The 'Death Of The Stick Shift' Is Almost Here For Americans

Heat84 · 2026-07-25T00:54:59+00:00

https://m.slashdot.org/story/456332 I’ve never driven stick myself. I’ve never needed one. I’m neither a race car driver nor a trucker and I live in South Florida. The only hills here are overpasses. Does a stick get better MPG’s? My sister is one of the weirdo Americans who prefers a stick. Although she hasn’t driven one in 10 or 15 years. I didn’t realize Mustangs were only stick. I don’t understand how there are automatic semi tractors. In some of the situations I’ve seen them in, I don’t know how you can use an automatic transmission. Maybe it’s only for local hauling? Are truckers ashamed to drive a tractor with an automatic transmission? Is it like a male biker riding in the bitch seat? Here’s a comment from the article. Is that how the automatic transmission in a tractor works that enables it to work as good as a stick?: It’s more than that. Modern automatics are equivalent. You can use the controls to switch into manual mode and then push the knob up and down to manually shift. All that we lost is having to use a clutch. I’m been driving manuals for 40 years. I’ve tried the modern automatic’s manual mode. I find it to be functionally equivalent, it solves the same problem, it allows me to fine tune things. This personal appraisal was immediately apparent from the first couple rentals or loaners that had automatics with a manual mode. Do you Canadians say manual transmission instead of stick?

bennor

grand_total In fact I’d go as far as to say using that using the handbrake at traffic lights is a bad idea

In a manual transmission car; when driving in hilly areas or on inclines, when you come to a traffic light or stop sign that is on a hill or incline, the handbrake is almost mandatory to help keep the vehicle from rolling backwards into the vehicle behind. Your feet are already on the brake peddle and the clutch peddle. As you start forward you use the handbrake/emergency brake to hold the vehicle in place while your feet transition from the brake to the accelerator and letting out the clutch at the same time.

As others said you also use the handbrake/emergency brake when parking the car. Still do it as a force of habit to this day when parking the car. For parking on hills or inclines, I was taught to point the tires/wheel into the road side/curb side and use the handbrake/emergency brake so if the handbrake/emergency brake failed the car would roll into the curb/sidewalk/roadside rather than continue down hill.

Ahhh the good old days of driving with a clutch. Fun times. 😁

dave

urbanriot I’m just a good driver

No you’re not, if you’re doing all that crap while driving.

Somewhat-Reticent

urbanriot I’ve made it this far

Then you still have a chance to repent.

digitalfutur

I learned to drive on stick, VW Rabbit, but have not driven one since. Until the 2000s, automatics were generally a performance negative, both in acceleration and fuel economy. With computerization and tighter manufacturing tolerances, automatics offer better performance than manuals. It’s not a coincidence that they’ve largely been eliminated on exotic cars, most of which have a DCT.

Most automatics have a manual shift mode. While it’s not the same as a manual, it does allow the driver to shift up or down based on personal preference or road/traffic conditions. I always do so on my Camaro because its 8 speed automatic shifts too soon into higher gears. And because I need to keep shift points around 2800 rpm to hear the Atak performance exhaust sing! 🔥

InternetJeff

bennor In a manual transmission car; when driving in hilly areas or on inclines, when you come to a traffic light or stop sign that is on a hill or incline, the handbrake is almost mandatory to help keep the vehicle from rolling backwards into the vehicle behind.

Many late-model stick shift cars now employ automatic “Hill start assist”. It may be known by other names depending on brand, but when you are stopped on an incline with the brake depressed, the car will maintain the brake for a short time after you release the brake pedal until you depress the accelerator pedal.

GM’s version: https://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/general-motors-technology/gm-chassis-suspension-technology/gm-hill-hold-assist-technology/

Somewhat-Reticent

InternetJeff Helpful (unless accelerator pedal sensor fails).

takeahike

urbanriot I’m just a good driver . . .

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh but your car does not.

robxr4ti

real_aurgathor indeed. the car industry is too busy producing unreliable CVT’s that are ridiculously expensive to be interested in producing a quality product.

KurtLandis

This thread brought back a memory. Quite a number of years ago I was in a situation where this business had older inexpensive cars they’d lend out to transients to go get something to eat. I guess because I looked old enough to know how to drive one they lent me a late ’50s - early 60s sedan with 3 on the tree and vacuum powered windshield wipers. Of course it was raining and it had been a long time since I’d driven a 3 speed manual. ’Twas interesting but I made it there and back with everything intact.

egeezer

urbanriot No you don’t; I don’t do the things you wrote.

Of course you don’t. 😆

egeezer

KurtLandis vacuum powered windshield wipers

Oh lordy, that brings back memories. Step on the accelerator, wipers stop. My ’58 VW bug had those.

real_aurgathor

robxr4ti the car industry is too busy producing unreliable CVT’s

Not everyone, and some CVTs are better than others’. (like Nissan’s)

In any case, the car industry is producing what people will buy, and that’s mostly AT or CVT, with MT being under 1%, if I remember right.

robxr4ti that are ridiculously expensive

They are ridiculously expensive when they have an issue and need to be repaired or replaced.

