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The 'Death of the Stick Shift' is Almost Here for Americans (msn.com) 218

Posted by EditorDavid from the shifting-perceptions dept.
Last year just 0.6% of new vehicles made for U.S. customers were stick shifts, reports the Washington Post, citing preliminary government data.

"That's a precipitous drop from the 34.6 percent of vehicles with manual transmissions produced in 1980." [T]he stick shift's popularity hit multiple new lows in recent years, with no signs of a turnaround, thanks to new technologies and a rapidly changing marketplace. Buyers and automakers increasingly have turned to the sophisticated automatic drivetrains that now smoothly swap gears in fractions of a second and with better fuel efficiency. The average new vehicle today comes with seven gears, thanks to computers, twice as many as in 1980 and more gears than any ordinary driver would want to shift through using a manual gearbox. At the same time, sporty cars — the kind that buyers might demand a stick shift to drive — have fallen out of favor, replaced by interest in hulking SUVs, which are almost always automatics. The stick shift's demise has been hastened, too, by the rise of electric vehicles and increasingly autonomous vehicles. Neither have any need for a manual transmission...

Europe has seen a less dramatic decline in stick shifts, with manual transmissions dropping from 91 percent of car registrations in 2001 to 29 percent in 2024 among Europe's largest auto markets, according to industry analyst JATO Dynamics... Subaru made its name with manual cars. But the Japanese automaker stopped offering a manual Crosstrek with the 2023 model year, having already dropped that transmission from its Legacy, Outback and Forester models. Other automakers have followed the same path. Volkswagen announced that it plans this year to ditch its last U.S. stick-shift model, the Jetta GLI.
Even Toyota, Honda, and BMW have all reduced the number of cars for the U.S. market with a manual transmission, the article points out — leaving stick shift-loving Americans with a total of about 24 new-vehicle models to choose from. The articles adds that only 60% of Americans know how to drive a manual transmission (according to a survey from auto parts retailer AmericanMuscle): 83% for baby boomers but 39% for Gen Z. "Respondents were about evenly split on whether knowing how to drive a manual is an important life skill."

But Ford CEO Jim Farley said earlier this year he has no plans to make the Mustang automatic-only. "Out of our cold, dead hands will we not have a manual Mustang." Farley said.

The 'Death of the Stick Shift' is Almost Here for Americans More | Reply

The 'Death of the Stick Shift' is Almost Here for Americans

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  • Ferrari (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mhocker ( 607466 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @10:40AM (#66244708)

    Ferrari is bringing back a "manual" in the https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/... [ferrari.com] 12 Cilindri Manuale.

    I say "manual" in quotes because it's actually a dual clutch automatic that just happens to have an electronically linked, gated gear shift on it and a drive-by-wire clutch pedal. It can even be used in automatic mode. But it's a cool idea and might even be an improvement on the concept of a manual transmission.

    Let's see what the reviews say since I doubt I'll ever get a chance to drive one!

    • It sounds a lot like putting speakers in EVs to make vroom vroom noises. Whatever affection people have to it, the manual gearbox worked around a technical problem with engines and isn't in any way superior for driving. Yes having control over the engine is important, but the best option for that is pedal shifters. This seems like Ferrari chasing a nostalgia market rather than developing a performance car.

      But then this is the same Ferrari that just released the Luce so that would track.

      • Yes having control over the engine is important, but the best option for that is pedal shifters.

        I think you mean "paddle shifters" but some autos have a manual mode with the stick as well.

  • 60%? (Score:5, Funny)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @10:43AM (#66244714) Journal

    "only 60% of Americans know how to drive a manual transmission (according to a survey from auto parts retailer AmericanMuscle)"

    1) that seems like 60% of the readers of American Muscle
    2) 'know how to' is covering a lot of ground here. "Knows how to start a stick, and how to probably get it moving from level ground with 25% of killing it" maybe. Can confidently and reliably drive with a stick, knowing basic techniques? 25% or less, certainly.

    Having a stick shift is 100% the simplest security system you can have on a car in the US in 2026. Your car might still get broken into, but they'll abandon it quickly.

    • Re:60%? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mistergrumpy ( 7379416 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @11:15AM (#66244770)
      I think those numbers are crazy high too.

      I had to have a minor procedure at the hospital and they really want you to use their free valet parking. Not only could the attendant not drive a stick, it seemed like he had never seen or even heard of a manual transmission.

