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Don't be too sure. They may just play the "trick" of ordering them more loaded up with high-profit options, to compensate for the money they are NOT getting for the auto trans. I hope not, though.
As much as I am a fan of the manual, I honestly thought a manual-shift Mercury was a little odd. It makes a lot more "sense" in the Fusion, IMO. What other manual-shift Mercurys have there been, besides the Cougar (I am assuming it had an available manual)?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Nobody has any idea what Mercury or means to the buying public, least of all Ford it seems. Mercury could be a trim level on Ford vehicles and disappear entirely unlamented.
"the 2007 Ford Fusion, now available in XLT, Limited, SE, and the new Mercury trims". (with waterfall grille). Big deal.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
For a 1971 car my 124 Spider was reliable largely because I found a really good mechanic who thought it was a real vacation compared to working on Jags and Rollers.
It was much less prone to electrical problems than the Brits (I had to replace a distributor once) but was just as rust-prone.
Sadly I think every single small bumper Fiat 124 Spider has long ago crumbled into rust, I haven't seen one in years (just the later big bumper cars). Oddly I do see an occasional 850 Spider (FYI Spider is spelled with an " i" unless it's a Maserati Spyder).
I can't imagine any other 70's car I'd rather have had during those awful years, this side of a Porsche 911.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
To that I might also add the VW Scirocco, a car that I have very fond memories of. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
As far a manual transmission Topaz, I seriously doubt many Tempos or Topazes were sold with the manual. I actually drove one that belonged to a friend of mine back in high school and it was quite possibly the worst 5-speed I've ever shifted. Felt like a metal rod being moved around in a bucket of bolts.
She traded it in on a '97 Ford Escort LX ... also a 5-speed.
Now on the flip side, didn't I hear that Ford is cancelling the standard manual in the Escape on the 4-cyls? One step forward, one step back.....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
That's because it shifts like an automatic. Since it has two clutches, to provide smooth shifts at part throttle, it actually engages both at the same time briefly, while the other lets go. It's called overlap and smooth shifting automatics do the exact same thing. Easier on the occupants, worse on the transmission (goes for DSG and regular slushboxes). In full auto mode, the idea is to go for less overlap and quicker shifts (again, both types). This must be why they went with a wet clutch type.
My girlfriend's dad has an 83 Chevy C10 with an inline 250cid and a 3 speed column shift. I drove it once. Odd. It's a regular H pattern, just in the column. He took that out and put in a 4-speed floor shift truck trans and will also be replacing the engine with an inline 292 cid...that thing is so simple it's mind boggling. You should see the room under the hood.
My parents bought a 96 Maxima SE 5-speed in April of 99. It's got every option except heated seats (boo), the CD changer, and the automatic. I really developed my stick driving skills on that car (I taught myself rev matching after I figured out it was possible) and was just thrilled with it during my final 2 months in high school. Fast, smooth, efficient and with all the options available (leather, auto climate control, excellent Bose sound, moonroof, etc) it was really not a bad transition from the 1990 Lincoln Continental they got rid of, in terms of luxury, and a back seat that always got a compliment for comfort. And it's barely over 3000lbs, which is light, compared to today's midsize sedans (which are just starting to get faster than this 10 year old car).
Of course, as 5-speeds go, it's nowhere near Honda slick, and the clutch is also kind of weak. But it'll do an honest 140mph on the top end and return a best of 33mpg on the highway, despite a 27mpg rating (my dad at the helm with 4 passengers and a weekend's worth of luggage - and he backed it up with 32mpg on the next tank - best I ever did was like 26mpg
Fuel injected cars still have this feature, just electronically. In my GMs, it's called "clear flood mode" and it cuts most of the fuel when you floor the throttle during cranking, but gives it back when the engine gets above about 400rpm.
For that matter, even the procedure of pumping the gas pedal a couple of times before turning the key.
I started pumping the gas to start my TBI Caprice and it actually starts up noticably faster from cold. Go figure.
Shift faster!!
Interesting. But there goes the sub-6 second 0-60s. Ever see Car and Driver's 5-60 street start on those cars? It's over 7 seconds. They NEED a clutch dump to get moving, what with all the turbo lag.
I heard the 98 and up LS1 F-bodies (Camaro/Firebird) have a clutch with a similar mechanism. Makes them less fun to wring out and slam from gear to gear because the clutch is always engaging softly. My 95 Z28 doesn't have this, at least.
