2019 marks the end of Audi’s manual transmission manufacture in the US. But fear not, auto enthusiaststhere are still plenty of possibilities to find your next Audi stick shift if you’re willing to settle for a secondhand car.
Many drivers will agree that shifting into gear and hitting the road is the best feeling, but the future of the American manual transmission is not promising. Nearly 99 percent of new US car sales in 2019 were automatics, despite many brands still carrying the torch.
In This Article...
How should a manual vehicle be driven properly?
- With your left foot, fully depress the clutch until it is flush with the floor (the gear shifter must be in the neutral position).
- Activate the ignition. You can take your foot off the clutch if you’re convinced the vehicle is in neutral. Verify that neither the parking nor the emergency brake is engaged.
- Use the right foot to depress the brake or middle pedal.
- Put the transmission in first gear by adjusting the gear shifter.
- Your right foot should be taken off the brake pedal. If you are standing on a flat surface, the car shouldn’t move much.
- With your left foot, gradually start to release some of the clutch pressure. Depending on the car, you might feel it start to move forward slowly.
- Release the clutch slowly, then start to very slowly apply the accelerator with your right foot.
- You should only be using your right foot to press the accelerator now that you have fully released the clutch. Congratulationsfirst gear is now engaged. Up until you feel you need to go into second gear, keep building speed.
- Take your right foot off the pedal and press the clutch with your left foot at the same time to shift into second gear. Your vehicle will keep rolling. Put second gear on the gear shifter. As soon as you start to press the accelerator once more, let off of the clutch. Repeat this procedure to keep increasing your speed.
Some refer to it as learning how to drive a manual or a stick. Whatever name you give it, it is the same. Many drivers never learn how to operate a manual transmission, also known as a stick shift, in a vehicle. Having stick shift driving skills will enable you to operate any type of car, whether it is an automatic or manual. Finding a big parking lot or an empty street to practice on is helpful when learning to operate this kind of vehicle for the first time. Many drivers compare learning to operate a stick shift to learning to ride a bicycle; both tasks initially appear to be insurmountable, but once you master them, you’ll never struggle again. The following instructions will serve as a basic road map for your initial forays behind the wheel of an automobile with a manual transmission.
One of our “Beginner Driver’s Guide” articles is being read by you. Do you need to study for an upcoming test? Take our free practice driving exam without having to register!
What do D and S in an Audi mean?
It carries over to the manual mode that the engine is in comfort/auto mode in D and dynamic mode in S. Depending on whether you come from D or S, you will have a separate throttle map in use. Additionally, the transmission itself is impacted.
In a manual, when should you shift?
Stick shift driving requires a lot of work and perseverance to master. Practice in an empty parking lot after becoming familiar with the various manual moves until you feel entirely comfortable using it on the road.
First, let’s get familiar with some of the parts
Clutch PedalUnlike automatics, which only have two pedals, manuals have three. The pedal that is farthest to the left is the clutch pedal. It is used when changing up or down, including into neutral, from one gear to the next. The clutch disengages when it is fully depressed. Clutch engagement and power transmission are ready to continue when the clutch pedal is removed.
Similar to an automatic, use your right foot for the gas and brake and your left foot for the clutch.
Stick, “Gear Shifter,” etc.
The shift lever is positioned in the center console of contemporary manual automobiles. Older vehicles could have a shifter positioned on the dash or the steering column. Find your stick shift and look it over.
There are up to 6 gears in manual automobiles. The head of the stick shift is often where the gear guide is positioned. The middle of the “H pattern is typically designated as neutral, which is not a gear and does not move you forward. The letter “R” stands for “reverse.”
Emergency BrakeSince stick shift vehicles lack a “park gear, the emergency brake is very crucial. When parking and stopping on hills, use the emergency brake to stop the car from rolling.
Next, practice with the engine off and emergency brake engaged
Find the clutch before starting the car. When changing gears, the clutch must be depressed! Practice putting your left foot on the clutch pedal and releasing it. You’ll start to notice when the clutch is engaged or disengaged (in your foot).
