I recently test-drove the 2024 VW Golf GTI – which will soon join the Automatic-Only club, which welcomes new members each week, it seems.
There are almost no economy cars still available that are available with manual transmissions, which is weird all by itself in that a manual transmission – which used to be referred to as a standard transmission – is generally less expensive to buy and always less expensive to maintain over the years, because (barring abuse) manuals usually last as long as the vehicle they’re installed, in while automatics are (historically) more likely to fail before the car falls apart.
You might have to put a new clutch in a car (or truck) that has a manual. But a clutch job is cheap relative to cost of replacing a modern, electronically controlled automatic with eight or ten speeds. As in easily 2-3 times as expensive, which is a cost not worth buying into after a vehicle reaches its event horizon of worth-fixing, after about tens years or so from new.
But that isn’t what this column is about, except peripherally.
It is about the automizing of everything – not just transmissions.
The GTI I test drove (review is here, if interested) is a striking manifestation of the changes that have been wrought over the past 40 years since the original GTI made its debut back in 1983.
That car was manual – almost everything. The transmission was just one of the things that required the driver to actually control something. That gave feedback. That the driver literally felt – in his hand – and so did not require him to use his eyes to double check.
In the new GTI – with the soon-to-unavoidable automatic – it is difficult to tell, by feel, whether you have just selected Drive or Reverse because they are selected electronically, via a stubby little toggle-thing that’s mounted on the center console, where the gear-selector lever once was. The latter was something you held in your hand and it was self-evident what gear you’d selected because you could feel it move forward or backward. It wasn’t necessary to look at a display in the dash to see what the electronic toggle had selected.
Park was self-evidently all the way forward. It was impossible to miss because that’s as far forward as the lever went. Now it’s maybe. If the button you pushed engaged Park.
Electronically, of course.
Same as regards the engine, which you may have turned off – via the stop/start button that turns it off (and on) electronically. Yet it might be on when you thought it was off – due to engine stop/start “technology,” which shuts the engine off as soon as the vehicle stops moving. If you push the stop/start button – thinking you’re turning the engine off, because you’re trying to park – the engine might come back on when you push the button to turn it off.
And then you must push the button again to stop the engine.
A key is a more direct interface. The engine is off when you rotate the key left (or toward you) because doing that turns off the ignition. Not by sending a signal to the computer but by actually disconnecting the electrical circuit that turns the ignition hot and thus enables the engine to be started (and that keeps it running).
Even the radio controls are now automized.
The GTI has finger-swipe and tap + and – controls to increase or decrease the volume of the stereo. This method is much less precise – and much less tactile – than the yet-to-be-improved-upon mechanical control knob that increase the volume if turned to the right and decreases it, if turned to the left. All without looking at it – so that you can look at the road ahead, instead.
Has this been improved – for the driver – by replacing the knob with a smooth plastic surface that senses tapping and swiping?
To change stations, one must “scroll” through “menus,” which is hard to do when you’re driving.
How is it an improvement – from the standpoint of the vehicle’s owner – to replace what used to be the emergency brake, a mechanically and manually engaged mechanism as simple as a cable connected to a lever – with an electronically and automatically engaged parking brake? The driver is reduced to a button-pusher – and if the electronics fail, he will likely face more expense.
There is also the cost of the loss of the feel of being in control of the vehicle’s operations. Of feeling at the mercy of technology that works just as it was programmed to – and which cannot be made to work the way you’d prefer it to.
It leaves one feeling disconnected – and uninterested.
. . .
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My 2024 Elantra N still has all the old engagement points. Except the push button start, but it’s really a push clutch and button start so it’s not too far off. Reward manufacturers by buying their cars that make them right.
Good stuff, Axiomate!
I agree with you as regards using our buying dollars to make our wants – and not-wants – known to the manufacturers. Hopefully, more of us will do just that rather than accepting what we’re told we’ll have.
My ’50 Chevy with “3-on-the-tree” had a push button start on the dashboard: turn the key and push the button. What was old is new again.
“…to replace what used to be the emergency brake, a mechanically and manually engaged mechanism as simple as a cable connected to a lever…”
Yep. If it ain’t broke, it’s gotta go! I’m surprised laminated glass windshields haven’t been replaced with literal wind-SCREENS! After all, a galvanized steel beam might work its way loose from a truck, and potentially impale the driver and/or passenger(s)! SAAAAAAAFETYYYYYYY!!!!
I have been driving and loving VWs since I learned to drive on a ’68 Microbes then my first car was a new 1972 Beetle bought in my senior year of High School. I have had a dozen VWs in my life, the last one a 2018 Atlas V6. And a same year AllTrack.
