stick again.
I learned to drive with a car that had 3-on-the-tree. My grandmother drove it like an automatic, though.
I can’t believe there are so many 911s and Corvettes with automatics. It’s pathetic. If you don’t want to be bothered by actual driving but want to spend a lot of money, get a Bentley or something.
I am currently shopping for a sedan with a manual transmission and they are hard to find. The only car I have found near me that I was interested in was a Civic SI. I like it but not having any luck finding something else to compare to it. Like an Accord 2.0t with manual or a Genesis G70 with manual. Or a Kia Forte GT with manual. I am currently still driving the 2006 Mazda 3 sedan with manual that I bought new. Mazda 3 or 6 sedan was what I wanted but they are no longer offered with a manual, only the highest priced trim in the hatchback. I don’t like the Mazda hatchback. I can’t even find a Corolla sedan with a manual. I would like something with more horsepower than the Corolla but at least it still has a naturally aspirated motor.
I get very upset when a manufacturer makes a manual transmission model for elsewhere in the world and won’t bring it to the US because they have to “certify” that model in addition to the automatic version. We’d have more choices here if our government eliminated stupid rules that consider an automatic vs. a manual model as different cars. Do they certify sunroof and no-sunroof models as separate as well? I won’t buy automatic, and my list of choices is about seven because I need either front or all-wheel drive because of Midwest snows. And yes, I’ll also buy winter tires, because – snow. Good news – MINI is bringing manuals back for 2021!
it’s more about the gas mileage and the epa standards at this point. but there isn’t a single country in the EU that doesn’t have similar regulations. I honestly think they don’t do it because americans are generally not interested in doing anything manually.
also, bad news. mini’s are overpriced piles of BMW garbage. BMW doesn’t know how to make a car that will do over 200k miles. Unlike Japanese designed engines. They’ll buy the brakes, calipers, rotors, control devices, and 1000 other components from Toyota, but they won’t give in and buy an engine that will actually last as long as the rest of the car. A mini was made to be an affordable, reliable, zippy ride. Now it’s just an overpriced pile of crap that weighs just as much as every other car, and really is meant for the hipster children of rich white people. If the car were actually competing on the level of a corolla or even the tiny roller skates in price, then I might consider it an actual mini. But BMW can’t seem to make a single damn car that’s affordable for real people.
IMO the car that best fits as the Classic Mini’s spiritual successor…. is the Nissan Micra
One of the weirdest things I’ve found about Europeans vs. Americans on automatics is that generally, Europe likes to make fun of the US for doing things the hard way. Like the metric system. But then when the situation is reversed with transmissions…the Americans are still wrong. Weird double standard. I mean, it’s not like it’s a super-special skill, and you don’t lose Cool Points™ for driving a manual—something that literally everyone regardless of country did every day for decades.
I have driven a stick all my life! I feel i have better control w a stick. I hate that sticks r Becoming harder to find. As of now, when i do trade in my ‘07 stick corolla, i will b looking for another manual transmission. Ppl hav preferences, n mine is for a manual trans…. always will b till im too old to push in the clutch!
As an old school driver ,I miss the feel of manual clutch linkage , hydraulic clutches feel like stepping on a marshmallow. You can’t speed shift like the old muscle cars ,back then when you were racing ,when you shift you never lift off the throttle. It’s called speed shifting ,I still have a 1972 Pontiac 455H.O. with a m-21 Muncie. The clutch is stiff but I like the feel of it because you can feel the pressure plate. I also have a 1990 ZR-1 Corvette ,it has a hydraulic clutch and it’s good but soft feel. As far as 5th and 6th gears go ,can’t really use them so much. The LT5 redlines at 7200 rpm , keeping my manual transmissions.
I’m a military brat. I had to learn on a standard to get a international license. To this day I still drive a “stick shift”. I don’t know what to do with my right hand and left foot in an automatic and I find they shift to slow for my taste. I’ve always gone with Toyota’s or Subaru’s 4 cylinder – 5 speeds. Damn dependable, lower maintainence cost – longer life on the engine and transmission. In the end, manuals are just so much fun to drive.
