It's no shock a vehicle like the Ford Fusion Sport comes slushbox only, but Lamborghini killing manual transmissions hits us hard and forces us to ask: whither the manual?
Sadly, the manual transmission as an option for the upper echelons of exotic sports cars and super cars is probably on its last legs. With power levels reaching closer to the 1,000 HP mark it's getting harder to expect the sorts of rich older people who make up a large portion of the customer base to handle it. Plus, modern systems are able to shift faster than any human being — even Wes Siler. In a race towards lower and lower acceleration times to splash on the cover of glossy mags it's hard to imagine most exotic carmakers reversing course.
But there's a line, at least for now. We'll call it the Godzilla line. Any car cheaper and slower than a Nissan GT-R with it's advanced dual-clutch paddle system should keep a manual option. Maybe someday they'll drop the equivalent into a Mustang GT, but until they do we'll only accept the manual transmission. Okay, even if they offer one we'll still want the stick shift, but you see our point. Cheaper and less exotic sports cars like the MX-5, Camaro, Genesis and others will let us row our own gears into the future because it's an affordable performance option enthusiasts still want. At least we hope...
What do you think? Is the manual transmission soon to go the way of the hand-crank window? Could you live in such a world?
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