The Manual is Alive and Well in the United Kingdom
In the United States, most vehicles leaving the showroom today come with some form of shifting that involves very little, if any, input from the driver, from the dual-clutch driven Porsche 918 Spyder, to the CVT-powered Nissan Versa Sedan.
In the United Kingdom, however, the manual is still king.
While higher-end vehicles sold in the U.K. no longer bother with a third pedal to help move the gears along, a good 75 percent of all cars sold between January and October of this year came equipped with a manual. This may be due to the fact that driving tests administered in the country are tied to the transmission directing the power; were one to turn up in a dual-clutch variant of the RenaultSport Clio 200 for their test, they may find themselves legally unable to row their own later in life unless they opt to go through the hurdles to be certified to drive a stick.
What say you, B&B?
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'Discussions' online about manuals are pretty much the same as 'discussions' with otaku about subtitles. As for myself, there are times I wish I had a manual, and there are times I wish I had an auto. Each has their advantage. I fully believe that someday soon we will have autos that do absolutely everything a manual can do, and do it better (i.e., have a manual mode that is indistinguishable from a true manual). I give no credence to the thought that the rest of the world loves or even prefers manuals. In places where cost is an issue (e.g., India), of course you will see the cheaper manuals, just like you see cheaper everything else. Yes, manuals are well-ensconced in places like the UK, but according to everyone I know who has traveled there recently, autos are becoming much more common, meaning they are on the path to the US condition. (Also note the emergence of small SUVs around the world--just like the US.) In regards to licensing drivers based on the transmission, it will not protect manuals' market share. Instead, it will erode it. Anyone who takes the test with an auto essentially is barred from buying a manual in the future, which effectively destroys an opportunity for the sale of a manual. The more this cycle occurs, the smaller the manual market becomes. If it were the law in the US, the take rate of manuals would likely go from 5% to under 1%, and manuals would not simply disappear from trim levels, but entire model lines.
" I fully believe that someday soon we will have autos that do absolutely everything a manual can do, and do it better." If you made that statement you just don't get it. Its not about how well it does it - its about the beauty of being a DRIVER not a passenger. About snapping off a great 2 to 3 upshift at full throttle, about grabbing 3rd gear off a turn or out of a rolling toll, about downhifting to 3rd ina long right hander and then moving up to 4th as you accelerate out. Its not about how well it does it..its about doing it well yourself and being involved..enjoying the experience... A driver can take a manual on a hill off the brake, no handbrake and accelerate without rolling back much if at all. Its a skill..
I don't understand why people still drive manuals when automatics can do the same thing automatically for free. Likewise, why do people continue to buy pianos and violins? Software allows us to write the music virtually and then it plays it "consistently and accurately" every time. No room for human error, practice, enjoyment, involvement in the process, etc. It's the future people! Stop clinging to your antiquated mechanical pianos. At least move to a PDK (programmable dynamic keyboard). I for one cannot wait for a world without manual transmissions. I just hope all the pianos and violins disappear first because, really, we have computers now and that means everything needs to be computers. I don't even dial numbers on my phone anymore or text complete sentences because the computer autocompletes it for me. Please join the rest of us in the future where we really don't do anything any more.
I drive stick shift and quite frankly I find the sanctimonious drivel to be pretentious and delusional. oh it's an art form and requires a different license. please. If people were buying manuals, makers would be selling them. there's no conspiracy.