To clarify, I’m not saying these are expensive features. I’m saying ten years down the line they’re more expensive to repair or replace than their manual counterparts.
As someone who almost exclusively buys used older cars, or drives the car I bought new into the ground, the price of maintaining it ten years from now is high in my mind when making purchasing decisions. It’s right behind gas mileage in importance.
Poor people often don’t have the luxury of buying a new car when theirs breaks down. They have to live with and repair these parts well into their second or third decade. And that’s where the difference between manual and powered features really becomes important.
Lies. Or perhaps you’re an exceptionally bad manual transmission driver. I’ve driven a manual my whole life. My mom, dad, sister, brother - same. We’ve never had a clutch fail or be rebuilt, on any car, ever. We’ve driven BMWs, Mazdas, Lexuses (Lexi?), Acuras, Nissans, GMC trucks, and a shit-ton of Hondas. All of the above were easily driven 100K miles, most of them many more. (Had a Prelude that probably made 250K before we got rid of it; I’m sure someone else got many more miles out of it.) Not one of us, ever, has had clutch problems.
As others have pointed out, it costs manufacturers MORE to build cars without these features. take a manual transmission-few people want them, and performing the emissions certification on them costs money. Plus, EPA mileage for automatics is now almost equal, or better for automatics.
In my opinion, the big challenge for people (who want to keep a car going for 20-30 years) will be the absence of spare parts (particularly the electronic modules)-I have seen perfectly good BMWs and SAABs scrapped because the mechanic cold not get a replacement module. Maybe in the futurre, cars will come with universal computer controls? That would make a lot of sense.
I’ve had 3 manual transmission cars and sold each of them at around 140K without ever needing a new clutch. But my next car is going to be an automatic mainly because of stop and go traffic but also for likely better gas mileage.
I think the last car that was this basic was the YUGO.
We had an '08 Jeep Wrangler. It did not have cruise, power windows, anti-lock brakes, nor an auto tranny.
The last car I had without power steering was a 1968 Plymouth Valiant. I have to warn you, driving a non-power steering car at slow speeds can be a pain!
Back in the 1950s the police in Northern Ireland used to buy their cars without any internal heater because the bean counters could shave a few pennies off the price that way, and many an officer cursed as he scraped the frost of the inside of the windows on a night patrol.
When you refuelled that Beetle you had to remember to turn the reserve tap back off again if you didn’t want to run out next time you got low.
My recollection was that the base-level Mini/Austin Seven did not have a gas gauge, just a warning light - but I could be wrong.
Factor in clutch replacements for the manual, and it’s much closer than you think.
Go find and drive a new dual clutch automatic vehicle. You’ll come back wondering why anyone would ever buy a stick again. Even modern CVT transmissions (not dual clutch designs) close the gap between sticks and automatics with respect to MPG. A typical manual transmission has 5 or 6 forward speeds. That’s a lot of shifting and lord help you if you ever drive one for 30 minutes of stop and go freeway. Modern automatic transmissions have 5 to 8 speeds. Things have changed in the last 5 years.
On lots of cars it was. BMW’s “i” designation is almost meaningless now, but early on it meant the car had fuel injection, while carbs just got the number. It started with the 2002 models in the early 70s.
Porsche was similar in the 1970s - a 911T had carbs, while a 911E or 911S had fuel injection, until 1974 when they included it on all models of 911.
Honda did it as well. A base Prelude or CRX had carbs (apparently the bane of 80s Hondas nowadays due to lack of parts), while the Si models had fuel injection and other sporty upgrades.
C’mon- carbs weren’t optional on those cars, the fuel injection was. Carburetors were standard. Options are things additional to or instead of what the basic model came with.
Waxing philosophically – what is a car? Simply a faster way to get from point “A” to point “B” than a bicycle or walking? Or is it a means to escape the cares of the mundane world, to sing out loud along with Jimmy Buffett on Sirius/XM, feel the wind blow and experience some freedom?
Or is it about status? Is it saying, “hey, look at me, I’ve made it!”
Or is it about comfort, or about safety or energy efficiency? Or, is it like my wife’s car – a Subaru Outback – just about the only car that her mother can get in and out of with enough room for a walker or wheelchair.
