Doing my part to save the manual

I'm doing my part to be a manual conservationist. Gotta save them before they go extinct.

My daily.

A wrecked sedan that I bought for $700

About of weeks worth of time and some new parts and I've combined the two.

Now I have three pedals.

Do your part, save the manuals.

PSA for the manual preservation and wagon rarity societies. 

I'm a proud supporter. 

EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm a proud supporter. 

On my back window 

BTDT proudly wear the tee shirt....

It might be the most expensive t-shirt i can actually remember buying...

Most of my cars have started out autotragics.

I always end up converting them. It's just more fun for me.

Good job.

I helped save the manual by actually buying a 3/4 ton manual diesel pickup new. That's the only thing the carmakers will respond to.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

GRM users:  Y CARMAKERS NO MAKE CARS WE LIKE

Also GRM users:  ONLY SUCKAS BUY NEW CARS

When I had tires put on the Outback the guy was surprised that it was a manual..................I'm doing my part.

I wish my Disco was a manual.. but I do have the Abarth. 

I buy or lease a new manual car every couple years (either personal or through work) to do my part. Obviously it doesn't do much because we are losing new options by the day it seems like. 

I was just praising Hyundai/Kia for being like mid-90s Honda and in the course of three weeks they killed off the G70 manual and the Elantra hatchback. 

I need that decal for the 'V'....

I'm doing my part by teaching my 15 y/o daughter to drive a manual.  She's doing great on her mom's Jetta.  Just graduated to driving my ST, and now she knows all about torque too.

Hate to point this out, but if you really want to "Save the Manuals!", that means you go out and buy a *brand new* car that has one from the factory.   Buying a used car with a manual, or buying a used car with an auto-tragic and then manual swapping it doesn't count.

The manufacturers aren't interested in those last two numbers, they're interested in how many *brand new* cars with manual transmissions they're selling.  Once that number drops below a certain threshold, they stop making and selling them.

I'm surprised the wagon didn't throw a fit when you swapped the trans. I know mechanically BMW's are like Legos but it's nice that the electrical side of things isn't too bad for an e91.

In reply to docwyte :

I guess I'm walking the walk, not just talking the talk.  The last four new cars I've bought have been manual.  I've actually never bought a new car without one.  Mind you, that's been over a 20 year span, so I can't do it all myself.

TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm doing my part by teaching my 15 y/o daughter to drive a manual.  She's doing great on her mom's Jetta.  Just graduated to driving my ST, and now she knows all about torque too.

Yeah I taught my wife using my 95 MR2 Turbo (bought new). Since then our 11 Mazdaspeed3 (MT) and our 16 WRX Limited (MT), both purchased new, as wife loves to row her own gears, since. With her having her MT cars, she can stay away from my S2000/Elise/MR2 MT (all purchased new), and abuse her own cars 

Major surprise last weekend when my 16 year old fairly new driver of a daughter asked me to teach her how to drive a manual!  She learned to drive in an older automatic trans Civic, and now that she's pretty comfortable driving that, is wanting to expand her horizons.  All this, btw, was completely unsolicited or suggested by me.  So, phase 2 teaching begins this weekend, weather permitting as the only m/t car currently in the garage is the Exocet.

Side note - HUGE shout out to the Tire Rack Street Survival training class, for giving her a solid understanding on car control.  If you have a new driver in your house, or even one with a bit of time under their belt who has not taken this class, I highly recommend it.  Best 1 day / $85 I might have ever spent.  (Hopefully, they are still holding these with covid and all.)

My first brand new car purchase in a very long time was last summer.  Golf R, 6MT.  I've tried multiple times to teach my wife how to drive a MT, she's just not interested enough in driving (anything!) to learn.  I'm currently teaching my 15 year old daughter how to drive a MT.

docwyte said:

Hate to point this out, but if you really want to "Save the Manuals!", that means you go out and buy a *brand new* car that has one from the factory.   Buying a used car with a manual, or buying a used car with an auto-tragic and then manual swapping it doesn't count.

The manufacturers aren't interested in those last two numbers, they're interested in how many *brand new* cars with manual transmissions they're selling.  Once that number drops below a certain threshold, they stop making and selling them.

Keith Tanner said:

I helped save the manual by actually buying a 3/4 ton manual diesel pickup new. That's the only thing the carmakers will respond to.

Guys... This is meant to be tongue in cheek. I literally intercepted a car on it's way to the junkyard thus "saving" a manual car. Irony.... 

buzzboy said:

I'm surprised the wagon didn't throw a fit when you swapped the trans. I know mechanically BMW's are like Legos but it's nice that the electrical side of things isn't too bad for an e91.

Just used NCSExpert to delete all of the automatic options stuff. The system does the rest. The idea is that BMW can use different modules in different cars to make them.... modular. The programming took about 20 min. Then about half a day to figure out that I needed to clear the adaptations as well. 20 seconds later and it was happy. I did have to run about 6 wires to satisfy the clutch switch and cruise since my automatic harness didn't come with those. 

Keith Tanner said:

I helped save the manual by actually buying a 3/4 ton manual diesel pickup new. That's the only thing the carmakers will respond to.

No, they also look at resale value. Not everyone can stomach the depreciation of a new car, but resale value does factor into lower lease prices, more return buyers, higher consumer report scores, etc. So while it is not the same, don't assume it is useless. The market right now for 10yo manual cars is insanely hot (look at E91 6MT RWD prices), so manufacturers must be seeing that particular middle finger to overly complicated, bloated, uninvolved cars. 

Buy manual - whether new or used. 

Just realized something. I have only had three new cars in my life, and all have been manuals. Same numbers for my parents. My brother is two for two on new cars.

We're helping, we're helping! (Okay, some of those cars mentioned go back to the '60s, but still.)

I would love to go pick out a nice, fun new manual but 1) I can't think of anything brand new that I really want and 2) I'm a millenial so a new car is the punchline to a bad joke about alcoholism

Error404 said:

I would love to go pick out a nice, fun new manual but 1) I can't think of anything brand new that I really want and 2) I'm a millenial so a new car is the punchline to a bad joke about alcoholism

Miata, Mustang, Camaro, STi, BRZ, Corvette, Golf GTI/R, lots of BMWs, Veloster N, Mazda 3. I'm sure there are more, none of those interest you?

What am I missing about #2? I don't get it.