Depress the clutch all the way once you’ve gotten a feel for it, then shift into first gear. Then, while depressing the gas pedal, start releasing the clutch with your left foot (this is often referred to as “feathering”). If the car were running, you would start to move.
Release your foot from the gas and continue in the same manner to shift into higher gears:
- Activate the clutch
- Change to the next highest gear with the shifter.
- Release the clutch while applying pressure to the gas pedal.
You essentially do the same thing when you downshift. While shifting, take your foot off the gas pedal.
- Put the gearshift in the next lower position.
- Release the clutch while gradually depressing the gas pedal.
While the engine is off, practice shifting up and down while depressing and releasing the clutch.
You must depress the clutch to enter neutral and come to a complete halt. After that, release the clutch pedal. Typically, you should change gears when your vehicle hits 2,500 to 3,000 RPM. By sound and sensation, you will eventually be able to shift when necessary.
Practice in an empty lot
When the automobile is not moving, using the clutch and shifter is one thing; when the car is moving, it is quite another. Find a vacant parking lot and practice shifting while driving after you have practiced shifting with the car off.
The clutch and brake pedals should be depressed simultaneously while the automobile is in neutral and the ignition is turned on.
- Put the automobile in first gear with the clutch and brake pedals pushed.
- Put the parking brake on.
- Release your foot from the brake pedal, then gradually depress the gas pedal while releasing pressure from the clutch pedal. While the left foot releases the clutch, the right foot will be pressing down on the gas pedal. This requires practice. If you don’t do this correctly, the clutch may “pop,” sending the car lurching forward and stalling.
- Simply engage the emergency brake, depress the clutch pedal, and shift into neutral to restart the vehicle if it stalls.
- Keep your foot on the gas pedal until the tachometer reads somewhere between 250 and 3,000 RPM. Remove your foot from the gas pedal, depress the clutch pedal, and select the second gear. Before shifting, make sure the clutch is fully depressed. If not, you could “grind the gears. Next, begin releasing the clutch while giving the vehicle gas. Avoid “riding the clutch,” which is when you continue to accelerate while keeping your foot on the clutch.
- The process for changing into higher gears remains the same as your speed increases. Generally speaking, the mph ranges for the various gears are as follows:
Audi ceased producing manuals?
As fewer Americans learn how to operate them and automakers avoid producing them, the popularity of automobiles and trucks with manual transmissions is declining significantly.
Additionally, because automatic transmissions have greatly improved, the once-true justifications for favoring manual transmissionsthat they make cars more fuel-efficient and less expensive to buyare no longer always valid. This has eliminated the practical benefits that some drivers cited for their preference for manuals.
keeping to the manual? What do you think makes driving a stick shift so special? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
Manual transmissions, which were once the only type of transmission available, played a crucial role in automotive design, from bland, functional sticks and silver wands to exquisitely smooth cue balls. Between the seats or close to the steering wheel, these jewelry pieces were mounted. They are now essentially irrelevant.
According to Mike Fiske, senior analyst at IHS Markit who focuses on automotive engine difficulties, the market for sticks is now at a position “where it’s not a need or even much of an alternative.
The only choice is Audi. The premium automaker, which is a division of the Volkswagen Group, said that starting with the 2019 model year, it will stop selling any manual-transmission vehicles in the United States.
According to Audi spokeswoman Amanda Koons, the 2018 A4 sedan and A5 coupe were the last models offered with a stick-shift option.
The German marque will only use automatic gearboxes going forward in the United States.
Transmission advancements
After a number of recent technological developments, automatic transmissions are now available in a variety of high-tech configurations, such as dual-clutch models that replicate the gear-changing action of a manual transmission. Finally, they all carry out your work for you. There will be no more fiddling with the clutch to change gears.
Koons lamented that there isn’t much of a market for manuals in an email.
Sales of manual gearboxes have been declining for decades, but in recent years, the decline has quickened.