How sad as I enter my 7th decade that VW sells absolutely nothing interesting to me here in the US.
The new GTI is hideous. I absolutely will not have one. VW even ruined their logo making it look like a cell phone icon! It uses to look like a medallion, solid and substantial, 3D. Who the frick is in charge of the company these days?
Idky, I love the look of the Mk5, although if I had to get a R, it’d be the mk6.
Yeah, VW has turned into Cocksfagen, especially with the CEO’s claim that “The EV GTI will be more exciting than the ICE”
And it’s a damn shame too.
Not everything needs to be turbocharged, not everything needs all big lcd screens and gizmos and not everything needs cvts, rotary knobs and pinky sized shift knobs
Ford could bring back the Focus and Fiesta, spice up the base models to be fun and sporty while still being affordable to the masses, and offer 6 speeds at a great price. Maverick not having a 6spd is such a yuge miss as well, and don’t get me started with Chubby or anything else from Govt Motors.
Problem was, 90s econoboxes and general shitboxes were made to be fun, even if it was just a d-series civic with rear drums. Meanwhile, other than an a severely underpowered mirage, what cheap car could one buy with a stick that encourages modding and customization to get kids hooked? At this rate, assuming their parents aren’t like “LEASE A NEW CAR!”, they’ll be going back to the past if they want something fun, as everything else is mostly soulless.
Problem is, the prices for the classics are going up, so while a 240sx would be ideal, guess what? You ain’t finding one and “I know what I got” applies to a rusted out shell
What a shame, what a shame…
Manual transmissions are gone, it’ll be illegal to own a car with a manual transmission. No shifting for you!
I have never used the parking brake on my Pathfinder.
I lock the passenger side tire against the curb.
Remember back in 2014 when tree trunks were exposed after some glacial retreat in the Alps?
You’re not supposed to remember those kinds of facts.
The Arctic Ocean will be ice free! No more snow!
Ten years after, the Arctic Ocean still has ice and it still snows during the winter months.
They want your cars, your guns, your property, everything.
You’ll have nothing, like it is supposed to be.
The pursuit of happiness will be illegal. You’ll be convicted and imprisoned for being happy.
Sally, Sally
Sally in a Chevrolet
Well, she sits and she shifts
And she shifts and she sits
Sally, Sally
Sally in a Chevrolet
Park it in 1st (uphill) or reverse (downhill).
It won’t go anywhere.
“The pursuit of happiness will be illegal. You’ll be convicted and imprisoned for being happy.”
No need for imprisonment. The elites will just do the same thing they did during “cough-cough”: sic the lazy, narcissistic, dole-riding douchebags on us!
I think I might have an idea why transmissions have all gone automatic:
“manuals usually last as long as the vehicle they’re installed in, while automatics are (historically) more likely to fail before the car falls apart.” -EP
Exactly. Unless you’re adding more power than it can handle or abusing it, a manual will definitely outlast autos
At most, a clutch job and you’re good. Probably rebuild or swap an engine before you replace the transmission
Ol’ Carlos Ghosn, who made his way out of Japan in a plywood box after Nissan had him arrested, still knows stuff:
‘Carlos Ghosn says the success of a new three-way tie-up among Nissan, Mitsubishi and Honda will be easier said than done. The relationship, he added, seems more like a budding Honda takeover than a true collaboration of equals. That is partly because Honda is the strongest of the three by far, Ghosn said.
‘Nissan saw ballooning U.S. incentives nearly erase its profit in the April-June quarter, as it struggles with sustaining global sales volume growth. [Whereas] Honda, in contrast to Nissan, announced record operating income in the fiscal year ended March 31, as global sales climbed 11 percent to 4.1 million vehicles.
‘I can’t imagine for one moment how it’s going to work between Honda and Nissan unless it’s a takeover, unless it’s a disguised takeover by Honda of Nissan and Mitsubishi with Honda in the driver’s seat,” Ghosn said. “It’s going to be a takeover, a disguised takeover.”
https://archive.ph/Y39D8#selection-8051.1-8051.269
Yep. Nissan is a weak sister … little more than a headless chicken fecklessly flapping its wings.
My wife looked at me one day and said ‘You dumb fucker’.
I didn’t argue. Everybody makes mistakes.
Nissan has a problem with 77,000 Rogues.
Something about the steering failing.
