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Old Jul 17, 2015, 03:34 AM
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Timgt5 Timgt5 is offline
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Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Durham,nc
Posts: 5,431
I can drive a manual, but they are rapidly going the way of the Dodo bird. Take super cars for instance, Ferrari no longer offers a manual trans in any of its cars, ditto Lamborghini. Porsche you have to special order certain versions of the 911. The reason is technology the 488 GTB's dual clutch for example can move between gears in mille seconds faster than any human hands and feet unless your name is Lewis Hamilton or "The Stig". These new DC trans are way some of these cars are now down to the three second range from zero to 60.

In midsize family cars only the Mazda6. The Honda Accord and the Ford Fusion offer manual transmissions. In compact SUVs only the Mazda CX5 and Subaru Forester offer 6 speed manuals and only on the base models.

The other reason people used to get manuals was fuel efficiency, but that is no longer the case either. I have a 2016 Mazda6 Automatic, it beats its manual counterpart by 2MPG and it is a 1/2 second faster from zero to 60 to boot.

the other thing is the American life style, we talk on our phones and eat our Mac-muffins going down the road in the morning. We need that free hand

Soon none of this will matter, Autonomous cars are the future, in 20 years, driving will be done entirely by enthusiasts on tracks out in the country side.