Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
To add to the discussion about DCTs here. In my opinion, DCTs for the most part should never be used in a car that is used as a daily beater. I've had my fair share of issues with my DCT equipped 135i. Took 3 years to sort the problems out and even now, I find myself having to occasionally reset the adaptations to get the trans to behave properly at low speeds/stop and go. I'm not the only one that has had problems with DCT equipped 135i's.
Also other manufacturers have had issues with DCTs. Ask the owners of Ford Focus' about their DCTs or what appears to be a growing issue with Kia Soul GTs with DCTs. I have a friend who has a brand new Soul that had to have her DCT trans replaced at 8k miles.
And for the record, I would have purchased my 135i with a manual but at the time I was in the market, I wanted to buy new and there was no more inventory. I bought when production of new 135i's had stopped. So no ordering and inventory was sparse for a black 135i. Not only do I enjoy driving manuals but I didn't want to deal with the added complexity/repair costs of an auto.
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I had a 2006 Audi A3 (essentially a GTI) with a DCT that I bought used with 20k miles and sold it with 150k miles. Proper maintenance and a manufacturer that new how to make a good one are all that are needed. Assuming almost 15 years later VW/Audi has improved on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkoesel
The answer to this question isn't found in a discussion forum. The answer is found by looking at sales data. The manual transmission has been decreasing in popularity for a couple decades and the rate of decline has particularly increased over the last few years.
The reasons for this is simple. The manual transmission is no longer the better performer nor the more efficient choice. Technology reached a point where automatic transmissions were able to shift faster and yield better fuel economy. For most people these two factors erased the manual transmission's value proposition.
As we head toward a future of electric vehicles, the multi-speed transmission itself will all but fade entirely into obsolescence.
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Agree, in the past you didn't need to be an enthusiast to buy one, there were lots of reasons to buy a manual - better mpg, more reliable, faster, more gears, lower initial price. Now you have to be an enthusiast to want one and then be ok with the above being slightly worse. Some part of the enthusiast crowd went automatic and all of the rest of the market did the same.