If you consider how many SUVS are out on the road and driven by mid-aged women who want to do their makeup and talk on the cell phone...they'd need an extra arm or 4 to be able to shift and do all that.

Consider all the senior citizens that drive town cars and caddies...

Consider all the young girls that go out and by used automatic eclipses


I'd say that it might be a bit high, maybe only 90%.

I'd bet that the majority of manual drivers are men and that there are some very few, very cool(like the girls here on the jet) that drive sticks.

Also, think about all the cars now that are Auto-manuals...like the bmw m3 w/ SMG, the celica with the paddles...the mazdas with the auto-manuals...

Many more cars are now automatics with eletronic manuals.

Edit: I forgot to mention that most men drive pickups(atleast what I see) and if they are disels, they are manuals...so I wonder if those count or if they are not considered cars.

 

I almost believe it 'cause of all the suv(s) I see anymore. Soccer moms don't row through gears. Still too high of a %.

 

Dont think i will ever buy an auto. Unless its the family car, i dont see the point. I dont mind shifting a bit. Then again, im only 18. L8er Jon

 

Unless I lose a leg, I'll never buy an automatic.

America is becoming a shiftless society. Go manual!

 

Yea, just go check out a new car lot. It's pretty hard to find anything with a manual. Especially an SUV. Plus, many cars above economy size, except for sports or muscle cars, aren't even available with a manual. And if a manual is available, its going to be hard to find one on a lot.

I think its somewhat of a money making scheme by the dealers and the OEM's. An automatic tranny adds more to the sticker. So there's more profit. That's what they build and put on the lots because they know we'll buy them. If they were to offer more manual transmission cars, I firmly believe that they'd sell just as many cars. But since they have us as a society hooked on the auto, they win.

So completely opposite of what I saw in Germany where they actually drive their cars instead of just being passengers. My rental 206 was a manual and I would have had to upgrade to get an auto. Every single taxi I rode in was a manual. All of my co-workers cars that I rode in were manuals. The only automatics I saw were in our company cars (A4's and A6's with the auto/manual thingy).

 

America is becoming a shiftless society. Go manual!

My girlfriend drives a stick better than me..

I can also see that being correct. Out of all the cars in the parking lot of my residence hall (390 spots), I'd say 384 are auto's.

 

Yea, just go check out a new car lot. It's pretty hard to find anything with a manual. Especially an SUV. Plus, many cars above economy size, except for sports or muscle cars, aren't even available with a manual. And if a manual is available, its going to be hard to find one on a lot.

I think its somewhat of a money making scheme by the dealers and the OEM's. An automatic tranny adds more to the sticker. So there's more profit. That's what they build and put on the lots because they know we'll buy them. If they were to offer more manual transmission cars, I firmly believe that they'd sell just as many cars. But since they have us as a society hooked on the auto, they win.

So completely opposite of what I saw in Germany where they actually drive their cars instead of just being passengers. My rental 206 was a manual and I would have had to upgrade to get an auto. Every single taxi I rode in was a manual. All of my co-workers cars that I rode in were manuals. The only automatics I saw were in our company cars (A4's and A6's with the auto/manual thingy).

Yea...lol...it wasn't the Germans who developed the cupholder or drive-thrus. I wish more people would stick to driving when they are in the left seat of a vehicle instead of talking on a cell phone, putting on makeup, shaving, watching movies, etc. Its getting ridiculous.

 

If you consider how many SUVS are out on the road and driven by mid-aged women who want to do their makeup and talk on the cell phone...they'd need an extra arm or 4 to be able to shift and do all that.

Consider all the senior citizens that drive town cars and caddies...

Consider all the young girls that go out and by used automatic eclipses


I'd say that it might be a bit high, maybe only 90%.

I'd bet that the majority of manual drivers are men and that there are some very few, very cool(like the girls here on the jet) that drive sticks.

Also, think about all the cars now that are Auto-manuals...like the bmw m3 w/ SMG, the celica with the paddles...the mazdas with the auto-manuals...

Many more cars are now automatics with eletronic manuals.

Edit: I forgot to mention that most men drive pickups(atleast what I see) and if they are disels, they are manuals...so I wonder if those count or if they are not considered cars.

my dads caddie cts is manual and a sweet ride. everything else you said is true

 

It boogles my mind that people want to pay EXTRA for automatics

 

Also, think about all the cars now that are Auto-manuals...like the bmw m3 w/ SMG, the celica with the paddles...the mazdas with the auto-manuals...

I hate it when people compare the SMG with slap shift automatics. SMG has an actual 6 speed manual box in it, it is just shifted hydraulically(faster than a person could ever do it)

 

Go out to your local dealership, and look at the auto/manual ratio. 97% sounds right.