Probably the reason everything is automated in cars these days is because people are stupid. They don’t have any idea how to physically operate anything (unless there’s an app for it). I’d bet if I put a “yute” in my Duster, they’d have no idea what the manual window crank was for. “How do you open the windows”? And forget about setting a choke.
That reminded me of a time a few years ago when it was an extremely foggy morning, and the guy on the local radio station was begging people to turn on their headlights. I had already observed many vehicles without their headlights on, and my immediate thought was that the idiots didn’t know how to turn on the lights manually since most vehicles had ‘automatic’ headlights!
They leave their DRLs on and forget its not the headlights. You see it far too often, back of the car at night you can’t see unless it’s a lighter color or they brake, and they got such weak output in front.
I’d flash them, but I got the power of the sun in my aftermarket headlights.
https://s3mag.com/tone-down-the-drls/
How many Clovers have I seen sit at Green lights, even after being honked at. Bad enough they need to be honked at to move, but the Jab blanks them out, and then by the time they reboot, either they react when its a second to red when they finally get going or just sit there all slack jawed and insulted that you got the gall to call them out on it.
I wish I was just pulling this one outta my ass, actually happened a few times, never forget the black woman getting insulted and yelling back at me for sitting at the green with a few cars behind her
I see that all the time, I’ll be the fourth car in line and the three cars in front of me will just sit there when the light turns green. Have to lean on the horn and scream out the window to get the retards to wake up and move it. Often wondered how many light cycles it would take for someone to finally wake up.
Also how much longer are they gonna be alive if they’re zoned out at a green like that, and not on their phones, since you know the Jabs probably almost done doing its job
She’s texting.
“I wish I was just pulling this one outta my ass, actually happened a few times, never forget the black woman getting insulted and yelling back at me for sitting at the green with a few cars behind her”
Hey! Don’t you know it’s rude (and “wayciss”) to call out a “brownie’s” bad behavior? lol
Im stuck in the 2000s when no one gave a shit
Cant stand how cucked up and cowardly people are these days
[This morning Ready is channeling Andy Rooney… -ed]
Just wait until the interior designers start getting bored, like what happened to iOS and Android. Start moving things around to justify their job. What was once under “settings” is now in the “quick launch menu.” Swipe down from the top bought up the notifications. Now? Well, depends on just how you swipe, and from what area of the screen. Maybe the old notifications screen, or maybe the quick launch menu, or maybe switch to an app running in the background. And too bad if you swipe the wrong way, now you have to swipe twice. And of course, the next version might get rid of some useful-to-you function and replace it with something that the design team thought more useful or interesting.
Think about some of the radical interior designs that came out of Europe in the 1980s. Thee-abreast seating with the driver in the middle. Odd instrument clusters that moved around. Designers were limited by the mechanical technology of the day. Now that they’re unburdened by cables and linkages, who knows what cockamamie ideas they’ll try. And then next model year change it all again. Heck, just update the software and everyone gets to enjoy the new ways.
Yes. It’s almost as if the designers are free to focus on what can be, unburdened by the past.
All kidding aside, the goal of these bastards is to try to erase the past. In other words, to destroy your wisdom, which was arduously acquired over the course of a lifetime. If you wipe out wisdom, they’re free to bring out all the old scam tricks.
“Yes. It’s almost as if the designers are free to focus on what can be, unburdened by the past.”
LOL. Thanks for the chuckle.
Maybe they realize “”We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues…and to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together…we will work on this together.” Credited to Veep Throat on combating “climate change”.
One of my pet peeves RK,
Every time my iPad “updates” everything gets moved around, drives me nuts. These idiots need to learn the mantra of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!”
More and more bells and whistles to make them harder and harder, and more more and more dangerous to drive.
Apparently, marketing has determined this is what people want, operating their vehicle more like operating their cell phone. Which you do not have to operate while trying to drive safely. Which I never do. Whatever inbound call I get on my cell goes unanswered until I’m no longer driving.
Hi John,
I was watching a YT video the other day about a car dealership that had a ton of Ram 1500 Classic pick up trucks on site. The dealer kept saying these were “bare bones” and they were just sitting on the lot piling up. Of course, I love bare bones. I am thinking no cameras, no ASS, a key, maybe a radio, and a V-8. I am all excited thinking I can go buy a new truck that doesn’t have crap on it. Not a chance.
