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Both my son and daughter are 20 somethings with manual transmission vehicles.
The 20-Somethings Fueling a Stick-Shift Renaissance
https://www.wsj.com/articles/manual-transmission-stick-shift-cars-929dc155
Think the manual transmission car is dead? Not yet.
By Rachel Wolfe
March 1, 2023 6:00 am ET
Stick shift loyalists aren’t taking the electric-car revolution lying down.
Following a decades long decline, three-pedaled vehicles are experiencing a modest but real resurgence. Manuals accounted for 1.7% of total new vehicle sales in 2023, according to data analytics company J.D. Power, up from 1.2% last year and a low of 0.9% in 2021. The Autotrader marketplace reports a 13% rise in page views for new manual cars in 2023 compared with this time last year.
Manual sedans no longer necessarily get better fuel mileage, cost less or accelerate faster than automatic ones do, auto pros say. Drivers who are sticking with sticks say that taking control of their clutches not only makes driving more fun but also provides a counter to an increasingly automated world—especially as more buyers shift to mostly single-gear electric vehicles.
“It’s not a statement against electric cars so much as I’m going to try to enjoy the type of driving that’s the most fun to me until I can’t anymore,” says 26-year-old Lucas Marcouiller, an engineering salesman in Warwick, R.I., who has purchased three manual vehicles.
Mini recently added three new models to its lineup of stick shifts, with four more coming this month. Manual is now the only option on three of Mazda’s five versions of MX-5 Miata. Acura brought a manual option back to the Integra in June after discontinuing stick shifts in its lineup in 2015. The company is releasing a higher-performance Integra with no automatic option later this year.
“We are definitely doubling down,” says Emile Korkor, who helps oversee U.S. sales for Acura. He says about a quarter of the 15,000 people who have bought 2023 Integras have requested manuals.
These cars entice younger consumers in the same way that vinyl records and point-and-shoot cameras do, manufacturers say. Over half of those who opted for manual Integras are between 18 and 46 years old, and about a quarter of those who bought manual Miatas in 2022 are between 18 and 35, the companies say.
Seventeen-year-old D.J. Clark thinks he’s one of the few people at his Harrison, Ohio, high school who took his driving test with a manual.
“I thought it was cool to learn how to drive on a stick, just because I could tell my friends that I was a better driver than them,” he says.
His mom, Shara Clark, likes that having to maneuver the Jeep Wrangler’s gear shift plus the wheel doesn’t leave D.J. a free hand with which to text while driving. She also appreciates that he can easily rent a car in many other countries where manuals are much more common.
A learning curve
Many millennial and Gen Z manual enthusiasts got a late start learning to drive stick before learning to love it.
Lawrence Jacas’s dad had to drive his 2008 Infiniti G37 home from the dealership for him. After a half-dozen embarrassing experiences stalling out at red lights, the 22-year-old Miami computer technician got the hang of his new wheels. His choice of transmission still confounds some of his peers.
“When people hop in for the first time they look at me weird, because they have no idea how this car works now,” Mr. Jacas says.
Cody Whelan, 29, saw the lack of manual driving expertise among his peers as a business opportunity. His stick-shift school Three Pedals proved so popular that he recently quit his job as an environmental scientist to focus on the company full time. He is now looking to hire more drivers outside of Dover, N.H., where he lives.
Mini just opened a manual driving school of its own at the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, Calif. A January company survey of just over 1,000 drivers found that two-thirds of 18-to-34-year-olds are eager to learn how to drive a manual, versus 40% of older respondents who don’t already drive stick.
Manufacturers acknowledge that traditional stick shifts might not be around forever as they take their fleets electric. Manufacturers sold 43 different manual models in 2022, according to J.D. Power, compared with 69 in 2019. While a few EVs do have more than one gear, auto makers are still figuring out how to translate the experience of maneuvering a manual to their electric car lineups more broadly.
The hashtag #SaveTheManuals has already taken off on social media in the face of fewer stick models. Posts featuring the hashtag have generated some 435 million views on TikTok.
In Rhode Island, Mr. Marcouiller loves his manual 2011 Toyota Corolla so much that he knew he wanted to drive only a stick during the 7,500 mile, six-week cross-country road trip he took last summer. His fiancée, Hope McMorran, 27, was less enthused.
She started off excited by the prospect of learning how to drive the van they kitted out for the trip and optimistic they would take turns driving. Ten unsuccessful lessons later, Ms. McMorran ended up driving exactly zero of those 7,500 miles herself.
“I found it super stressful, and I also was just like, ‘Why? Why would I want to do that?’ ” says Ms. McMorran, a college academic adviser. The lessons stopped once Ms. McMorran felt that she could drive to the hospital if Mr. Marcouiller broke his leg.
Rachel Cosker, 24, is questioning her commitment to the stick. As one of the few people at her high school who drove a manual, she says she leaned into the persona of “girl with the cool BMW stick-shift car.” That was before her leg grew sore from the clutch as she navigated traffic commuting back and forth from law school every day in Tampa, Fla.
“I think they are very fun to drive for about two hours, and then you’re like, ‘OK, I would like to put it away and just drive like a normal person again,’ ” Ms. Cosker says. “My dad is going to kill me for saying this, but they don’t make a whole lot of sense anymore.”
