increased interest in manual transmissions?

I just saw a "Consumer Confidential" segment on the Today Show that claimed there is increased interest from consumers in buying cars equipped with manual transmissions.  They gave as one example that there is more demand for manual transmission Ford Broncos this year.  Whether this interest is enough to convince the auto manufacturers to continue offering them is another question, but I thought it was an interesting trend.

edited to add link: this is the video from that Today Show segment.  https://www.today.com/video/stick-shift-in-cars-what-s-fueling-the-growth-in-popularity-191330885605

#savethestick

Hah, asking that here is like asking a priest what religion is best.

I think its a continuation of manuals maintaining their popularity primarily in enthusiast vehicles.  People will buy a manual Bronco/Wranger but a manual Explorer/Grand Cherokee would be lot poison.

I was at a work event recently and they had hired some college kids to help shuttle cars.  When asked if they had questions one of them raised their hand and asked if there would be manuals because they didn't know how to drive one.  The guys I was with started kinda laughing about the question and it rubbed me wrong.  I asked one of them if their college age kids could drive a stick and he said no because he didn't have access to a car with a manual trans to teach them.  I asked the other if he was planning on teaching his daughter who just got her permit and he admitted he didn't know anybody but me that still had one.  How can you blame "the kids these days" for not knowing how to drive stick when their families abandoned the transmission before they were born?

I have 5 kids.  I bought a beater manual trans car for every one of them when they started driving. 

In reply to SV reX :

Tried that. Backfired. Kid decided she did not really need to drive and has not bothered 13 years later. Guess she was right?!

When your choice is manual or CVT...manual every time.

In reply to NOHOME :

I've got a kid like that. But she still knows how to drive a manual! 

among our circle of friends, i'm the guy with the manual. i have taught several kids, including my own, because somebody's got to do it.

I know that the manual Forte GT's were selling pretty quick in March when we got mine. Granted they weren't bringing many in, but they were all selling. Then again a bit more performance oriented car.

More millennials and less boomers buying new cars perhaps?

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/millennial-anti-theft-device-objectively-debunked/241609/page1/

I have taught two of my kids to drive a manual, third one will learn as soon as she is old enough.  In my oldest's group of friends there are two guys who DD manuals, both Miata's.  Of my other son's friends he is the only one that can drive one.  I look at it this way, if you know how you can drive anything which may be helpful at least once in your life.  We only had manuals growing up and my wife learned to drive on an 81 Datsun 510 wagon with a 4 speed so there is precedent at my house.

Today, having a manual trans is an anti-theft measure - let's not encourage the segment of society with a tendency to help themselves to other people's property by encouraging them to learn!

"An increase in interest" can be simultaneously true yet effectively meaningless in the marketplace as a whole.  

The average consumer decided long ago that automatic transmissions were preferred over the manual and the manufacturers responded to the sales trend.

With electrification upon us, the manual transmission will be ushered down the road to obscurity even more.

But I suppose stories like "Mazda sold 5 more Miata's than last year...people want more manuals!" will catch the enthusiast's eye and clicks.

How much of it is enthusiasts being the first ones to buy new cars (like the Bronco), and they're more likely to buy a manual? I'd assume, when Bronco's are being sold at "Ford's September Sell-A-Thon!!!!", the automatics will have surpassed manuals by a huge amount. 

Could also be that new car availability is still recovering from the chip shortage and people would would normally buy an automatic are opting for manual transmission cars simply because that's what's available?

Not to rain on our parade, as I'd love to see more manual transmission cars available. I just wonder if it's a last dying blip.

How many non-sporting cars are offered with a manual transmission these days?  Civic, VW, Nissan?  Most enthusiasts cars still offer manuals, but there are few "plain jane" models in a manual anymore for the average buyer.

-Rob

NOHOME said:

In reply to SV reX :

Tried that. Backfired. Kid decided she did not really need to drive and has not bothered 13 years later. Guess she was right?!

:O

Five (running) cars in my family, 4 are manual, but everyone can drive stick if needed.

XLR99 (Forum Supporter) said:

Five (running) cars in my family, 4 are manual, but everyone can drive stick if needed.

5 running, only 2 manuals. 3 out of 4 can and the 4th wants to learn.

I had read about this alleged uptick in interest, and it seems to me so small as to be statistically insignificant.  My kids are 50/50 on manuals.  One DD's a 6-speed manual Dodge RAM 1500 4.7 V8, and is quite competent on any manual shift including the relatively torque-less RX-7.  The other has never tried to drive stick and really doesn't want to.

I'm not sure the increased interest would prolong the existence of manual shift cars being offered for sale even if it were many times greater than it is.  Market demand is likely to be ignored in favor of a govt-incentivized product offering.

If modern manuals were as good as old ones I bet we could sell more. At least the newer cars I've driven clutches have less feel and shifters are gooeyer. My Jeep JT has a horrendous stock clutch, which is true of the ones I test drove too. GF's MK6 TDI and mom's 2nd gen Mazda 3 suffer from vague and mushy shifters. BMW E36's have more communicative controls than E46s. Even our 04 Forester, very much an appliance, had better feel than most newer manuals when we sold it at 150k

I think someone's abusing statistics to push a biased opinion. "An increase" can mean that some number increased from 1.00% to 1.001%. Even if it's a relatively huge amount like, oh, 10%, that moves the 1.00% to 1.1%. both are nothing compared to the enormous majority of car sales. I sold the last of my stick cars because driving in traffic sucks.

If you go to Ford's website and try to build a Bronco, they're not even taking orders for manual trucks right now. Which tells me that Ford didn't get their predictions right. Also that we can't tell exactly what the demand level is, just "more than expected".

1/3 of ND Miatas are sold with an auto, FYI. RFs are more likely to be automatics than soft tops, which speaks pretty clearly to the enthusiast purist's preference. 

At the gym yesterday, there were two Miatas, an NA and an ND. Both were sticks and both had the driver's seat well forward, suggesting both drivers were female. There is still hope for humanity.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Aparently they are having trouble with the transmissions. Jeep and Ford both screwed something up. Jeep has clutches that aren't up to the task and Ford has weak transmissions. Trying to make them "easier" to drive made them not last.

Am I wrong in thinking that a Bronco used for "Bronco Things" would be better suited to an auto anyway?  Crawling a nasty trail is often easier with a fluid drive slipping and keeping some torque at the wheels.

The people are doing it wrong!