The Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86 twins are prime examples. According to Subaru, 71 percent of current BRZ customers opt for the coupe’s six-speed manual transmission. “Overall, the take rate has been around 70 percent for most of BRZ’s life,” a Subaru spokesperson told Ars.
Then there’s the all-time icon of fun, the Mazda MX-5 Miata. The Japanese automaker has long said the Miata will always be a core part of its lineup, and come on, can you imagine a world where a Miata doesn’t offer a stick? Even now, in the roadster’s fourth generation, manual models account for roughly half of all Miata sales.
Other small performance cars offer additional possibilities. The Honda Civic Si sedan and Type R hatchback are only offered with a six-speed manual gearbox, and this transmission comes with an automatic rev-matching function to make shifting for yourself slightly easier, too.
Option 3: The anachronism
Sports cars might seem like an obvious choice, but perhaps the answer lies in a different vehicle segment altogether. Manual transmissions are still extremely popular with folks in the off-road community, and a number of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles continue to offer options for buyers who would rather choose their own adventure.
When Ford introduced the new Bronco in 2021, the vehicle debuted with a brand-new seven-speed manual transmission from Getrag. This isn’t a seven-speed like what you’ll find in a Porsche 911, however; Ford’s gearbox is effectively a six-speed with a dedicated crawl gear. Putting the Bronco into this seventh “gear” gives this transmission an incredible 95:1 crawl ratio, which is excellent for extremely slow-going and challenging off-roading. However, while the Bronco is offered with two different turbocharged powertrains, the seven-speed manual is exclusively offered with the smaller, 2.3-liter I4 option.
Jeep’s stalwart off-roader, the Wrangler, continues to be available with a six-speed manual transmission paired with its 3.6-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine. (You can get this combination in the Gladiator pickup, as well.) Considering a stick shift has always been offered throughout the Wrangler’s life, we don’t imagine it will go away.
Finally, there’s a lesser-known option: the Toyota Tacoma. This midsize pickup is due for a full redesign soon, and if the current truck’s six-speed manual carries over, there’s a good chance it will remain for a long time to come. After all, Toyota only redesigns its trucks about once a millennium, so if there’s a stick in the 2024 Tacoma, it will likely be there for a while.
Option 4: The wild card
On the other hand, Toyota’s options might not be limited to the Tacoma. Reports suggest Toyota could be working on a manual transmission that works with electric cars—clutch, shifter, and all. The catch is that this would be a simulated experience, so not a proper gear-swapping stick in the traditional sense, but it’s close enough that we’ll give it a pass.
According to Edmunds, Toyota recently submitted patent applications (PDF) for this EV/manual setup. Toyota even plans to offer genuine tactility with this system, giving drivers the sense of the clutch engaging a gear. This manual mode would exist alongside a fully automatic, shift-free setting for drivers who don’t want to row their own—or who don’t want to row their own all the time.
Another nontraditional—and wild—solution comes from Swedish hypercar-maker Koenigsegg. In 2022, Koenigsegg debuted the CC850, which has a dual-action transmission that can be operated as either a manual or automatic. Unlike Toyota, however, this one actually involves mechanical clutches and a gasoline-fed engine.
There’s a lot of complex engineering going on here, but it all boils down to the CC850 using three sets of clutches with three gears each, for nine total forward gears that are activated using the clutches in various arrangements. CNET has an excellent breakdown of how this transmission actually works, with information from company CEO and namesake Christian von Koenigsegg.
Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours. Maybe the final savior of the manual transmission is a company we wouldn’t expect or a solution that will come out of left field. Either way, the march of progress continues. We’ll be clutching our shifters as long as we can.
