"Ha ha ha! Look, what kind of carjacker are you if you can't drive a stick? .."

A slushbox sissy....carjacker that is.

↓↑report

i remember those lines from that movie every time i see an automatic car :)

↓↑report

Manuals are going to come to an end.

#1 high end supercars have too much torque and power to be entrusted to a manual transmission or rear wheel drive. That's why Veyron's and other high speed cars have automatics and 4 wheel drive.

#2 Most people in America are trained to drive in Toyota automatics or Honda automatics.

↓↑report

Manuals will never come to an end. I personally learned to drive on a car that was nearly 25 years old; it was a 3-speed on the column and a 6.4L in displacement, while many of my friends were parallel parking Cavaliers and Escorts. Why? My father was an automotive enthusiast. Perhaps a poor one, but he loved cars and so do I. And so will my kids.

Manuals are for those who love to drive. Not necessarily for those who love to drive the fastest, as technology has proven to be quicker to shift than the human wrist these days. However, if you like to be connected to the machine, you will always prefer the clutch and shifter. I for one will not care for the few tenths an "automated manual" might gain me, or how much more convenient in city traffic it might be to not have to worry with the clutch. Because a manual transmission isn't really about performance, it's about enjoying the drive.

I was raised on real iron, not an Xbox.

↓↑report

This actually happened to a friend of mine a few years back. The funny thing is she's also a nurse. Two carjackers pulled a gun on her as she was getting out of the car at home, jumped in and then promptly bailed when they realized it was a stick. It was the most hilarious attempted robbery ever. We still tell this story every chance we get... it never gets old.

↓↑report

Not only are manuals coming to an end, eventually transmissions are coming to an end (whether you believe in range extended EVs, BEVs or FCVs, they're all electrically driven with either a fixed forward gear, or direct-drive electric motors at the wheels/on CV shafts). Driving _IS_ fun with only 1 gear. You still get throttle/accelerator controlled weight transfer and engine braking, you just don't have to work an extra pedal and push a stick through an invisible maze, allowing you to focus and have lots of fun slinging the vehicle around.

↓↑report

Manual transmission gives you a lot of freedom. They will never go to end. They are cheaper, easier to handle, to feel the car.
Automatic one on sport cars is for moneybags, who are not able learn to drive, but want to boast of their power.

↓↑report

Burnt clutch - user error

Breaking down - a function of the motor, not the transmission.

↓↑report

awww mike got his automatic driving feelings hurt.

↓↑report

My in-laws have a manual Passat diesel with 300,000 mi on the odometer and the original clutch still in place. They bought the car new.

Clutch wear is user error. Some transmissions are poorly designed and can't handle the forces of the engine at full load when being abused (i.e. 2004 Subaru WRX transmissions when launched at mid-RPM without clutch feathering: the AWD tires grab, and the clutch grabs, so the only point that can give way are the gear cogs ... *tink tink clatter... bog*.) But again, that's usually user error. No matter how crappy something is, it will last if the person treats it appropriately, just ask an archaeologist.

↓↑report

That's ridiculous. The driveshaft on a friend's Land Rover. His car was thus broken down on the side of the road even though the engine was fine, and the transmission was too! A break down can be due to non-engine reasons.

Wrecking clutches prematurely is user error in my book. But they all go eventually. Automatic transmissions can go 100,000 miles easy, and I'd say about about half of manuals have a new clutch within 100,000 miles.

↓↑report

James, if it's only user error, why do cars in Le Mans, ALMS and Grand Am have clutches go out during races? Those clutches are controlled by the computer.

Face it, a clutch is a wear item, it won't last forever.

↓↑report

And in the unlikely event a good driver does burn out a clutch at 200,000 miles, how much will it cost him to replace it at a garage? $400, maybe $500. How much is it to fix an automatic when it needs to be replaced? $3000, $4000 or more, not to mention the $1000 option to start with...sounds like a bargain.

↓↑report

Let me add to the "user error" comment.

I had an '89 Taurus SHO, a car that was notorious for wrecking clutches. I bought it at 68,000 miles and it was already on its third clutch. At 90,000 miles the transmission failed when I was almost broke. The tech showed me that my clutch was 90% worn and told me I should replace it along with the tranny. Being nearly broke at the time, I didn't.

I got rid of the car at 160,000 or so and the same clutch was still working just fine with no slipping, chattering, or noise. Kind treatment of your clutch FTW.

↓↑report

James, if it's only user error, why do cars in Le Mans, ALMS and Grand Am have clutches go out during races? Those clutches are controlled by the computer.

Racing is a beautiful example of beating the hell out of a clutch. There are no real life circumstances that anyone would shift like that.

↓↑report

user error or not, you're still paying to fix it. besides, I'll trust a computer to shift faster than any human, it's come to the point now where automatic trannies shift faster and are more efficient than their manual counterparts, so paying the extra $1000 or so is well worth it.

↓↑report

I went thru 3 clutches in as many years in a GTI during my youth. I now have a Mazda with 160000 on the original clutch.

Premature clutch wear is definetly user error.

↓↑report