I’m not that into the idea, and the simulation kind of ruins what I’m after anyway. I want to feel it when I get a good/bad shift and I want it to matter.
Sure, you can simulate the engine rumbling and the gears grinding. You can even rock the boat a bit with some hydraulics. When I shift “wrong” you can make me feel it for sure. But when I shift right, it’s not just smooth so that you can’t feel it. It’s smooth so that you can feel it ya know? (Okay maybe it wasn’t that smooth and what you’re really feeling is a slight clutch dump but wasn’t it fun)
When I learned how to drive, manual transmissions were higher performance and better fuel efficiency: side by side comparisons of the exact same model of car would show better 0-60 and quarter mile times, while having slightly better EPA fuel efficiency ratings, for the manual transmission.
At some point, though, the sheer number of gears in an automatic transmission surpassed those in the typical manual gearbox, and the average automatic today has 6 gears, up to 9 in some Mercedes and 10 in certain Ford and GM models. So they could start selecting gear ratios for better fuel efficiency, without “wasting” a valuable gear slot. There was a generation of Corvettes that was notorious for having a 6th gear that was worthless for actual performance but helped the car sneak by with a better highway fuel mileage rating.
And the automatics became much faster at shifting gears, with even the ultra high performance supercars shifting to paddle shifters where the driver could still control the gear, but with the shifting mechanism automated. Ferrari’s paddle shifter models started outperforming the traditional stick shift models in the early 2000’s, if I remember correctly. As those gear shifting technologies migrated over to regular automatics, the performance gap shrunk and then ended up going the other way.
At this point there’s not enough reason for a true manual stickshift transmission. It’s no longer faster or more economic, so it’s just a pure fun. Which is fine, but does make it hard to actually design one for any given model of car.
The Si and the R! They both sell like hotcakes, waited 8 months for my 2024 Si. I’m not sure why Honda doesn’t increase the volume, there’s still a lot of demand - maybe the margins aren’t as good as their SUVs :(
It’s been difficult to find manual transmisssions for a couple of decades here in the US. That ship has sailed.
While most of my life I vowed my kids would learn manual, I gave up on that idea because
My kids started driving in a world of automatics and will soon be in a world with no transmissions
I know there’s no reason for them to, but a small part of me wishes there was. Something so satisfying about being good at managing gears
I seem to recall some EV having a 2 speed transmission. A modern one, not like the Electrek that had a 5 speed manual
So true. I’ve never been more tempted to keep a classic car, even if it’s just an old shit box with manual transmission.
There are simulated transmissions for the weirdos.
I’m not that into the idea, and the simulation kind of ruins what I’m after anyway. I want to feel it when I get a good/bad shift and I want it to matter.
Sure, you can simulate the engine rumbling and the gears grinding. You can even rock the boat a bit with some hydraulics. When I shift “wrong” you can make me feel it for sure. But when I shift right, it’s not just smooth so that you can’t feel it. It’s smooth so that you can feel it ya know? (Okay maybe it wasn’t that smooth and what you’re really feeling is a slight clutch dump but wasn’t it fun)
I feel this post in my old bones.
Now THAT’S a statement made by the utterly deranged
When I learned how to drive, manual transmissions were higher performance and better fuel efficiency: side by side comparisons of the exact same model of car would show better 0-60 and quarter mile times, while having slightly better EPA fuel efficiency ratings, for the manual transmission.
At some point, though, the sheer number of gears in an automatic transmission surpassed those in the typical manual gearbox, and the average automatic today has 6 gears, up to 9 in some Mercedes and 10 in certain Ford and GM models. So they could start selecting gear ratios for better fuel efficiency, without “wasting” a valuable gear slot. There was a generation of Corvettes that was notorious for having a 6th gear that was worthless for actual performance but helped the car sneak by with a better highway fuel mileage rating.
And the automatics became much faster at shifting gears, with even the ultra high performance supercars shifting to paddle shifters where the driver could still control the gear, but with the shifting mechanism automated. Ferrari’s paddle shifter models started outperforming the traditional stick shift models in the early 2000’s, if I remember correctly. As those gear shifting technologies migrated over to regular automatics, the performance gap shrunk and then ended up going the other way.
At this point there’s not enough reason for a true manual stickshift transmission. It’s no longer faster or more economic, so it’s just a pure fun. Which is fine, but does make it hard to actually design one for any given model of car.
Isn’t the civic si series all manual?
The Si and the R! They both sell like hotcakes, waited 8 months for my 2024 Si. I’m not sure why Honda doesn’t increase the volume, there’s still a lot of demand - maybe the margins aren’t as good as their SUVs :(
Wow I had no idea, that’s crazy. I went with the 2024 sport touring because I do city driving 90% of the time, but that Si looked NICE