Save the manuals?

I am an avid reader of "car and driver" and recently noticed their campaign called "Save the manuals". "Car and Driver" writers/contributors are concerned that manual transmissions are going away for good and that as drivers we are going to miss not having manuals.

This campaign immediately reminded me of the old schoolers who were complaining about ABS. They were in favor of pumping the brake pedal if more braking power was needed. They even claimed that ABS is not any safer and may cause more accidents. Well now ABS is every where I consider it a must in any modern car.

The idea of modern dual clutch transmissions replacing 5spd or 6spd manual transmission should be welcomed. Dual clutch transmissions bring the best out of both automatic and manual transmissions. They provide fully automatic modes when you are stuck in traffic and give you the ability to engage the gear of your choice in a blink of an eye.

For years I have driven manual car and will chose to do so over conventional automatic transmissions. By conventional automatic transmissions I refer to the torque converter based automatic transmissions. These transmissions not only sap power out of your engine, they also do not provide you with the ability to hold on to a gear when you are in a turn or when you are climbing a hill among many other situations. Depending on the implementation logic, many of these transmissions are focused on fuel economy rather than any driving thrill.

DSG or dual clutch transmissions change that all. It provides you with the ability to :

- Select your own gear and hold on to it as engine is hitting the redline, that is no automatic upshift
- blazing fast gear shifts by using two different clutches to select your next gear while you are in your current gear
- provides comfortable and mostly clunk free automatic mode to get you through the traffic
- blips throttle to match engine revs
- better launch control system (just check Porsche's PDK)
- even provides better fuel economy (sometimes)

So why I would still want to get a manual transmission car if the DSC equipped one provided me with all these features at a negligible price hike beats me. Granted, I will miss the mechanical feel that comes from shifting gears through well spaced shift gates and the satisfaction of being able to rev match on downshifts. In the real world, the benefits of DSGs simply overrun the fun factor of a manual transmission.

So I say, lets embrace the technology like many car manufactures (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, VW, BMW to name a few) and welcome DSGs. Many of the modern high performance cars do not even have the option of a manual transmission. DSGs are the future of automobile transmission and they are here to stay. Good bye manual transmission, you will be missed ...