 

I belive it, I had a hell of a time finding a 5spd zx5. I live in LA and found 4 yes four... nearly 30 million people and 4 zx5's with a 5 spd. I looked from Ventura to San Diego too.

BTW did I mention there were only 4 5spd ZX5's in all of SoCal. If I'd wanted an automatic I could have chosen from hundreds of ZX5's.

Think about it though, at a Ford dealer you can get a focus or a mustang with a stick, thats all.

GM (ALL): Crapalier, Vette, GTO, ION

Chrysler/Dodge: Neon, PT, Viper

When you consider what a small percent of cars those cars make and the fact that most of even those are going to be auto's. Not a whole lot sticks on the road. Hell even Mercedes only has a couple of cars with sticks.

 

automatics are nice for trucks, thats all i have to say

wait no...they also are not fun at all...stick always

 

America is becoming a shiftless society. Go manual!

My girlfriend drives a stick better than me..

My GF tought me how to double clutch

 

Also, think about all the cars now that are Auto-manuals...like the bmw m3 w/ SMG, the celica with the paddles...the mazdas with the auto-manuals...

I hate it when people compare the SMG with slap shift automatics. SMG has an actual 6 speed manual box in it, it is just shifted hydraulically(faster than a person could ever do it)

I used the SMG as an example as I'm pretty sure that there is no clutch and just paddles or a + - in the center...I forget.

Personally, I consider a manual when its got a clutch pedal.

But I can see your point in this.

 

Hell even Mercedes only has a couple of cars with sticks.

Yeah, pretty much just the C-Class has an optional 6-speed, if you get the auto it is a 5-speed auto. All their cars with V8s and bigger have 7-speed autos though. And all their auto trannys are manumatics.

 

So completely opposite of what I saw in Germany where they actually drive their cars instead of just being passengers. My rental 206 was a manual and I would have had to upgrade to get an auto. Every single taxi I rode in was a manual. All of my co-workers cars that I rode in were manuals. The only automatics I saw were in our company cars (A4's and A6's with the auto/manual thingy).

Wow, I don't think you could rent a manual tran. car in the US if you wanted to.
The Mazda-Rev-It-Up thing doesn't even use manual transmissions.
I can't even imagine getting in a taxi and have the driver shift through the gears.

 

97% seems like an appropriate number for automatics.

To be honest, I wouldn't really want people to all drive manuals... people can't drive as it is, I can only imagine what would happen if some of them went MTX.

But MTX do solve many problems like driving while severely drunk (I've seen a couple of drunk drivers crash their car trying to get it out of 1st leaving a bar parking lot... at least they didn't get far).

And I wouldn't consider anything with a torque converter a manual. No tiptronic, no manumatic... if it's throwing horsepower out the window with a torque converter, it's an automatic. (people never considered shiftin the gear selector manually a manual tranny in ATX cars, why would we consider the same thing in other forms manual?)

 

Just an interesting bit of info.

My Dad is currently in the Neatherlands on a business trip. He asked for a full-size rental car as he was going to have a bunch of people in the car most of the time.

He ended up with a Mercedes E320 (I think) with a 5-speed manual! Even rental cars in Europe come with stick shifts!

 

I belive it, I had a hell of a time finding a 5spd zx5. I live in LA and found 4 yes four... nearly 30 million people and 4 zx5's with a 5 spd. I looked from Ventura to San Diego too.

BTW did I mention there were only 4 5spd ZX5's in all of SoCal. If I'd wanted an automatic I could have chosen from hundreds of ZX5's.

I had the same problem, looked everywhere for a manual. Think that's hard, find one with power windows and manual. How Ford thinks sporty compact with manual and power windows would never sell is beyond me. Thanks Ken Grody for diggin one up for me in liquid grey and charcoal interior

Could wrap the planet in plain white automatics

 

I belive it, I had a hell of a time finding a 5spd zx5. I live in LA and found 4 yes four... nearly 30 million people and 4 zx5's with a 5 spd. I looked from Ventura to San Diego too.

BTW did I mention there were only 4 5spd ZX5's in all of SoCal. If I'd wanted an automatic I could have chosen from hundreds of ZX5's.

I had the same problem, looked everywhere for a manual. Think that's hard, find one with power windows and manual. How Ford thinks sporty compact with manual and power windows would never sell is beyond me. Thanks Ken Grody for diggin one up for me in liquid grey and charcoal interior

Could wrap the planet in plain white automatics

That's why you need to buy cars that are only offered with a manual trans.

 

I can't even imagine getting in a taxi and have the driver shift through the gears.

When I was in Korea, a lot of taxis were manual transmission. So were the buses over there, if you think about it manual is better for gas mileage.(Although some of you proabably don't get better gas mileage. Cause some of you floor it quite frequently.) All the drivers shifted fairly well.(In that I never was in a cab or bus that stalled out.) Although I felt some were shifting a little early IMO.