Looking for a new Toyota subcompact in 2018: what will it cost in today's dollars?

[BEEF]

I think manual transmissions will always be around just so they can charge more for the automatics...

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by BEEF

I think manual transmissions will always be around just so they can charge more for the automatics...

So do I if only as an aftermarket performance item fr certain apps.

However, as a option for the average grocery getter DD, they will disappear.

Sadly, the car has become just a means of transportation and not something to just enjoy driving .

Remember the "Stanly Steamer"? I t was intended to be just a fast sports car of the era... something to drive just for the fun of it.
It came from an era when cars were as much as an art form as an engineering marvel.

We need modern cars that are fun to drive including an MT......a car that is also an art form . We have let science and engineering take the beauty and soul out of things .

To use an aviation analogy, what F-16 pilot does not also love and yearn to fly in a vintage open cockpit bi plane, etc just for the sheer fun and enjoyment of flying by the "seat of his pants" ?

[ron3]

Dealers don't want MT cars sitting on there lots, 95% of customers would not consider buying a car with MT. A large number of young people cannot even drive them.
I had to drive to a rural Toyota dealer 60 miles away to trade my 5 speed yaris on a automatic since the dealers around the city really did not want a 5 speed. I have a serious knee problem and cannot negotiate the clutch any longer.
I think the manual transmission is going the way of the manual choke, leaded gas, and carburetors.
I love to drive Manual trans, cars but the bottom line is modern automatics are just as fuel efficient, completely reliable, and much easier to drive and have a lot better trade in value. I think by 2018 a lot of the bells and whistles of todays cars will be standard.
Don.t want to flame anyone, just my 2 cents !

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by ron3

completely reliable

So sorry that you can no longer drive a manual .

Re 'completely reliable', I would put we members who know how to drive a manual and can make a clutch last up against one of these automatics and I'll bet 8-9 times out of ten one of us could log more miles without a clutch replacement (over varied terrain) than one of these 'completely reliable' automatic transmissions could without a repair.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by RedRide

Sadly, the car has become just a means of transportation and not something to just enjoy driving .

Do you think politically correct 'green-ness' has had much of an influence on this?

We need modern cars that are fun to drive including an MT......a car that is also an art form . We have let science and engineering take the beauty and soul out of things .

These new many speed automatic transmissions may be responsible for better MPG, but I think it will remain to be seen how they fare re reliability.

To use an aviation analogy, what F-16 pilot does not also love and yearn to fly in a vintage open cockpit bi plane, etc just for the sheer fun and enjoyment of flying by the "seat of his pants" ?

I almost became the son-in-law of a retired F-16 pilot who didn't have any sons and lived in the same city I did at the time. IMO, this analogy is 100 % correct.