Aren’t manual transmissions cheaper? More of a consideration if you are in the market for a shitbox than a sportscar, though.
Perhaps dual- (or more) clutch transmissions are getting more mainstream? Those are pretty automatic. You can change gears “manually” but the computer does the actual shifting in any case.
In addition, it leads to your car’s brake lights being “on” even when you are not trying to brake, meaning that drivers behind you may not be aware of when you are actually trying to brake.
My cite: years of following drivers, many of them older, whose brake lights are constantly lit.
Once upon a time, as I understand it, this was true, and many entry-level cars were manuals, by default. I don’t think that this is really the case anymore, at least not for the sorts of cars which one can buy in the U.S.
Today, it’s not easy to find a manual car in the U.S., and none of the entry-level cars by U.S. manufacturers offer manual; even the sticks offered on Japanese cars are mostly on sporty/performance models.
So, “buy a manual because it’s cheaper” isn’t really a thing in the U.S. anymore, at least when looking at new cars.
All of the cars currently sold in the U.S. which offer manuals:
Thirty years ago in the United States, maybe even twenty, I’d have agreed with you. My father insisted I learn to drive on both as he owned both. If I lived in Europe, especially southern Europe, I’d still agree. But an 16 yr-old American now? Nope. 0.6% of all new vehicles built for the United States. Sure there is a ton of them still on the street and handfuls still being produced, but they’ve been in terminal decline for decades and vast majority of young kids walking around today will never, ever touch one. Give it another ten years or so and you’ll probably be able to say the same in Europe. At this point it is rapidly becoming akin to being able to write in cursive. It’s an obsolescent if not yet fully obsolete skill.
Of course - they’re a.) old(er) and b.) like high-performance sport cars, one of the last bastions of the stick. But you haven’t been able to buy a new Toyota Corolla in manual since 2022. Or a Honda Accord since 2020. Or a Hyundal Sonata since 2012. You can still get a Civic (but only premium sport trims) or a Mazda3 (but only hatchbacks, not sedans) if you look hard enough. But now instead of being the inexpensive option it’s the pricey premium upgrade for sportier models. The end times of the stick are upon us.
Manual transmissions are simpler and in the old days they used to be cheaper. The “budget” version of cars was often shipped with a manual transmission. You had to pay more if you wanted an automatic.
Manual transmissions also used to significantly outperform automatics.
These days, manual transmission are hard to find, and often you have to pay more to have one because they aren’t considered normal equipment. And the invention of the lock-up torque converter (plus fancier computer controls) has taken away a lot of the manual transmission’s advantage over automatics.
Sometimes you’ll find used cars with manual transmissions listed as less expensive than their automatic version, but it depends on the make and model. A sporty car with a manual or a pickup with a manual are both usually sought after and therefore tend to be more expensive. A daily driver type of car will often be less expensive with a manual because the driver isn’t looking for the fun or performance of a manual, and therefore the manual transmission is considered to be a detriment to that type of vehicle, for the same reason that stick shifts are also often referred to as a “millennial anti-theft device”.
You’re talking about what I referenced as “riding the brake pedal”, which I explcitly said I do not do.
I don’t really have a “method”, unless you mean the whole idea of braking with your left foot. I believe – for me, at least – it provides a slightly quicker braking response. It’s only a small fraction of a second, but sometimes a fraction of a second makes all the difference.
That’s exactly what I mean. You may prefer it, but most people recommend against it.
Ok, I agree.
I think that being able to drive a manual helps you understand just what’s going on between the engine and transmission. But, I don’t dare work on that stuff anymore. But it could make you a better driver. YMMV.
Pretty sure that my wife will end up with an electric car. We are retired, I doubt mine will be replaced. Did buy and electric bike (you still have to peddle). But knowing how to ride a regular bike, and motorcycles helps.
My apologies if you felt that I was implying that you did. I was simply replying to @engineer_comp_geek post about excessive brake wear if one leaves one’s left foot on the pedal, by noting another common issue with doing so.
My late father-in-law was a lifetime car nerd, and as a mechanical engineer, he was all about performance, and was a big fan of manual transmissions.
Earlier in his life, he had owned two different Corvettes, and had sold them both, a decision which he had come to regret. When Chevrolet announced the C7 generation of the Corvette, he was in his early 70s, and decided that he was going to buy a new C7. He did a ton of research on the car, and the performance of different transmissions and packages; to my surprise, he went ahead and ordered a Stingray with an 8-speed automatic transmission. He explained that his research had told him that the automatic was actually better on performance (acceleration) than the manual, as the programming on the automatic was superior to the shifting ability of most human drivers.
(He passed away several years later, and willed the Vette to my wife. We still have it, and it’s a very fun car to drive.)
