The Thrill of Power: A Closer Look at Electric Cars and Manual Transmissions

When it comes to electric cars, one thing is clear: they're not just for California anymore. With increasing demand and growing infrastructure, electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more accessible to a wider range of buyers. But what really sets them apart from their gasoline-powered counterparts? In this article, we'll explore the world of electric cars and manual transmissions, and why both might just be the key to unlocking the true driving experience.

One car that's been making waves in the EV market is the Nissan Leaf. With its impressive 400 lb-ft of torque, it's no wonder this compact car has been generating a lot of buzz. But what makes it truly unique? According to our host, the packaging is genius – "it's like an attack poodle" – and allows for incredible acceleration. When you pair that with the added bonus of electric power, you get a driving experience unlike any other. As one might expect, this car has been making some headlines in California and Oregon, where it's being sold at a relatively affordable price point.

However, there's another factor at play when it comes to EVs: range anxiety. Many people are hesitant to buy electric cars because of concerns about how far they can go on a single charge. But what if the solution to this problem was simply a matter of software? Our host suggests that with the right technology, electric cars could become even more appealing to a wider audience. And it's not just limited to the Leaf – any car with an electric motor and enough torque could benefit from a smart charging system.

Of course, when it comes to EVs, there's one other key consideration: incentives. In California and Oregon, buyers can receive up to $8,000 in rebates for purchasing an EV. But what if this were the norm across the country? Could we see a surge in demand as more and more people realize that electric cars are not just for environmentally conscious hipsters, but for anyone looking for a fun and efficient driving experience?

And then there's the issue of manual transmissions. As our host notes, these are often overlooked in favor of automatics – which is ironic, given the joy that comes with shifting gears yourself. In fact, our host claims to have tested an EV with a manual transmission (although we're not entirely sure how they managed this feat). The point is clear: with the right technology, manual transmissions could become even more appealing than before.

But what really gets in the way of widespread adoption? One word: sales figures. According to our host, take rates for stick shift cars are under 10% – a far cry from the heyday of manual transmissions in the early 2000s. And yet, it's precisely this kind of feedback that we need if we're going to see electric cars and manual transmissions become more mainstream.

That's not to say that our host thinks this is impossible. After all, they've seen some impressive examples online – including a rumored Mazda3 with a one6 turbo and stick shift. And who knows? Maybe this is the kind of car that will finally make EVs and manual transmissions synonymous.

One thing's for certain: when it comes to driving experiences, there's no substitute for real-world testing. Our host may have had some fun speculating about the potential benefits of an electric car with a stick shift, but at the end of the day, it's not just about software – it's about people and their driving habits.

As we wrap up this episode, one thing is clear: there's still so much to learn about electric cars and manual transmissions. But that's what makes them so exciting. Whether you're an EV enthusiast or a stick shift aficionado, one thing is certain: the thrill of power and the joy of driving are waiting for us – if we're willing to take the leap.

Q&A

We received a question from Facebook user Kevin Dvee about our host's decision to test electric cars with automatic transmissions instead of manual. According to our host, this was an issue of control interface versus actual transmission. While the innards of the box are indeed manual, the computer system that handles the shifting is different – and not as intuitive for many drivers.

But what really got under Kevin's skin (or should we say, his seat?) was the lack of availability of manual transmissions in new cars. Our host agrees: "it's frustrating" to see such an underutilized technology. However, they also note that take rates are under 10% – a sign that there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

As for our host's own preferences, they admit to having driven a Focus with a stick shift and enjoying every minute of it. But despite its fun factor, the Focus still has some limitations – including a small back seat and wonky controls. Still, if we can get these issues sorted out, this little car might just have what it takes to join the ranks of the truly great driving machines.

