5 percent of new cars are manual

turbobrick240

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maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
The Europeans still know how to drive manuals. They don't drive huge, gas guzzling SUV's much either.
 

vwdsmguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2002 Golf black 5-spd
SUV seem to be the norm these days

Climate change, you would think, would have Americans driving smaller cars, but that ain't so, it seems. My view is Americans will drive the biggest car they can afford, be damned the emissions. I guess fuel is just too cheap these days!
Thats is the way I see it.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

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Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
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2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
Climate change, you would think, would have Americans driving smaller cars, but that ain't so, it seems. My view is Americans will drive the biggest car they can afford, be damned the emissions. I guess fuel is just too cheap these days!
Thats is the way I see it.
  • 02 Golf TDI, RC5, PP764's, FMIC, 2.5" T-Back, OMI, SB-3 clutch, 11mm pump, VNT17/22, 3 Bar MAP, CAT filter, 90 GPH Holley lift pump, modded D24 intake manifold, Rosten rods, Nural pistons, ported head - 15.0 @ 94 at the drags


your hobby (drags) add to emissions?:p
 

aja8888

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Climate change, you would think, would have Americans driving smaller cars, but that ain't so, it seems. My view is Americans will drive the biggest car they can afford, be damned the emissions. I guess fuel is just too cheap these days!
Thats is the way I see it.
I just left California today on Highway 5 going south. Try $3.79/gallon for 86 octane on for size. :eek: Diesel was over $4.00/gal. No one at the diesel pumps.
 

aja8888

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Tdijarhead

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Lawrenceville PA
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2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Women pick the cars in the US (well, maybe not VW drivers). Stands to reason that autos are picked along with big mirrors on the visors.

I’m doing my part to bring back the manual transmission. Each of my three daughters drive one. 5 spd 01 Beetle diesel, 6spd 15 Hyundai velsoter, 4spd 94 Toyota Tercel.

They like to row their own gears. One of the side benefits is better mpg, both of the gassers get mid 30’s of course you all know what the beetle does.
 

pdq import repair

Veteran Member
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Nov 6, 2016
Location
idaho
TDI
09 Jetta
It is the trend, and consumers dictate the market. This goes way back. As an example I remember back in 2000 Toyota redesigned the Camry completely, nothing from the earlier model remained. They had three cars previous, one was the fully loaded one, then the middle one, and finally a strippo version with manual trans and rollup windows. They found that less than 5% of the sales were the strippo, so they dropped that model and saved money not having to engineer another car with roll up windows and and other things on a lesser profit model. the price of the two remaining models then was actually less.

I like the simplicity of manual cars too, but today's automatics really are nice. I am very happy with mt DSG and don't even miss the manual car I replaced.
 

Jetta_Pilot

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Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Anywhere but the USA and Canada people drive manuals. I.E Europe, Asia and Mexico. One reason is the better mileage but the main reason is a manual tranny car is cheaper to buy and to repair !!
 

DPM

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Newtownards, N. Ireland
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^ Whilst that's the perception, emissions targets are easier to achieve with autoboxes and so in the EU there's a greater uptake of automated manuals/DSGs in recent times, especially as they don't have the same mpg hit as previous autos.
 

German_1er_diesel

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Ratzeburg
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BMW 118d
Women pick the cars in the US (well, maybe not VW drivers). Stands to reason that autos are picked along with big mirrors on the visors.
...my wife drives a manual, diesel Juke, what are we doing wrong?
^ Whilst that's the perception, emissions targets are easier to achieve with autoboxes and so in the EU there's a greater uptake of automated manuals/DSGs in recent times, especially as they don't have the same mpg hit as previous autos.
They don't have the same mileage penalty as old automatics, but they are far less impressive in real life than they are in government test cycles. It's easy to optimize an automatic to do very well in a test cycle, which gives them an advantage there. Less so in the real world.
 
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kjclow

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Apr 26, 2003
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Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
...my wife drives a manual, diesel Juke, what are we doing wrong?

They don't have the same mileage penalty as old automatics, but they are far less impressive in real life than they are in government test cycles. It's easy to optimize an automatic to do very well in a test cycle, which gives them an advantage there. Less so in the real world.
Fully agree on both comments. Anyone who drives a stick knows learns how to adjust to circumstances. There was a huge traffic snarl for me this morning. Took me about 40 minutes to go my 7 miles to work. There's a fairly long stretch of downhill road where I just pop the truck out of gear and coast with the flow. Probably doesn't save me anything other than resting my left leg on the floor instead of the clutch. If I had an auto, I would have been riding the brakes most of that, like everyone else was.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

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Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
Fully agree on both comments. Anyone who drives a stick knows learns how to adjust to circumstances. There was a huge traffic snarl for me this morning. Took me about 40 minutes to go my 7 miles to work. There's a fairly long stretch of downhill road where I just pop the truck out of gear and coast with the flow. Probably doesn't save me anything other than resting my left leg on the floor instead of the clutch. If I had an auto, I would have been riding the brakes most of that, like everyone else was.
I have DSG (2015 Golf.)

