Manual transmissions still live!
Photo: Atis Jansons
Atis Jansons, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
Birks about the difference between refugees from Ukraine and “refugees” from Belarus
Viewer: “I have a bloodthirsty question. Latvia, Lithuania and Poland must attack Ukraine!”
Why Hungary hates Ukraine? Or only because it is an enemy of Russia?
Read other posts
It is loudly and widely claimed that the future of traffic is electric. It is very likely that it is. But – please pay attention and plan your actions wisely! – we are talking about a rather distant future. Europe wants to stop producing, selling and registering new internal combustion cars not tomorrow, but in ten years. By then, tens of millions more oil burners will be on the road. And a lot less electric cars. Currently, the share of electric cars in the European market is less than a fifth, it is growing slowly (because the product is expensive and the convenience of charging is far behind the simple and usual filling of gasoline) and it is quite clear that each of us can still manage to drive at least one internal combustion car. And therefore the fundamental question remains the same – how to save your wallet and the nature of the world, if we have not yet reached the electric car? And be happy with what we already have.
We save weight
One advantage of the old combustion drive is absolute and unchangeable (unless there is a battery revolution). The weight of the energy carried. The gasoline required for one hundred kilometers weighs five and six kilograms. The 20 kWh battery needed to cover such a distance is almost 200 kg… That’s why electric cars are heavy. With all the consequences. Both for the ones you like (driving comfort) and the wasteful ones (heavily loaded suspensions and tires).
True – there is a weight category in which the electric car wins. The motors themselves are lighter. And they don’t have gearboxes. The electric motor’s power characteristic curve is actually almost straight – they can transfer all their power to the wheels right from the start. The internal combustion engine can do almost nothing at idle. It requires a very complicated and very expensive auxiliary mechanism, which is usually called a gearbox. A rather heavy and expensive device, which, unfortunately, cannot be done without. But which type can be economically (or comfortably and wastefully) chosen.
Left leg, right hand…
It’s not just the gears that need to be changed for this supercar. In its classic form, it also has a clutch that disconnects the engine from the wheels when shifting. Left leg, right hand… It was thirty years ago in ninety cars out of a hundred. was in Europe. Even then, America had almost completely automated this complicated and burdensome process. Because the fuel is cheap there, the engines are big and therefore it is easier to live with “automatic machines”. Europe behaved more stingily. Especially its southern part (Spain, Italy, Portugal), where the car has always been more a means of transportation than a symbol of prestige and wealth. On the other hand, in Germany already at the turn of the century, half of all “Mercedes” had automatic gearboxes.
That was 25 years ago. This century also leads Europe to the automation of transmissions. Even for a long time in this field conservative England. In 2014, a quarter of new cars sold in Europe had automatic transmissions. After five years – almost half. Despite the fact that “automatic machines” are more expensive to manufacture, maintain and are heavier, which reduces the main advantage of internal combustion cars.
How much does this convenience cost?
Let’s take a look at the price lists of some popular small cars.
Here is the “Latvian Car of the Year 2023” Škoda Fabia. In the simplest version with a five-speed gearbox – 15,540 euros, a bit more powerful – 16,810. The cheapest possible automated version – 19,940.
Toyota Yaris is very popular in the market. The basic manual version – 16,500. With an automatic and perhaps a more powerful engine – 19,500.
“Opel Mokka” – “Car of the Year 2022”. Starting price – 22,190. With “automatic” – 25,190. “VW T-Roc” – from 29,735 to 31,827. And so on…
It is clear that the production costs of automatic gearboxes are not so significantly higher. Rather, it is a completely natural step of the sellers in the market economy – you can add a premium to what is in demand and fashionable… One way or another, the desire to relieve the right hand and not move the left leg costs at least two thousand euros. That kind of money can buy more than a ton of gasoline. And drive it for more than a year. By closing the “gaps” in a classic and unfashionable way.
Is it difficult? Yes, it’s a bit tedious. But only if the daily routes lead to congestion hours and tracks. If I live on the outskirts of Riga and visit the bodes in the center only on weekends, if I live in, say, Dundaga and Ventspili, Talsus, I only want Riga a few times a year – an “automatic” is as unnecessary a luxury as an abundance of horsepower. On the contrary, it can be worse in difficult road conditions. I well remember a “Car of the Year” pickup truck test at the Lilaste Tankodrome. There, only one applicant drove up the long and very steep spur of the sand hill with the first pass – with a manual gearbox. Later, “automatic machines” were also added. But only when the pilots knew how to help them in choosing the necessary gear. With the same right hand… Using the human brain, which is still superior to robots in the rapid change of circumstances.
I have a nostalgic sports hobby – sometimes I run away from highways and find the old gravel stages. To Kuldīga, for example, I drive from the Ventspils highway through Kandava, but continue to Đibuļi and turn there towards Mordanga. And with a third hole in the floor! Kaif. You can, of course, do the same with a modern “machine”. Only again, as in Lilaste – you have to help it manually. And it’s not that simple at all. And I don’t know if average car consumers will learn that.
Quirks of an old rallyist? Maybe. Although I recently heard a young lady’s assessment of her year-old Toyota Corolla hybrid. Well, very good. Well, frugal already in the city, quite or unrealistically so. But I still don’t like that “machine”. I drive much more naturally with the old lock…
A thinking driver is more alert
Is a car with a manual transmission economical? Yes – both in purchase and maintenance. Less fuel consumption? Historically, it has always been the trump card of the “manuals”. With economy 10, even 20 percent. As the years go by, this argument becomes weaker. Because “machines” are much better. Manufacturers have learned to add such smart (expensive, of course) six-, even seven- and eight-speed “automatic” even to small gasoline engines that the old gearboxes win much less. Unless the pilot is a fanatic of various eco-driving techniques. I am like that and I can drive through the city with my primitive locking crossover with five liters per 100 km. The “automatic” of this same model consumes at least six on the same route and dynamics mode. Such is its economy.
But what about security? We do not have such statistics. I can only offer my personal opinion (discussed many times with respected friends and colleagues). Excessive relaxation of the driver, which is provoked by the automation and robotization of car control processes, is not good for safety. If the left leg and right hand have to be moved more, if the brain has to make decisions – the pilot is more alert. Busier with ride management. They are less likely to be drawn in by phone conversations and touch screens. He moves more naturally. And therefore safer.
So the good old gearboxes are not written off yet. Buying even a brand new car with one is a respectable – economical and ecological – decision.
Themes