According to IHS Markit, 6.8% of vehicles sold in the United States in 2012 had stick shifters. However, in 2018, that percentage is thought to have dropped to 3.5 percent.
How about the Subaru BRZ? Fiske said that sales of the well-known sports car, which were previously limited to manual transmission models, are now 90 percent automatic.
In 2023, IHS predicts that the proportion of vehicles sold with a manual transmission will decrease to 2.6%. Fiske added that fresh data points might need a change to IHS’s projection.
But stick-shift enthusiasts still have some hope. They continue to be sold in numerous international areas, for starters. In actuality, the 5-speed manual is the most often used transmission worldwide, according to Fiske.
A few years ago, Darryl Hayden, a machine operator from Hampton, Virginia, was determined to get a manual-transmission car, but the dealer had just one option available, and it was rudimentary. Thus, he asked the dealer to look everywhere for the 2014 Ford Focus he ultimately chose to purchase.
He stated, “That was a very challenging thing to locate. Since they’re not building as many anymore, the car “was in South Carolina, and they drove it up to Virginia for me.
With a manual, Hayden claims he feels more rooted to the road, which, he claims, also keeps him alert.
You have more control over the vehicle since you are changing gears on your own rather than waiting for the vehicle to do it, the speaker stated.
While several major auto makers still offer stick-shift options on some models, Audi is discontinuing manual transmissions. According to IHS, the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, and Jeep Wrangler Unlimited were the top five best-selling manual vehicles through July.
Teaching the next generation
While Hayden adores driving a stick, finding him capable of doing so is now more difficult than ever.
Because many of them never learned how to drive a stick as children, Hagerty, a historic automobile insurance located in Traverse City, Michigan, is training auto engineers how to drive a manual.
Additionally, since 2011, the business has taught the skill to about 2,500 students in high school.
One benefit of the courses is that the pupils get to practice clutch control and gear shifting in vintage vehicles like a 1965 Ford Mustang convertible or a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS.
Only two of those pupils, according to Hagerty communication expert Tabetha Hammer, “may never grasp it.”
Automatic future
The tremendous advances made to the automatic transmission may be the primary factor making the manual transmission obsolete.
The newest automatics from General Motors have shift speeds that even the greatest manual drivers cannot match, according to associate chief engineer Mark Kielczewski.
The transmission makes the necessary modifications to maintain the transmission in the right gear, at the right moment, all the time. It does this by detecting whether the car is traveling up or down a hill, whether the driver is driving furiously or just gradually on a curved road.
However, even though the manual transmission might be going away, the automated transmission shouldn’t become too accustomed. In reality, its days might already be numbered.
This is due to the absence of transmissions in electric vehicles, which supporters predict will eventually supplant gasoline-powered cars.
Which Audi models were manual?
Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system is well known. Thankfully, there are still a few Audi quattros that can be had with a manual transmission. Both the hot rod version, the S4 3.0 TFSI, and the 2016 Audi A4 2.0 TFSI can be specified with a 6-speed manual transmission and quattro. It’s interesting that the quattro A4 offers a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission while the front-wheel-drive A4 comes with a continuously variable automatic. Quattro and either a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed S Tronic automatic transmission are standard on the S4. There are several different gearbox, drive, and engine options available for each model. Congratulations, Audi.
Will there still be manual transmissions?
Your Hyundai Elantra N, a high-performance variation of the family compact, can be ordered with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Yet why? An exciting six-speed manual “There is a rev matching feature that is available. It is a lot of fun and makes the most of the two-liter, twin-scroll turbocharged, four-cylinder engine’s 276 horsepower and 289 pound-feet of torque.
How does rev matching work? The Elantra has a feature that optimizes downshifts by matching engine speed with transmission speed. It is triggered by switching to N mode or pressing a large red button. As a result, downshifts are exceedingly smooth. You’ll experience a racing school experience. The screen can be used to control the matching level. Even though manual gearboxes are largely disappearing from the market, this is only one way that they have advanced.