IMO, I would need no (or little) brake on my car. Unless it was a large grade
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
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Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
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'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I guess IDParts reverses the trend. We have 10 TDIs at IDParts, 8 of them are manuals, including my '15 GSW. If I couldn't have gotten a manual I probably wouldn't have bought a '15. I do have two cars with automatics (M-B and BMW, neither available with manual). The autos aren't bad, but not my preference.
 

Jetta_Pilot

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Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Fully agree on both comments. Anyone who drives a stick knows learns how to adjust to circumstances. There was a huge traffic snarl for me this morning. Took me about 40 minutes to go my 7 miles to work. There's a fairly long stretch of downhill road where I just pop the truck out of gear and coast with the flow. Probably doesn't save me anything other than resting my left leg on the floor instead of the clutch. If I had an auto, I would have been riding the brakes most of that, like everyone else was.
Where I live there is very often just stop and go traffic on the highway. Instead of constantly being on the brakes I put the DSG into manual and use a low gear.
I also travel on a very long steep downgrade in Mexico where, if I left the DSG in "D" I would be riding the brakes for miles. This is a steep and curvy road where they have two different emergency lanes for vehicles where the brakes have failed. Instead I chose manual and select 3rd or 4th gear to slow me down. Even doing that I still do about 55 Mph.
 

Jetta_Pilot

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Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
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2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
You folks use different money than we do though (and your gallons are bigger than ours)! :D
Right about the currency! Wrong about the gallons, Canada uses litres.
One US gallon is about 3.78 litres.
The Cdn dollar is about 30% less to the US dollar.
Your turn to do the math now!
 

aja8888

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Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
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Right about the currency! Wrong about the gallons, Canada uses litres.
One US gallon is about 3.78 litres.
The Cdn dollar is about 30% less to the US dollar.
Your turn to do the math now!
I was just kidding with you!:)

Here's the math assuming we use Imperial gallons;:D

The US gallon is used in the United States and is equal to exactly 231 cubic inches or 3.785411784 liters. The Imperial gallon or UK gallon is used in the United Kingdom and is equal to approximately 277.42 cubic inches. Its exact value is defined as 4.54609 liters. One imperial gallon is approximately 1.2 US gallons.
 

cleaver

Veteran Member
Joined
May 8, 2006
Location
Berwick, Nova Scotia
TDI
None - did own '01 and '02 Jetta TDI
so,
here is the math (translating to USD)

USA: $3.79 USD per gallon
CDN: $1.16 CDN per liter = $4.38 CDN per gallon = $3.53 USD per gallon

I guess we aren't getting screwed as bad up here...lol

Current (lowest) pricing in NS, Canada:
$1.137 CDN Reg unleaded
$1.219 CDN Diesel
 
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aja8888

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Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
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Out of TDI's
so,
here is the math (translating to USD)

USA: $3.79 USD per gallon
CDN: $1.16 CDN per liter = $4.38 CDN per gallon = $5.70 USD per gallon

either way, CDN or USD, we are getting screwed in Canada....

Current (lowest) pricing in NS, Canada:
$1.137 CDN Reg unleaded
$1.219 CDN Diesel

Agreed, you are getting the shaft. Is the high incremental cost due to taxes or is it based on refined product cost basis?
 

cleaver

Veteran Member
Joined
May 8, 2006
Location
Berwick, Nova Scotia
TDI
None - did own '01 and '02 Jetta TDI
OH CRAP!, My bad....you sir are correct...I corrected my previous post with your calculation...
 
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kjclow

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Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
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2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Agreed, you are getting the shaft. Is the high incremental cost due to taxes or is it based on refined product cost basis?
Differences in cost at pump worldwide is primarily the local taxes and shipping of both crude and fuels. The costs of refining are essentially the same. The costs of cracking will be slightly difference depending on the source of the crude and the desired finished products.
 

PlaneCrazy

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Joined
Jan 3, 2000
Location
Province of Quebec, Canada
TDI
Gone...
My Golf is manual, as is my wife's GSW, as will be my upcoming GSW 4MOTION. Haven't bought an automatic since 2005 (B5.5 Passat).

In Quebec, manual uptake is higher than elsewhere in Canada. My dealer had a choice of 3 Trendline GSWs with manual, 2 FWD and 1 4MO, which I latched onto. A friend in BC says a manual GSW is nowhere to be found; a buddy of his got one and it had to be shipped from Quebec!

When I was still working, I'd go on noon walks around the 'hood, and would do informal surveys. I would average about 15-20% manual, but if you excluded the models that were not available as manual, it was even higher. Of course this included older cars as well. SUVs while common in Quebec, are not as common as in the rest of Canada due to our higher gas prices.
 

garreth5

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2015
Location
GA
TDI
jetta
To me, automatic makes driving easier though learning how to drive a manual first is a lot better.
 

desjiem

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Location
Kalamazoo, MI
TDI
2015 Golf Sportwagen S
I would have bought a manual GSW if I could have found one, at a reasonable price. I just couldnt justify paying a $3000+ premium for a manual transmission, even if it is my preferred transmission. When I was looking there were less than 10 manuals in the entire US for a 2015 Golf TDI.
 
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