Sparkchaser

codezer0

Electric vehicles are still being designed, built, by and for people that inherently hate the act of driving.

Growing up with my grandparents, WITHOUT FAIL if the car wasn’t totaled in an accident, its automatic transmission failed. Every, single, time. And seeing as I can only afford used at this time, having a gearbox I can’t even maintain is just saying the car has a heretofore unmentioned expiry date.

Hydraglass

I learned to drive on manual transmission (3 on the tree 1970’s F100) as well as drove tractors (John Deere and International) throughout my childhood. My first car was a 72 Mustang with stick I drove for my last two years of high school and first two years of college. My next car was an automatic ('88 Taurus) I drove through the rest of college and first two years of my working years, I was then living in the stop and go commute of a major west coast city for the next 4 years so I bought a new ’97 Silverado with automatic - which I ten used to tow my ski boat, my pop up camper, and various other things as well as use for wilderness camping.

I then left the city and moved rural - afterwards, my wife, when I met her, had a manual transmission early 90’s Mazda 626 and she hated driving stick so we traded and I drove the 626 for a couple years and she drove the truck - then we traded the 626 and I bought a BMW 330Ci (auto) while she drove the truck a few more years and then bought a mid 2000’s Accord (auto). I wouldn’t say I personally have any attachment to either kind of transmission, BUT, considering both of our cars are now plug-in hybrids and will be either PHEV’s or EVs now for the rest of our lives, I can guarantee we won’t see any more manual transmissions and I’m fine with that - I don’t have a “need” to feel connected or involved in the operation of the drivetrain of the vehicle - I’m plenty happy letting the drivetrain computer do all that - it’s smoother, quieter (essentially silent in my current car), and as reliable if not more (the ONLY vehicle I ever had issues with the transmission in was the ’72 mustang with the stick - the clutch was shite - the guy before me had burned it, I had it replaced, and it NEVER engaged right, it was grabby when the car was cold and slippy when it was hot, it vibrated in stop and go traffic, etc.. I NEVER miss that car.

Thane_Bitter

Too bad, and you don’t need to be either of those to drive one. Hills, florida, funny stuff but you do not need hills or mountains to enjoy driving a manual. They can be frustrating (for some) in heavy traffic because of the constant shifting and clutching, also if you are into boats (florida) the lack of a torque converter can make departing and launching from the boat ramp a bit harder.

It’s another dimension to the increasingly lost art of driving. My DD has a manual and I really like it, it’s also good for road trips and extended driving. Today people can’t be bothered to use a mirror or signal to drive let alone use the right gear, they let technology do the work and assume it’s to blame when their distraction or incompetence results in a crash.

Manual transmission, stick shift, shit, grinder box, all sorts of things but fewer are sold up here, as in the US fewer of them are sold each year which is a pity. Here is a story that lists current models https://driving.ca/features/shopping-advice/manual-transmission-stick-shift-option-new-cars-canada-2026

Since automation is being pushed up the woozoo by manufactures and your authoritarian government which now wants to watch and record the driver at all times starting in 2027*, having a device that uses manual input is counterproductive to the non-choice initiative. This monitoring tech doesn’t work well but you HAVE to have it, you also cannot remove it - some freedom eh?

*https://www.motor1.com/news/794316/new-cars-mandate-impaired-driver-detection-delay/

dave

codezer0

Automatic transmissions have certainly improved since your grandparents were driving. Not having owned one, I can’t really comment on their longevity, but there are certainly implementations that don’t suck in use.

I used to come to the US on business around 1980, and the rental car was invariable an automatic AMC Concord. Underwhelming and underpowered (0 to 60 in 3 days)

codezer0

dave And yet my (secondhand) 05 mustang came with one, and I was forced to use it as a trade because its automatic was already lurching in and out of motion. The cost and skills needed to fix it were both beyond what I could do.

So, no, automatics still suck ass. But CVTs are still worse.

Somewhat-Reticent

Sparkchaser Possibly the sales agent who said,
“Aw, never mind silly rules, it’s intuitive, what could possibly go wrong?”

takeahike

Thane_Bitter

Orwell had it pegged to a fault. You have to be a robot to live in the world today–one little mistake and they’re after you and your insurance rates. In many towns here in California they have photo enforced red light cameras–it’s gotten to the point where I almost don’t want to go to the beach anymore in Ventura, CA since they have them at virtually every intersection, and now they and many other costal cities charge for parking as well even though they are basically hick towns with no parking issues. In Los Angeles and many other major cities they are now also installing speed cameras that nail you for 11 mph over the limit of typically 35mph, though apparently these are labeled as “civil violations” that impose a relatively small “fee” and are not criminally charged and therefore do not go on your driving record and therefore do not affect your insurance rates (but just wait and see when that may change). See: Speed & Red Light Cameras

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