‘American’ automatic (hydrodynamic slush-box) or centrifugal clutch < Manual stick or pedal shift < DCT automatic.
I was sceptical of DCT for bikes after riding a CVT scooter, but it's won me over. Even at ultra low speeds where I'd normally just be feathering the clutch at idle I can still do well enough with DCT, and for all other actual riding it's excellent.
[quote]I could honestly say that I think forcing people to drive manual transmission cars, would make them MUCH better drivers.[/quote] You have a point (still drive my automatics :) ) …. I can take my hand off the wheel to eat a sandwich and not worry about grabbing for gears… I could say the same with all those ‘new’ safety and self driving features. The more of this stuff we put on vehicles, people will pay less attention to driving. You already see that with ‘the almost’ self driving cars and the reason given for ‘accidents’. A catch 22.
1/4 of the way through and I’m sick of, ‘clutch replacement vs brakes.’ THAT WASN’T THE QUESTION! It is a mere ancillary! The question Y’all are tending to promote woulda, shuda cuda’ve been;
Replacing a clutch and truing the flywheel if necessary or deglazing it, versus, changing bands in an AT. There’re two way to determine the bands’ adjustments. One requires 400psi test gear. The other, gap measurement and experience.
I can do the former. My departed father and few others could do the latter. There’s your labor… $4 hours of 100-150 shop-time vesus, $25 & this may take me an hour or 2, dear… Oh, and toss in a $15 throw-out bearing for grins. And a 6 pack. Make it a good one. I’m saving a lot, here.
My wife’s lil Ford Focus wagon many years back said in the maual that up to 60% of its power was wasted in heavy acceleration in 1st. Many tiny pickups do fine with a 4-banger and a stick but NEED a 6 if fitted w an automatic.
So now, it’s neigh impossible to get a 4 if you want economy!!! Automatics fit some situations and not others/MINE.
I drove dump trucks for awhile and would get accused of having an automatic transmission. I only speedshift in big trucks and use the jake brake to drop motor speed quickly, I’d pull away from guys in same truck and it looked smooth there was no slowing between gears. With the mack trans you didn’t even need the clutch to start, throw it in low low real fast and it just goes right in zero grinding. If you’ve never driven a mack that can be shifted in reverse, its an experience kind of weird going through the gears backing up to about 45mph. Yes the Speedo works in reverse in the Granite cabs. Better know who and what’s around you though! I got Ford Probe LX with the 3.0 V6, it’s a fun car to drive never thought I’d like a fwd car. You can pull 3rd gear around some tight corners and it will pull right from idle til you have to change to 4th. The Vulcan motor has most of its torque at real low rpm. I hardly need to go above 3000 rpm and its moving, while the Honda next to me at the light is screaming because he thought it was a race!
1 to 5 are good but R is for Racing
This discounts the fact that for decades now most dealers simply do not purchase manual transmission vehicles, causing them to come at the premium of a custom order.
I’m confused about your use of the word “premium.” Do you mean “premium price?” If so, here’s why I disagree: a car bought by a dealership usually means interest payments to the bank or whoever finances the dealership’s inventory. Those eat into dealershop profits. If I walk into a dealership and order a manual transmission vehicle, they won’t be burdened by any interest payments because the car won’t sit on their lot for even a week. I’ll be there with check in hand when it arrives (after prepping). In fact, for saving the dealership interest payments, everyone who orders a custom-configured vehicle should get a “no interest payments for us” discount. Where do I have this wrong?
As european I learned to drive stick and I drove stick for years in my parents cars when I lived with them. My dad swears by it and goes on how great the clutch on some old volvo is but I honestly don’t get the appeal. It’s a chore to do something that a computer is just better at. I guess switching gears manually is just something car people enjoy doing.
Or it’s an elitism thing, idk.