Photo: BMW / edited
Remember when every supercar and high-performance version of regular cars featured manuals? Those days are long over, and there are four big reasons for the manual's obsolescence.
Enjoyable though it may be, the three-pedal setup isn't as quick on upshifts as a dual-clutch transmission or a well-sorted automatic. Secondly, finding the right suppliers and calibrating a vehicle for two very different gearboxes isn't exactly cheap.
Toyota is the perfect example in this case, with the Japanese automaker going to great lengths to give the fifth-gen Supra a manual. Toyota started with the S6-53 transmission supplied by ZF, a similar design to the GS6-53BZ in the G80 M3. Designed to handle the B58 engine's 369 pound-feet (500 Nm) of torque, this gearbox uses a variety of ZF-sourced parts, a unique center console for more clearance between your knuckles and the climate control buttons, and a unique knob.
Toyota experimented with not two, but three different gear knob masses, ranging between 68 and 200 grams. The manufacturer eventually settled for the heaviest of the bunch, for it provides the right inertia without being clunky. Heaven only knows how much Toyota spent during research & development, and heaven only knows how many yen the automaker paid the center console's supplier for the redesign.
The third reason why manuals are going extinct is their abysmal take-up rate. Enthusiast cars like the MX-5 and BRZ may sell more manuals than automatics, but alas, yearly deliveries are best described as abysmal compared to a compact crossover. Think Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester.
Finally, emission regulations and average fuel economy standards! Both of them favor more efficient transmissions like the eCVT of the Ford Maverick Hybrid, and – believe it or not – modern automatics are usually more frugal than their manual counterparts. Take, for instance, the G87 M2 from BMW M.
Over in Europe, it's rated at 9.7 liters per 100 kilometers for the automatic and 10.0 liters per 100 kilometers for the manual. In the United States, the EPA lists both with 19 miles per gallon on the combined cycle, with the manual slightly edging the automatic in terms of highway gas mileage (24 versus 23).
Speaking of the purest of M cars produced nowadays, the G87 has been confirmed as being the final purely internal combustion-engined M car. It's also likely to be the Motorsport division's final series-production car with a manual. Dirk Hacker, the head of development at BMW M, told Top Gear that the manual would be gone from the Bavarian automaker's lineup in six to seven years. In other words, by decade's end.
He also made it clear the dual-clutch transmission is dead for BMW M for a number of reasons. In truth, the Motorsport division's dual-clutch tranny had to go because of the CLAR platform that underpins everything from the M2 to the XM. The CLAR was developed with M xDrive in mind, and the Getrag-supplied DCT isn't compatible with this performance-oriented system.
The torque-converter automatic is easier to electrify as well, and that's pretty much the gist of it. Oh, and by the way, the G87 is expected to go the way of the dodo by 2030 as well.
Toyota is the perfect example in this case, with the Japanese automaker going to great lengths to give the fifth-gen Supra a manual. Toyota started with the S6-53 transmission supplied by ZF, a similar design to the GS6-53BZ in the G80 M3. Designed to handle the B58 engine's 369 pound-feet (500 Nm) of torque, this gearbox uses a variety of ZF-sourced parts, a unique center console for more clearance between your knuckles and the climate control buttons, and a unique knob.
Toyota experimented with not two, but three different gear knob masses, ranging between 68 and 200 grams. The manufacturer eventually settled for the heaviest of the bunch, for it provides the right inertia without being clunky. Heaven only knows how much Toyota spent during research & development, and heaven only knows how many yen the automaker paid the center console's supplier for the redesign.
The third reason why manuals are going extinct is their abysmal take-up rate. Enthusiast cars like the MX-5 and BRZ may sell more manuals than automatics, but alas, yearly deliveries are best described as abysmal compared to a compact crossover. Think Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester.
Finally, emission regulations and average fuel economy standards! Both of them favor more efficient transmissions like the eCVT of the Ford Maverick Hybrid, and – believe it or not – modern automatics are usually more frugal than their manual counterparts. Take, for instance, the G87 M2 from BMW M.
Over in Europe, it's rated at 9.7 liters per 100 kilometers for the automatic and 10.0 liters per 100 kilometers for the manual. In the United States, the EPA lists both with 19 miles per gallon on the combined cycle, with the manual slightly edging the automatic in terms of highway gas mileage (24 versus 23).
Speaking of the purest of M cars produced nowadays, the G87 has been confirmed as being the final purely internal combustion-engined M car. It's also likely to be the Motorsport division's final series-production car with a manual. Dirk Hacker, the head of development at BMW M, told Top Gear that the manual would be gone from the Bavarian automaker's lineup in six to seven years. In other words, by decade's end.
He also made it clear the dual-clutch transmission is dead for BMW M for a number of reasons. In truth, the Motorsport division's dual-clutch tranny had to go because of the CLAR platform that underpins everything from the M2 to the XM. The CLAR was developed with M xDrive in mind, and the Getrag-supplied DCT isn't compatible with this performance-oriented system.
The torque-converter automatic is easier to electrify as well, and that's pretty much the gist of it. Oh, and by the way, the G87 is expected to go the way of the dodo by 2030 as well.
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