8/9/2023 0 Comments Stick shift![]() ![]() Still, stick shift enthusiasts tend to be really enthusiastic so car companies still want to appeal to them. That's not exactly a world-beating number. Manual transmissions are running about 1.7 percent of new car sales so far this year, up from 0.9 percent in 2021, the Journal reports. That is, neither is as dominant as they used to be in their respective fields, but they're both doing better than was expected. But it's also the case that automatics are simply more convenient, he said: "Stick-shift drivers will never get to relax while their cars accelerate and brake them - all the way to a stop - through a miles-long traffic jam like automatics equipped with adaptive cruise control can."Ī little perspective here: Stick shifts are making a comeback in the same way that vinyl records - to which the old-style cars are frequently compared - are making a comeback. Stick shifts used to have a fuel efficiency advantage over automatics. Why? Electrification is part of the reason: Those newfangled vehicles "don't even have gearboxes." But it's also a matter of automatics getting better over the years, 's Joe Wiesnfelder wrote in 2020. The Atlantic's Ian Bogost noted in 2022 that manual transmissions were 15 percent of new and used car sales in 2000 - and just 2.4 percent two decades later. Why did stick shifts fall out of fashion?Īutomatic transmissions have been around forever, but it's only in recent decades that they overtook stick shifts as the dominant model. "Many millennial and Gen Z manual enthusiasts" have discovered they love the old-fashioned way of driving, the Journal reports. Sales of three-pedaled cars are rising, and carmakers like Mini and Mazda are "doubling down" on the models. But now stick shifts "are experiencing a modest but real resurgence," The Wall Street Journalreports. Are stick shifts making a comeback? Automatic transmissions dominate the car world these days, but there was once a time when knowing how to operate a stick was a necessary skill for most drivers - that's why they called it a "standard" transmission. ![]()
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