End of Manual-Transmission Era - Honda Accord

[AeroFan_07]

Kind of a sad story for me. I have owned several Honda's, mostly the garden variety Accord, with 5 or 6 speed manual transmissions. Always been a great combination - mildly sporting, fuel efficient, and post 2003 (US - design) 2.4L 4-cylinders went to a timing chain, making these very low maintenance vehicles overall. Cheap to buy, run & insure. Just enough power to have a little fun without worrying about red & blue lights very frequently.


That is all done now: From Car and Driver October 2020 issue (New Model update) "Honda quietly stopped making Manual transmission Accords in December, 2019."


Therefore "Boredom" prevails. CVT or push-button 10-speed auto only. Sedan only. Sure, you can still buy a Civic or a couple other models with the 6-speed, but the Accord was simply "right." Right size, right feel, and just big enough to pass as a family car if you needed that. It was the last mid-size sedan in the US to offer three pedals.


Sure, I could go buy a Subaru WRX, a Porsche ($$$$), a Miata, or even a used Accord with three pedals, and likely I will at some point again. It is the principal. We are losing out as "driving enthusiasts" here. I do not need or want a daily driver sports car, not in these times and not in Iowa. However, options are getting scarce for a reliable, lower-cost, "fun" to drive car as a runabout.


Anyone else feel this way - or am I a loaner in this area?

 

[belfastboy]

Kind of a sad story for me. I have owned several Honda's, mostly the garden variety Accord, with 5 or 6 speed manual transmissions. Always been a great combination - mildly sporting, fuel efficient, and post 2003 (US - design) 2.4L 4-cylinders went to a timing chain, making these very low maintenance vehicles overall. Cheap to buy, run & insure. Just enough power to have a little fun without worrying about red & blue lights very frequently.


That is all done now: From Car and Driver October 2020 issue (New Model update) "Honda quietly stopped making Manual transmission Accords in December, 2019."


Therefore "Boredom" prevails. CVT or push-button 10-speed auto only. Sedan only. Sure, you can still buy a Civic or a couple other models with the 6-speed, but the Accord was imply "right." Right size, right feel, and just big enough to pass as a family car if you needed that. It was the last mid-size sedan in the US to offer three pedals.


Sure, I could go buy a Subaru WRX, a Porsche ($$$$), a Miata, or even a used Accord with three pedals, and likely I will at some point again. It is the principal. We are losing out as "driving enthusiasts" here. I do not need or want a daily driver sports car, not in these times and not in Iowa. However, options are getting scarce for a reliable, lower-cost, "fun" to drive car as a runabout.


Anyone else feel this way - or am I a loaner in this area?

Yes, I keep my vehicles for a long time and my last 3 have all been different makes and models as the car makers drop the manual from their lineup. I purchased my last one in 2010 - Hyundai Sante Fe as they were blowing out the last of their manuals and Honda stopped offering an Element in manual. I am due for a new vehicle and don't know what the hell to buy.....I will go shopping and maybe buy the first damn manual I can find. It is getting damn hard. We are a one car family and my wife is as adamant about getting a manual as I am.

 

[AeroFan_07]

I think the HR-V is still offered as a 6-speed. The first gen (FWD only) Mazda CX5 had a manual too. Subaru made Foresters up till 2018 with manuals but that is gone as well. Good luck in your search....

 

[Monitor]

Lol I won't be of much use in this thread but let me tell you, even though automatic still doesn't seem to be a thing in Europe, as someone who's forced to drive cars with only manual transmission, you have NO idea how much I hate it. There are no words. I always thought it's a horrible system but I never really had a clue until I tried Automatic few years ago during my stay in Canada. I literally can't STAND Gearbox ever since. All that endless shifting... At this point I consider it a torture and would immediately switch to Automatic forever if it was possible but sadly, Automatic still being a thing of great rarity where I am, I'm stuck with manual.