I cite these new transmission improvements that could cause this:
1. Sequential-shift manuals with optional full-automated operation are getting pretty good nowadays. The F1 gearbox found on Ferraris have gotten quite good lately, BMW has finally worked the bugs out of the SMG, and the Volkswagen/Audi DSG box has gotten REALLY good (they're using it on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 supercar, of all things!).
2. Conventional automatics have reached seven forward speeds and 8-speed automatics could become reality within a few years.
3. The impending arrival of the Antonov AAD automatic could make low-cost, reliable, and low-weight 6-speed and 8-speed automatics available on even entry level cars.
4. CVT automatics have gotten very good lately, with Honda and Nissan leading the way to higher-power applications.
In short, I wouldn't be surprised by 2011 that manual transmissions with clutch pedals could end up being in the minority of new cars. It'll be even likely we will never see manual transmissions on fuel cell-powered cars when they start arriving early next decade.
-juice
I had to look everywhere for even a USED 330i with a 5 speed. Almost 95% of the ones for sale are autos. People just don't realize how easy the 5 speed is to use in traffic as well.
You do need a bluetooth or handsfree phone though!
:-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Someone will come across that car and buy it.
Now for proper sports and sporty cars, that is a lot less true.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I have been considering selling my 2004 Acura TL 6-speed. The dealer I bought it from immediately offered me full "excellent" trade in value for an outright cash purchase of the car from me. They acknowledged that the automatic is the larger seller (90%), but they apparantly have enough calls for 6-speeds that they are willing to buy it from me for cash. They would not do so at the same price for an automatic, except on a trade in. We also had no difficulty selling our Isuzu Trooper 5-speed, in spite of the fact that not a single other mother at our kids' school could drive it when my wife offered to lend it for a field trip for another class.
One of the Porsche dealers I shopped before buying a 911 will never order a Tiptronic Boxster or 911 for general inventory, and requires a non-refundable deposit on any customer Tiptronic orders. They promptly refunded my deposit on a 6-speed 911 that was in production when I found a better deal locally.
I have no doubt that some cars in manual transmission format might be tough to resell. And I agree with your point that sport/sporty and manual transmissions are more compatible. But no matter what car I was getting, I would never order an automatic based upon future resale expectations. If we could have ordered our MDX with a TL-quality short throw 6-speed, I would have done it in a hearbeat.
I'm not a fan of automatics at all, even manu-matics. A friend of mine has a Nissan Murano and my parents just bought a Ford Five Hundred AWD with CVT. I HATE CVTs. Without at least a perceptible change in revs like a conventional automatic, it just feels like an auto that's slipping all the time. Dodge is installing one on their upcoming Caliber compact, but they're programming it to mimic a 5-speed automatic. Honda is only offering a CVT on their Civic Hybrid at the moment, but I expect to see them expand it in the near future.
The owner of the company where I work has an '03 BMW M3 with the SMG gearbox. I'm also not very fond of it. The paddle shifts are anything but intuitive and in automatic mode the shifts will give you whiplash.
Give me a stick with 6-speeds and a clutch pedal anytime over these newer inventions. Some of the above posts mentioned not seeing too many manuals in BMWs, I can't fathom a BMW without one. What a waste of high performance vehicle! In my humble opinion of course.
But buy a Corolla or Civic in a manual, and wait, wait, wait when you try to sell it.
This is even more true with American cars: Cobalt (except SS S/C), Focus (except SVT - see a pattern here?!). It is also more true with trucks. I am glad Fusion will come with an available manual, but if you buy one, you better keep it for a long time....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Adding another exapmle, my 1995 Nissan Maxima SE 5-speed has also been the recipient of very attractive unsolicited purchase offers, at least two of which were from Nissan service managers that were only interested in a manual. They commented on the durability of the manual, relatively inexpensive ($400) clutch replacement (that I still don't need at 155k miles) compared to the problems and expense that automatics often have after 100k miles.
Perhaps it's a geographic difference, but at least in my area, there are enough in the vocal minority of manual transmission drivers that won't drive an automatic, so as to create a decent re-sale market. And, I believe, that would hold for the Civic and Corolla, especially in light of increasing gas prices. Pint sized engines in automatic transmission cars are not very fuel efficient, no matter what the bogus EPA estimates might say.
Back to the topic - I think that the higher fuel costs have one bonus: They may encourage manual sales. The Corolla manual was listed as one of the most fuel effiicient cars, along with several other manual VWs.
Now I have some anecdotal evidence that they are not the real thing-not even close.
