Lambo says arriverderci to manual transmissions...

[HBui39]

Lamborghini is apparently chomping at the bit to say arrivederci to the manual transmission. Motor Trend had a chance to speak with Maurizio Reggiani, Lamborghini's R&D director, and it appears that a manual gearbox doesn't fit into the automaker's plans for the future. The immediate future.

Per Reggiani, only one to two percent of the vehicles produced at the Sant'Agata factory come equipped with a row-your-own setup – a shockingly low percentage. Lamborghini's customers want fast cars, and the best way to ensure it delivers is by removing the human element from the gearchange equation.

A Gallardo replacement is expected next year, and Reggiani tells Motor Trend that it will be available only with an automated gearbox of some sort (the new Aventador makes use of an automated single-clutch seven-speed unit).

Has the manual transmission run its course, or is there still life left for those who hunt for the perfect heel-toe downshift? If the rumormill is correct, Porsche seems to think there is, but other automakers have been mum on development plans for three-pedal setups. What do you think? Mull it over and then sound off in Comments.

[Source: Motor Trend ]

 

[chumch]

Long live the manual. I HATE this trend toward autos. 2 % are manual because their customers want fast cars...what percent of those customers actually put their cars on a track where the difference matters? It's really just a buch a pantywaiste prisses that don't want to have to god forbid use their leg and have to put their friggin iPhone down for a second to change gears. 2 tenth of a second faster to 60: BIG DEAL! --Grow a set and DRIVE your $250000 car or just go buy a Buick so you dont have to be engaged in any sort of mechanical connection to a piece of machinery.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Long live the manual. I HATE this trend toward autos. 2 % are manual because their customers want fast cars...what percent of those customers actually put their cars on a track where the difference matters? It's really just a buch a pantywaiste prisses that don't want to have to god forbid use their leg and have to put their friggin iPhone down for a second to change gears. 2 tenth of a second faster to 60: BIG DEAL! --Grow a set and DRIVE your $250000 car or just go buy a Buick so you dont have to be engaged in any sort of mechanical connection to a piece of machinery.

I'm with you on that, as I can definitely have an appreciation for driving manual. However, it’s not so much shaving tenths of a second off of a shift time, but rather a celebration of technology. It’s not like we need cruise control. Is really moving our foot a fraction of an inch really that strenuous? But we have these innovations, cruise control, automatic clutches, parallel parkers, lane shift indicators, auto dimming mirrors etc. because if you aren’t moving forward, no matter how trivial, you are falling behind. We could all grow a set and grow and hunt our own foods, start fires to keep warm, sew our own clothing, build our own houses, but it’s the innovations and developments that distinguishes an advancing company from one that stagnates, even if it does seem as if distance further from our roots.

 

[flaminio]

You know what I miss? Those hand cranks cars used to have to start the engine. They should bring those back! That's real motoring.

 

[HBui39]

well those hand cranks never went out or failed to work if your battery was low. :wink:

i like technology... i love the internet, but there are outtages... i love cell phones, but reception isn't always good... in that sense, these automated manuals don't always shift how you want them to. sometimes its too rough, sometimes too laggy...

what's the alternative to internet? phone book? map? library? sleezy porno shop? hell no, i'll stick to the internet... but i still use landlines when its convenient... and i switched to a good ol manual again... :smile:

 

[Vega$ NSX]

You know what I miss? Those hand cranks cars used to have to start the engine. They should bring those back! That's real motoring.

Screw that! I want to go back to cat gut brakes!

 

[Aluminsx]

I remember reading somewhere that several of "exotic" car companies kind of frown on manual transmissions because of customers frying the clutches in the first 500 miles (give or take). They don't want the hassle of dealing with an irate customer with a $10,000.00 repair bill on a two month old car. Not sure how true that is but it sure makes sense.

I wonder what percentage of manuals are sold in Europe where people tend to, how can I put this, be more enthusiastic about their driving?

 

[Miner]

You know what I miss? Those hand cranks cars used to have to start the engine. They should bring those back! That's real motoring.

Don't forget mechanical ignitions.:biggrin:

I'd love to fit a Magnetti Marelli "F-1" system to my NSX, but know that would be crazy fun and $$$$.

Miner

 

[Juice]

I don't mind the loss of the manual in a Lambo, but imagine losing it in a Maserati. Their autos are tripe!

 

[fastaussie]

Lambo isn't the only one, or the first. the Ferrari 458 doesn't even have the option of a proper manual. dual clutch, 7-speed F1 only...

 

[HBui39]

I don't mind the loss of the manual in a Lambo, but imagine losing it in a Maserati. Their autos are tripe!

well those are autos by design... not meant for performance, but more for comfort. i honestly don't think the majority would mind if that replaced transmissions in super exotics...