But yeah, you guys must be used to the Auto and all but... Worst thing about Automatic is that driving can feel a bit boring, while Gearbox can literally be crippling if you suck at multitasking as much as I do.

 

[Turnip]

Girlie and I run two BMW (1 and 3) with manual 6 speed what still is the basic setup here.
Swapping cars all two to three years there seems to be no end in sight for basic equipment manual transmissions as long as the cars are powered with combustion engines, at least in smaller classes.

Also the brand new 3 series is still offered with manual gearbox.

 

[tonyb]

Most of my driving these days (pre-COVID, anyway) is in-town, during rush hours, in a major metropolitan area.

I learned how to drive in manual transmission cars, and I wouldn’t let the lack of an automatic steer me away from a second car (a pickup, maybe), but for that daily commute? Give me an automatic, please. And climate control, and a stereo system (with satellite radio), and power steering, and power seats and windows. An easy chair on wheels.
EDIT: And power brakes and power mirrors and a backup camera and a compass (gotta know which way I’m pointing) and a thermometer telling me the outside temperature.

 

[belfastboy]

Lol I won't be of much use in this thread but let me tell you, even though automatic still doesn't seem to be a thing in Europe, as someone who's forced to drive cars with only manual transmission, you have NO idea how much I hate it. There are no words. I always thought it's a horrible system but I never really had a clue until I tried Automatic few years ago during my stay in Canada. I literally can't STAND Gearbox ever since. All that endless shifting... At this point I consider it a torture and would immediately switch to Automatic forever if it was possible but sadly, Automatic still being a thing of great rarity where I am, I'm stuck with manual.

But yeah, you guys must be used to the Auto and all but... Worst thing about Automatic is that driving can feel a bit boring, while Gearbox can literally be crippling if you suck at multitasking as much as I do.

Damn, you need to move here and I move to Europe!.....problem solved.

 

[Monitor]

Damn, you need to move here and I move to Europe!.....problem solved.

Let's do it! I love Canada, too! XD

 

[belfastboy]

Most of my driving these days (pre-COVID, anyway) is in-town, during rush hours, in a major metropolitan area.

I learned how to drive in manual transmission cars, and I wouldn’t let the lack of an automatic steer me away from a second car (a pickup, maybe), but for that daily commute? Give me an automatic, please. And climate control, and a stereo system (with satellite radio), and power steering, and power seats and windows. An easy chair on wheels.
EDIT: And power brakes and power mirrors and a backup camera and a compass (gotta know which way I’m pointing) and a thermometer telling me the outside temperature.

I just want a car that starts on command and stops when the brake pedal is depressed......anything beyond that is a bonus and not really needed. My quirckiest ride was an old milk truck with the clutch and brake combined in the one pedal....part way down was the clutch, fully depressed the brake. It didn't even have a seat as you drove it standing up....hence the one pedal operation. It may have had turn signals but not certain...if it did then that was the only modern convenience.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never owned an automatic transmission car in forty years of driving. My left foot has to be doing something, and since they put the dim switch on the steering column, a clutch is the only option.

I don't care about driving fast or driving hard or any of that -- a standard shift just seems more efficient, and it's easier to rock a car out of a snowbank without destroying the transmission if you know how to work a clutch.

 

[tonyb]

At age 16 I was driving a ramp tug at SeaTac. It was a tractor, pretty much. Plate steel fenders. I’m guessing it dated from the ‘50s. Maybe earlier.

I wouldn’t want to commute in it. Or on it. I’d as soon commute in the ’47 Dodge school bus I once owned.

Unlike most people you’d find in this dive, I’m looking forward to self-driving — aka “autonomous” — vehicles. I’ve generally enjoyed driving all these years. There are few things I would rather do than take a long car trip out in the wide-open West. But if light-occupancy vehicles are to remain a part of everyday life in major metropolitan areas, we’ll either have to build lots more traffic lanes or make far better use of the existing roads. Greater vehicle automation would be necessary to that latter end.

