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I was with my 15-month old son, Otto, at the playground in Griffith Park the other day and saw something that reaffirmed my faith that maybe, just maybe, some of this current generation of kids will grow up appreciating cars the way I do. More »
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More evidence that a manual transmission is not merely a means to greater car control and a better driving experience: Like a similar case late last month, a shift lever and clutch pedal have prevented yet another carjacking. More »
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Although we know you didn't need another reason to continue seeking out the dwindling supply of cars with manual transmissions, we're giving you one anyways. A Florida man and woman still have their car because a pair of carjackers didn't know how to drive a stick. More »
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By now you know Porsche's offering a 7-speed manual transmission on the new 2012 Porsche 911. It turns out, according to CarEnvy.ca, who somehow were magically able to liberate a photo of the new shift knob, that the shift pattern we first showed you last month is absolutely the correct layout. More »
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Four men carjacked a 22-year-old student athlete from Belhaven University with the intention of raping her Wednesday night. None of them could operate a manual transmission so they made her drive. She intentionally crashed her car, probably saving her life. More »
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Is it really true that nobody knows how to drive a stick these days? I tend to doubt the "automatic transmission is destroying our ability to drive" gloom-and-doom crowd, but who can say? Time for a totally unscientific poll! More »
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The stick shift may be going the way of the dodo. In a paddle-shifting utopia, its last refuge will be the bathroom sink. More »
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Jim Frederico, chief engineer for Buick, just told assembled journalists at the ride-and-drive for the new Buick Regal that it'll receive a manny tranny as an available option — assumingly the same as the Opel Insignia's — sometime after launch. More »
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If you're going to try and steal a car, first and foremost make sure it's not a bait car. Secondly, it might help if you knew how to drive a manual transmission. More »
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Only 6% of new cars sold stateside have a manual transmission, but every one of the Fiesta Movement cars is a stick. We taught one winner, Jill Hanner, how to drive a manual transmission car. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5230172&view=rss&microfeed=true It's apparently middle of the end for manual transmissions. [WSJ] More »
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In a stringer piece for the Detroit News, Rex Roy makes the observation that automatic transmissions are finally beginning to catch up to stick shifts in fuel economy. While we say "it's about damn time," considering automatics make up more than 90% of the US new vehicle market, we simultaneously lament that same fact. Also, we think photog-cum-journo Roy misses out on an important component of the improvement: The interface between engine and transmission and the technologies that make the entire powertrain system more efficient. Join us after the jump for a look at why it's not just the two extra gears in your slushbox doing all the work. More »
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So far we've had only automatics in the Cool Transmission Name Of The Day series, but that doesn't mean The General's indestructible Muncie M-22 doesn't deserve its day of CTNOTD glory. Oh, sure, "Rock Crusher" wasn't its official name, but I'm making up the rules here and I say it qualifies! In addition to being named after the Indiana town of its manufacture (giving Muncieites the right to look down their noses at residents of Saginaw, Michigan, where the wimpier GM 4-speeds were built), the Rock Crusher was installed in Muscle Era GTOs, Corvettes, GSXs, and the like. [Year One] More »
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It's always been our contention that the point when automatic transmission vehicles began to outsell manual transmission vehicles here in the United States was the same point 'merican drivers became less concerned about the trip and more about the destination. Looks like the Wheels blog over at the New York Times has just come to the same conclusion. Travel with them on their journey towards enlightenment. We've already seen how it plays out. [NYT Wheels] More »
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I've been thinking about how much more fun a big lumbering 60s family sedan is when it has a floor-shifted manual trans; back then, the cheapest base-level model would come with a three-on-the-tree as standard equipment, though almost everybody upgraded to the automatic. Not my dad, though; when his boss decided a company car was needed, he sent my dad to the Ford dealership and let him choose the options "within reason." So naturally the first car I remember from earliest childhood is a '67 Ford Custom with a 4-barrel 289 and a three-on-the-floor trans with overdrive unit. Man, I was just awed by the drama of the incomprehensible levers and pedals, producing scary-but-cool grinding and roaring noises and making mundane family road trips feel like something out of Thunder Road. In fact, I can trace my love of benzene buggies straight back to that car, which probably explains why I still think 3-speed manuals (and Ford small-blocks) are cool. The Custom was Ford's no-frills full-sized car; in '67, you could get one with a 289 for about $2600, which was a few hundred bucks cheaper than the heavier, slower 289 Galaxie. – Murilee Martin More »
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Let's first off start by saying — and without the potential confusion of an acronym — this is Not Safe For Work (fine we'll use the acronym anyway...NSFW). So if you're going to click the link below, please make sure the kiddies and other impressionable people are appropriately shoo-ed away. Now that it's just us older folks...we knew something like this would come our way eventually, but we always hoped it would be someone else who would have to cover it. Although, that's not saying we mind this young lady covering this stick shift, we are saying we wish she'd lubed it up first. Because well, that just looks painful at first glance, second glance — and oh yes, yes and "Yes!", third glance. Need a smoke? More »
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