According to Hyundai Motor North America’s senior manager of product and advanced powertrain public relations, for the Elantra N, “About 25% of vehicles will have manual transmissions at launch in the United States. Post-launch, we’ll keep making adjustments to this. A compact hatchback called the Hyundai Veloster N is also offered with a manual transmission.
By 2021, only around 1% of cars for sale in the United States had manual transmissions, down from 35% in 1980, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. According to U.S. News and Report, barely 18% of American drivers can even use a stick.
A portion of this is applicable. Because automatics have improved so much, manually shifting no longer results in a tiny but considerable increase in fuel efficiency. One reason clutch control is a dying art is that driving schools no longer teach it. Automakers have modified vehicles to remove manuals from the list of possible options in the United States. For instance, the six-speed ZF manual transmission is a free option on the 505-horsepower Alfa-Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio in Europe but is not offered in the United States.
Although you might expect the six- and seven-figure performance supercars to come with manual transmissions, they now primarily use dual-clutch automatics. In America, you cannot purchase a brand-new manual Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Maserati. Only 1% to 2% of customers, according to Lamborghini, choose manuals.
The Maserati Cambiocorsa, a paddle-shift automated sequential transmission, is the closest you’re going to get. Neither McLaren nor Mercedes-Benz provide a manual transmission, and the latter company said it will stop using it in 2020. Since 2019, Audi has stopped selling stick-shift vehicles in the United States.
However, there are still a few high-performance models with a stick available on the American market. Here is an example:
BMW. The M-Series is synonymous with performance, and the 2022 M3 sedan and M4 coupe both come with a six-speed manual transmission mated to their three-liter twin-turbocharged, 473-horsepower six-cylinder engines.
Cadillac. Yes, the order page for your CT4-V Blackwing includes a box for a six-speed manual. It comes with a 472 horsepower, 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6. The CT5-V Blackwing, which comes with the six-speed as standard but 668 horsepower from a 6.2-liter supercharged LT4 V8, is an option if you want to boost the ante.
Chevrolet. Almost all engine options for the Camaro may be ordered with a manual. The take rate for the larger motors, like the formidable 6.2-liter supercharged V8 with 650 horsepower, will likely be substantially higher. All new 2022 C8 Corvettes come only in automatic. Corvette owners have traditionally preferred manual transmissions, but 73 percent of the C7 cars were automatic.
Ford. The company’s sports car, the Mustang, comes standard with six-speed manual transmissions, though 10-speed automatics are clearly a popular alternative.
Jeep. A six-speed manual transmission is an option for the popular Gladiator truck and Wrangler in addition to the 3.6-liter V6.
Mazda. Although many owners purchase the MX-5 Miata with an automatic transmission, it is kind of a travesty. The traditional two-liter, four-cylinder engine now has 181 horsepower and is connected to a manual transmission with up to six gears.
Nissan. There is a six-speed manual with the aforementioned rev matching available for the seventh-generation sports vehicle, which is now just known as the Z. It is connected to a three-liter, 400-horsepower twin-turbo V6.
Porsche. It will be a sad day when Porsche stops offering manual transmissions in North America. You can currently purchase a stick for the 718 Boxster, Cayman, Cayman GT4, and 718 Spyder. And sure, the 911’s 443-horsepower Targa 4S comes with a manual seven-speed transmission. There are manual versions of the Carrera S and Carrera GTS as well.
Volkswagen. Without a manual, the Golf GTI would be an industry standard-setter and pocket rocket. The most recent GTI model has 241 horsepower, and the more expensive R variant ups the ante to 315.
The Subaru BRZ and the nearly related Toyota 86, the Volkswagen Jetta, and a few more vehicles will be offered with manual transmissions in 2022.
Manual Transmissions Are Disappearing Fast. Who Still Offers Them.
Your Hyundai Elantra N, a high-performance variation of the family compact, can be ordered with an eight-speed automatic transmission.