Do Americans not drive manual/stick-shift gearbox cars?

Question

Just having looked at a few American motoring sites, it seems like you all drive automatics.

Is this true or just a badly read portrayal?

Ta in advance.

Answer 1

It is true. Most american's prefer automatics.

Auto-manufacturer's have introduced vehicles with manuals, and usually the take rate on those manuals, have been under 5% of total sales for that specific model for them.

There are some segments, where maybe manuals might be a bit more popular...Say, an economy car, or sports are...but even in those segments, the take rate might be 15-20%... But when it comes to trucks, SUV's, minivans, luxury cars you again are faced with a very low take rate on manual transmission.

And mainly, because the automatic transmission has graduated. At one time, Manuals were deemed quicker to shift, making cars a bit quicker, or because they were better on fuel economy. Well, no longer does that ring true. With advancements in technology, automatics are now much quicker, and much more fuel efficient than the manual versions.

I was just looking at a BMW 6-Series, and the fuel economy was 17/25 Auto, and 15/22 Manual. Thats a BIG difference. Granted, realisitically speaking someone might never see those fuel estimate numbers, but it's some nice numbers you see on the window sticker for decoration.

Also, traffic is a big player. I know people who are stuck in 1-2Hours of traffic (Miami for example) and they don't have the patience to be shifting left and right, talk on their cellphone, grab their cup of coffee, and eat a doughnut at the same time. So if you elliminate that manual transmission, it allows them one extra hand to play with.

I personally can't stand driving a manual. If the car can do it itself, why should I , it's 2007.

But thats just my personal prefrence...:-)

Answer 2

Yes, Americans do seem to prefer automatic transmissions in most of their cars and light trucks. When shopping for a new car, the manual transmission is almost always presented as the less expensive "standard" transmission, while the automatic trans is the optional upgrade. Many new American cars do not even offer a choice of a manual trans, and if they do, it's usually just in the lower grade, less expensive models.

I don't think it's because we're lazy, or anything like that... It's just that most American drivers have never been taught how to properly drive a car with a manual transmission. The manual transmission is thought of as the "cheaper" alternative to the automatic... and most people don't want to admit to driving a "cheap" car!

Answer 3

That would be a badly read portrayal. Most cars (not sure about Honda, Toyota, etc.) do come with a manual transmission option, you just have to ask. In fact, many people here drive stick shift cars, but if you live in a big city with bad traffic and you're trying to juggle a cell phone, a coffee or anything else, a stick shift is just not practical.

Answer 4

There's a healthy mix of both. I have driven both an auto and a manual. I prefer a manual and I think any truck that's an auto is a waste of a vehicle. . . . I will admit not a lot of people know how to drive a stick though.

Answer 5

U got some garbage information! Americans love stich-shift car. Though stick-shift america means u drive a cheap piece of crap or a nice sports car! Sticks in america mostly mean u have horsepower which we do since the average of cars have about 250 horses....New Cars especially!

Answer 6

some do, some don't. it all depends. the majority of Americans probably do not, as the majority of us learned to drive in our parent's cars, which were usually automatic since this was a big selling point for cars when they were younger. a stick-shift car was ordinary, an automatic was higher end...

i drove a stick shift for years, and didn't mind it, but it was heck in icy/snowy conditions on hills in the area i live in - especially if you had to stop at traffic lights on a hill for any extended period of time. and, now that i have a child, automatic transmission gives me one less thing to do while in the car...

Answer 7

A very high percentage of new cars sold in the US have automatic transmissions (over 90% auto, last I heard).

Now, in certain markets (sports cars, entry-level cars) you will see a much higher percentage.

Personally, I only drive manuals.

Answer 8

I drive a manual car. A vw Jetta. I don't think that there are nearly as many manual cars as there are automatics here. Americans drive more automatics.

Answer 9

I don't know where you could have heard that. I work at a salvage yard and many of our cars are manual. We sell manual transmissions everyday. I know many people who drive manual cars. That is definitely not true.

Answer 10

I've always driven a manual, that's how I learned to drive. Even a "three on a tree." Now, it feels odd to drive an automatic when I have to...