death of the manual in pickup trucks

[Rough Edge racing]

I don't think that anyone's mentioned the fact that the large majority of folks under 30 have never driven a manual transmission, never learned the process, and have no interest or need to know how to do so now. They're the people buying most new vehicles these days, as old farts like us tend to keep our cars & trucks longer, usually learned to drive in stick shift vehicles, and have a nostalgic "need" to keep that tradition alive.

Maybe, maybe not.....If you take all the guys here for example, what's the percentage of presently owned manual transmission vehicles , 10 percent?....Of all my friends, old and young, very few own a manual trans.....

[PJPR01]

All it takes is a nice big fat hurricane or earthquake and then you'll see the interest in amateur pick up in that area.

HAM radio is still a requirement for the motorcycle marshals who provide support for bike races like the MS150 cycling event from Houston to Austin, not sure about other types of events, but it's pretty cool to see some of the bikes outfitted, many of them look like Iron Butt riders with multiple GPS's, HAM radios etc.  Goes to prove that having devices on the bike really isn't as distracting as some think...especially if you are responsible for safety for others while riding at the same time....and some folks struggle with just having a simple GPS as a distraction.   

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Maybe, maybe not.....If you take all the guys here for example, what's the percentage of presently owned manual transmission vehicles , 10 percent?....Of all my friends, old and young, very few own a manual trans.....

I own one of each (VW Eurovan - manual, Mercedes 300CD - automatic) but wish both of them were manual. When it comes time for a replacement for Mercedes I hope to find a 190D with manual. A "grey market" car with wind-up windows, manual heat controls and cloth interior would be even nicer. But if I replace the van with a Sprinter, I'll be stuck with an automatic. :-(

[Aaron D.]

I still drive a manual, a '14 Audi. Not sure what I'll get next but I still prefer a manual to an automatic.

Though I suspect for off road a good torque converter auto would be best.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 They're nearly all just shiftless pickups now.

[Kev m]

Looks like my historic numbers are 7 autos and 8 manuals, currently 1 and 1.

[Rough Edge racing]

 My record is spotless, all manuals... I taught a girlfriend how to drive a stick, she left me for a fancy Dan in a sports car. ..I taught my first wife to drive a stick and she's an ex...My current wife came with a manual transmission car...   On our first date she drove, a piece of junk 4 speed Mercury Granada .. we're going down the expressway at  65 MPH, the steering wheel is vibrating ,the shift lever is vibrating..it drifts to the right, the brakes pull left..a woman who can drive junk is a keeper   
 

[twowings]

I've been able to avoid slushboxes for 48 years of owning 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles...I consider myself lucky! 

Would be sorry to see them phased out...a perfect gear change is one of life's greatest pleasures...

[Aaron D.]

My record is spotless, all manuals... I taught a girlfriend how to drive a stick, she left me for a fancy Dan in a sports car. ..I taught my first wife to drive a stick and she's an ex...My current wife came with a manual transmission car...   On our first date she drove, a piece of junk 4 speed Mercury Granada .. we're going down the expressway at  65 MPH, the steering wheel is vibrating ,the shift lever is vibrating..it drifts to the right, the brakes pull left..a woman who can drive junk is a keeper   
 

Wow, in my very short career selling cars I sold a new 1979 Granada with a 4 speed, only one I ever saw.

Some cars are built to become junkers, the kind that rattle on for years-that was one!

[Kev m]

My record is spotless, all manuals... I taught a girlfriend how to drive a stick, she left me for a fancy Dan in a sports car. ..I taught my first wife to drive a stick and she's an ex...My current wife came with a manual transmission car...   On our first date she drove, a piece of junk 4 speed Mercury Granada .. we're going down the expressway at  65 MPH, the steering wheel is vibrating ,the shift lever is vibrating..it drifts to the right, the brakes pull left..a woman who can drive junk is a keeper   
 

He he, when Jenn was learning to drive her family had 2 cars for then already 4 drivers (with another close on her heels).

The cars were an 80's steam-ship of an Oldsmobile Wagon that DRANK precious $$$ of fuel, and a small, cranky, but fuel sipping VW 5-speed. Her mom and her sis couldn't drive the 5-speed, and before her dad would let her take it he took her too the steepest hill in town (complete with multiple stop signs on the way up), parked it and said - "Get to the top and you can borrow the VW."