She plans to buy an electric BMW as soon as she can afford one.
The 20-Somethings Fueling a Stick-Shift Renaissance
https://www.wsj.com/articles/manual-transmission-stick-shift-cars-929dc155
Think the manual transmission car is dead? Not yet.
By Rachel Wolfe
March 1, 2023 6:00 am ET
Stick shift loyalists aren’t taking the electric-car revolution lying down.
Following a decades long decline, three-pedaled vehicles are experiencing a modest but real resurgence. Manuals accounted for 1.7% of total new vehicle sales in 2023, according to data analytics company J.D. Power, up from 1.2% last year and a low of 0.9% in 2021. The Autotrader marketplace reports a 13% rise in page views for new manual cars in 2023 compared with this time last year.
Manual sedans no longer necessarily get better fuel mileage, cost less or accelerate faster than automatic ones do, auto pros say. Drivers who are sticking with sticks say that taking control of their clutches not only makes driving more fun but also provides a counter to an increasingly automated world—especially as more buyers shift to mostly single-gear electric vehicles.
“It’s not a statement against electric cars so much as I’m going to try to enjoy the type of driving that’s the most fun to me until I can’t anymore,” says 26-year-old Lucas Marcouiller, an engineering salesman in Warwick, R.I., who has purchased three manual vehicles.
Mini recently added three new models to its lineup of stick shifts, with four more coming this month. Manual is now the only option on three of Mazda’s five versions of MX-5 Miata. Acura brought a manual option back to the Integra in June after discontinuing stick shifts in its lineup in 2015. The company is releasing a higher-performance Integra with no automatic option later this year.
“We are definitely doubling down,” says Emile Korkor, who helps oversee U.S. sales for Acura. He says about a quarter of the 15,000 people who have bought 2023 Integras have requested manuals.
These cars entice younger consumers in the same way that vinyl records and point-and-shoot cameras do, manufacturers say. Over half of those who opted for manual Integras are between 18 and 46 years old, and about a quarter of those who bought manual Miatas in 2022 are between 18 and 35, the companies say.
Seventeen-year-old D.J. Clark thinks he’s one of the few people at his Harrison, Ohio, high school who took his driving test with a manual.
“I thought it was cool to learn how to drive on a stick, just because I could tell my friends that I was a better driver than them,” he says.
His mom, Shara Clark, likes that having to maneuver the Jeep Wrangler’s gear shift plus the wheel doesn’t leave D.J. a free hand with which to text while driving. She also appreciates that he can easily rent a car in many other countries where manuals are much more common.
A learning curve
Many millennial and Gen Z manual enthusiasts got a late start learning to drive stick before learning to love it.
Lawrence Jacas’s dad had to drive his 2008 Infiniti G37 home from the dealership for him. After a half-dozen embarrassing experiences stalling out at red lights, the 22-year-old Miami computer technician got the hang of his new wheels. His choice of transmission still confounds some of his peers.
“When people hop in for the first time they look at me weird, because they have no idea how this car works now,” Mr. Jacas says.
Cody Whelan, 29, saw the lack of manual driving expertise among his peers as a business opportunity. His stick-shift school Three Pedals proved so popular that he recently quit his job as an environmental scientist to focus on the company full time. He is now looking to hire more drivers outside of Dover, N.H., where he lives.
Mini just opened a manual driving school of its own at the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, Calif. A January company survey of just over 1,000 drivers found that two-thirds of 18-to-34-year-olds are eager to learn how to drive a manual, versus 40% of older respondents who don’t already drive stick.
Manufacturers acknowledge that traditional stick shifts might not be around forever as they take their fleets electric. Manufacturers sold 43 different manual models in 2022, according to J.D. Power, compared with 69 in 2019. While a few EVs do have more than one gear, auto makers are still figuring out how to translate the experience of maneuvering a manual to their electric car lineups more broadly.
The hashtag #SaveTheManuals has already taken off on social media in the face of fewer stick models. Posts featuring the hashtag have generated some 435 million views on TikTok.
In Rhode Island, Mr. Marcouiller loves his manual 2011 Toyota Corolla so much that he knew he wanted to drive only a stick during the 7,500 mile, six-week cross-country road trip he took last summer. His fiancée, Hope McMorran, 27, was less enthused.
She started off excited by the prospect of learning how to drive the van they kitted out for the trip and optimistic they would take turns driving. Ten unsuccessful lessons later, Ms. McMorran ended up driving exactly zero of those 7,500 miles herself.
“I found it super stressful, and I also was just like, ‘Why? Why would I want to do that?’ ” says Ms. McMorran, a college academic adviser. The lessons stopped once Ms. McMorran felt that she could drive to the hospital if Mr. Marcouiller broke his leg.
Rachel Cosker, 24, is questioning her commitment to the stick. As one of the few people at her high school who drove a manual, she says she leaned into the persona of “girl with the cool BMW stick-shift car.” That was before her leg grew sore from the clutch as she navigated traffic commuting back and forth from law school every day in Tampa, Fla.
“I think they are very fun to drive for about two hours, and then you’re like, ‘OK, I would like to put it away and just drive like a normal person again,’ ” Ms. Cosker says. “My dad is going to kill me for saying this, but they don’t make a whole lot of sense anymore.”
She plans to buy an electric BMW as soon as she can afford one.
