I’m stuck on this personally. I love my manual, I have a tiny little Mazda 2 and I have driven that thing absolutely everywhere because I can control it better than any automatic I’ve ever driven. But I’ve been casually looking for a new car and I’d love to have an electric, but I don’t want to lose that level of control and everything I love about a manual.
What do you all think? What’s your take?
My last car was a 2005 VW Golf 1.6 manual. It was a fun little car. It looked like trash, and i treated it like trash. We had many fun adventures together.
I went over to an EV after being tired of paying a fortune in petrol. My current car is a BMW i3, and i LOVE it. It’s rear wheel drive, cheap to run and cheap to service. I live close to the arctic circle, so it’s snowy about 5 months of the year, and this little thing with its skinny wheels is superb on winter roads.
Looking back, i don’t miss driving manual. Driving an EV is completely noiseless and calm. No fiddling with the stick, no clutching, just pure pleasure. The rear wheel drive makes it equally fun to drive, and skidding around in the winter is really fun.
I went from a manual to an EV. For an everyday use point of view there is just no comparison. Acceleration is effortless, start/stop traffic is no longer a nightmare, it’s quiet and refined. It is the ideal daily driver. Even on longer trips I no longer feel fatigued after driving for 4-5 hours (the enforced charging stop helps with that).
I personally would not go back to an ICE car in general, manual or not, for everyday use.
From an enthusiasts perspective, however, this is a different question. I wouldn’t rule out getting an ICE manual for fun/weekend use in the future - the kind of driving where you can actually enjoy the level of fine control and feedback that a manual gives you, rather than just wasting it in traffic. But it would have to be something pretty special.
no.
All of my vehicles have been manuals. I’ll probably pass on full electric until there is more infrastructure. Right now, I would be looking at a plug-in hybrid.
Not now, no. I have concerns about long term cost, keep my cars forever, have nowhere to charge the thing, and do greatly enjoy a more analog driving experience.
I’ll probably buy one eventually, but I will also probably be noticeably behind the curve on this particular trend. If nothing else, it will be time for my next new car before EVs really take over, and I’ll (hopefully!) keep that car for a couple of decades.