So there you have it – a brief tour of electric cars and manual transmissions. Whether you're an EV enthusiast or a stick shift aficionado, one thing's for certain: the world of automotive technology is full of endless possibilities – if we're willing to take the leap.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi there welcome to talking cars with Consumer Reports I'm Tom mler and he's Jake fiser and that's Gabe shanard we have a rather interesting show for you this week lots of recently tested cars that have all done pretty well but the big news is this Consumer Reports has a new top rated sedan and I'd give you a second to guess which one it is but silence is bad in a podcast and actually you probably wouldn't guess what it is so spoil the surprise it is the Chevrolet and Pala the Impala yeah we rented one and we just loved it um well no it was a free upgrade it was a free up we were going to have a me we were going to have a versa and then they said take the impella they redesigned the vehicle and it was just we've never seen anything like this that improved so much I mean the impal has always been kind of you know well I think you said it is the the car that the upgr you don't want to get at the rental car company um you know it was kind of a big car but didn't really do anything really that well and the new version of it it's really I mean there's hardly a thing that it doesn't do well I mean it rides well it's very quiet it's roomy inside it's got a huge trunk the controls are easy I mean what a refreshing uh kind of thing that is and and most contemporary cars controls are just have become so complex so it's nice to drive it's nice to be in um it's a really if you're a brand blind you're going to love this car I guess what's really impressive is it shows that GM learned I mean we've tested lots of cars on this this this Epsilon platform you know the Malibu is a short wheeel based version uh the Malibu doesn't have a big rear seat uh the lacrosse you can't see out of the Cadillac XTS also same platform the ride isn't very good all that stuff is fixed here and after the restructuring of of of GM uh there's no such thing as short drifting the Chevy brand anymore because you thank goodness you don't have to make it worse intentionally than the Buick or the timobile or the Pontiac right exactly those days are gone you know it's interesting too you don't have the controls I mean they're not really I mean you know obviously GM has had some missteps with what they where they've gone with Cadillac but it doesn't short trift you on it it isn't like okay well they're just simple controls and they do well because that you can't do anything yeah you can do a lot with it I mean it has the built-in functionality you can stream your Pandora you can use all these apps but it's not it doesn't plast you over the head with it I still got you know I could still function normally and I could still get to all that stuff without driving myself nuts the other big thing in in in order for a car to score well in our test it's got to put down the numbers too you know the car has to perform well and and a little tidbit is it has the same exact tires as our Tesla you know they're the same goodye ego rsas they have the same GM puts what's called a TPC code on the side to give the designation of the tires same exact code I mean and the impower benefits from or maybe maybe the Tesla benefits from the Empower well they they both benefit so you got a car that I mean this is a big car and both of the cars are actually big they're fairly heavy Vehicles they stop extremely well they Corner very very well do Great through avoidance maneuver and on and on the track um and also you know getting decent fuel economy too so I mean there's there's you put the money where it counts and it it delivers yeah it shows you know the other thing is is that when we first got the impella you know we all drove in like wow this is this is really nice but you know there's sometimes where you go back to a car and it's like oh boy you know uh but I've been driving the impal the last 3 days yeah I've gone back to it three or four times and and every time it's it's still an impressive car yeah it's still an impressive car I mean there's other cars that aren't the Mazda 6 I go back to the Mesa 6 I'm like boy this is noisy not only that uh one another thing I'd say about the Impala is that it gets looks on the street um I mean I went to a hardware store and bunch of uh Harley David and writers were well everybody looked at is this a new Impala is this a new Impala yeah yeah I mean it's been so long since people could be proud of owning an Impala and and and now now they can moving on we got a comment on YouTube also speaking of Chevies about our video our first drive video of the Chevrolet Silverado uh this is what Thomas wrote how much money did you get from GM for doing this review the things we could to answer oh no I'm sorry you're not done the things you're talking about are the things the the ram laramy has had since 2009 and you have a review of a GM truck which is brand new and no review from the ram which is out since November or December 2012 I really liked you but now I know you get paid for this first off Thomas we like you too that's important to say but now we got a review of The Ram but the RAM is very a very impressive truck I mean it has coil springs it rides really well it feels like actually a really luxury car I mean it feels like someone bolted the bed and the cab in that car in a good way and uh there's none of that snappiness that you get in the ride of other pickup trucks uh the interior is a major upgrade now the Chrysler UK connect screen was really user friendly it's a nice truck the only thing is a big step up it's it's a luxury truck I think that that really says it say that's what we all C the luxury truck it's quiet it's refined it's uh really very impressive and uh what's really going to be intriguing about that is is the diesel coming going through yeah you you I mean people have wanted a light duty diesel in trucks for for for so long yeah yeah I mean it's a it's a great truck and you could get and you know we've driven the one with with the uh the 8-speed transmission and the 3.6 which is a really nice power train but um you know the only thing is I'm sure a lot of people want to rush out and buy a ram because it's so nice it's like maybe should wait for the diesel and see how that does it's been taking a while for them to get the diesel out in the Grand Cherokee but you know and in fact this is why it took a while for us to get to the ram is we wanted to wait for that 8speed that 8speed