For those craving more excitement than the base models’ 147 horsepower 1.4-litre engine, GTI and GLI variants of the Golf and Jetta respectively are available with 228-horsepower and still offer the 6-speed manual as standard. Mercifully, for those who value joy over abstract figures and the irreplaceable satisfaction of shifting your own gears, there are still offerings from some familiar staples.īecause the VW Golf and Jetta are built on the same chassis with the same running gear and offer the same options, I think it’s fair they share an entry on the list.īoth economy cars are still available with a 6-speed manual transmission as standard. So while automatic transmissions will undoubtedly yield the fastest 0 to 100 km/h times and probably the fewest visits to the gas pumps, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to put the kind of smile on your face that’s only possible when nailing a perfect shift from second to third gear. Optioning any new car with an automatic transmission is the logical thing to do.īut I would submit that nothing logical is fun. Modern automatic transmissions switch gears faster and more efficiently than a human being ever could, which means increased performance, fuel mileage, and theoretically, a longer lifespan. The upshot is that automatic transmissions are becoming very, very good. Mainly, there’s reduced interest from the car-buying world, which means all of the R&D money and consumer excitement is behind the automatic transmission, not the manual. There are many reasons the manual transmission is dying. You’re at least a decade too late for buying an exotic supercar in a stick shift. Manual transmissions are an endangered species.Ĭars like the Chevrolet Corvette, Shelby Mustang and Toyota Supra, and even trucks like the Ford Ranger - vehicles whose quintessential experience was once arguably tied to that of a clutch pedal and gear shifter - are now available only with an automatic transmission.
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