      Not long after that I was thinking about buying a new car and trading my manual in. The car dealer only had one salesman (out of about 10) who could drive it to the service bay so someone could inspect it.
      • I had a similar thing Japan to me. I went to a nice restaurant for my anniversary and used the valet. No problems when I got there but when I went to get my car after dinner it was taking way too long. After a little bit of hesitation the 19-20 year old valet admitted that he couldn't drive a stick and said that neither of the other two valets on duty could either. He asked if I could go get my own car. Last time we took my car out to eat.

      • I think those numbers are crazy high too.

        Just about every motorcycle rider has intimate knowledge of manual shifting. If they are included, 60 percent could be about right.

        note, there were some auto bikes, but not many.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Having a stick shift is 100% the simplest security system you can have on a car

      That and a choke knob.

    • I think the numbers are reasonable for people over 40 or 50. But for under 30, the number of people who know how to drive a stick must be really low. Given how rare stickshifts have been on the new car lots in the past 20 years, at least when I tried to buy a car the last few times my options were limited when it came to manual transmission. Dealers rarely had them or had the previous year model because it didn't sell.

      • In Germany we still have two types of licenses: one for automatic one for manual.
        Some people make both, I never drove an automatic.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      I have a friend who has driven a manual most of her adult life yet really doesn't know how to correctly run a manual. Or at least has a lot of bad habits. But hey it keeps the mechanics in business changing clutches.

  • Stick shift was how I learned but I never actually owned a stick shift vehicle myself. I learned on an old Datsun. All and all, it was 100% complete waste of time but I know how to do it.

    With EVs a real viable option, it's even more of a useless skill to force onto your child. What's next, making them learn how an abacus works? Yeah, real good use of time there.

    • >What's next, making them learn how an abacus works? Yeah, real good use of time there.

      I shall don my fedora for a moment and say, 'ecktually...'

      There's value in teaching kids how to use an abacus. I doubt anybody benefits much anymore from learning to use one like an expert, but for basic counting, place value, and addition / subtraction I'd consider it an excellent tool for starting kids down the road to mathematical literacy.

      Manual transmissions in a world where we're heading to EVs? Not so much. T

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Nah. Learn Chisanbop, Korean finger math, instead. An abacus you'll always have with you. Hopefully.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Maybe not an abacus, but definitely a slide rule!

    • Most people never learned how an abacus works. Despite the fact they might think they learned it.

      Abacuses were invented for odd number systems, like Roman numbers.

      Where basically every line on the abacus has a different base.

      If you learned a base 10 abacus, you basically learned nothing.

  • They're obsolete. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Striek ( 1811980 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @10:58AM (#66244730)

    I love manual transmissions. I love the feeling of using all four limbs to control the vehicle. But that's because I love driving. A manual transmission keeps me mroe involved with the act of driving, and it's part of what turns driving from a passive into an active activity for me. And no, I don't drive a sports car (2012 Outback, the last manual in Canada was sold in 2018 here).

    There is no conceivable scenario today in which a modern automatic transmission will be outperformed by a manual. Automatics are faster, more fuel efficient (have been for at least ten years now), and even cheaper now, and that one was a long time coming. Their reliability and dependability is at least on par now, and that too took a long time to achieve. There's just no reason to make manuals anymore, aside from a select few enthusiast cars (case in point the Mustang; the Miata is another example).

    But the real reasons? It's twofold:

    1: Fuel efficiency targets. Car manufacturers need to meet efficiency targets based on the entire fleet, and automatics are more efficient. They help bring the entire lineup's fuel mileage up.

    2: Safety features and self driving. Lane assist (for the most part), traffic jam assist, and park assist are all highly requested features that come to mind that simply cannot be offered with a manual transmission. Self drive is right out. Even emergency braking would be considerably tougher with a manual.

    But more than that, because they're more cost effective nowadays, almost nobody, outside of a very few people like myself who take pleasure in their daily drive, actually wants a manual any longer.

    • But more than that, because they're more cost effective nowadays, almost nobody, outside of a very few people like myself who take pleasure in their daily drive, actually wants a manual any longer.

      I've driven manuals all my life and enjoy them a lot, but my next car will still be an auto. Performance comes before nostalgia.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Convenience comes before the rare occasions when it's actually pleasurable to drive a standard day to day. I do not miss a clutch crawling along in traffic or cruising on the highway. And for the in-between bits my car has both a shift by wire stick and paddle shifters if I want to make vroom vroom noises and pretend I'm in F1.

