It’s Nearly Dead But I Still Love Driving a Manual

I don’t consider myself the manliest man (calling Ron Swanson!), but if someone asked me to demonstrate my manly fortitude I might mention that I can operate a manual transmission or a “stick shift”.¹

I’m not some sort of stick shift expert with special techniques. For example, I tried but couldn’t get the hang of heel-and-toe shifting which is supposed to smooth your shifts.  Whatever. I’m not racing and I’m still having fun so who cares if I can heel-and-toe?  

Why do I like driving a car with a manual transmission? Part of it is nostalgia. I first learned to drive on my Dad’s Toyota Corolla with a manual and then taught my sister. I also like feeling more in control of my car. I’m not depending on an automatic transmission algorithm to shift for me. I decide how high I want those RPMs to go and can drive more aggressively if I prefer. Most of all, driving a manual — once you have the shifting sequence down — is just more fun.

My Dad’s manual Toyota was a “cool for a high schooler” 1986 Corolla SR-5. One of my first times taking a turn, my Dad sitting beside me, I was concentrating so much on downshifting in the correct sequence that I swung way wide into a oncoming left turn lane.  Fortunately, it was early morning and no one was in that lane. 

As I frantically swung back into the proper lane, I remember my Dad calmly noting, “If there would have been a car there waiting to turn, you would have hit them.”  Sorry! 

My Dad soon upgraded to a Toyota Camry so I got to use the Corolla as my daily driver and I had it pretty good for a while. I spent the summer of ‘90 before college cruising northern Virginia delivering Pizza Hut pan pizzas in that car, Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” playing in the cassette deck. 

Which made it extra sad when the Toyota got totaled by a lady running a red light a week before I left for college.  Off to college dorms, then an LDS mission, my days with the Corolla were coming to an end either way. But my sister, who was waiting for me to leave so she could have her own wheels, was aghast. 

Cars I Have Owned. I think my “I prefer a manual transmission” attitude is also a legacy of the first car I bought for myself. Flush with some cash from my summer pest control job, I bought a sweet 1986 Nissan Maxima with over 150K miles on it and an automatic transmission. I loved the car and especially the sunroof. But buying a car with that many miles turned out to be a mistake. I had to replace the transmission (twice!) and even with a rebuilt transmission, it would sometimes delay shifting or jump around a bit.² 

I decided that my future cars should have a manual. The car would shift better because I was in charge, not the car.  And any transmission problems would be cheaper to repair.  I was right.

In 2003, approaching 300K miles on the ’86 Maxima, I donated it to charity and happily upgraded to a 2001 Maxima SE, now with a manual transmission, and only 30K miles. I really thought I had arrived with this car — sunroof, CD player, 255 HP — I was maxin’ in the Maxima.

Looking back, the ’01 Maxima was not a beautiful car, especially the front and back ends, though I didn’t miss the weird Death Star disc wheels in the 1986 version. Regardless, I was back in a car with a stick shift and liking it. However, I wouldn’t say the Nissan 6-speed manual transmission was great. The clutch was just okay and I would miss a shift once in a great while, stalling out at inopportune moments.

Nevertheless, I happily drove my Maxima around the East Coast for nearly 10 years until repair issues (but not the transmission!) started annoying me around 120K miles and I decided it was time for a change. Not just from Nissan, but from the Japanese. Yes, it was time to try the Germans.

About 6 hours before midnight on New Year’s Eve 2012, I excitedly bought a 2010 VW CC at nearly the same price I had paid for the Maxima 10 years earlier. I suppose the independent dealer was trying to clear out his inventory prior to the new year and was desperate to get the harder to move manual transmission vehicle off his lot.

Unlike the Maxima, the CC was a sleek and smooth looking car. Black leather inside, gleaming silver outside, I thought it looked like a spaceship. The 2.0 turbocharged engine paired with the 6 speed manual transmission was super fun to drive.

There were only two problems: First, the manual option came without a sunroof.  Second, more seriously, I never quite trusted the CC.  Random repair issues would pop up. Nothing too serious, but with only 36K miles on it, I was concerned. I felt like something major was going to happen eventually and I knew German cars were generally expensive to repair. 

