Save The Manuals (Again) - The Other Side of The Coin

"Mikeado" (mikeado) 10/01/2013 at 18:28 • Filed to: Save The Manuals

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No offence to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! *, but how many more of these are we going to have on Oppo? To be honest, I've become almost completely numb to the whole debate. I've pretty much stopped caring. Yes, I like having a manual gearbox, but its importance is exaggerated a lot by internet enthusiasts. The transmission alone is not the be all and end all of the driving experience. It is just one element. We're now at a point where the class-leading auto/semi-auto gearboxes are so good that the cars they're in can be just as much fun in their own way (and lest we forget, "different" is not "wrong").

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Take the 991 GT3. As expected, after a trillion comments about it only having a PDK and no manual gearbox, everyone who's actually driven it has jizzed all over the sun visors, sometimes even more than once. Why? Because it's a brilliant car (I've read). With its rear-steer system and the usual new suspension, wider wheels and so on, it's incredibly agile, and that 475bhp H6 engine revs to nine thousand RPM . That can never be boring! From the outside, it genuinely sounds like the full-on racing 911 instead of a road car, and seemingly-instant shifts are undeniably a part of that. What's more, the gearbox is not the only source of communication between driver and car. How about the pedals and, more importantly, the steering wheel ? Y'know, that thing that tells you what the car is doing, what the road is doing and how your inputs are affecting the front or even the back wheels? You can moan about electric systems not always having the same feedback as before, but it's all in the execution. Your precious Toyobaru GTBRZ86 has an EPAS, for example. Ever complained about it? Ever read complaints about it in reviews?

Anyway, this thing about fast shifts brings me onto something that's true of many new performance cars including the GT3. The latest performance cars are now incredibly quick in every direction, to the point where the 5 tenths of a second a manual gear change takes could feel like a great yawning chasm between refined bursts of seamless and often-brutal acceleration. When everything else about, say the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is so damn fast, from the steering to the engine response to the powerful carbon brakes, long gear changes might make the experience feel disjointed. Old hat. An equally-hyperactive DCT with lightning-fast changes adds to the whole experience of mind-bending speed (it seems - I can't pretend I've driven an F12). The same goes for the 458. For car companies, it also improves all acceleration times, and fuel efficiency as Auto Mode jumps to the highest gear possible as early as possible. In the new 911 Turbo, it even uses "virtual intermediary gears" where the PDK slips the clutch in some clever way to try and get the revs down even earlier for better eco figures, which is necessary when regulations are so stringent these days. Paddle shifting can be exciting too. In the new GT3 you can even pull both paddles at once to put it in neutral, which when moving is effectively the same as a clutch kick and throws the tail end out if you're entering a corner. Insta-drift!

But hey, if you're really bloody-minded about making the internet think you drive like Colin McRae all day e'rry day, then here's a seemingly counter-intuitive thought: manual cars will exist for YEARS, possibly even decades yet. This isn't just because in Europe most people still learn to drive with a manual car, and as part of the circle manual cars are offered at the lower end of the market for new drivers. It's because there will always be specialist car companies making what you are unreasonably expecting mainstream manufacturers to make in abundance in 2013: light, stripped out sports cars for enthusiasts. Ariel. Caterham. Factory Five. It goes on and on. There will always be people who recognise that many keen drivers want manual transmissions, and they or their successors will be there to make them. Mainstream car companies, for the most part, have their hands tied. Ultimately the manual gearbox is dying out in supercars because nobody wants them who is actually buying the cars. Case in point: when Porsche (again) made the recently-replaced 997 Turbo S, they only offered a PDK, because while the standard 911 Turbo offered both, about 95% of buyers weren't interested in a clutch pedal. So why bother? It's not worth it to them. In fact, in a way, for them it's not really that different to tape cassette players getting replaced by CD players, and increasingly CD players getting replaced by USB ports and AUX sockets. Times change, and they have to move with them. So, more and more over the next 10 years, it'll be down to smaller companies to help manual die-hards out. They aren't all kit cars or cottage industry track cars, though. Lotus, as one example, will likely stick to manuals for a long time yet (assuming they stay alive), even if they've started offering a paddle option as well. If you want the classic sports car, how about Morgan with their classic philosophies, offering golden-era styling over either wooden or aluminium chassis that are very light? The Plus 8 is actually the lightest new V8 passenger car... In The World .

Think of it like good music. Just because it's not in the obvious places that much any more, doesn't mean it isn't out there, somewhere. You just have to look for it.

Oh, and lastly, if it bugs you that much, then who says you're betrothed to buying a new, non-manual sports car anyway? Get the old one. Ultimately, if you really want a car that's set up like it's from the 1990s, buy something from the 1990s. You can always use the copious amounts of money you've saved modernising the interior features. Job done.

* In fairness to VWFB, I may have missed his point a bit. But based on the title it seemed like the latest in a stream of teary-eyed posts where someone waxes lyrical about rowing your own (I did read it, but not carefully enough).

PanchoVilleneuve ST > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:29

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YEP! DERE'S HATIN' FAIL WHEEL DRIVE!

HammerheadFistpunch > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:29

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chalk up one more?

Mattbob > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:30

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" I've pretty much stopped caring" wait what? I don't mean to be a dick, but you sure wrote a lot for not caring.

