Posted on 03/29/2025 7:37:23 PM PDT by Red Badger
In my younger years, I always preferred cars and trucks with manual transmissions. I learned to drive on a manual transmission, and always liked them; in a car, such as the '65 Mustang I had for a while, there was nothing more fun that opening up the four-barrel on that 289, smoking off a line, and slamming through the gears. In a 4x4 truck, I always preferred a manual when off-roading, as it made it easier to ensure your motor was in its best power-band, keeping the RPMs right where you wanted them while climbing up a steep trail or fording a creek.
Manual transmissions have pretty much disappeared from American cars nowadays. But, in an interesting move, Ford Motors - my brand of choice - is bringing them back.
Sort of.
Ford has just filed a patent to bring back a classic driving experience - but only 18 percent of Americans would know how to use it.
The automaker has submitted paperwork to bring stick shifts to electric vehicles.
Manual transmissions have all but vanished from the American new car market. Last year, less than 1 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. had manual gearboxes.
In 1990, that figure sat between 25 and 30 percent.
The patent application, published on March 20, outlines a system designed to replicate the tactile experience of shifting through gears – even though there are no actual gears to shift.
The setup includes a traditional-looking shift lever mounted in a raised console, similar to the ones found in gas-powered sports cars.
But instead of mechanical linkages, the system uses electronic signals to adjust the EV's driving feedback based on how the driver moves the stick.
I'm inclined to ask, "What's the point?" I mean, at the end of the day, what is Ford trying to accomplish here?
'Electric vehicles lack operator to vehicle physical feedback that is advantageous in conventional motor vehicles,' the company wrote in the patent.
The filing arrives at a time when fewer drivers in the US know how to operate a stick shift at all.
That much is certain; one of the best theft deterrents you can have in a car now is a manual transmission.
I'll agree that driving a car, especially a high-performance car, is a lot of fun with a manual transmission, and yes, you're more engaged with the vehicle. In everyday driving, you get so used to shifting gears that you don't even think about it; it becomes reflex. You are, essentially, the automatic transmission. But for an EV? I just don't quite see the point.
But, then, as my grandfather was fond of saying, "Every cat its own rat." Maybe Ford will sell some of these. Maybe they'll catch on. I'm inclined to think that they'll be a bust, but who knows? I could be wrong - I mean, it's bound to happen eventually.
Many years ago, I had a great truck - a 1974 Bronco, the original small, tough Bronco, all steel outside, all steel and vinyl inside. It had manual everything; you even had to get out and turn the hubs to "LOCK" by hand. It would go up and down trees, or very nearly, and at the end of elk season, I could take it into the car wash, open the doors, and just hose out the interior. One summer day in 1995 or so, My Dad and I were crawling up a jeep trail in that electric-green Bronco - we called it the Green Machine. Dad commented that if Ford would make that exact truck then, all metal, no frills, manual everything, and sell it for $10-15k, he reckoned they wouldn't be able to build them fast enough. I know I'd buy one.
But that's not the technological world we live in now. Ford is bringing back a semblance of the famous old stick-shift, but not really. And that, while interesting, is kind of sad.
>> But instead of mechanical linkages, the system uses electronic signals to adjust the EV’s driving feedback based on how the driver moves the stick.
That’s pathetic.
Along the lines of fake motor sounds that Dodge has for their electric muscle cars.
What’s next? A recording of a roaring V8?...............
I was going to make the same comment.
Stupid.
I would really like to see a modernized version of the ‘65 Ford AC Shelby Cobra with the Guardsman blue and white stripes. Even a zippy crossover type like even a hatchback would be cool.
If Ford has some brains, they would put a manual in a F-250 Diesel and it would sell like crazy.
A long time ago, I had an ‘82 F-350 with a 4 speed manual. 460 V-8 and a 4:11 rear end. It would pull a lot of weight.
Send them the idea!...............
Totally stupid.
There’s nothing fun about all the engine and transmission problems I’ve had with my Fords. I will never buy another one.
“That’s pathetic”
Indeed.
I still have my 1982 Econoline with a m/t [last year] and a 1990 Suburban m/t [last year in the US].
I also have two 2005 VW Turbo Diesel m/ts and two 18/19 VW s/w m/t AWD turbo gas vehicles.
I hope that we all live a long life and I don’t have to buy another vehicle.
You doubt that Ford survives this move into the Gay World...this is hopeless.
“A long time ago, I had an ‘82 F-350 with a 4 speed manual. 460 V-8 and a 4:11 rear end. It would pull a lot of weight.”
The 460 may have been Ford’s best ever engine of yore.
I took my old Chevy (see my home page) to a wedding recently. Valet parking had only one person who could drive a stick.
Forget the "three on the tree"; Mitsubishi made column-shift 5-speed manual transmission diesel vehicles in the 1990s such as the "Delica Space Gear".
Here's an 8-minute video of YouTuber Eric Go showcasing his column-shift, 5-speed manual transmission, turbo diesel, 1994 Mitsubishi Delica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycX7pvKRMos
Ford has ads on YouTube, a black lady trying to sell electric trucks .
WTH were they thinking ?
My dream is to buy myself a car around my age that has a *real* manual transmission. I hate these electronic transmissions nowadays; they are so erratic.
Ford should patent and corner the market for placing a baseball card hitting the spokes of the wheel
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