Blasphemy!

Pharmacist

actually the performance difference is not that great. a good driver with a manual gearbox shouldn't lag behind an automated gearbox by more than 1 second per lap or even less. unless you are a race car driver fighting for the championship, a fraction of a second per lap will not be significant.

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

antman22

i agree, for the avg joe, the difference isn't that significant, but these cars start on the track first. in the track, hundredths & tenths, not seconds make the difference.

the technology that comes from the track trickles down to the [rich] avg joe in the italia458's, gallardos, etc. For ferrari or lambo or any other exotic company to continue to make manuals & autos instead of streamlining their efforts into a single system means more cash spent on something that doesn't make them faster on the track.

will the elimination frustrate the public consumer market? sure, for awhile. will that cause them to stop buying them? nope. i'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for each company, but ultimately, they have to pay attention to the dollars and cents of the company and what will be good for them in the future in terms of their racing heritage. technology plays such a huge role in automotives now, so it was just a matter of time before they made the manual inferior.

it could be really amusing if tuning shops start figuring out ways to retrofit future sports cars with a proper shifter and clutch....just some food for thought.

Pharmacist

actually if i'm not mistaken lamborghinis are entirely developed on the street, not on the track or in race car series. but yeah you make a good point that i did think about, which is the cost of developing 2 different transmissions for a car model. on the other hand however, the manual transmission has evolved very little in the last half a century or so. it is still a very basic mechanical device, so it really shouldn't cost much to develop and manufacture. you're right though, most of the rich playboys who buy these cars just want the latest technology. the problem though is the trickle down effect. almost everything that starts as exotic and high priced technology eventually trickles down to cheaper more affordable cars. it may not be long before you find dual clutch gearboxes in civics and corollas and the like. and then of course you can kiss the manual transmission goodbye.

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

FuszNissan

With Dual clutch transmissions and paddel shifting, I don't see an issue either. It was only a matter of time until manual will be the thing of the past.

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Mods: Too Many to list!
LouFuszNissan
ZDAYZ 2012

370Zsteve

Outrage!

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

fullmonty

Cool now maybe people will give more credit to an automatic sports car

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PapoZalsa

I just hate to see the AT stick on a sport car! The car will look better if they elimante the stick like Ferrari did.

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2009 370Z MB Base w/Sport Package 6MT
Modshack's Custom Air Intakes /3M Clear Bra/ Illuminated Kick Plates / F. I CBE w/12" resonators / EVO-R Front Lip / Rear Hatch Wing / Tein S-Tech Springs /Ilegal Tint in the Rep. of VA/4x20mm Z1 Spacers/ Vinyl Roof/Liquid Carbon Designs

frost

posted this in the :gasp: manual versus auto thread.

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370z OG

NewlyIMPORTed

i always wondered what it would be like to have a paddle shifter with a clutch the shifts would be faster but you would still have the joy that an MT has hmm

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2011 WRX STICobb Accessport, Nameless Performance exhaust, COBB SF Intake, COBB downpipe, 20% tint, Work Emotion XD9's

fullmonty

I'd like it

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Trips

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antman22

i dont know if manuals will disappear entirely, but i could see a lot of sports cars (exotic and non-exotic) going to a single system (auto/DCT) for the cost benefit. I think manuals would still be an option in lower end cars, because like you said Pharmacist, they're cheap, so for the average car, the cost benefit is still there. majority of cars in europe are still sold in MT...

I definitely agree that the more advanced autos will trickle their way down to the avg car eventually, after the technology matures and factories are able to reproduce them at a cheaper (and profitable) rate.

in the long run, i think this will also increase the price of the manual exotics we have left. they'll run in a higher demand because there are still plenty of drivers that want a MT. they're fun to drive, more involved, and the demand from the purists will drive that demand/prices up. the ferrari california and the 458 will probably be the last ferraris with MTs (i think?), so in 10yrs time, i bet their value will appreciate partially on the basis of what transmission they carry.