        • I manually shift my autobox regularly. Not the entire time, but it spends some time in manual mode each and every drive. Vroom vroom noise are mandatory as well.

    • The increasing urbanization comes into it too. A stick shift in city traffic gets really annoying. A stick shift on the Winnemucca to Reno run is no problem at all, nor is it on the Albert Lea to Rapid City run.

      And they finally fixed the 'can't figure out what gear to be in going up this hill' problem. That happened sometime between 2008 and 2020. Now if only GM can figure out how to build one that lasts for more than 80,000 miles.

      Automatics still suck in the snow, but that's only a few times a year.

      • Re:They're obsolete. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @12:11PM (#66244890) Journal

        I've always said that if I lived in a desolate area, or my job was at the opposite end of a racetrack, I'd love a manual. In my real-world daily drive, it would be useless.

        I recently got a new vehicle with a manual shift mode on the automatic transmission. I tried it out thinking I might like to engine brake, or maybe I could get a more responsive shift when passing someone. Not worth it at all, having to juggle another set of responsibilities when trying to drive in a dynamic environment. People talk about being "connected to the car" but it just makes you distracted from the road.

        Compared to manual mode, much more preferable to flip the car into "Sport mode", which keeps you in a lower gear and can be flipped on/off at will.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dskoll ( 99328 )

        I drive a stick-shift in a city and it's not so bad. You get used to it.

        While I do like manual transmission cars, the one I own now is probably the last one I'll own because I expect my next car will be an EV. Or even if it's internal combustion, it's likely going to be hard/impossible to find one with a manual transmission.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Dual clutch manuals are better in every way than conventional manuals, so even if there was a case where manual had an advantage an old-fashioned manual still loses out. That is, except for the fun factor for some drivers. Racing hasn't used conventional manuals in decades.

    • There is just something awesome about using all four limbs to finely control a high powered machine. It is the closest I am likely to ever get to piloting a humanoid mech. Alas, you are right. Those days are gone.

    • I love hiking. I love the feeling of using all four limbs to control my locomotion. The main disadvantage is that it takes a long time and impractical to carry my groceries for several miles without melting the icecream.

    • There is no conceivable scenario today in which a modern automatic transmission will be outperformed by a manual.

      Well, there is one, but it's been a long time since I needed it. If you get your vehicle semi-stuck in a deeply rutted road (or off-road), with a manual transmission you can often "rock" it free: let out the clutch to start moving forward, push it in to roll back and up the other side, repeat to go forward again, increasing the travel each time until you get up and out of the rut. This can work well when you're stuck in a gravity well without enough friction to pull yourself out or even to build the momentu

      • That works for snow too.

        Another non-performance advantage is push or hill starts. When I was much younger I had a starter die on a road trip in a VW Beetle. As long as I could find a slight hill to park it on I was good (don't ask about filling the tank with the engine running).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Indeed "driving" as an active pastime is really gone in North America. It's been a real problem for car makers in the last couple of decades. They used to be able to advertise to and appeal to the driving lifestyle people. But recent generations just don't care that much about driving, other than being a means to an end. One car is very much like another. There's no lifestyle branding that works anymore. The number of teenagers getting drivers licenses has been falling for years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Agripa ( 139780 )

      Their reliability and dependability is at least on par now, and that too took a long time to achieve.

      The only failure I have ever experienced with a manual transmission is a worn main bearing, which considering that it was at 200+ thousand miles, could be considered wear-out. Clutches are a replacement item, like a timing belt.

      On the other hand, I have seen all kinds of automatic transmission failures, and most were essentially fatal because of repair cost.

      I might believe that comparison with front wheel drive vehicles where the manual transmission is part of the trans-axle.

      Also, a vehicle with a manual t

    • Their reliability and dependability is at least on par now, and that too took a long time to achieve.

      I've been married 40+ years. Until recently, I'd had manual shift cars (yes, including the Escort) and my wife has had automatics. While anecdotal, it's certainly been decades since we've had to have any significant transmission repair done - at all. With the manuals, obviously you're looking at clutches every so often.

      While I enjoy driving stick, when the time came that I was ready to admit we had to replace the Escort (2018-ish), I got an 2018 Camry - which is an automatic. Part of the thinking there was

    • Even emergency braking would be considerably tougher with a manual.

