Save The Manuals… And A Struggling Buff Book
Car & Driver’s endearingly awkward Editor-in-Chief Eddie Alterman took to the interwebs today, with a “viral-style” video imploring enthusiasts to “save the manuals.” And though Alterman can’t help but sell the faux-sincerity, the message is brain-hurtingly mangled by his attempt to be the Old Spice Guy of the car world.
Last but (hopefully) not least, Alterman suggests teaching someone to drive a manual transmission. One might have hoped that this, and not funneling traffic to the C&D website, would have been the focus of Alterman’s mock-crusade. Instead, the slow-motion tragedy of manual transmission disappearance is being quasi-ironically exploited to boost readership at a flagging buff book, further marginalizing the manual into its enthusiast ghetto.
Meanwhile, there’s an another, equally tongue-in-cheek way to do this: seriously proposing legislation that makes manual transmissions mandatory for all new cars sold in the United States… under the rubric of safety, of course. After all, politics isn’t about asking people nicely to save junkyard clunkers and “like” you on Facebook, it’s about forcing the other guy to argue against something undeniably good… like safety. Do you like what distracted driving does, Senator? Are you in favor of unintended acceleration? Do you now, or have you ever owned an automatic transmission-equipped vehicle?
The problem is that, like most MT enthusiasts, our motivation to save the manuals is ultimately about fun. Unfortunately, times have changed, and far more people now seem to associate cars with commuter tedium than fun. Meanwhile, transmission and drivetrain technology are making manuals less and less necessary (witness the fact that most automatics get better mileage and/or acceleration than their manual counterparts). You think Ferrari is about to break down and re-embrace the manny-tranny just because Alterman makes puppy dog eyes in the direction of Maranello?
It’s a sad truth that people who drive for fun, buff books like C&D, and manual transmissions are all becoming increasingly marginal phenomena in the iPhone era. Of the three, I’ll miss stick shifts the most.
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Not even DSGs are better, in terms of fuel economy, than a manual transmission with the same ratios in the real world. A DSG box is a big, heavy piece of equipment, and that takes its toll on economy. It's not as bad as a traditional torque converter automatic, but still a tick behind the manual transmission in terms of economy... though it provides 99% of the economy of a manual with much faster shifts and more convenience. CVTs are definitely more economical (if you have the right kind... a dry system without a TC...) but the most economical CVTs I've driven have also been the most fragile (Honda, I'm looking at you...). Still... new ATs are so convenient and allow the driver to focus more on actually, well, DRIVING, that the dip in economy is a small price to pay for the loss of the three-pedal tango.
I am surprised by the number of auto enthusiest on this site who honestly feel the manaual transmission has no place in a modern car. Europe has similar rush hour traffic, and more city streets than america, so why do they sell so well over there? Because Americans are so damn lazy they cannot get over having to push a clutch pedal, it's to much "work" Therefore most will never give a manual the chance to wow them. It's a same, but thats the direction our society is heading in, why go outside and play baseball when I can play it on playstation? Why walk down the steps and ask my brother for something when I can just call his cell phone? Why would I push a clutch pedal when my transmission can do it for me, and allow time for me to text and play with the radio?? lazy, lazy, lazy.