So when we met a few short years later she had already bought her own $500 car (Ford Festiva I believe, whatever the damn rebadged Daewoo was) and it was a 5-speed.

Her current Grand Cherokee is the only Auto (ohh, unless you count a used VW Cabriolet a business partner's wife sold her on the super cheap) that she's ever owned.

[Sheepdog]

My first car did not have syncromesh...an old MG. Like my tractor, the old 13 speed Freightliners I drove, or all of the tactical vehicles I operated in the Army, these manuals had their own set of rules. First could only be engaged at a dead stop and rev matching was necessary during gear changes. Compared to those old relics, the new manuals feel like butter.

Time marches on, whether we want it to or not. Those old transmissions were functional and though I was proud of my mastery of them, they were really a pain in the neck. The new manuals are a huge improvement. Perhaps in time we will look upon our modern automatics and CVTs the same way.

[blackcat]

I ditched my last manual stick vehicle (a horrible Renault) after getting stuck in too many stop and go traffic nightmares, with the last one a three hour wait to get across the George Washington bridge into Manhattan. My left leg was near numb when I finally got home.

[redrider90]

Seems to me that I remember driving a Ford cab over propane delivery truck with a dual shift control for each gear. The best I can explain it is that you could upshift and then if you wanted a lower gear than say 3rd  you would double clutch it and pull up or push down on a lever on the shifter. It sort of acted like an overdrive in either direction whether up shifting or down shifting  which gave you the ability have greater pull when fully loaded. I think that is how it worked. It was back in 74 or 75 I drove that truck so my memory is a bit vague. Does that sound familiar to anyone out there.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

If I had to commute into a "big city" or would regularly be stuck in stop-and-go traffic, then an automatic would be preferable. But, living out in the "country" with little traffic and entertaining roads to drive, I prefer to do my own shifting.

The thing I've always disliked about automatics is the complication - bad enough before electronic controls, but now much worse. Big $$ when something fails. Most folks won't own it long enough for that to be an issue though, for those of us who buy "pre-depreciated" cars it will be. Look on Craigslist sometime and take note of all of the nice cars being sold cheap because of automatic transmission issues.

Back to Guzzi content: although it's an "automatic" (of sorts) a Convert is really not all that much more complicated than a normal Guzzi. All of it is easy to understand and fix, no vacuum or computer controls, just plain old mechanical systems. 

[LowRyter]

Wow, in my very short career selling cars I sold a new 1979 Granada with a 4 speed, only one I ever saw.

Some cars are built to become junkers, the kind that rattle on for years-that was one!

that's one ugly car.  So ugly I could barely remember it due to selective amnesia. 

[wildebube]

Would be sorry to see them phased out...a perfect gear change is one of life's greatest pleasures...

I most heartily concur.  It's a visceral thing.  I don't care how good automatics have become.  I know they shift better and faster and I know they're more efficient.  I just don't care.  There's undeniable pleasure in shifting for myself.  I would say that I've never owned an automatic, but my wife's last three have been automatics.  I try my best to avoid driving them though.

[rocker59]

I don't think that anyone's mentioned the fact that the large majority of folks under 30 have never driven a manual transmission, never learned the process, and have no interest or need to know how to do so now. They're the people buying most new vehicles these days, as old farts like us tend to keep our cars & trucks longer, usually learned to drive in stick shift vehicles, and have a nostalgic "need" to keep that tradition alive.

How many "folks under 30" are buying new pickups, which cost $40k to $70k ?

The reason pickups have gone auto is different from why small and mid sized cars have gone auto.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[unclepete]

I like a manual transmission in a truck because I live in the mountains and the long downhill sections are hard on brakes with an automatic , especially with a load .

My niece was up visiting from Southern California when she was about 12 . We were hauling gravel , so when we got to the pit I rolled up the window so the cab would not fill up with dust , and asked her to do hers . She said she had wondered what that little crank handle was for and where the window button was .