Drove my share of basic, stripped down cars, including a VW, Ford Pinto, Aries K, Hyundai Accent to name a few. But being a “car guy” I was always looking for my next car and doing the math – what can I afford, tax implications and car allowance from my employer.
But back to the OP, most major metropolitan dealerships have one basic stripped down vehicle on their lot – they have it to use as bait in their newspaper and TV ads. "New cars from $10,999.00 (or whatever.) Many dealers have been accused of fraud by advertising units they did not ever have. “Oh, we just sold that one yesterday”
Oh, I forgot. You will most likely get your best deal on a vehicle that is on the lot. Usually rebates and dealer incentives only apply to in-stock units so by ordering a stripped down unit you could actually spend more.
I know they have a reputation for being stingy with standard equipment, but that is a bit out of date. Even the cheapest 3 series in the UK has aircon, stereo and cruise. I don’t think you can get any car of that size without aircon these days.
No I won’t. In fact, I have driven one, and I still just bought a brand new 2013 model year car with a stick. I’ve been driving for over half of my life now, and every single daily driver I’ve ever owned has been a stick. Regardless of how good the new automatics are, some people PREFER a manual transmission. In fact, I bought a car that is ONLY available with a manual transmission (it’s a sporty enthusiast-type car, turbocharged, AWD, etc.), so I guess there are definitely a fair amount of us still out there.
Doesn’t bother me even the* tiniest *bit. Pushing the clutch and shifting gears are just part of driving, for me. I don’t complain about having to do it in stop-and-go traffic any more than I would complain about having to keep my eyes open the whole time…it’s just a given…it’s part of driving.
I completely understand why some people don’t want to deal with driving a manual transmission. But don’t tell me if I just drive the newest and fanciest automatic, I’ll never want to drive a stick again…because I will. When I drive an automatic, I feel like I’m being driven. There’s a mechanical connection and a sense of control and of being “part of the experience” that I’ve never gotten in an automatic, even the ones with fancy paddle shifters and dual-clutch gizmos and all that.
I know my old manual gearbox isn’t cutting-edge F1 technology. I don’t care about gas mileage, or I wouldn’t have bought the car I did. I just care about the driving experience, and that’s why I’ll be driving a stick as long as I possibly can.
I’ve driven manuals my entire adult life, but being in stop-and-go traffic so much more these days I’m finally ready to switch to an automatic. Maybe I’m just getting old, but it does bother me to spend 45 minutes shifting from 1st to 2nd back to 1st. It’s part of driving, but a part I don’t care to deal with anymore. My main worry is that it’ll be more difficult to deal with deep snow and tricky conditions, but I’ll rely on new traction control technology, good tires, and my innate driving skills.
But some folks won’t leave manuals behind, more power to them. It’s good for the rest of us to have options and if the number of folks who drive manuals remains a sold 10-15% the car makers will keep making them.
Right. I never said everyone else should drive a manual, just that I personally don’t need “god (to) help me” if I have to drive a stick in stop-and-go traffic (like I do every time I’m in such traffic), because TO ME, it’s as much a part of driving as having to use the big wheel in front of me to point the car where I want it to go. The stop-and-go traffic argument has never made a bit of difference to me. I don’t care if most people would rather drive an automatic, as long as they keep putting manual transmissions in some high-performance cars, I’ll probably be happy.
The post I quoted said that if I drove a fancy high-tech dual-clutch automatic, I’d wonder why anyone would ever buy a car with a stick ever again. I have, and I didn’t wonder, and I still bought a car with a stick.
I personally greatly prefer a true manual gearbox to all current alternatives. That’s all. If I got great enjoyment from operating a manual choke, I probably would be angry that you can’t buy a new car with one anymore. Luckily, that’s not the case.
I just test drove a 2014 Nissan Versa Sedan with a manual transmission, roll up windows, and manually adjusted mirrors. It did have AC, power steering, ABS, and a two speaker sound system. I priced them at two different dealerships and the sales price would have been around $12,700.
While I like manual transmissions, and don’t object to roll up windows, the Versa just felt cheap to me. The fabric on the seats was extremely thin. While the car wasn’t dangerously underpowered, the 1.6 was minimal enough that passing on a two lane road was a problem. What I disliked most, however, it had lots of cabin noise, mostly from the engine which at highway speeds makes a high pitched whining noise that annoyed me (reminded me of my mother-in-law).
