The manual transmission is alive and well ? if you know where to look - The Globe and Mail

The Fit is on his list of available manual cars.

 

GM Holden in Australia will build the last Chevrolet SS this week or shortly after. While not on his list, it is available with a 6MT, and I believe is the only (V8!) four-door, rear-drive sedan available with a manual in the US, at least until they're sold out. I'd have bought a 6MT in my Fit but for the poor ratios.

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Plenty of people have made posts (including myself) of their 17 Fits being manual. This isnt news

 

Problem is most manual are available only on the lowest basic models and trim.
Very few people want to buy the lowest, like with cheap uncomfortable cloth seats, even if they want a manual.
E.g. I want top of the line touring model with the bigger engine option and leather seat...no manual available for this option.

Another problem is the engine lag phenomenon in all newer cars. The lag problem was so bad, that I sold my manual Yaris after just 1 year of ownership. Supposedly this way to save a bit of gas and emission. But it made driving a manual easy to get a little jerky.

 

Automatic tranny technology has gotten to the point that they are better in every respect to a manual.

I think manuals will eventually go the way of the buggy whip because of that, and those of us with a fondness for clutch pedals and running through gears are going to be replaced by younger people who remember with fondness when cars came with steering wheels and accelerator pedals.

Maybe they'll be allowed to drive their human operated vehicles at classic car track day events, so long as they sign away all their rights to state provided healthcare services just in the all-too likely case of operator error.

 

Sadly, most manual options are reserved for sports models, namely the Civic Si and Type R from Honda. The days of eco-car manuals seem stretched pretty thin. #SaveTheManuals

 

New Supra and C8 corvette are Auto only

 

I think it's probably fair to say the manual transmission is still alive.
But how well it is,- is debatable.
For a huge majority of my lifetime, when you were car buying you didn't have to "know where to look" for a manual transmission. Nearly everything you looked at, was available as either an automatic or manual.

Now, even vehicles that "supposedly" are available with a manual transmission are sometimes hard to obtain. While when I was growing up, if you were looking at a popular model, brand new, at a dealership it was pretty likely they had BOTH automatics and manual transmissions available.

My last Honda Fit purchase, the dealership had plenty available. But I think they only had 1 manual transmission. And it was a stripped down model, that I think they were mostly using to put a low price on, and park near the entry to get people to drive in and look.

Also when I was growing up, manual transmissions were prevalent enough, that you learned how to drive one. With less people owning them? You have less young people learning how to drive them.

I learned on a manual, I owned manual transmission vehicles, I would guess with enthusiasts, they may never disappear. But I also would hesitate to say they are "doing well" when compared to my past.

 

I tried finding a MT Fit anything in the New England area. Three dealerships (Boch, Grappone, and Bernardi) all said this:
- good luck finding one
- we cannot order it from the Factor (this was mid July 2019)
- 2020 Factory ordering process doesn't have a check box for MT on the 2020 Fit

I settled on a Fit LX CVT.with no options. It does have one advantage, I can forget about shifting in Boston traffic when I have to head from Acton, MA to Darien, CT for work (office to plant).

I also don't understand why honda didn't put a low ratio 6th in for improved mileage over the CVT. They did this for the Civic VX (45-52 mpg highway).