 

[AeroFan_07]

Girlie and I run two BMW (1 and 3) with manual 6 speed what still is the basic setup here.
Swapping cars all two to three years there seems to be no end in sight for basic equipment manual transmissions as long as the cars are powered with combustion engines, at least in smaller classes.

Also the brand new 3 series is still offered with manual gearbox.

Sadly in North America, No 3-sereis BMW offers it except the forthcoming M3.

 

[Benny Holiday]

We don't even manufacture our own cars here in Australia anymore, let alone worrying about manual or auto transmissions. GM Holden ceased production in October 2017. The Ford plant shut down a year earlier. Everything is now either imported Japanese or Korean (with some new Chinese companies trying to wedge their way into the competition). At least you guys are still making cars, right?

 

[St.Ignatz]

I've been trying to get my 95yj stick classified as anti-theft equipped but the insurance company won't bite. Nobody under 40 seems able to drive a manual transmission. I thought this was the age of the multi-tasker.

Tom D.

 

[Downunder G Man]

Here in Australia we as a family have a "mixture" of autos and manuals. A foot in both camps if you will.

Manual 5 speed in my daughter's 2016 Suzuki Baleno 1.4 4 cylinder.(India)
Manual 5 speed in my 2002 Suzuki Liana (Aerio in the US) with 300,000 K's on it. ( the DOG carrier !) ( Japan)
Manual 5 speed in my wife's daily driver Nissan Navara 2.5 Turbo Diesel "Ute" ( aka pickup truck) (Thailand)

Automatic in my wife's "occasional" car , a 2004 Holden Astra 2.2 4 cylinder Convertible. ( Belgium/Italy )
Automatic 6 speed in my 2017 Holden Commodore Motorsport 6.3 LS3 V8. LAST OF THE AUSSIE BUILT BIG BANGERS !

 

[tonyb]

We don't even manufacture our own cars here in Australia anymore, let alone worrying about manual or auto transmissions. GM Holden ceased production in October 2017. The Ford plant shut down a year earlier. Everything is now either imported Japanese or Korean (with some new Chinese companies trying to wedge their way into the competition). At least you guys are still making cars, right?

That’s kinda sad.

But then, just what is an *American* car anymore? Components come from hither and yon. European and Asian brands have plants here. Final assembly might be in the USA, but I know of no entirely American-made automobile.

 

[1961MJS]

...
Unlike most people you’d find in this dive, I’m looking forward to self-driving — aka “autonomous” — vehicles. I’ve generally enjoyed driving all these years. There are few things I would rather do than take a long car trip out in the wide-open West. But if light-occupancy vehicles are to remain a part of everyday life in major metropolitan areas, we’ll either have to build lots more traffic lanes or make far better use of the existing roads. Greater vehicle automation would be necessary to that latter end.

Hey Tony, you want that because you don't work around programmers. They're happy if THEY get home. You get home that's a plus, you don't ahhhh, not a big deal to them.

I don't want a car the doesn't trust me to drive it.

Later

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
It’ll never replace the horse.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I just bought a new car in May. It's because of the coming of the GPS computer driven cars that the manual transmissions are going away. Already any new car equipped with parking assist has a transmission dial instead of a stick gear selector. The computer can only work with a dial. Cars equipped with Parking Assist have 8 cameras also, not just the backup camera: cameras on each of the 4 corners, cameras in both outside rear view mirrors, one backup camera & one front center camera. Besides Parking Assist those cameras are used in other safety features as well.

 

[belfastboy]

We don't even manufacture our own cars here in Australia anymore, let alone worrying about manual or auto transmissions. GM Holden ceased production in October 2017. The Ford plant shut down a year earlier. Everything is now either imported Japanese or Korean (with some new Chinese companies trying to wedge their way into the competition). At least you guys are still making cars, right?

Yes, but South Korea & Japan makes the most reliable autos.