By the way, while this generally isn’t recommended for daily road driving, modern race car drivers use this method when the car has flappy paddle gear shifters. Similar to you, they do it for faster performance.
If the car has a more traditional stick shift and clutch, they use left foot on the clutch and operate the accelerator and brake with the right foot using a “heel-toe” method so that they don’t have to move their foot. Again, they do it this way for faster response.
She lets you drive it? Or did you get the 2008 Honda Civic? 
I have been told, but cannot verify, that in some regions a manual transmission is considered an anti-theft device and entitles the owner to a discount on theft insurance.
In fact, she does. My wife has increasingly bad arthritis in her legs, and it’s becoming impossible for her to get in and out of the very-low Corvette; as a result, I’m the only one who has driven it for the last two years.
Heh, had a brother in law with a built corvette. He was doing a lot of 1000 mile drives in his truck.
I asked, why don’t you take the Vette? He took me for a ride in the Vette. Asked and answered.
Yeah, there is that. Your manual tranny car is less likely to be stolen.
My other car (the one I owned before we inherited the Corvette) is a 2012 Mustang, with a stick. I have not been able to have it valet parked for about five years, as it’s become rare that the valets know how to drive a stick.
And, in answer to the OP regarding the Mustang: when I bought it, 14 years ago, I did so because I generally enjoy driving, and I felt that having a stick would add to the fun of driving – though I also recognized that, as I live in the Chicago area, where traffic is part of the driving landscape, that I would, at least sometimes, be in traffic jams, which are even less fun when you are driving a stick, and having to press the clutch pedal again and again.
I still love my Mustang, but I will probably be getting rid of it in a year or two, and I have no intent of trying to replace it with another car with a stick.
And my muscle memory is plenty quick to get to the brake pedal. One will spend more time waiting for the ol’ gray matter to register that you have to stop than moving their feet, and there’s no guaranteed speed advantage in right foot braking in the real world.
It’s often more like 60 lbs, and sometimes as high as 100 lbs. 10 lbs of static weight will add a tenth of a second to your 1/4 mile time in a drag race. It’s going to have a similar effect on your stopping ability, because stopping is just another form of acceleration. It’s tiny, but it’s still probably larger than the difference between left/right foot braking. And it’s not about what one might be able to do, it’s what the car is going to do, because it’s bound by the laws of physics.
I’ve used right foot braking when competing, because you can manage how you’re balancing the car when you’re doing it in a curve (esp. using a front wheel drive car), and you can just modulate your throttle to shift a manual. That’s why it’s faster on the race track, not because you’re making your way to the brake pedal any faster.
If you want to stop more quickly buy better, stickier tires and replace them more often. Right foot braking isn’t going to make much difference at all.
Did you somehow get left-foot braking and right-foot braking mixed up?
I drive with the right foot on the accelerator. My argument, FWIW, is that for me, having the otherwise idle left foot poised to stomp on the brake in a sudden emergency will yield a quicker response than removing the right foot from the accelerator and moving it over to the brake. Not by much – just a fraction of a second – but possibly enough to make a difference.
I’ve been told quite often that this is a crappy way of driving. I would respectfully ask my critics if they, too, can claim a lifetime accident-free record spanning 55 years (earlier I said 50 years – I think I’m subconsciously suppressing my true age! 
) I’ve been driving the way I drive since before many of critics were even born. And @engineer_comp_geek is right in implying that the most important key to safe driving is situational awareness, which is far more important than many nitpicky arguments about things like which foot you use for braking or where you place your hands on the steering wheel.
Another key thing to safe driving is not overestimating your capabilities. I fully admit that my skills, vision, and overall awareness at my age are not what they were when I was younger. I compensate with extra caution, which undoubtedly causes young’uns to curse me as they speed past in their hot rods, probably colliding with something or someone later on.
Kind of an aside, but some years ago I drove a friend’s fancy BMW convertible with DCT (Dual-Clutch Transmission) and paddle shifters that you could optionally use if you wanted to pretend you had a manual-transmission gearbox. Quite honestly, I didn’t like either the paddle shifters nor the DCT in automatic mode, which I found lacked the smooth refinement of a traditional automatic. Many years ago I read that Rolls Royce at the time sourced their automatic transmissions from General Motors, and that didn’t surprise me.
Yeah, I get those ideas backwards sometimes. But my point is that it doesn’t matter much which foot you brake with when it comes to stopping distance. Your brain is going to consume more time deciding than the (hopefully) reflexive foot movement will take. The same weight difference is going to be there no matter what you do, so on average auto transmission cars will require more room (yes, most likely an insignificant amount in most circumstances) to come to a stop.