Manual Transmission? Yea or Nay?

ricatic wrote:

camping man wrote:
Heck, my wife can drive my manual truck like it's nobody's business. Too many nancyboys out there anymore.

somewhere, earlier in this thread, I mentioned the fact that the manual devotee's always had someone who would result to name calling and questions of manhood to attempt to defend their position...and a poster called me out...but , again, my point was validated...

Deb can drive a manual transmission vehicle as well as any one...including me...and I have over a million miles in manual transmission vehicles. Does my current preference to not own a manual transmission make me a nancyboy? :B:B:B...do I need to surrender my CDL "A" and DOT medical card???

With real world performance of either transmission being a draw, the manual devotee's should stop complaining, buy what they want, make sales numbers look to manufacturer's like there is really a bigger market out there than 1.5% and maybe the manual will return. Ram's sales of manual transmission trucks should be skyrocketing.

But herein rides the problem, the manual guy's had their chance for the last 20 years or so to drive sales numbers up. But instead,manual transmission sales continued to plummet as truck sales numbers rose. This happened even though automatic transmission buyers continued to subsidize their manual brethren. Now that the subsidy for the manual transmission has ended, there is that small issue about three still unanswered questions addressed to the manual devotee's. They are simple, non-inflammatory questions that require only an honest yes or no. Here they are again:

How many manual transmission devotee's would order an optional manual transmission that added to the cost of the truck?

Absolutely yes!

How much would the manual transmission devotee's be willing to pay for that transmission?

I'd say about $1500.

How many manual transmission devotee's would not spend the extra money and just buy the standard automatic transmission?

If I need to replace my F-350, I'm at the point I'll have to...simply because nothing else is available, new or used.

When I bought my Cherokee, I wanted a 5-speed. My requirements were pretty wide: 4.0, 4WD, air conditioning, no sunroof, any color except black, navy, or yellow. I found exactly TWO 5-speeds. One (1999 Sport 4-door) was not even worth consideration (it wasn't a 4x4); the other was (1998 SE 2-door), but had 15,000 more miles, several minor options (cruise control, full gauges, tinted glass) and one critical option (tilt column) missing, the weaker Dana 35 axle, drove like it needed a bunch of front-end work, and the dash had been hacked to install a stereo. It also had a serious rust spot...and cost MORE than the one I bought.

No manual transmission devotee has ever answered any of these questions. A yes answer to the third question would be especially telling. Why? Because every yes answer to that question further reduces the already miniscule 1.5% market share the manual transmission has now...

Any takers today????

Regards

They're just not out there. I recall someone HERE spent a month looking for a standard-shift crewcab Frontier. He found ONE in the COUNTRY...it was 2000 miles away.

Liz's boss would have loved a standard shift...but it was not offered in the Excursion. (The Suburban it replaced IS a standard.)