I am doing my research, reading the specs, looking at the pics…the truck comes with a 5.7 L Hemi/V-8 and even a key! I can even handle the stupid integrated computer dash which doesn’t look as bad as other manufacturers. It ends there…microphones, cameras, and what is that stupid knob that reads P R N D?!?! Seriously, give me a damn gear shifter. The real heartbreaker…I was reviewing a Ram truck only available in South Africa. Oh, by the way conversion rate from the SR to USD$13K. 🙁
https://www.ram.com/sa/en/ram-1500classic.html
The only tech I want is Sat radio and a backup camera on a truck. Okay, Navi as well for work purposes (Demolition, so all the job sites). I had a Classic as a rental when my 5th gen was getting repaired for front end damage (I work in a town full of deer; basically 3 cops and all deer) 4yrs ago and thought it was so much better than my lumbering beast
Yeah, shame they don’t make more Classics and are discontinuing them soon, we need more trucks like that instead of these new age oversized luxury sedans
I messed up. It was in Saudi Arabia…not South Africa. Conversion is $54K….still I would pay that for no technology and not being spied on. I am trying to figure out how they get a key.
The goody goody shoe West,,, especially the US,,, destroyed SA. Treated them like they were the reincarnation of Nazi Germany. Today,,, They can’t even keep the lights on, whites murdered in their homes….but hey, plenty of diversity. Even the Chinese gave up on them. Said they were lazy and untrainable. The USA is half way there.
Hi Ken,
True dat, after they ran the white farmers off their land it turned out that the crops don’t plant or harvest themselves. Gee, who woulda thunk it?
‘The goody goody shoe West,,, especially the US,,, destroyed SA.’ — ken
Apartheid in South Africa: BAD! Deserves severe sanctions.
Apartheid in Israel: GOOD! Deserves aggressive support.
Go figure …
Should have been goody goody two shoes but I messed up.
I look around the world and I see NO government that is good. The People of S. Africa lived in a manner they could get along. Even the King of Botswana told the African Africans they would be sorry. Yes.Apartheid is bad,,, so is communism,,, look carefully at democracy,,, all governments are bad. With our democracy’s help millions in Ukraine, Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Viet Nam et all, have been killed and millions more injured. Children hungry. The US and West needs to stop with the bullshit about being goody two shoes! Good lord,,, they just finished trying to kill us all with their covid vax concoction.
Big trucks are finding themselves in the same situation. New drivers don’t train on & can’t drive the classic 13-speed Eaton-Fuller. A flick of the wrist goes from P-N-D and R. I suppose it’s nice in urban traffic. But the guys I know that still drive are weary of ’em and a few have had breakdowns bc of ’em.
I imagine most any tractors are going to be automatics with DEF, just because fleets are going to be looking at the cost of diesel and figuring they can save a few bucks. The days of diesel being cheaper than unleaded 85 are long gone, and if the Democratic Party’s selection gets elected diesel’s probably going to the moon.
Great for the commodities trader.
Silly you. Don’t you know our future is earth-friendly electric?
Ohh Comrade, the future is NOW!
First heard about this on the local AM radio ag show the other morning.
https://poweringgreatness.com/electric-tractor/
I looked around on YouTube to find an example of the frustration with new trucks. This lady is quite likeable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaMYii3nG-g
‘A flick of the wrist goes from P-N-D and R. I suppose it’s nice in urban traffic. But the guys I know that still drive are weary of ’em and a few have had breakdowns bc of ’em.’ — Mike
Man, I’m with you there. In my case, the seething fury from having to ‘drive’ an automatic p.o.s. leads to one inevitable denouement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3B82Q5vhY
PROST!
I’ve seen hernias that stuck out further than that shifter! As for the electronic parking brake the possibility exists that it may work longer in the winter rust belt as I believe it engages automatically when you put the vehicle into park as opposed to most drivers who don’t use them all the time.
The funny thing is the more of this stuff they put into cars the less reliable they become along with the more distracted the driver becomes. It’s stuff like this that kills any desire to buy a new car that I might still have.
No patents for the engineers if they use a volume knob.
The BMW X5 we had last year for a rental car still had a shift lever for the automatic, but the control was fly-by-wire and extremely sensitive.
I caught myself a couple of times applying too much pressure to the lever and skipping ‘R’, ending up in ‘N’ or, in one case, ‘D’, which would have put me into the car across the parking row from me.
I learned to always check the indicator before making any assumptions about the car’s gear. There’s your engagement, Eric!
Good point about the patents. Companies love ’em as a defense move, employees love ’em because they can hang it up in their cubicle to lord it over everyone else. Too bad most of them aren’t worth the hard drive space they take up.
It started with automatic transmissions then crept to power windows then power seats then central locking then remote locking then…well…you get the idea. It won’t stop until people simply refuse all the electronic toys (that’s what all this is) and get back to basics.
