Posted on 05/06/2020 11:10:55 AM PDT by NRx
Think the manual transmission is a dying breed? Guess what? You're right. Sales of electric cars recently surpassed those with three pedals. And since earlier this year, when we last revised this list, several stick-shift-equipped models have been dropped from the U.S. market, either because the option or the entire model line has been discontinued. Most notably, the Cadillac ATS-V is gone, and Jaguar no longer offers a six-speed for its rowdy F-type.
But here's the good news. There are more than 30 cars available in the U.S. that come with a manual gearbox. (A handful of sport-utes come with them, too, but we covered those in a separate list.)
If it's a row-it-yourself new car you're after, this list will help you find it. Here's hoping the next time we have to update this story, we’ll be adding entries.
Ah. My first car. '53 Pontiac w/ column shift. What a whale.
Dang! That’s great.
LOL! That would be hilarious to watch a Tesla owner as his car farted with every gear shift! It would be even funnier to wire in a can of stink bomb spray.
Not to mention that most of the time if you’re having drivetrain problems it’s the clutch. And more often than not, it’s the clutch linkage now that most of them are hydraulic.
OLD war story here: Back when I went to high school, senior boys drove school buses for the most part. Some adults did, but at my high school, the senior boys did, and some juniors who were older did. NO CLD licenses in those days boys and girls.
So, one day my high school principal approached me one day as I was watching football practice and asked me if I would like to drive a bus that year. I said sure and he said it paid a WHOOPING $98.00 PER MONTH, BEFORE TAXES!!! Huge change back in my day.
So, I go home and tell my dad that I was going to drive a school bus and earn that $98.00 bucks. Dad looks at me and says, "You do know that the school bus is a four speed, MANUAL transmission don't you???" Rut-row!! I had not EVEN thought about THAT!!! Oh *&%T!!!!!
So, I says to him, you got to teach me how and I got two weeks before I go pick up the bus at the county bus barn about 20 miles from our home. My aunt lived with us and she had the old Chevy 3 on a tree manual transmission. There was a back alley between our houses on our street and the next street over. So, that became by gear grinding, clutch burning, practice ground. My dad took me out there and we started practicing.
So, the big day came. Dad took me up to the bus barn. I go in and tell them I am there to pick up my bus. I was told to sit with four or five other guys also waiting. Then this older guy comes out and grabs us and takes us out to a bus and tells us all he is going to take us for a test drive. So, we load up and he puts one kid in the seat and tells him to take off. So, we each took turns driving for a bit. So, I was second in the line. He told me to get in there. So, off I go from the side of the highway out into the lane. I go through those four gears like a pro and it was my very first time in a four speed. I go through the gears two or three times from stop signs and the man says, "pull over and get out of there."
OH #&$s!!! I was scared thinking I had really screwed the pooch. He says: "you know what you are doing, give one of these lesser experienced kids have a shot." I almost fell in the floor!!!! ROTFLMAO!!! That saying fit to a "T". So, we go back to the barn and he tells a couple of the kids they need they need some more practice before they can be turned loose with a bus and 75 kids on it. He looks at me and another guy and says give these two old pros their busses. I was like, OMG!! So, I get my bus and off I went.
I was the only driver in our fleet of 10 bus drivers who did not have an accident that year! Only the Good LORD in Heaven above was watching over this poor, lack of experience, kid. It was a fun year. I drove the football team a few games along with two other guys.
I knew a woman who traded her car for one with a manual transmission but couldn’t drive a manual. The dealer gave her the benefit of the doubt that it had a bad clutch and replaced it after she had owned it for 3 days. When she brought it back 3 days later with the clutch burnt out again, the dealer took the car back and gave her an automatic.
So is my ‘19 Tacoma. I waited till the end of the model year and barely found one.
LOL! Leave it to the French.
You mean three on the tree? I give up. What car was it?
My dad taught me how to double clutch on a ‘31 Ford sedan. Model A.
I have a 79 VW beetle convertible. When I take it in for a state inspection, there is only one guy at the shop that can drive it, the oldest guy there. The rest just stare.
I lucked out and found mine from a dealer in NC.
My dad knew the owner and I looked at his inventory. Saw it by dumb luck. The truck had sold already that day but he was able to get me another one about a month later.
People who see inside are amazed to know manual versions exist.
