I had one of those automatic VW bugs, I think it was a '69. It was given to me used and didn’t last long. Fortunately I had another bug that needed the engine and a few other things so I never even bothered to try to fix the auto.
I’m only buying EVs from here on out, so no. My last car was stick, and I liked it, but I like EVs more.
On the extremely remote chance that I move somewhere with a giant garage and start collecting cars for fun, then sure, they’ll mostly be manuals.
I wouldn’t get a manual (stick shift) as a daily driver, but I’d love to get a small sporty one as a weekend ride.
My main car is a 5.2l V8, 6 speed auto that goes from zero to Oh Phuck in a heartbeat, but I miss being able to work through the gears myself. Something satisfying about the action of clutch, change gears, plant foot.
Sure, every one of my ~7 daily drivers has been manual transmission, with the exception of a 96 Ford Explorer I had for 6 months or so.
My next car will likely be manual as well, perhaps a Mustang GT, Subaru Crosstrek, or maybe a Ford Maverick if they offered manual.
Interesting that one of the remaining American MTs today comes from… Cadillac! Color me surprised.
I have a 1963 weekend fun car that is a 4-MT. It is fun to drive.
Alas, they’ll soon be gone. (sigh) My current car is automatic, but for my last one, bought in 2001, I insisted on a manual and it took the dealership some time to locate one. That 2001 Honda CR-V served me for over 200,000 miles.
I love a manual shift, it’s all we own. Even my F-250 for the horse trailer is a stick. Sucks a bit it traffic, but I love it still.
But, when my beloved little Mazda2 finally dies (170k+ and going strong so far) I’ll probably get a hybrid of some sort so that’ll put an end to the manual shift fun 
I would never own one in an urban environment because you are constantly shifting. One can barely get a sip of coffee before reaching for the gear shift yet again.
I would, since I can’t drive an automatic.
In an urban environment, the wave of the future is to lean back and read the paper while sipping coffee and letting the robot drive the electric car to your workplace. Assuming you didn’t just take the subway.
Any future cars we buy will be hybrid or electric, so I think a stickshift car isn’t in the cards. My current car is the first automatic I’ve owned in two decades, but it’s probably inevitable that it won’t be the last.
It’s kind of fun to get a standard when renting a car in Europe so my wife and I can still drive a stick.
Analysts proclaiming the imminent demise of stick shifts are reminiscent of pundits in years past declaring that radio was dead.
Skimming that article from The Atlantic Monthly, I didn’t see driver assist features as a reason for fewer manual transmissions. Things like automatic braking and adaptive cruise control seem to require automatic transmissions.
Is this a joke, or a woosh, or something else entirely?
No joke, but the honest truth.
I learned to drive on a stick, have always driven a stick, and the few times I have tried to drive an automatic have been abysmal failures. When I drive, I use all three pedals most of the time, manipulating them in concert to get the car do what I want it to do.
With an automatic, all that logic and action is thrown out the window. If I tap the brake pedal, for instance (which I do all the time on a stick for a multitude of reasons), the automatic stops abruptly. If I let go of the gas, which I do all the time, the automatic grinds to a halt, instead of coasting on momentum for the next half-mile etc.
I just can’t deal with it, and dread the day I can’t get me a stick shift car anymore.
You get used to it…
Yeah, I drive both, depending on whether I’m driving my car or my wife’s, and I honestly don’t really notice any difference. I’m not sure how braking is really all that much different on either (I don’t find automatics any more abrupt), but that could just be muscle memory for both transmissions. (Though I do every once in awhile find myself jabbing for a non-existent clutch pedal when in the automatic.)
What I may find weird is the Teslas, I believe, have a mode where you operate the car with only one pedal. That would probably take me a bit to get used to.
Argh! Now, I’m itching with curiosity! How can you not drive an automatic? It’s … uh … “automatic”!
You still need to know how it works, e.g. how long it takes to shift. It was not obviously obvious to me the first time I tried to drive a car with an automatic transmission, having first learned to drive a car with a normal transmission. Also it did stuff like inch forward by itself when I released the brakes.