QOTD: What Needs to Happen to Lure You Back Into a Manual Transmission?
A telling conversation took place last week. A longtime friend, who’s now more gainfully employed than in years past and owns a current-generation Nissan Rogue, texted me about the 2018 Nissan Qashqai — known as the Rogue Sport south of the border.
As he rarely uses his Rogue for cargo or passenger-hauling duties, the reduction in volume isn’t a concern. My friend wants more content for the same price as his larger vehicle. I informed him that, unlike in America, he could choose a Qashqai/Rogue Sport with a manual transmission, provided he’s willing to live with whatever Nissan Canada’s base trim amounts to.
“No way,” he told me. “I like features. I’ll never bother with standard transmissions again.”
This is coming from a guy who for years drove a base Volkswagen Fox, followed by a base GMC Sonoma, each equipped with a three-pedal setup. Granted, no one looked towards the Fox or Sonoma for spirited driving. Still, it seems age and income has done its work — no longer is my friend interested in anything but enjoying a lifestyle of convenience.
Are you the same way?
It certainly seems the vast, vast majority of the American driving public is. Manual transmissions are vanishing from model lineups like canned food from store shelves ahead of a hurricane. Even dedicated sports car makers are siding with the bevy of multi-cog automatics, dual-clutch trannies and, on the more mundane front, CVTs.
And yet, the stick shift persists, disappearing from one model here and popping up in something like the Nissan Qashqai. It’s not likely you’ll see a fuel economy reward anymore — the longstanding benefit from the era of three- and four-speed slushboxes just isn’t likely in a world of nine- and 10-speed automatics. Are three pedals cheaper to maintain than that fancy new autobox? Who’s to say? Does it matter when you’ll only own it for three years?
It seems that, outside of a true sports car, or perhaps a vehicle unduly sedated by its efficiency-minded automatic or CVT, manual transmissions serve little purpose to a cargo- and feature-obsessed buying public.
So, keeping my Nissan-loving friend in mind, I ask you this: what would it take to get you, and others just like you, into a manual-transmission vehicle again?
There’s a good chance cost factors into the answer. Maybe you’re thinking of a stripper, one class size above your price range, with a shockingly low MSRP. Or maybe a decently optioned-out model served up at a lower price point thanks to that third pedal? Tell us the recipe you’d find irresistible.
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I'm a little late to the party, but I came to say that you can have your cake and eat it too, as long as you have deep enough pockets. Then again, your pockets don't need to be that deep! Just look at some of the more affordable Audis, like my A5. Mine has a stick and the full boatload of options that are available on all versions of the car. Audi lets you option up a stick car just like any automatic version of the car.
I'm dyed in the wool manual fan...that said, try being a guy in his mid 70s or older, and walking into a dealership requesting to look at a particular model sport coupe or hatchback that comes only in a manual...The young 30 something sales person quickly attempts to steer you to another model, that is similar but automatic...I had a friend who was a sports car enthusiast a few years ago, at 80 years old who went in to buy a Civic Si, and actually ended up leaving the store and going to another dealership to buy what he wanted, even though this dealership had what he wanted. They simply tried to talk him out of it... I recently purchased a Focus ST, and was met with the same rhetoric. I quickly informed the young lady that I knew what I wanted, and if she didn't have it, or didn't want to sell it to me, I would happily go the the next Ford dealer about 10 miles north. She sighed and advised she would bring one up. I ended up buying the car, but the initial experience was unpleasant. I have been driving stick shifts all my life, learning to drive on a 1949 International one ton wrecker, and owning nothing but stick shifts until I married several years later. First new car was a 63 Valiant Signet, with 6 cylinder and automatic, mainly because my wife could not and did not want to learn to drive a stick shift. We divorced not long after that purchase, and a lady in a Buick rear ended the 63 at a crosswalk in Norwalk, California, and destroyed it. Lucky for me, the 64 Valiant was out and low and behold, it had a V8 and a 4 speed. I bought it...fun car, and never looked back when it came to buying cars for myself. I currently teach a stick shift module with Skills Driving in DFW, and I use the Focus ST most often for those two hour sessions. I have another stick shift car available if needed, but the Focus is the smoothest and less clutch effort. Students include small, Asian women, young guys who just want to learn, and older men such as a 34 year old attorney who wanted to learn because a girl he was dating had purchased a new Corvette stick shift and he was afraid she would ask him to drive it. Some delivery services require knowing how to drive a stick shift, and I get several of those. Unfortunately, I am afraid stick shifts are a dying breed. I read an account somewhere this year, and it may well have been TTAC, that prior to 2015 only 19% of vehicles sold in the US, and possibly Canada, were stick shifts. The most recent study advised that number had dropped to 15%. I for one, even in my mid 70s, really hate to see the passing of the stick, but it appears the numbers are slipping in that direction.