The problems with automatics breaking down by the 50,000-mile mark, 75,000-mile mark, 100,000-mile mark, etc. are legendary. No matter what brand you are talking about!
Manual tranny's rule! It's cool that Ford sees fit to offer the Fusion in 5-speed manual form.
Also, I don't know if you all know that Dodge will still offer a 5-speed manual tranny in it's Caliber as well as the multi-shift sequential automatic "experimental" transmission..I...I mean the future of all automotive transmissions!
One thing appears certain...there are a whole lotta people who still want old-school manual tranny's in their new cars. That is indeed good news!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
==
I'm expecting that in several years, automatics will become standard in most cars, and sportier trims or models will have manuals as a $1,000 option. I'll be paying up. Luckily, the European market forces any global car to be designed with manual transmission capability, so they can't kill them off completely.
I will be paying the optional cost for the manual shift too. :-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
:-P
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I will be in control.
Possibly for the first time in my life...
Automatic alert, automatic alert!
:-P
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Self-confident enough to let the car shift for them..."
Except for when it's more fun to do it for yourself of course.
:P yerself!
In small cars, sticks make up 5-10% of the fleet.
At the auctions, it's more like 2%.
Meaning, the yahoos who buy the sticks hang on to them forever, at least more so than the people who buy automatics.
As a result, a 5sp Civic at least is impossible to find, and when you have one for sale, it can often be sold quickly, and for not much less than the auto.
-Mathias
There is a market out there for used Civics, Accords, etc. with manual transmissions. Obviously there's a much larger market for automatics (both new and used), but buying a manual in one of these cars shouldn't be discouraged based on resale value. It just doesn't pan out.
For reference, I checked the TMV price here on Edmunds for an '04 Civic LX 4-door with manual and with automatic. The automatic was only worth $472 more than the manual.
Yes, that does take some getting used to, but being an owner of a 1998 Honda Civic HX CVT coupé, I love the very smooth accelerations from stop (it's so smooth that 85 mph comes up before you know it! :surprise: ).
Anyway, I expect a lot of the new B-segment cars coming to the USA next spring to eventually get CVT's as the standard automatic. We know that the US-market Honda Fit will get a CVT, and Nissan said that the upcoming Versa (based on the Tiida model sold in Japan) will also sport a CVT. The Toyota Yaris now shipping Canada and arriving April 2006 in the USA will initially offer five-speed manual and four-speed automatic, though I wouldn't be surprised that Toyota offers a CVT for the Yaris by calendar year 2007 for the US/Canadian market.
As for the clutchless sequential-shift manuals, the DSG transmission used on VW/Audi models has been highly lauded for its very smooth shifts in both manual-select and automatic modes. And DSG is capable of handling more powerful engines, as shown by the Audi A3 with the 197 bhp (SAE 08/04 net) 2.0-liter FSI Turbo engine and the amazing Bugatti Veyron 16.4 with its 1,000 bhp (SAE 08/04 net) W16 turbo engine. I expect VW/Audi to offer DSG on its complete range of models once large-scale production reduces its cost.
But the tranmission that everyone should watch for is the Antonov AAD, now in final development. Lighter and more efficient than conventional automatic (due to no need for a power-robbing and heavy torque converter), it could give even low-cost economy cars a smooth-shifting six-speed automatic. Honda has a license on the technology, so don't be surprised that we see the AAD on the Honda Civic and possibly even the Honda Accord models in the next few years.
Since I've never understood how planetary gears work I don't know how it's different from a DSG. Can anyone explain?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Yes, emissions are a VERY important issue for the future of the manual. Ever notice that the PZEV cars among many manufacturers are only the automatics, not the manual-equipped versions of the exact same car with the exact same powertrain? Ever notice that manufacturers control the gas step-off so much now, in order to reduce unburned gasses, that some manual cars are really difficult to drive? (witness the Cobalt I drove, my old Saturn used to be like this too, accelerate through a gear, let off the gas to clutch, wait about FIVE MINUTES for the revs to drop, then shift to the next gear).
Once everyone has matched the fuel economy of their automatics to that of their manuals, and the manuals become too expensive or difficult to certify for emissions, you can bet we will see a fresh wave of manuals disappearing...
:-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
In cars like my 95 Camaro Z28, the auto or manual run about the same speed, due to the engine size (amount of torque).
But it was a shorter final drive ratio that created that situation.
The new GTO is the opposite. The automatic pays a gas guzzler tax, but the manual does not.
-juice