I don't think so, at first anyway. The only way to transition to self-driving vehicles is for them to co-exist with driven vehicles, as the current prototypes do.

However, I eventually see the point at which driven vehicles will be prohibited on some or all roads. The advantages of being able to allow higher speeds and eliminate traffic lights will eventually lead to driven vehicles being allowed on closed courses only.

 

Bob Lindsey Honda in Peoria, IL still shows three 2015 EX / 6MT Fits left.

I honestly *really* would have preferred the 6MT, but the gearing is horrible for my use case, and I got the CVT instead (first automatic I've ever had for my DD). It's perfectly fine for the highway trips I make, but I really long for the MT when I'm carving one of the few curvy spots out here in the Middle West.

es

 

Completely agree with you - thus - I bought the Fit to tide me over til inventories are larger ...
and avoid any HR-V 1st year production jitters ...

hecho en mexico

 

When I asked to test drive a manual the salesman looked shocked and said he had never had someone as young as me ask for a manual. I'm 33.

 

This is pretty shocking to me. While it is difficult to find a manual to test drive at a dealership, I know that many other people here in Toronto have asked. I did eventually find a 2016 6MT to test drive. There are also quite a number of older used Fits, usually Gen1s, that are available in 5MT, here in Toronto.

 

Well I ended up getting a manual and got a good deal on it since they complained they couldn't sell them

 

yeah i got my 2012 GE8 last year for a steal. think i paid 7k for it. i saw it listed at 9k, then 8, then 7 went and snatched it up. when i got there they said it was going to auction the next day if i hadn't come. apparently you can't sell manuals. what can i say people are dumb, lazy, or disabled, sometimes all three... my father insisted (rightly) that i learn to drive standard -- i fought tooth and nail against it, but now, i only drive manuals, and he only drives autos lol. go figure. what are you going to do? just think of manual as a privilege that you will eventually lose.. so make the most of it now!

 

When I was shopping for my Fit, I went to Toyota to compare the Yaris, Scion XD, and Corolla, but the entire dealer did not have manuals for these or other models (except for some sport car around 30K). The salesman was also surprised that I wanted a manual - I'm 33 now, but was 32 then.
In general, I had a hard time finding manuals when cross-shopping, whether it was a new or used car........I'm glad that the majority of the world is still into manuals. I've even met people in other countries who have never driven an automatic.

 

There was a 2008 Fit base 5MT GD8 in a dealer's used lot in June, so we test drove it. 120k km/75k mi, dash was damaged, 14" tires, not in great shape, going for $10k. Still, it was pretty smooth. It sat for a couple of months, dropping to $8k. We decided that, for a 7 year old car that was 2 generations old, we'd rather buy new. If it dropped to $7k or less we would have considered it. It eventually did disappear, but I'm unsure what happened. The sales guy could not move the car because he could not drive stick. Second gen Fit 5MTs are hard to find and relatively expensive here, almost close to the new 2016 base price.

Manual cars do sell here. I guess we have more immigrants from so many other countries that drive stick, so they do sell here in Toronto.

Your Dad did you a great favour by insisting on manual. Good for both of you.

News: Globe and Mail, The shift from manual: Why the demise of stick shift is accelerating: This is very sad, but I'll guarantee that my kids will have the privilege of learning stick.

 

I don't understand the "I can't drive a manual" mentality. You know how I learned? I bought one, then I HAD to learn.


Truth be known, I already knew how to drive a dirt bike, so I understood the concept, and I'd driven my Dad's old Corvair on the driveway once or twice. Still, the first manual I drove on the street was my first new car I ever bought. That was back in '79, and I've never owned an automatic since.


But then, I'm just a stubborn old man. What do I know?

 

Thank God for that. Hondageek may have been to South America, but never in the Great Smokeys of N.C., KY, TN or the Trail of the Snake. Much less the Rockies.

As for driverless cars, fheh. Even without all the computers required for that, remember how a pair of hackers drove a Chrysler product into a ditch. And Tesla just upgraded customers software from the cloud without permission or warning last night?

 

That's what I did with my first car

 

OK that's the SECOND time this has been mentioned.

Don't you mean, Tail of the Dragon?


The only references to Trail of the Snake that Google comes up with are roads in Baja Mexico...

 

You're right. CRS, Senior Moment, Old Timer's Disease ... whatever I'll be 75 on Bruce Lee's birthday. No slow shifting or some van, pickup truck, or motorcycle will run you down.

 

Yes, the hackers will be after them, and there will be bozos in manually-driven cars that will try to screw them up by driving oddly nearby. It's to be expected, but there are ways to harden the systems. The reason that Chrysler was hacked is because they did absolutely nothing to safeguard their system.

Thousands of elevators are computer-controlled and they are attractive targets, but we haven't heard of an elevator being hacked.

 

Same here, I would definitely prefer the MT, but the gearing and noise at 75 highway speeds is not pleasant to converse with the family without raising voices beyond comfort levels. I've already got interior loudness from road and engine noise in the Integra.

 

Hey KentFinn,


Thanks for being a part of the thread. I've actually lived on both coasts of the country, including many drives from CA to FL and FL to NY. While the country's western physiographics are definitely more mountainous, you have plenty of flat, desert areas for long distances of travel. Once you leave the Rockies going east, you have the Great Plains and a greater majority of flat lands. Not saying there are no mountains in other states, but if you take out Alaska and Hawaii and focus on the continental United States, the average height above sea level is way under 1000ft for the majority of States.


This is even more so in the most densely populated parts of the country, which automakers look at.


That being said, I would love the majority of the cars sold in America to be manual. The reality is that us enthusiasts and others who prefer a manual make up the smallest percentages of buyers.

 

Our dealership in St. Catharines (Henley Honda) had a LX-CVT and a EX-6MT available for us to test drive back in July. We went with the 6MT and ordered one in late August. Supposed to arrive by this Saturday, so after getting windows tinted Monday hope to have it sitting in the driveway Tuesday next to our 2013 Ridgeline. Yup, we drank the Honda Kool-Aid!

BTW, anyone from Toronto, HH is a great dealership, we've been very happy with the service.

 

Ridgelines are in hot demand near me. Its a very nice trunk, no matter what the rest of Merica says.

 

My car was still listed as available on my dealer's website for weeks after they sold the car. And later, quite by accident, I came across a 2-minute video made in the dealer's back lot (right where I first saw the Fit) ... It was almost like finding a movie of your girl friend on a porn site.