Approaching 75K miles and concerned about potential repair costs for a German car, what did I replace the VW with?  A more expensive German car with even more expensive repair costs.

Yes, I bought an Audi.  How did I end up there? 

I blame the manual. You see, as years passed, manual transmissions started disappearing from cars sold in America. Automatic transmissions got smarter and better, even exceeding manuals in average fuel economy. But most of all, Americans didn’t want to bother with shifting. Americans got lazy and fewer manuals were the bitter fruits of that harvest of lethargy. Let that be a lesson to us all. 😜

Anyway, as a result of this contraction, the pool of potential cars sporting a manual transmission was shrinking every year. Having sold the VW CC to a young White House military detailee (who gave us some WH tour passes), I went car shopping for manuals. I tried an Infinity G30 and and came close to buying it. But the clutch was heavy and awkward and when the car got sold off the used car lot, I was secretly a little bit relieved.

Soon after, I made the mistake of test driving — you know, just for fun, not really going to buy it –an Audi S4. Oh my. Ten months later I found a lightly used specimen in Ohio with only 11K miles, the manual transmission and, of course, a sunroof.

Reader, I bought it.    

Let me now sing the praises of the best engineered car I’ll ever own, the 2014 Audi S4 Prestige with a manual.  Overall, the car was terrific, if a bit overdone in places (I had to push three buttons just to change the fan speed), but the transmission was the highlight. Smooth clutch, superb gearbox, I never missed a shift. Drive it hard, drive it easy, it was all butter.  

Even the best things come to an end eventually. As years and miles passed, repairs were few and minor. But like a ballooning stock market, I wondered how much longer I could ride this Audi bubble. As I approached an early retirement and 80K miles, I started to think the unthinkable. Like a sports general manager, it’s usually better to get rid of your star player just a bit early rather than too late.

Unbeknownst to me, early 2010s Audi S4s with a manual had become coveted among young males who wanted a manual on a European car but couldn’t afford a Porsche or Aston Martin.  The disappearing manual had boosted my car’s value among a narrow set of car guys. When I put the Audi up for sale, I got inquiries from all over the country. It went to a good home. The buyer, a young and single computer guy, flew out from Washington to test drive it and then drove it back home.  

With the Audi money, I bought a zoom-zoom 2021 Mazda 3 from a sketchy Russian dealer in Georgia with money to spare. Notably, Mazda offers the “3” with a manual — thank you, Mazda! — but only in the basic trim without the turbo and, worse, no sunroof.  I acquiesced to the automatic and it’s good. Not great. (It has paddle shifters and I sometimes use them but it’s not the same at all). A bonus (or not?) is that my wife and daughter can finally drive my car.

Honestly, I think my days of driving a manual on my daily drive might be over — every passing year sees car manufacturers offering them on fewer cars. Since 2018, Audi has dropped manual transmissions from their US cars. BMW offers a few, but probably not for long. An Acura here, a Toyota there, also a Cadillac. Hang in there, Porsche.

And that’s why I look forward to renting cars in other parts of the world where manuals live on.  On my Balkan trip this year, both my rental cars were manual. The rental counter lady in Kosovo was hesitant to rent a manual to an American, but I assured her I could handle it and, indeed, preferred it.   

I also rather enjoyed renting a convertible Mazda Miata with a manual for a few days this summer — talk about zoom zoom — even tooling around the neighborhood, it’s like a go-kart.

Cars with a manual are going the way of the horse and buggy.  Electric cars don’t need a transmission. Automatics are easier to learn and drive. There isn’t much reason for a car with a manual now. But I will almost always still prefer them. I like a little extra fun in my life.  

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1. If you’re a woman and can drive a stick, you are awesome, and maybe you don’t even need to keep reading this essay about a guy and his cars, because you’ve got better things to do.
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2. To be fair, having to replace a transmission after 150K miles is not unreasonable. I paid to have some shop in Provo, UT rebuild the transmission within a year, then drove it at least another 100K miles — including several times across the country between Virginia and Utah — before having to rebuild it again. It was otherwise a pretty great car, reasonably fun to drive. ↩︎