https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2026/07/17/death-stick-shift-is-almost-here/

I taught my son on a 5 speed stick in my Frontier.

Stick shift has always been better. You learn how to manage it? You are automatically a better driver. You know what your car can really do. Especially stick shift smaller cars are awesome to drive uphill.
I won’t mourn its death.
Always knew you were a commie…
Under capitalism, demand drives supply.
Apparently there isn’t enough demand for manual transmission.
It is what it is.
Better products and substitutes with more demand win out in the market place.
Capitalism 101.
In the mid 90’s I had a stick shift. Some of you know the California freeway traffic. I loved it. I loved it going uphill or park my car on a hill. Challenging? Of course but so much fun. I did not need coffee. Paying attention was my coffee.
Automatic transmission is the laziest way of managing a car. It is so lazy people fall asleep at the wheel. Stick shift? You have to pay attention.
The way you structured those sentences made it sound like you loved the California freeway traffic. ![]()
I’m sure that’s not what you meant but it made me laugh.
That OC traffic is cute. No way I’m using a stick coming from Pasadena to the Westside. Bumper to bumper for an hour and a half
San Diego County is just as bad. Prior to Carlsbad I lived in HB for about 10 years. I had an office in Hawthorne. The morning I was on the 405 and at night I would go coast side. Either way 1:45 or 2, loved it.
I have read about car thefts that were actually thwarted because the thief did not know how to drive a stick.
I had a '79 Toyota Corona when I was a student and I taught my brother, my roomate and two of my other college buddies how to drive stick. I should have done that as a side gig to help with tuition, lol.
I had a 1989 BMW 535. Zinnoberrot (bright red) color with a tan leather interior
Awesome car with a 5 speed manual
But i would not want to drive that thing in daily bumper to bumper hour long traffic
Like Sammy Hagar used to sing…I’d be frustrated to not even “get the car outta second gear”
Drive with a 6-speed Tremec every day.
Can’t read the article but it’s definitely inevitable.
“EVs use a simple single-speed transmission (also called a reduction gear). Because electric motors produce maximum torque instantly and rev much higher, they do not need to shift gears.”
I learned to drive with a stick shift, then taught my son to drive on our 5 speed Jeep.
Might be my ego talking but believe I could still drive one.
One of my most disappointing days was when my old man borrowed my '59 Impala 348 stick to go to Dallas. He said it burnt 3 qts of oil on the way. He came back in a '58 Bel Air 283 automatic. As a HS senior I was crushed. It took some custom rolled and pleated seats and a radio reverberator to get over it. I still hear the boing, boing going over railroad tracks.
I’m just old enough to have a list of things I know how to do but don’t care to. Shifting my own gears is part of that list.
