Stick Shift in 2026?

[stephenh]

Bought a new Tacoma in 2021. At that time, the Toyota pickups were available with 6 sp manuals. I hear they still are, but haven't had a reason to look into it. Same year, my wife bought a 4-Runner. Very disappointed she was that they are no longer available with manual trans. Friend's wife just bought a Toyota 4-door and says the only Toyotas avaliable with manuals were the pickups. Business friend bought a new Subaru and said he could not get any model with manual. I only buy Toyota pickups, so hoping they continue to offer manual. I find them better in snow and mountanous areas, which is where we live.

 

[CalG]

Toyota still offers a tacoma with 6 speed manual

They dropped it in 2023, then brought it back..

 

[Runner]

I thought there was some technical reason why hybrid cars couldn't have manual transmissions, since none of them have manuals now. Not even from companies offering hybrid sports cars like Porsche. However, Honda apparently offered a 5-speed manual in the Insight clear back in 1999, so the reason it's not offered is because they don't want to...

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

My wife and I went to Ireland, where they drive on the wrong side of the road. We rented a car. I decided to save a few dollars by renting a manual. The Irish are apparently under the delusion that the paltry savings a manual brings are a big deal, so there are a lot of manual transmission cars there, and renting an automatic costs more.

In retrospect, I should have paid the extra money, but I did enjoy the trip back in time. I like being able to drive stick, because it's just one more thing that makes me better than millennials, but automatic is just plain superior.

Skinny jeans, on the other hand, are pathetic.

 

[Jstpssng]

Skinny jeans, on the other hand, are pathetic

We could do a poll and I suspect that all would unanimously agree.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Men who wear skinny jeans look like elves, and I get to see WAY more of what's under them than I care to. If I can tell the model of your cell phone through your pants, they are are too tight.

 

[masseyrider]

Men who wear skinny jeans look like elves, and I get to see WAY more of what's under them than I care to. If I can tell the model of your cell phone through your pants, they are are too tight.

They weren't that tight when I bought them. Relaxed fit my a-s.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

The yoga pants of men.

Well, these days, I guess yoga pants are the yoga pants of men.

 

[sandman2234]

Back in the day when I drove a stickshift at work(13sp) and would come home and drive my 6sp Ford F350, I never had any issues adapting from vehice to vehicle. Nowadays I come home and go from Ford to Dodge (both 6sp) but have issues due to where the gears are located in the pattern. Reverse in the Dodge is where high gear is at in the Ford.
David from jax

 

[4570Man]

I've only replaced one clutch in my life, and it was weak when I bought the truck. Still, I don't understand the obsession. I do a lot of off road driving for work and it's much easier negotiating marginal roads without messing with the clutch.

Me neither. I’ve had stick shift trucks and I can drive them but I’d rather drive my newer trucks with an automatic every single time. When I’m trying to back a trailer in a tight spot or back into my firewood shed that’s a S turn backwards not once ever have I wished to have a stick shift back. Getting stopped on a hill with an overloaded 7.3 dually is no fun either. Luckily it was a manual shift 4x4 and I could quickly pull it in 4 low and drive to the top of the hill and shift back.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I like driving stick, I like the engagement, the control and the feedback. Also driving during the winter on a slippery curvy road it is a lot more predictable.

 

[Fixastuff]

Skinny jeans are funny.

Old dudes mad about skinny jeans acting like they didn’t wear tight bell bottoms or even worse super short cut off jeans shorts. Thats funny too.

 

[Highlandr]

This list is two years old. I'll guess it would be half that size today. Ex: Chevrolet no longer offers the Camaro, the Nissan Versa is no longer offered with a manual, and I don't think Kia offers anything manual in the US anymore.

As far as non-cars, the Tacoma and Bronco are the only ones I know of, and I'll guess you'd be hard pressed to find a Bronco with a manual.

 

[Jstpssng]

The other side of the "stick" coin is that a lot of people who think that they know how to drive them... don't.
A friend always starts off in second gear. At some point 50 years ago he had a truck with a creeper gear and still drives like they all do. We were on a hill at a stop sign pulling a trailer with 2 snowsleds. If I'd had granny low I'd have gotten it onto flat ground,then either double-clutched or simply stopped. Nope. Even though it was the basic 5 speed F150 transmission he beat on it until it went.
Fried clutch anybody?

 

[sd455dan]

Auto trans have come a long way. Dual clutch autos outshift the best drivers... but again I stress the stick shift cars in my life have been for engagement in the driving experience. Or for function in trucks.
Today only 1-2% of new cars come with a stick shift.

Lots of the dual clutch transmissions are short lived junk. Ford and Hyundai that used them come to mind.

Still get a manual in a jeep wrangler but they dropped the Gladiator manual option.

 

[sd455dan]

The other side of the "stick" coin is that a lot of people who think that they know how to drive them... don't.
A friend always starts off in second gear. At some point 50 years ago he had a truck with a creeper gear and still drives like they all do. We were on a hill at a stop sign pulling a trailer with 2 snowsleds. If I'd had granny low I'd have gotten it onto flat ground,then either double-clutched or simply stopped. Nope. Even though it was the basic 5 speed F150 transmission he beat on it until it went.
Fried clutch anybody?

My 03 RAM 3500 1st seems very similar to the old T 18 BW Never use first unless pulling a trailer.

 

[Jstpssng]

My 03 RAM 3500 1st seems very similar to the old T 18 BW Never use first unless pulling a trailer.

His didn't. The old Mazda 5 speeds were meant to use all 5 gears... especially starting off uphill pulling a trailer.

 

[sd455dan]

His didn't. The old Mazda 5 speeds were meant to use all 5 gears... especially starting off uphill pulling a trailer.

Yes I guess some people have no feel for a manual,or for how the engine is responding and being loaded. Some people can't even learn it, others it comes naturally and are very in tune with the engines happiness.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Off-topic, but I had a Moto Guzzi sideways V-twin, and it only needed two gears. You could shift into third pretty early, but if you stayed in second up to 70 mph, the sound was magnificent.

As I recall, first was stupidly tall.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have to admit that an auto is great for one hand on the wheel and one holding my coffee cup. Learning a stick came easy to me. Perhaps from watching others? I have had and driven many over the years, big and small. Perhaps it's primal but to me, I love the "feel" that driving a Road Ranger behind a ~500 HP diesel gives.