Tom McParland > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:32

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Nice piece...I appreciate the humor too.

. . > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:34

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(Putting my arsehole trousers on).

Pffffffffft. tl;dr but your post seems anti-jalop so I hate it. Boooooooooooo! Give up your man card! *Random and irrelevant but offensive comment*! You suck!

/Arsehole trousers.

-Amateur > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:44

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All I can say is THANK YOU! I feel the exact same way!

Mikeado > Tom McParland 10/01/2013 at 18:48

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Thank you.

Mikeado > Tom McParland 10/01/2013 at 18:49

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Thank you.

thebigbossyboss > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 18:50

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Wait what?

Is your whole post: If you want a manual, shut up, and buy a manual?

Mikeado > Mattbob 10/01/2013 at 18:50

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I know where you're coming from. It was one of those things where I just sort of kept going.

The reason I put it that way, though, is because I used to be like VW Fan Boy, pleading for manual gearboxes. But honestly, it's getting really old, and in mainstream sports cars it's a losing battle.

At least I qualified it with "pretty much" instead of suggesting I've completely stopped caring!

Mikeado > HammerheadFistpunch 10/01/2013 at 18:51

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Yup.

Mikeado > thebigbossyboss 10/01/2013 at 18:54

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...Possibly.

I more or less made this up as I went along, TBH. I started with a counterargument for the whole Save The Manuals thing, but then thought about specialist companies and so on and felt urged to make that point too. So, er, maybe you're right!

VW Fan Boy > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 19:01

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No offense taken. We are all allowed to have our own opinions. However I must have failed at my job as a communicator with this write up because I truly believe you missed the point of the piece...and probably some of the sarcasm. (See 'making the internet believe you drive like Colin McRae all day erry day', I just drove home in a 1-3-5-6 pattern...)

I too grew tired of the debate between manual vs the world...but recently I felt inspired and decided to put my thoughts on paper.

As a car buyer, car enthusiast, and just general member of the human population I felt the need to express myself, not just take whatever the auto makers want to shove down my throat and say "Okayyyy"

I actually agree with a lot of the points you made and like my article stated, my inside voice reiterates these things all day. My article however was targeted more to how the manual is one of the few facets of the car which we can still control 100%. That's all.

Nice write up though! Sucks it was directed towards me lol

VW Fan Boy > VW Fan Boy 10/01/2013 at 19:05

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Oh and just in good fun....

Mikeado > VW Fan Boy 10/01/2013 at 19:06

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Oh please don't think this was aimed solely at you! Your post inspired me to write this, so I used it as an example of the many Oppo posts praising manuals and so on. If anything I'm sorry to have misinterpreted your post to some degree.

thebigbossyboss > Mikeado 10/01/2013 at 19:15

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Well then I agree.

The bottom line is this: Those like me, whom must have a manual will do what is necessary to keep rowing our own gears.

No amount of internet bitching will make people whom don't want a manual for practical reasons, get a manual.

Henry Diesel > Mikeado 10/02/2013 at 01:48

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I understand why people still love manuals. But after 8 years of driving manuals I am ready to switch to an auto, as long as it allows me to shift when I want to as well. Never go full auto....

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Mikeado 10/02/2013 at 13:56

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I'd like to see a study done to see what percentage of the time these amazingly super-fantastic dual-clutch better-than-yours-by-2/10ths-of-a-second transmissions... are left in automatic mode.

Mikeado > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/02/2013 at 14:42

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A reasonable amount of time, probably. Having an auto mode adds flexibility that way.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Mikeado 10/03/2013 at 09:19

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Okay, but for a self-defined enthusiast , is 80-90 percent of the time "reasonable"? I understand that people daily-driving cars like these in horrible traffic everyday have no choice, but the great thing about a true manual is that it keeps you intimately involved with the machine at all times - you have to choice but to drive the car .

Pure87 > Mikeado 10/03/2013 at 09:54

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The reason why enthusiasts are always going on about saving manuals it because often times they don't exist in the form that we want. Most of us don't want, can't afford, or can't DD an Ariel Atom, Caterham, or Factory Five car (imagine DDing an Atom in Seattle), but we do want a bit of excitement when driving our minivans, econoboxes, and family cars. The availability of those types of cars with a manual gearbox is no problem if you live elsewhere, but in the States, there is hardly any selection at all and it is constantly shrinking because bean counters at the major auto manufacturers want to save a bit of cash by limiting choice. And sadly for many models, a manual box is only available in the lowest trim level. If you want anything more than basic safety features and power windows (and in the case of Suzuki, paint in any other color but white), you'll have to move to an automatic box. Choices like this push many car buyers to buy automatic even if they wanted to buy manual and as manual sales decrease, manufacturers stop offering them, citing a lack of sales. This is why we have to be vocal about saving manuals. We shouldn't have to buy the shittiest version of a shitty car for a driving preference, especially when higher end models in the same make are sold around the world in the way we want them. We need the manufacturers to know that we would buy more manuals if they were put in decent cars offered with decent options. And we need other drivers to know that it isn't that hard to learn to drive a manual and it is so very satisfying when you become skilled enough to do it right. This is why enthusiasts are always bitching about saving manuals.