@TyphoonFiST - Yeah he's not an enthusiast. 🙄
Basic reasons are:
* Automatic trans tech and reliability have greatly improved.
* People don't want to learn, requires more effort, requires both hands/feet.
* Little to no price difference when new. For those that care, low resale value.
* Dealers don't carry them. (hard to find, diminished availability)
* Larger, luxury and less-economical vehicles represent greater and greater share of purchases now. (financing longer and higher loans)
But I guessing my "article" would generate few clicks.
#13) While automatic transmissions definitely have their flaws—most notably draining fuel economy and problems with solenoids—all in all, they're much more reliable than manual gearboxes. Even the most ginger, expert stick shift driver will have to get their clutch replaced eventually, which is a complex job that can easily cost well over $1,000—and more for luxury or sports cars.
Previous car replaced >327k due to rust. Clutch never required replacement.
#14) Even the most experienced stick shift-acquainted driver hates getting stuck on a hill. Using the emergency brake makes it possible to slip from the brake to the gas while feathering the clutch and not rolling backward, but the fear still lingers that another driver will pull up too close and cause a fender bender nonetheless.
Never bothered me. I live in the Ohio Valley. If you're not going up a hill, it's only because you're going down one.
#11) A major reason that even high-performance cars are losing stick shifts—like the Porsche 911 Turbo S, which may sound counterintuitive—is the use of dual-clutch gearboxes. Porsche's PDK (which stands for Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe) might be the best in the business, but almost every manufacturer now uses a dual-clutch transmission to shorten shift times.
This is a repeat of #15.
#10) A counterintuitive reason that manual transmissions are going slowly but surely extinct is the increasing use of turbochargers in modern cars to improve low-end torque and fuel economy. As fun as driving a manual with a turbo might be, all that low-end grunt is a sure way to increase clutch disc wear and blow gearboxes more frequently.
False. Just because you drive them, slipping the clutch at 2,500RPM all the way through the intersection with 3,500RPM shifts just keeping up with standard slow-poke traffic, doesn't mean everyone else does. I've shifted manual transmissions nearly exactly the same way an automatic would. I ignore them, but both of my manuals have had up-shift indicator arrow. I only say "nearly" because there are times when the shift-timing is too early; the ECU doesn't have terrain and other relevant data. I do.
#8) While it's true that older generations are more likely to know how to drive stick shift, having grown up in eras when more cars left the factory equipped with manual transmissions, old drivers are also a major reason for the present decline. After all, seeing old people driving fifteen miles below the speed limit with their faces six inches from the windshield is scary enough without realizing that they're trying to multitask with a stick shift.
I agree age is a factor. But their experiences lend well to mutlitasking. Usually it's the arthritis, back pain and other physical ailments. In other words, not mental decline.
#6) Anyone who learns to drive stick shift learns to hate the sound of grinding gears. And there's a reason the phrase has become an idiom: it sounds awful. Even worse than the noise, though, is the knowledge that missing a shift or mistiming a clutch release slowly but surely leads to clutch disc and transmission problems.
Could pick at this and number seven; but starting here, not going to get that granular. 😑
#5) Given that most of the remaining cars that hit the streets equipped with stick shifts are sports cars, it would seem reasonable to assume that manual transmissions perform better than automatics. But that is, by now, completely incorrect. Part of the reason many manufacturers have switched to automatic gearboxes, actually, is because they improve 0-60 sprint times.
Repeat of number 15 and number 11.
#4) Operating a stick shift and clutch pedal in stop-and-go traffic can be a real chore. Not only does it slowly degrade the life of the clutch, but it can also cause real soreness in the left gluteus maximus. Just having to worry about the accelerator pedal—or better yet, switching on a semi-autonomous setting—is much more ideal for daily commuters.
Minus the "soreness" drama, completely valid. Some people get annoyed if you hang back a car-length or two to "buffer" the stop & go; allowing one to just keep in first gear at a steady crawl.
Most 90s cool Hondas here have literally disintegrated.