Lambo isn't the only one, or the first. the Ferrari 458 doesn't even have the option of a proper manual. dual clutch, 7-speed F1 only...

yeah, well the GT-R paved the way... McLaren and Ferrari followed... now Lamborghini. Porsche came out with a great dual clutch, but they are sticking to the manuals for now. BMW had tried eliminating manuals, but US consumers did not like that. VW tried releasing the R32 in DSG only and it did horribly, so now they are releasing the new R in manual only... followed by the TT-RS... so there is some demand for the manual still.

the seat time i've had with the Ferrari F1, i really don't mind it much. they have refined it pretty well over the years. as far as the lambo, i'd want RWD manual...

 

[passline]

I'm waiting for voice recognition shifting. :smile:

 

[SFNSXguy]

My wife has a VW R32 with a DSG trans... In a heartbeat I would put one in the NSX if I could. Wonderful!

 

[Aluminsx]

My wife has a VW R32 with a DSG trans... In a heartbeat I would put one in the NSX if I could. Wonderful!

Let me just start out by saying I'm a big fan of the manual gearboxes and find pretty much any car more entertaining with a stick. I know the DSG transmissions are better then a manual but I find them a bit boring. I'm just curious as to what you like about the auto gearbox as opposed to the manual?

 

[Miner]

Lambo isn't the only one, or the first. the Ferrari 458 doesn't even have the option of a proper manual. dual clutch, 7-speed F1 only...

Is it a dual clutch or a dual disk clutch? I thought all the Ferrari F1 jobs, aka Magenetti Marelli, were a conventional and not dual clutch gearboxes. But I'm not super up to date on the latest offerings.

Miner

 

[HBui39]

Is it a dual clutch or a dual disk clutch? I thought all the Ferrari F1 jobs, aka Magenetti Marelli, were a conventional and not dual clutch gearboxes. But I'm not super up to date on the latest offerings.

Miner

the 458 italia is dual clutch. f430 single.

 

[mlambert890]

I think its a gigantic enough misnomer referring to these transmissions as "automatics" that it needs to be called out.

I mean come on... A *clutchless manual* (regardless of flavor) is *not* an "automatic". It is a manual transmission where someone is helping you push the clutch (and doing it better)

Anyone who wants to romanticize traditional manuals is welcome to and is of course entitled to, but lets not get silly and call these ultra modern transmissions "automatics" as if they were running a torque converter and had a choice of "1,2,3 and D"

BTW: I find that I *really* need cruise control on long drives. Until you've done 8,10 or 12 hour drives you might not realize.

 

[etang789]

I guess most buyers of these cars cant even drive a manual properly to begin with so they uses different excuses to make them less off a show off item...

I learn how to drive the car fast enough for one reason, to be able to appreciate the cars I like 100%; not to beat some other ppl in 1 tenth of a sec...

 

[Sumeronthechain]

Long live the manual. I HATE this trend toward autos. 2 % are manual because their customers want fast cars...what percent of those customers actually put their cars on a track where the difference matters? It's really just a buch a pantywaiste prisses that don't want to have to god forbid use their leg and have to put their friggin iPhone down for a second to change gears. 2 tenth of a second faster to 60: BIG DEAL! --Grow a set and DRIVE your $250000 car or just go buy a Buick so you dont have to be engaged in any sort of mechanical connection to a piece of machinery.

Haha, always makes me laugh.

I agree, and who needs cruise control, and power steering, and power brakes, and ABS, rev limiter, and traction control and all the other trinkets that take away from driving your Acura. Grow a set and drive your NSX or go buy a Buick!

If you want a standard manual, buy something else. Quit bitching because other people are buying a car that you don't approve of.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Be a real man! Drive this!

 

[swerve2007]

If you want a standard manual, buy something else. Quit bitching because other people are buying a car that you don't approve of.

i think the point is that the car makers that were long considered the last bastion of 'sport' driving (ferrari, lambo etc) are now NOT offering a manual tranny so if you are looking for a real sport car you no longer can buy one period.

 

[flaminio]

I wonder sometimes if gears are necessary at all -- seems like somebody someday will create the "perfect" CVT that stays at the peak power RPMs all the time.

 

[HBui39]

I wonder sometimes if gears are necessary at all -- seems like somebody someday will create the "perfect" CVT that stays at the peak power RPMs all the time.

CVT's can do that already, just not in a real high performance/ racing application. CVT's by design just aren't capable of that.

 

[flaminio]

CVT's can do that already, just not in a real high performance/ racing application. CVT's by design just aren't capable of that.

Seems to be just a matter of engineering, then. A solvable problem.

 

[HBui39]

well there is certainly potential... F1 banned them for fear that someone can make a viable CVT for racing... and for that reason, i doubt it will make major advances. you are trying to transmit power through belts/ chains and that is just not easy to do.