I drove my CJ-5 for years on the hills of SFO. Going from a full stop on a 30 percent grade kept your legs in great shape and the clutch lasted over five years. Brought the beast back from Nicaragua where the plates don’t have annual tags; cops never gave me a ticket!! Even on Friday night on Union avenue.
Every auto transmission is a $3,000 to $4,000 dollar repair bill waiting to ruin your finances. You don’t buy a car. You buy a transmission with a car wrapped around it.
“A true Texan must:
- know how to field dress a deer...”
Not a Texan, and never had the chance to learn how to field-dress a deer, but I DID have to learn how to quickly cut up carcasses in the proper-sized portions to feed lions, tigers, bears, and other zoo animals. (The highway cops would bring us things like roadkilled bucks to convert into big cat food).
So, does that earn me any points towards unlocking the “Field dress a deer” achievement, or is carcass-chopping still too crude? :P
The best theft prevention device is a decal on the front and rear of a car DIESEL.
I learned to drive a stick on an 84 Pontiac Sunbird on the floor. Next up a 3 speed on the column Ford Econoline cargo van, that was fun! Last stick I owned was a 1995 Nissan pickup truck that was the sweetest shifting stick I ever owned and it would absolutely fly.
I tried to teach my wife who isn’t 5 ft tall to drive the cargo van and Nissan. The clutch was so heavy she couldn’t get it depressed enough to change the gears and it was a 6 cylinder you had to work hard to stall. With the Nissan she wasn’t coordinated enough to do the let off gas, clutch, shift, let off clutch and hit gas again. It was like riding a bucking bronco and I gave up.
It’s the 2020 Rubi, automatic obviously. No major mods yet. Added a sun topper and some interior stuff. I’ll wait for these tires to get to replacement and then go a little bigger. Not sure if I’ll lift it. Still need to add steps to the sides. Then a light bar, winch, bed rails, etc. the list is endless.
In college I had a succession of stick shift cars. The first one I bought from my next door neighbor as a senior in high school for $100. It was a 1950 Dodge coupe (Coronet?) with a flat head inline six, a two pane windscreen and a body that looked like a puffed out VW bug on steroids. The most amazing thing was that it had a three speed manual gear box and clutch, but with fluid coupling between the gear box and the drive line. I think the radio had a vibrator tube.
I clutch shifted it, but it could come to a stop in gear without stalling. I spent another $75 on really cheap new tires and drove that car for two years before the head gasket blew on the freeway one day causing it to spew a huge trailing cloud of steam and oil like a thick fog that caused the cars following me to run their windshield wipers or pull over. I probably stressed the head gasket by seeing at what speed it would top out at on an empty section of freeway (I recall it topped out at 103 or so).
My next car was some sort of Oldsmobile sedan with a shot steering coupling with a ton of backlash. One had to constantly turn the wheel back and forth to pull in the backlash. Once, coming home at 2:00AM on empty streets from a concert where I worked as an usher, I was too tired to bother with actively nulling out the backlash and let the car just wander back-and-forth on its own as I drove home down the empty road. Big mistake as I got pulled over for suspicion of DWI. Of course, I hadn’t had a drop to drink and the officer let me go when I showed him the loose steering wheel.
The next junker I owned was a ‘61 Ford Falcon station wagon with shot motor mounts and a manual transmission with no synchro in second gear. That car taught me how to double clutch until finally I pulled the (very small) transmission and fixed the synchro ring by simply flipping it over to the side without worn out teeth. Because of the shot motor mounts if I did not feather the clutch just right when starting from a stop the car would go into “bucking bronco” mode (who can relate to that?). I was the only one who could drive that car. My girlfriend (now wife) never could get the hang of it even though she could drive a healthy stick shifter.
Cool! I’m looking at the Rubicon...maybe the Gobi tan.
I learned to drive a stick working construction. The foreman came up to me and said they needed a jobsite gopher to go pick up materials and make some deliveries. He asked “Do you know how to drive a stick?” The only word out of my mouth was “yes.” I figured all I had to do was get that F150 pick up off the lot and over behind the Hardee’s where I could practice without him seeing me. And that’s what I did. So I spent hot summer afternoons driving around Kokomo listening to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreaux broadcast Cub games on WGN radio.
Back in January I bought a new Mustang with a 6 speed. I love that car. During the shutdown, on some nice days I’ve taken it on some long rides on windy hilly roads in southern Indiana. It’s pure fun; that’s what I bought it for.
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