[ITSec]

Maybe, maybe not.....If you take all the guys here for example, what's the percentage of presently owned manual transmission vehicles , 10 percent?....Of all my friends, old and young, very few own a manual trans.....

Of all the four-wheeled vehicles I've owned since 1974, including those owned by my wife, only one had an automatic - a 1988 Chevy Astro I bought for towing my race car. Every other one has had a manual. My current 2006 Subaru Baja Turbo has a manual (bought new, most recent purchase of a cage).

[oldbike54]

Wow, in my very short career selling cars I sold a new 1979 Granada with a 4 speed, only one I ever saw.

Some cars are built to become junkers, the kind that rattle on for years-that was one!

 Wait , you sold a what with a what ???

 There is a club with a website that specializes in unloved cars from history . Can't remember the name , anyone know . A 4 speed Grenader would fit right in .

 Dusty

[Gliderjohn]

A college room mate had a 68 Rambler American 4-door, bench seats and all but with a 4 on the floor. In the 60s you could get all kind of weird combinations. Back in the late 60s a childhood friend's parents had a completely optioned out Chrysler New Yorker but with a three on the tree. Whatever floats your boat.
GliderJohn

[sign216]

All it takes is a nice big fat hurricane or earthquake and then you'll see the interest in amateur pick up in that area.

Actually during our latest storm I noticed that the weather service still gets a number of local reports via ham.  On the website they list snowfall by town, and much of the info is listed as from ham radio operators.

[Kev m]

My current 2006 Subaru Baja Turbo has a manual (bought new, most recent purchase of a cage).

Damn my new 06 Baja with a manual was 2 vehicles ago (4 if you count all the ones in the household).

Truthfully I kinda miss it. I might still have it if I'd gotten the turbo. But I was in a "try to be more responsible and conservative" phase... That obviously didn't take. [emoji23]

Great vehicle though. Tough as nails and rock solid in foul weather.

[Aaron D.]

Wait , you sold a what with a what ???

 There is a club with a website that specializes in unloved cars from history . Can't remember the name , anyone know . A 4 speed Grenader would fit right in .

 Dusty

Funny, te buyer said he wanted a car that would be good for hunting-I showed him the 4 speed and the deal was done.

[charlie b]

I like a manual transmission in a truck because I live in the mountains and the long downhill sections are hard on brakes with an automatic , especially with a load .

My niece was up visiting from Southern California when she was about 12 . We were hauling gravel , so when we got to the pit I rolled up the window so the cab would not fill up with dust , and asked her to do hers . She said she had wondered what that little crank handle was for and where the window button was .

You do know you can downshift with an auto.  The newer ones downshift for you too.  Unless I am pulling a really heavy load or on a steep grade I dont have to touch the brakes on my truck.

[kirby1923]

Seems to me that I remember driving a Ford cab over propane delivery truck with a dual shift control for each gear. The best I can explain it is that you could upshift and then if you wanted a lower gear than say 3rd  you would double clutch it and pull up or push down on a lever on the shifter. It sort of acted like an overdrive in either direction whether up shifting or down shifting  which gave you the ability have greater pull when fully loaded. I think that is how it worked. It was back in 74 or 75 I drove that truck so my memory is a bit vague. Does that sound familiar to anyone out there.

Two speed rear axle.

[jas67]

Hey, that's my driveway!

[LowRyter]

Actually during our latest storm I noticed that the weather service still gets a number of local reports via ham.  On the website they list snowfall by town, and much of the info is listed as from ham radio operators.

My pickup truck still has a two meter radio and CB installed in it.  I've never bothered to figure it out and am game to pull it out.  It is worth anything?  Anyone want it?

[charlie b]

Two speed rear axle.

Maybe not.  Could be a 'gear splitter' on the back of the transmission.  Our old motorhome had one on the back of a TH350.  But, it was an automatic.  I could still select each gear in the transmission, then select either high or low on the gear splitter, so a 6 speed setup.  Or, if you prefer, an overdrive that could be used in all three gears.  Most of the time I left it in low until I got on the highway, then put it in high.  But, on that road with the 10% grade I used to drive on, I used it in all gears.

[kirby1923]

Could be but the fact its a manual cab over truck I'd put my money on the two speed axle.