What has a stick shift these days?

Here is how I see it I'm old though not fat or lazy, and when I grew up everybody knew how to drive a stick (I learned to drive on a three on a tree) or you were not cool or a girl. I have and still am a die hard stick shift guy and I have owned Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Maserati's, Porsche's and BMW's with some form of paddle shifters in them and I was never able to enjoy (I did my best) them with that tranny. So I keep the what started out life as a 997S in my garage and there it will stay until my old crusty leg cannot push the clutch pedal in anymore. Do I think that people who like paddle thingy's and not real drivers NO that is a silly thing to say. I think that these types of transmissions have allowed more people to own these cars because lets face it there are no where near as many drivers that know how to drive a stick as there used to be. I'll even guess there are people on this forum that would have never owned a Ferrari if they only made sticks. Of course the fact that I never hear when this debate comes up is the fact that all stick shifts are not created equal.

 

I like a slush box in a daily driver and any modern GT. And I have totally adapted to the thought of the modern Ferrari with a F1 gearbox - I welcome a F430 F1/458 Italia to my garage.
But other than that, the 3-pedal options are the only way to go; I like the challenging part of a sportscar so a 3-pedal broadens the learning curve and keeps things interesting for a longer while and that's my argument (also new cars don't attract me that much, passion wise I'm stuck in the 90s).

I'm never going to rule out EV, hybrids, FWD cars etc. until I have tried them...

If I could only have one car, I would prefer a stick.

 

Is that you Wolowizard?

It is NOT about acceptance or keeping up with the Joneses it is about personal preference.

 

Wait. Wasn't this about a 2014 Porsche Turbo?

With a water cooled engine, electro-mechanical power steering, four wheel steering, and a boat-load of traction control driver aids in the 991 model, ...
... how does doing manual shifts make a difference in a car that's doing 90% of the driving for you?

 

A friend of mine builds le mans GTP type cars for local guys to play with. The cars themselves are beautiful and a very quality build yet they haven't converted over to paddle shift Transmissions and that IMO makes them completely obselete looking and certainly by performance standards.

 

How about a Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Trac.....RWD, 6Speed, Torsen LSD, Brembos. Also.....The best driver seats i've ever had in a car. Only 32k out the door.

 

The 2014 Z/28 only comes in stick. It will probably eat a 911 Turbo on a road course. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

Manuals are cool and fun every now but I fully understand the reasons why Syncromesh is the dominant trans for any performance driving.

 

The FIAT 500 Abarth can only be had with a 5-speed.....

 

Mini coopers

 

Hard to believe, but you can get a stick in the Buick Regal Turbo GS (and not in a Ferrari?!?!)

 

Porsche driver aids are the least restrictive of any on the market. Plus, they can be turned off.

 

I also like the Genesis.

 

Just recently I overheard this guy talking about how his new regal turbo just flies. It looked pretty sweet in the Chipolte parking lot but it's a Buick right?! I think my Father in law had a bunch of Buicks. Then again, they did put out the grand national......

 

A true oddity with a stick.

Cadillac.

Station Wagon.

and even curiouser, The CTS-V wagon can still be ordered for 2014, despite the fact that the new CTS Coupe and Sedan are out without a V-series for now

 

My '13 Audi S4 is stick.

 

One more year of manuals in 2014; Fusion, Verano Turbo, 535i, VW CC.

 

Lots cheap pickup trucks are stick shift -- e.g. Chevy Colorado.

What he said. One of the revelations that I experienced in getting into vintage stuff (specifically Porsche from the '50s, '60s, '70s) was that modern cars have so many safety nets that adding a three-pedal manual to the mix is a sort of token nod to the old days, but ultimately you're a co-pilot to the electronics.

Yes, and the automatic in those cars is just a slushbox and not all that great. I think the MINI gets by because it's overtly retro and relatively cheap, although I wouldn't be surprised to see DCT trickle down to the MINI at some point. Right now it would likely add too much cost.

Has GM developed a proper DCT yet? I think it's a matter of Ferrari spending whatever it takes, and GM looking to control costs -- not sure how many people would pay more for a serious gearbox.

 

Ford has already added its "Powershift" (joint project with Getrag) as an option for several econoboxes and MPVs.
(Although I expect the paddles in a S-MAX would just be for show, as it'd likely spend its whole life in "auto" mode.)
Ford PowerShift transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Although Ford sells enough vehicles outside the US to make development pay off. It'll likely be a while before GM bothers.
Getrag was going to produce a number of DCTs for Chrysler, before the economic down-turn canceled the project.

But as fuel prices go up, I'd expect to see more vehicles replace slush boxes with DCTs to improve fuel mileage.

We might even see auto-only DCTs in commuter appliances.


But if you look at the chemical reaction formulae for octane, it's not hard to see that the engines that get the most power out of a liter of fuel are also potentially the cleanest burning ones.
Performance, economy, and ecology are not mutually exclusive.
(The world is not a zero sum game.)

 

I agree, although fuel prices here have stayed pretty flat. Government mandated fuel economy probably will have more to do with it -- we've already seen a 25 percent improvement from 2007 till now (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/business/energy-environment/fuel-economy-hits-six-year-high.html).

Several things may finish off the old school automatics and three-pedal manuals:

1. Efficiency, as you mention: if you're trying to hit efficiency standards either for racing glory or to meet government requirements, you're not going to leave any easy options on the table. DCTs may be one of those options.

2. Once DCTs become commoditized like automatics, costs will go down and only the dregs of the automotive world will go with the old tech. I was very close to picking up a Cooper S for a daily driver, but didn't want a three-pedal manual for the traffic slog around here, and the automatic really hurt performance. Ultimately I went with an Audi, and the DSG box was a big factor in that. For BMW, this is a glaring hole in their line-up.

3. Electric and hybrid vehicles seems to be getting a foothold in the market, and pure electrics seem to write gearboxes out of the equation altogether.

For now, though, the three-pedal manual is the cheapest thing out there, so I'd guess it might soldier on for another decade... who knows.