      Yeah it's rough. Having driven a car with AEB and a manual, and having had it activate in anger when getting cut off it isn't actually bad at all. Modern cars with these features almost certainly feature a auto stop engine (as did my car). The car simply slammed on the brakes and stopped the engine, and as soon as I put my foot in on the clutch the engine auto-started again. Likewise lane assist doesn't care what your engine is doing. The rest of your list is on point though.

      But more than that, because they're more cost effective nowadays

      That's a regional quirk due to p

  • We already have one, it's called the Mustang mach-e (though being one of the worst EVs I've driven maybe we shouldn't acknowledge it exists).

    The manual transmission is a work around for a technical problem with ICE engines. The modern automatic is a technically superior solution (with pedal shifters). The modern EV does away with the problem entirely.

    • The manual transmission is a work around for a technical problem with ICE engines. The modern automatic is a technically superior solution (with pedal shifters). The modern EV does away with the problem entirely.

      Not entirely, but mostly.

      https://www.caranddriver.com/n... [caranddriver.com]

      Of course I like shifting through gears so I consider their absence to be the real problem.

      • The whole market seems to be catering to you, I'm thinking of the CVTs with fake shifts. Personally I just want a car that performs well; I don't need to have an "experience" every time I crank up.

        I feel some of these trends are being driven by people under 50 not being paid enough to afford new vehicles. The industry is catering to guys who want the same Mustang or GTO they had a half-century ago. (Story of the world.) Which is a bizarre thing to be doing now given the crazy advancements in automotive tech

        • The whole market seems to be catering to you, I'm thinking of the CVTs with fake shifts.

          CVTs are for snowmobiles. I'd never own a car with one.

          The industry is catering to guys who want the same Mustang or GTO they had a half-century ago.

          I grew up with modified Fox body 5.0s. My nephew has a new 5.0 and it is very nice. I could totally be happy driving one, but I also love my M240i. Planning to upgrade to an M2 once the AWD variant starts production.

          Which is a bizarre thing to be doing now given the crazy advancements in automotive tech.

          Yeah. Growing up with cast iron carbureted pushrod V-8s I could not have dreamed of todays tech, and they were all manuals back then because the autos of the day sucked. My current all alloy DOHC 4-valve engine, twin scroll turbocharg

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jvp ( 27996 )

      > The manual transmission is a work around for a technical problem with ICE engines.

      Point of clarity: any transmission is "a work around" for that technical problem of needing torque multiplication at the drive wheels. And yes, EVs do away with that.

      Folks such as myself that prefer manual transmissions aren't concerned with that. Nor are they concerned with the ultimate performance of the car in question; of course a tuned planetary automatic or DCT will outperform it.

      IT'S FUN! Really. It's fun. It

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Yeah... the automatic only "Mustang" already exists thanks to Jim Farley's dumb idea of slapping the pony badge on an electric SUV. Which is wrong on so many levels. There should be no such thing as a Mustang with 4 doors, let alone one that looks like a jellybean shaped crossover.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )

        OH no, did the EV boogie man make an EV model of a car you like? tell, is this EV boogie man in the room with you right now?
        Electric mustang concept is fine. There implementation was poor.

  • I gave up on manual transmissions decades ago (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @11:00AM (#66244736)

    The biggest deterrent: Girlfriends and/or wives. They don't know how to operate one, and they have zero interest in learning how. Now you have all sorts of logistical problems.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      My dad bought a new truck years ago. The family tradition was that new vehicles always went to my mom and he got hand-me-downs. So he said, "I'm keeping this one for myself. I'm buying a stickshift." Problem was, my mom is a better manual transmission driver than my dad. It was the "no power steering" that sealed the deal.

    • Re:I gave up on manual transmissions decades ago (Score:5, Funny)

      by jvp ( 27996 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @11:42AM (#66244820)

      > The biggest deterrent: Girlfriends and/or wives. They don't know how to operate one

      I can counter this with one anecdotal, funny story: my good friend Brian and his (then) new 2010 Corvette ZR1. Only available with a manual (I had one, too). His wife brought him to the dealer in her SUV so he could pick the new car up and drive it back home. But: he'd not driven a manual in a very long time and was way, WAY out of practice.

      Stall. Stall. Jerky take offs and shifting, all the while his wife is behind him in her SUV. She finally has enough of the show and calls him, "Hey. Let me drive that thing back home. You're embarrassing me!"

      All these years later, he's still not lived that one down.