As far as the “emergency” brake, it’s long been a “parking” brake. Which begs the question, what happens when your braking system craps out? I realize most cars have dual braking systems but, this manual back up systems was critical to preventing tragic consequences of a system failure.
O/T question. When I look at cars for sale online and find a manual trans car it seems to be universal that cars on a flat surface are put in neutral and the e-brake is yanked to about 11 o’clock. When did this become a “thing”? Even on a mildly sloped surface the clutch should hold the car in place without the e-brake if it’s left in gear.
Hi Mark,
My understanding is that it’s not good practice to use the (manual) transmission to hold the car in place all by itself. Because it loads the transmission, which was not meant to serve as a wheel chock (so to speak). I’ve always understood the proper procedure is to first apply the parking brake and then place the tranny in Reverse, which serves as a fail-safe in the even the parking brake releases or was not applied.
Hi Eric:
My old Dodge’s slant six was so worn that if I parked it in my buddies drive way without using the parking break it would roll backwards. The clutch was OK though.
In older automatics, it was good practice to use the “emergency” brake, instead of relying on “park”. Parked on a steep hill and relying on “park” put such a load on “park” that it was often difficult to shift out of “park”.
Yep, I remember doing that and having to rip the column shifter out of park. I think putting it in “park” was the equivalent of neutral with the insertion of a metal pin or pawl to prevent the transmission and drive shaft from turning. Probably not strong enough to rely on to keep the car from rolling down a san fransisco type hill.
I never got this across to the wife. Neutral, set the parking brake, take your foot off the regular brake pedal, THEN if it’s stable, put it in park. GM automatics in the old days was a pin that locked the trans in park. I cringe still, seeing people park on a slope then throw it in park with the whole weight of the car rocking back and forth on that single pin or pawl inside the trans. And then can’t figure out why the struggle to get it out of park.
I’ll add Polish genetics to Ornimentals as the two subsets that shouldn’t drive. The wife racked up quite a demo derby score during her driving days. Stereotypical I know but there was a reason for those Polish jokes in the ‘70s.
If it’s a handle type brake it works well when taking off on a grade (hill) to keep from rolling backwards.
In places with cold winters….you don’t leave the handbrake on overnight….it will freeze on…..with a manual trans leave it in 1st or reverse….
These automatic on handbrakes will freeze on…..like the electric door handles on Tesla’s that freeze….can’t open the door….
Hi Anon,
Interesting.
I never had that issue – and I have always lived in areas that have pretty cold winters. Of course, I also lubricate my cables. So maybe that’s it.
Hey Eric,
It’s not the cables that freeze, it’s the shoes or pads that freeze (rust) and stick to the drums or rotors.
Damn, now I know this. Oh well, fortunately we don’t get THAT cold winters in Jersey (20s the lowest), but next time I’ll keep it in R overnight.
Learn new things daily, thanks Anon
I’ve heard this before, but in nearly 40 years of winter driving in MN I’ve never actually experienced it. Even in a Super Beetle.
Perhaps the brake fluid contained a bit of water. Bet it was black.
Just an intuition, but I suspect that overall it is cheaper to manufacture an automatic than a clutch/transmission combination. Several advantages not apparent in the actual costs of the parts are ease of installation and protections of “downstream” parts. A wire (or two) to the computer does the installation. Everything downstream can be sized to match the output of the transmission, or the reverse, the transmission can be built/adjusted to never overload other minimally sized drivetrain parts.
Most people are currently ignorant on how to use a manual transmission, and that allows another advantage in that you can charge more for something that I suspect costs less.
I have also seen cars parked on a steep bank creep slowly as compression leaks down on cylinders, allowing just a little turn of the crank. Overnight, enough turns could move a car a bit on down the road.
I know there are ways to avoid that. Some don’t always work. Parking a Corvair, with correct tire pressures, by relying on a turned tire against a curb was likely to result in a flat tire by morning. That one I know from first-hand experience.
Leaving the car in gear only is OK on level ground but on grades, the compression of the motor prevents the car from moving. This puts stress on the cam belt/chain which can cause it to stretch over time. This does not apply to 2 Stroke motors – which I learned the hard-way with my Trabant.
Wow, I never saw those responses coming. Yes, ebrake on hills but, on flat surfaces not so much. I’m talking about looking at cars for sale that are obviously on level ground and the handle is pulled up like it’s some sort of muscle-man game at a traveling carnival, “How hard can YOU pull the lever?!”. Miata ads seem the worst…usually at a dealer called Dollar Bill’s E-Z
Auto.