Good riddance. I've driven a stick since my college days. Traded my last one when I got my XK. I love the flappy paddles.

 

I have a friend who derives a lot of joy in shaving with a straight razor and writing with a fountain pen. Good for him. I understand this feeling. Someday I look forward to owning a classic automobile and shifting the way nature intended. But technology being what it is, a stick shift in a modern car seems anachronistic to me.

 

As far as I know, Aston is not offering any manuals anymore either with their Sport auto I I I now. As for Jags, I do jot recall what the last model with shifter was. I am 47 and my parents always dirge Jags with the awful 3 speed. I do not believe a manual was an option.

 

I thought the last was the XJS with the 6 cylinder . I thought you could get that with a manual transmission. Other then that the XKE might have been the last manual.

 

My last manual was a Nissan 300ZX. I don't miss it because in Atlanta traffic is terrible. My wife and I can both drive manuals, but we like automatics better. I especially like the paddle shifters with rev matching. I do get a call every now and then from a friend or neighbor that has a 5 or 6 speed manual to go with them to pick a car or motorcycle up and needs me to drive their car back home. They say they hardly know anybody else who can drive them. Just a few weeks ago had to go with a friend and drive his Nissan 370Z back across Atlanta about 30 miles during rush hour, and it confirmed why I probably won't be buying another manual in the future. They are fun for a while, but I really won't own another - I do love that new BMW 4 series though with the in-line 6 cylinder and manual transmission.

 

The best part I enjoyed with a manual was to bring the rpm's up to about 4K and drop the clutch. Those were the days when tires were cheap, LOL

 

My family had a V12 XJS, which really was a dog with the three speed. Maybe the the six came with a manual, don't remember.
For me the XKR-S is the first personal car I purchased with no manual. A manual always was high on my list for cars. Even my commuters a TDI, GTI, A etc always were manuals. Of course our family haulers, SUVs are auto but I never thought to buy an auto for myself. Had it not been for the XKR-S I would not have but that is not a choice. I know drive it like a manual. Start in 1st in S, Rev to about 4,000rpm, let of the throttle, shift, let the over um finish and then back on the throttle. I miss my clutch and blip ping the throttle ....

 

I remember back in my youth I had a buddy who had a 1958 ford , 6 cyl automatic. He always wanted to burn rubber but couldn't until I gave him the old reverse trick. After that he would burn out as much as he wanted until he blew the transimission LOL. When he paid the bill he stopped doing it. At that time I had a 1960 Triumph TR3A and that even got rubber. Fun times.

 

Interesting, but not sure what that has to do with my post ... I am not burning rubber, not flooring the pedal, no spinning wheels, just change my shifting behavior ... nothing that causes any additional wear on the transmission or engine ...

 

It depends which country you live in. The X-Type and S-Type had manual options. The X300 XJR was also available with a manual box.

 

I love to row throw the gears and have 3 peddles. miss that. I loved my m3 with a 6 speed, i must have shifted 10000s times a day


i miss the foot action, i will not track a car, so I could care less about the miliseconds

 

To my knowledge, the last time Jaguar offered a manual 'box was with the last of the AJ16 engined cars, so that would be the X300 XJ and XJS back in '97. AFAIK, the V12 wasn't offered with a manual box after 1978 or so and the AJV8 has never been.

Autos are at the point now that they're getting very good, my XKR is an early one so only has the 6 speed but that box almost knows what I'm thinking - give the throttle a jab and it'll drop down two gears, accelerate out of corners on a country road and it'll read what you're doing and start holding gears and downshifting earlier when the next bend comes, it's far more dynamic than the auto in my X300 and apart from sometimes wishing it would hold onto gears a tad longer in Sport and wishing it would engine brake a bit more on downhill gradients (we also have a brand new Honda and that does gradients really well), the gearbox is awesome.

But I still find myself wishing I had a manual gearbox and drive the car in Sport with the paddles a lot :-). I don't even drive it hard as a rule (I'm barely turned 30 and I see myself starting to drive like a grandma, LOL), but for some weird reason I miss having the stone-age technology of a manual gearbox. Don't ask me why - I know it's stone-age tech, but the newer my cars become, the less my interaction is with them

 

A lot of the exotics have gone to multi-clutch boxes which shift faster and firmer . Also look at F1 and Indy car circuit as they have the same setup . These set ups are 2 peddle cars and for the most part can be driven just like an autobox. Some of the old school Ferrari guys have the same discussion and funny enough the older manual box guys like the new stuff while the younger guys still like the manual 3 peddle box. The day that NASCAR uses one of the newer set ups is the day that the 3 peddle box will die. It took NASCAR long enough to get rid of carburetors LOL. As for me as I get more used to the paddles I'll see if I enjoy them better then the old gated manual box I just sold. Right now I still just can't get over the horsepower.

 

As per my post above, the S-Type and X-Type had them and they were available up until 2008/2009.

 

Of course you're right - I was talking about the XJ/XK, should've made that clearer

 

All the technology stuff aside there is still a certain driving pleasure that I think can only be had with a manual transmision. I don't care about how fast it shifts my time on the track is for pure enjoyment and as I frequently say to my track buddies even if I came in first there isn't much likely hood that I will be reitring on the winnings or sponsorships.
I just love the feeling of a proper heal-toe down shift going into a corner or being able to nudge the rev limiter for a second with out the darn computer telling me I don't know what I'm doing and shifting to the next gear.

 

I'm the reverse; I prefer to be able to concentrate on other aspects of driving, and let the electronics take care of the mechanical aspects.

 

+1

 

...had to chime in here, because the post title is exactly the opposite of what I see on my Viper forum

Many guys there wailing about the lack of a DCT option for the current Viper.

Others (myself included) could care less. We want Viper to be ultimately engaging. We don't mind if it's more difficult. The satisfaction of manufacturing a perfect rev match with your own coordination is its own reward...

Nobody really argues the superiority of the DCT or similar manumatics... heck, I wanted a GT car with flappy paddles, hence my XKR-S purchase. And for the majority of auto makers, the writing's on the wall regarding manual trans availability.

Let's just hope that there will always be a few true-blue three pedal options for those of us that enjoy "old school" sportscars.


Rich

 

My last manual was an s60R which had some tweaks to the ECU. It was pretty close to the XKR in acceleration once you'd gotten over the boggy launch. But I loved popping it into second and going hard, for me there is something more tactile and connecting about the gearshift and the clutch that you don't get with the paddles, maybe that you can feel it coming on as you release the clutch. I don't want to think that there might be phallic connotations to the stick. I'd take the XKR in a manual even though I don't think it would really suit the GT nature of the car. But then I'd loathe it in traffic, and I'd probably loathe it even more when I went to sell it.