    • I drove a manual car for almost a decade. My wife practiced in a parking lot and only stalled it twice before getting the hang of first gear. I also live in area with some of the steepest streets in the country. 25% grade anyone?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )

      wow. Did no take like for sexist douches to post.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      One of the things that impressed my wife after our first date was that I had a manual transmission car. She had only driven manual transmission vehicles up until about 2 years ago when it was time to say farewell to her Honda Fit and there really wasn't a viable M/T option for her.

      Every female I know who's significant other has a M/T can drive that car when needed.

  • Shifters have gotten weird with electronically controlled automatics. Knobs, paddles, stalks, switches...

    I got into a BMW the other day and it took quite a while for me to find/figure out the little clear plastic "crystal" toggle switch on the console and its weird non PRNDL pattern. It was something like Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Brake and then a separate Park button. Huh? BMW makes some weird decisions, in my mind.

    Meanwhile Toyota still has a big honking handle shift stick for... you guessed it... electron

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      This.

      Give me a Lenco or a Unimog shifter forrest and I'm happy.

    • Haven't been in a new BMW but the ones 10 years ago weren't too weird. Land Rover had a totally bizarre circular knob that I couldn't figure out, though. It looked like what some cars have for infotainment navigation, which could be a disaster in waiting.

  • Technology marches forward, the gas mileage advantage faded years and years ago as automatics got more gears and overall just better. The reliability advantage might still be there slightly but its arguable that something like the Toyota hybrid transmission is even simpler and more reliable than even a manual gearbox.

    For people who enjoy driving as recreation and as sport manuals will always have a place but there are not really any reasons for it aside from personal preferences and really consumer choice

    • Slight reliability advantage? Entire makes of cars are consigned to the "never buy" pile because of the CVT they use. I loved the Outlander, would never own a CVT one.

      I bet it would be fun to be an owner of one of those, can't sell a non-running car, have to spend the few grand on a new transmission.

      • One brand, Nissan was, and I don't even think that's the case anymore. Also pretty niche example, Mitsubishi is #25 of selling car brands in the USA and their non-CVT cars don't exactly have a sterling reputation. Why not compare to Dodge too while we're at it if we want to lump all the shitty brands in there too.

        • Nissan and Mitsu are far from the only ones using CVTs, and CVTs they aren't are reliable or enjoyable to drive as traditional automatics.

          And I'm not sure why you single out Mitsubishi. The Outlander is a great car, it handles great, and I say this as an owner of an Evo X as my only car.

          The point remains is that all the gadgetry manufacturers are putting into their engines and transmissions, and all the plastic parts and 0 weight oils and "lifetime fluids" mean that your car is much more disposable than an

          • Same reason you are singling out a string of bad Nissan CVT's as indicative of the entirety of automatic transmissions. Every Toyota hybrid is a CVT and while CVTs are in use elsewhere they havent come close to supplanting tradtional automatics.

            I single out Mitsubishi because using them as an example to decry the idea that automatics are less reliable today when they are the #25 in sales is also just as much a cherry pick as me.

            all the plastic parts and 0 weight oils and "lifetime fluids" mean that your car is much more disposable than any time in history.

            I can agree lifetime fluids is about the dumbest thing car companies have done

      • It seems like CVTs are ok if you religiously change the fluid. I’m looking in your direction Nissan. But your typical Altima driver is not the type to preemptively change transmission fluid.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )

        lol, no. You watch too many youtube vidoes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Wait! What?

      I just used one this morning.

  • Nobody needs a fully semi-automatic vehicle.

    The roads would be a lot less crowded if all cars were stickshifts and those who couldn't handle one just took the bus.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Or if all cars were bicycles instead. Could happen if billionaires get their way.

      • All cars were train cars, and the highways were 6 track corridors.

        • I think CSX has moved personal cars for decades. Price quotes cheaper than drive-yourself cross-country. Riding trains W/smoking car is fun. 'Course then you miss the reason for owning a 4/5/6-speed manual tranny. You know, that jean/hunter-shirt local gal hitch-hiking on a strip of Rt-66 or the criminals who try carjacking in St Louis ... hopping death-wish turns on PCH at BigSur ... or that low-flying B-52 in Arizona back-country that clipped the car radio antenna ... very ed

    • I wouldn't mind that, but first you'd have to provide me with a bus.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )

        A contagion tube that slower and vastly more inconvenient. Plus a bigger polluter.
        People pushing for everyone to get on the bus have no clue about buses.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )

      lol, no. don't be daft. Manual transmission is an unneeded skill, not a hard skill.
      Do you think in the 70s and 80s there wasn't traffic?

