Manual transmission cars rising in value (NY Times)

[EverettB]

[Emily's Owner]

[Jon Schmid]

[oprn]

We have 20 vehicles in our yard presently including tractors, buggies, cars, truck, converted school bus, motorcycles and snowmobile. The sled is belt drive, one small bike has auto clutch, one car is automatic and the other 16 are all standard shift with a clutch peddle. All 4 of our children and my wife are competent on a standard shift anything.

When youngest my daughter took driver training through the high school she requested a standard shift car for the course and was told it was not an option because the instructor could not drive a stick!

When she graduated the her class mate escort showed up in a 4 door soccer mom SUV to pick her up, very disappointed because his Dad would not let him take his '70 Camaro. I pointed to my 944 and said "Take that, it matches her dress." But... he couldn't drive a stick... so I then said "She can drive YOU there then!"

The memory of the look on his face at my suggestion still makes me grin!

...they went in the soccer special... seems it would have hurt his manly image too much to be drive there by her in a Porsche!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[KTPhil]

[cdennisg]

[oprn]

[Steve M.]

[Randall]

Here is a link to a Jalopnik article from three months ago. It says that sales of new stick-shift cars increased by 89% from 2021 to 2023. However, that statistic is not so impressive when you hear that so far in 2023, only 1.7% of all new-car purchases have been vehicles with manual transmissions.
https://jalopnik.com/manual-transmission-sales-double-stick-shift-take-rate-1850184123

According to the article's author it is millennials who are responsible for the increase. I found some of the reader comments to be illuminating.

[modok]

Helps to explain why I'm the only guy in town who grinds flywheels right now.

I bought another flywheel grinder last week. Stupid move or genius, not sure, but the price was so right I can't lose.

[NJ John]

Outside the USA every car, van and truck seem to be manual and usually rwd. This country is just backwards.
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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[oprn]

6 years ago when we were in South America for 3 weeks we only saw 3 cars with auto transmissions out of all the ones we were in and that I walked by. A very rare thing to find an auto box there!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[hobthebob]

[Bonesberg55]

I consider my automatic equipped vehicle to be self-driving & that's the closest I'll ever get.

[HMVWNAB]

Start learning early..


Link

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What are the last 2 words of the National Anthem?
PLAY BALL!

[Bonesberg55]

When Mopar made the Torqueflite 727, you could feel a positive shift from one gear to another. That was a great automatic. The Caravan we have now(2017) slips & slides between gears when you're at certain speeds. I'm so disgusted that I would prefer just a single speed & torque converter like the old fluid drive they had back in the late 40s & early 50s when you just placed the manual in 3rd & let the clutch out.

[finster]

sales of automatic cars are rising in the UK. last year 54% were auto compared to 20% a decade ago. shifting gears gets in the way of texting I guess.
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[Cusser]

[Bonesberg55]

Regardless of what EPA ratings are, a manual transmission vehicle has always gotten better mileage than the same model with an automatic. That & the extra cost for an automatic are 2 reasons why American vehicles are usually equipped with an automatic. It means more money for the auto makers & the oil companies.

[NJ John]

But now, these 6+ speed automatics constantly shift making the engine feel more powerful.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage