[Jon Reitz]

"You know what makes me sad?"...

Anyone else notice that none of the car or truck manufacturers make standard shift vehicles anymore? It's been this way for 5-6 years now. Not even the foreign manufacturers make them. I wish someone made an SUV with a standard transmission, but you can hardly even buy a pickup truck with one. I’m waiting for AveragEd to climb on board with this one.

Thanks,

Jon Reitz

 

[School Teacher]

I bought a new Ford 8 passenger Clubwagon E-150 in 1983 with a 300 CID inline six and a 4-speed manual transmission. I got it at dealer cost on special order for about $12,500.

I drove that vehicle until 2002 and put over 330,000 miles on it with very few problems. I pulled a 3000 pound bass boat with it and I had to replace a bearing at the front and another at the back of the transmission.

I donated it to the DAV. The air conditioner still worked!

I pulled most of the maintenance on the vehicle myself. It did need a new clutch about every 100,000 miles.

Down shifting and double-clutching are a lost art today.

It finally rusted to pieces. I loved that old truck.

We now have a 2002 Toyota Tundra and a 2010 Toyota RAV-4. Each is an automatic as no manual transmission was available for the V-8 in the Tundra or the V-6 in the RAV-4. Both are excellent vehicles.

Ed Ward

 

[Steve A.]

Also had the 300 six and 4-speed manual in an E-150 new in 1982. Did go to a 3.50 over the standard 3.25 rear end ratio so as to not wear the clutch quite so much. Loved that van -- gussied up the inside myself, pretty nicely, I might add. Ford called the dealer 3 times to make sure there was no error on an XLT van with the six, manual and no air........... Kept it until 1998 but only had something over 65,000 miles.

 

[DecalDude]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh the memories of learning stick!!!!! From the old chevy truck to the Big block Trans Am that I had registered to mom(insurance reasons lmao).

Funny as all heck for the police to pull you over in a Black Trans Am for "Loud exhaust" and him find out its your MOMs car ROTFLMAO.

Jerry Lewis

 

[SCL]

My wife drives a 2008 Nissan Sentra SER with a 6 speed and my son has a 2006 SER with a six speed. My daughter wants nothing to do with them.

 

[hairtrigger]

03 chev s-10 with 5 speed trans & 4 cyl eng

 

[wm rike]

Yeah, manuals are fun, but honestly, the automatics are so good - as many speeds as you want, speed and efficiency. The autos are moving forward and the manuals are standing still. Anyone driven one of the dual-clutch automatics? Now, that's a transmission!

 

[Maurice]

Jon Reitz, foreign makers certainly do make standard shift. 90% of the vehicles in Britain are standard shift. Maurice ( The Brit. )

 

[halfmile]

Mileage is better with a stick.

If you drive enough highway it's the way to go. Too bad about availability.

Another advantage is if you do your own, remove/replace is much easier.

HM

 

[jdsfarms]

I have had a lot of pickups over the years and have always preferred a manual transmission,I found that they always got better fuel economy than the same pickup with an automatic.Jerry

 

[GW22]

One of my vehicles is a new Ford Fusion with a 4-cyl engine and manual 6-Speed.

Believe it or not, Ford claims it's HWY mileage is LESS for my manual trans than for the automatic. Torque converters are more efficient nowadays but I'm still skeptical. Final drive ratio is different on the two cars but it still doesn't quite make sense from an engineering standpoint. I think there might be some "marketing" influence at play here.

-Gary

 

[Ahab]

Better mileage, fun to drive, cheaper to buy ... BS!

When I was young, I preferred stick shift ... but now that I am old, fat and lazy ... I drive automatics!

 

[GW22]

Ahab:

Don't feel bad -- the "Automatics Only" club you're in now includes 93% of U.S. car buyers according to the salesman I bought from.

When I told him that this time I was only interested in looking at cars with manual transmsissions he replied, "Wow, there's one I never heard before."

-Gary

 

[miketmx]

I have a 2008 Jeep Patriot 4X4 with the 5 speed manual transaxle. I frequently get 30 mpg on the highway where the Jeeps with the CVT automatic get about 26 mpg. Our little Patriot is absolutely awesome in snow and ice.

 

[recurvyarcher]

Our newer Ford Ranger has a stick. Plastic parts in the clutch, though. Not a great design.

 

[Jon Reitz]

Maurice,

I'm referring to SUV-type vehicles or pickup trucks with either a V-6 or V-8 engine. There are still a few vehicles out there that do offer a stick shift, both foreign and domestic, but they are smaller than I would want to drive.

Brake components just plain last longer with a standard shift vehicle, but they’re becoming as rare as pay telephones anymore.

Jon Reitz

 

[dickgtax]

It would be too hard to shift while you're holding a cell phone to your ear

 

[hmb]

My SUV has a six speed auto trans and all wheel drive. Best car for driving in the snow that I have ever had. HMB

 

[rodbuster]

You can buy a Porsche 911 with a 6 speed stick. More of a drivers car with the stick versus the PDK trans, in my opinion. The new Ferrari 458 can only be had with the F1 trans, no more stick shift. What is the world coming to if you can't get a stick shift in a sports car?

 

[CalvinMD]

My dad had a full size Impala with a 327 and 3spd stick...long extinct now