  • I drove vehicles with manual transmissions for nearly 50 years. The last truck I had with a manual transmission I had to special order because that was the only way to get it. No dealer within 100 miles had anything available with a manual transmission unless it was a sports car or a sub-compact.

    • And often times, when you do find a manual transmission, it's a crappy toy-like experience, like on the last manual Accord. Then no enthusiast buys it, and manufacturers use that as proof no one wants them any more.

  • Manual transmissions are the ultimate theft deterrents. Most crime is committed by the young and...well...the supermajority of them can't drive a stick.

  • Stick driving requires some discipline (Score:3)

    by kencurry ( 471519 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @12:00PM (#66244868)
    You have to commit to this idea. You need to pay more attention to the traffic and be prepared for shifts, up or down, depending on what is the situation around your car. So for that reason I can see the EV crowd walking away and never looking back.

    But aside from the nostalgia (I learned on a stick, had a VW til I graduated from college) there is something to be said for relying on your own skills. The car cannot get there alone, you must take control and drive.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )

      No. This has nothing to do with EVs. It's an unneeded task anymore. People buying stick these day only do it for the attention of having stick.
      Manual transmission cars sales have declined every years since 1980. In 1980 it was only 35% of sales.

    • Paying attention to stick shifts is something done by people who only very rarely drive them. For people who drive stick shifts daily they don't think about them at all, it's just a natural reaction.

      Literally last week as I approached the intersection I put my foot on the clutch, it was just a completely unconscious automatic reaction. The WTF about this is I was driving my EV and there was no clutch. I just kicked the footwell for no reason.

      there is something to be said for relying on your own skills. The car cannot get there alone, you must take control and drive.

      There's nothing to be said about a pointless skill. A stick shift

  • My first car was a 1973 AMC Gremlin 3 speed stick with a straight six 232 engine. Go ahead and laugh, I sure did. But that ugly little demon was a dependable beast. I grew up helping my grandfather on his farm and learned to drive stick at a very early age due to the tractors I had to drive around. I was driving the 1962 Ford F100 stick shift farm truck all over the countryside by the time I was 12 (mostly to the grain mill and back towing wagons). One time in Memphis I was riding with a buddy that had a st

  • Stick shift is fine, becomes second nature. But it's damn annoying on hills. I hated driving a stick shift in SF. Even in Berkeley it was annoying. Also annoying in the mountains, where you have to keep downshifting and upshifting as the terrain vaies. On the other hand, or actually on the same hand, even though I haven't owned a stick shift in over 20 years, I still sometimes go for the gear knob in our Honda, because it seems like the Honda should be a stick.

    Fortunately, I never had occasion to drive

    • modern stick ( 2019 BMW) has hill-hold, really a game changer. I remember driving in my VW in SF years ago. White knuckled yanks on the hand brake, ay yay yay!

  • Broke my left leg some years ago while out by myself on the family farm. Drove myself to the local hospital in a Ford Ranger w/ a stick shift. Started it out in the field using my right leg to operate the clutch and my fingers to run the gas. Not hard to shift up w/ out using the clutch, but shifting down is a bear so I just cruised through a couple of stop signs. Finally stalled it out right in front of the ER doors.

    I once had an embarrassed restaurant maitre d' ask me to park my own car since their valet

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      but shifting down is a bear so I just cruised through a couple of stop signs

      Git gud.

      I tore my left knee up skiing years ago (torn ACL). The ski area first aid people put me in a temporary brace and asked me how I was going to get home. "Just take me out to my car and I can still drive it." It's an FJ40 (stick). Fortunately, there are only a few lights and stop signs between the parking lot and my home about 60 miles away.

      Down shifting isn't difficult. Just pop the stick out of gear and you can feel when the synchros want to slip into the next lower one by nudging the throttle. St

  • It's a more difficult thing that people do no need, so yes it's dying . duh.

  • People from the US have been made fun of for being unable to drive a stick shift for decades. You can start mourning its death, when it vanishes from European streets.

  • It's just a matter of time. You aren't going to ae a car that receives less then 1 percent of sales. For example.

    • It's just a matter of time. You aren't going to ae a car that receives less then 1 percent of sales. For example.

      25-30% of 5.0 Mustang sales are manuals.

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