I'm fine with a Japanese 4 or 6
An ae86 GTS (real one from 85-87 not that new subaru 8-6 POS) is still an amazingly fun car to drive, even with the stock engine.

I've owned at least 1 manual since I got my license in 1992. All but one (2000 Wrangler Sport w/NV3550) required some transmission work along the way, but none headed to the junkyard with a bad tranny. Seen A LOT of automatics that required service or replacement way out of line of the value of the vehicle, so off to the scrapper you go. I'm no mechanic but I'm willing to bet that's the main cause of death for cars in my lifetime.

Back when I was shopping and got that new Jeep, I was checking out used BMWs (since I lived in Bellevue and this mentality unfortunately creeps into your head there). I was shocked at how cheap the early 1990s 8-series coupes were. These were super expensive at the time, the kind of car your local orthodontist or bigshot lawyer would roll around in. Then I learned why these MSRP $70k luxury sport coupes were all on sale for less than $20k, some even $10k less than a decade later: they'd all run up on their transmission servicing. Those 'rich' owners had financed the cars, paid 'em off, and then saw a ~$6k cash-right-now bill in their future and noped out. You almost never see these on the road anymore while manual German cars from that era are still fairly common.

Have a 5spd in my 67 Camaro, would never consider having an automatic. But for new cars I'll stick with automatic.

yup...

Kinda what I figured, you're looking at specs for high end performance cars, which make up a small percentage of all automatic transmissions out there, and concluding that applies to ordinary every day cars. That's faulty logic, and doesn't hold up to even the most basic driving comparisons.

Same for the reliabilty thing. Yes, people can burn up clutches. But the transmissions themselves rarely have issues. Unlike automatics, which can easily be abused by careless drivers and are one of the leading causes for cars being scrapped that haven't been in an accident. Your theory that automatics are more reliable simply because they don't have clutches just isn't backed up by facts; not even a little bit.

This all reads like you're someone who's only used automatics, and is just looking for anything to back up your preference. It doesn't hold water though. And this is fairly basic stuff for anyone who's really a "car guy". And by "car guy" I don't mean the kind who likes to wash his car every weekend and read car mags, I mean people who actually work on their cars and understand what makes them tick and what kinds of things go wrong.

Yes, you understand right. CVT transmissions have been around for many years, and are commonly used in snowmobiles, utility quads, and go-karts and even some small cars long ago, but some manufacturers have been trying them again more recently. There is some efficiency loss through the belt drive, but they try to make up for it by holding the engine at a particular "optimum" rpm (and of course the engine can be tuned for efficiency in that narrow rpm window). They aren't very well received in cars though, partly due to some pretty dismal reliability issues in some models, and partly due to driving feel; they tend to be a little slower to respond and throttle response is a big part of how a car "feels" to drive, even if it doesn't have big power and acceleration numbers.

I have the beefier option in my '65 camino, the m22 rockcrusher(kinda, the new wide ratio gears) the thing kicks ass behind a l79 clone with 3.78 gears. I loved winding it to 7k on the last curve before work every morning, and i daily it for 2 years

I get 25 mpg highway at mostly 80 mph and 4000 rpm and it will do it all day

All this talk makes me want to buy an American V8 rear wheel drive car. I miss my 6 speed Pro Charged Z/28.

Bacon n eggs over doug fir, Mmmm!

Never had em that way...I.....pre-Fir over easy

If you don't have the capacity to drive a manual, you shouldn't be driving a rig over 30,000#.

I've been hearing for quite some time that the newest gen of the Tacoma with the 3.5(?) engine and the 6 speed(?) auto really kinda sucks --- the tranny just is always shifting and searching - never being in the 'right' gear - basically making a decent (or even great) engine seem like a dog. People I know that opted for the 6sp manual are ALWAYS saying how much they love it. The divide gets even worse when they start modding and putting bigger wheels on them.

I REALLY wanted a 5sp in my 3rd gen 4Runner.... but decided to take the auto when I found a deal. There hasn't been a manual 4Runner since 2000....

https://www.wnd.com/2022/08/dodge-annou ... scle-cars/
Dodge announces 'Last Call' for V8-powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars

Was going to post this in the Tesla board but here.

https://lawnews.tv/man-killed-because-c ... nsmission/

You should see the things I can achieve while juggling 10 gears……