In some ways, the manual transmission stuck around much longer than it should have, given its replacement, the automatic, has lived alongside it for decades. The history of the automobile shows a trend toward more and more automation, and the manual is just one of the latest casualties. As managing editor Kurt Ernst already stated, that doesn't necessarily make an automatic more desirable. The death of the manual also won't affect the collector car hobby too much, and even if you steadfastly believe that sports cars need three pedals, you could always do your own transmission swap.
The manual is not quite dead, of course. There are still a few left, and I expect a couple of holdouts will remain as long as internal-combustion engines are sold. But the stick shift will live out its final years as a niche product.
Before you pour one out for your three-pedal homie, though, let's remember it for all the good times it has brought us and recognize that those good times don't necessarily have to end.
First, a brief autopsy. The manual transmission's eventual cause of death is best described as multimorbidity—the result of many factors. Fuel-economy standards led automakers to make the automatic transmission standard equipment as soon as it outperformed the manual on the EPA cycle. Enthusiast books touted the superior acceleration times of advanced slushboxes and dual-clutch gearboxes. (I shoulder some of that blame myself, having written plenty of automatic-transmission praise at Car and Driver.) Supercar and sports-car manufacturers marketed racing-style paddle shifters and were rewarded with new customers uninterested in the clutch pedal. Driver-assistance systems played a part, too, although they didn't have to: Mazda still offers adaptive cruise control with a manual. But mostly, the reason the manual all but vanished is because people stopped caring about how gears are selected in their cars.
Read on...
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