Last year, 97+% of cars sold in the USA were automatics. Heck, only about a quarter of car models even have a manual as an available option. Many brands don’t offer any manuals at all (Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Lexus, Chrysler and Buick).
A similar trend is happening in trucks, too. Fleets are buying automatics because they provide better fuel mileage and less wear-and-tear on the transmission than an average driver.
About 35-45% of big semi-tractors are now bought with automated transmissions, and for medium-duty trucks it’s over 50%. (Still, given their years-long service life, manual transmission trucks will be around for years yet.)
Regarding teaching your son to drive a manual – I’d advise against it. People have said ‘what can it hurt?’ What it hurts is one more distraction for the driver. Distractions – from their music, their cellphone, their friends in the car – are the biggest risk for young drivers. Having to worry about shifting gears is just one more thing to load onto the young drivers mind. Let him drive (& mature) for a few years, and then teach him, if he thinks it’s worthwhile. Maybe when he’s over 21.
I drive an automatic now, and have for years, but having learnt on manual, it always feels like automatic demand more attention. The car is always doing things that you have to pay attention to when driving an automatic, not like a manual where things don’t happen unless you make them happen.
Certainly nearly lost the car the first few times I drove automatic, but even now it will keep on changing up if I floor it, and it’s always changing gears and speeding up / slowing down whenever there is a slope.
True, but there’s a difference between, “standard transmissions are now a niche item, and some automakers no longer offer them at all” and “last year, the industry simply stopped making them entirely” (which is what the OP’s blanket statement suggested).
I drive a stick, but when my 10 year old son reaches 16, I doubt I’ll see any point in teaching him to drive one.
In the U.S., they’re very much a niche item.
I haven’t heard of Americans traveling abroad having any difficulty renting cars. If being unable to drive a stick made car rental overseas problematic, it would be a problem for most Americans traveling overseas.
Put me down as a yes. If you can drive a manual you can drive pretty much anything with wheels. Motorcycles get a little more complicated (balance and all that) but at least the principle is the same. Not a bad skill to have and dust off now and then. I’ve let friends who haven’t been near a clutch in 30 years or more do a tour or three around a local park now and then just to stay in practice.
Yes I think it’s worth teaching him to drive manual transmission. In addition to being useful sometimes, it’s also fun and I think keeps the driver more engaged.
Here’s a reason to teach stick shift driving. Heard about a situation probably 10 or so years ago. Kids at a party drinking. Several get very drunk. They go to leave the party and one of the kids is not drunk. Car’s a stick shift and the only not-drunk can’t drive it. Drunk kid drives. Accident included a fatality.
If your kid can drive a stick shift that skill may save a life.
Don’t know till you try. You may not enjoy driving but may enjoy it more with a manual transmission. Or maybe driving a manual would make you a nervous wreck, but either way you don’t know for sure until you try it.
What on earth are you talking about? I’ve been driving automatics for decades and, while the gears do indeed change on their own (that’s sort of the point) it’s never been a problem nor has it caused the car’s speed to spasm wildly.
I learned to drive on a manual company car (a 1980-something Toyota Corona). I wouldn’t bother learning to drive a manual now, even though I visit the UK a lot.* Even in Europe, manumatic-type transmissions are gradually replacing true manuals. The percentage of non-manual cars sold in the UK is now getting on for 40%, after hovering around 17% for decades. I suspect the only reason the number remains that high is because the driver’s test is still split into manual and auto qualifications (you can drive an auto with a manual qualification, but not vice versa).
*Though I may have to re-learn if Ford won’t sell me a paddle-shift Focus RS in the next few years.
It’s a pain in the ass. I drove manuals for years and always considered myself competent at it, but there’s too much shit to do. Automatics are less complicated. One pedal for go, one pedal for stop, and let the gears change by themselves. It makes the drive more enjoyable for me not having to work a clutch pedal and move a gear stick back and forth.
It won’t be long before most new cars are electric. Eventually most cars won’t have transmissions at all. The value of knowing how to drive a stick will decline rapidly.
I think what he means is with a manual transmission, generally if you take your foot off the gas you slow down. Many automatics aren’t like that, especially downhill. In a manual you control if and when the car downshifts. On an automatic that happens more based on how far down you have the gas pedal, and it may downshift too much or too little for your current or upcoming situation, like merging.
Driving for fun and making driving fun are two very different things. Most people have to drive for some reason or another. Might as well make it an enjoyable experience.