transforms the truck I mean it just it's it's it's a wonderful transmission but we had to wait for it yeah shifts are imperceptible it just makes that um with the engine makes it so effortless uh it's just a feeling of a abundance of power and no effort it's wonderful it yeah it really is uh the big question is going to be does the Silverado beat it you know we'll see we'll find out soon enough yeah I mean I uh really like the uh easygate of the Silverado that's really slick yeah we're kind of surprised Ramen you know put an assist in the tail one actually thing that the YouTube commenter notes on and is clever when Ram came out in 09 with that that coil spring redesign they had you know the heated steering wheel and all the Fufu options and Chevy actually had an ad you know saying you know real men don't need a heated steering wheel on a truck and what's in the new Silverado apparently real men need a heated steering wheel and a lot of USB ports a lot of those real men need lot the new Silverado has a lot of there's a lot of us that's nice you know it's it's really funny because I mean you know we we've driven some vehicles and it's like why is there not a USB port in this car and it's really annoyance it's like they're all in the silver they're every one of them and it it's great I mean I think as time goes on people can to be using them there going have multiple people with multiple devices and it's pretty cheap way to add some pretty nice functionality for people yep next thing is you know we just had a month this month of very impressive cars uh next thing we looked at was the kiaforte yes U kiaforte another car that uh you wouldn't associate with the name play that this is oh you're right like the impella I'm not going to buy an imp I'm not buying a Kia for I the public perception this is like oh kiaforte I mean come on this is like a cheap car but it it feels like a grownup car a really mature substantial kind of a car I mean it rides well it's pretty quiet and it's another one of those things Hyundai and Kia kind of like play this game Hyundai es first they first in the market with the same platform car then Kia comes theant yeah the Forte is built on the Elantra platform it shares it 20 liter yeah but just exactly what Gabe said it's like that's that's what Kia has become it's like Hyundai launches these these really fine vehicles and then a few months goes by and Kia they work out a few of the bugs and then Kia comes out and perhaps gets even a better vehicle perhaps with a better reliability too in some cases we've seen yeah you know but K and Hyundai although they have the same corporate parent they they LeapFrog each other there there's this internal rivalry that that Spurs them to do better and and we saw that in in our next car the Hyundai Santa Fe it is now our top scoring midsize SUV it has beaten the Toyota Highlander yeah it's an impressive vehicle um no question about it uh it rides well it handles responsibly it's really slick quiet nice slick powertrain and uh gets good fuel economy uh uh the Best in Class yeah 20 m per gallon usually you get about 18 right I mean the interior is extremely functional I mean except the unintuitive access to the third row seat and uh controls are easy and it's a really nice driving car yeah one thing that the hyund and the key is they seem to do really well is that they put a lot of interior technology into the vehicles and it's it it works well you know it's not like they're just like figuring out how we're going to put the Pandora in there and there's a button up there or something no I mean they were able to work it out and they they kind of have this competitive an you know uh they're they head of the game really you know when it comes to it I don't know if they're leaning on LG or they leaning on Samsung but um they work it out and it doesn't it doesn't mean that you need to have like the super expensive version of it you know you could get a Forte or you know and you could wind up with some really good functionality you know you look at that Santa Fe um our Santa Fe cost $36,000 it's it's it's a stylish car you know it's got heated rear seats it has all sorts of stuff you look at what that buys in like a Honda pilot and you know you get this boxy thing that's kind of depressing you know it's it's it's an appealing car it is and one other thing is that it it strikes a nice balance of size and maneuverability it doesn't feel as bulky as like uh a couple weeks ago as an the Nissan Pathfinder it feels so wide and just doesn't drive well right and the Santa Fe I mean it's it's pretty manageable in parking and the urban situations yes the same thing for the Kia sento you know which is the same platform you know it's just a really nice size hyy though makes it a little confusing because there's the Santa Fe three row and then there's Santa Fe Sport which is the two row with four cylinder so I get a feeling a bunch of people are going to hear what we say here and Santa Fe any Santa Fe is good yeah that's an important distinction because only the the one the the Santa Fe plane Santa Fe the long wheelbase seven passenger Santa Fe is the one that excels and that comes exclusively with a V6 the sport is a different kind of car it's a shorter wheelbase it's a shorter car it doesn't have the same functionality in the same room still good but not outstanding one frustration is that to get a rear camera you need to load this thing up you need to get like about $5,000 worth of options yeah the luxury package or whatever package with a navigation and you still don't get a sunroof unfortunately yeah there's some odd options structuring I want actually going back to the Impala one other thing is the one shortfall of the Impala is rear visibility mhm if you buy an Impala and it's a really nice car get any visibility Aid package you can blind spot the rear camera cross traffic alert get all that that or just make for sure you're passing everyone and you don't get pass that's right if you only go forward no that works that's okay I like that Str speaking of another Chevrolet and this one just visited the track for a while for reasons we'll explain it a bit the Chevy Spark EV another car that we had absolutely no expectations for yeah that was really a surprise and the wasn't surprise I mean the electrification of the Chevy Spark completely transforms that crappy little Runabout from from a noisy and bumpy kind of U clunky car into something that feels sporty and quick and quiet and effortless and with all the technology inside and the the battery doesn't eat up any space any of the functionality for rear seat or cargo that you had in original spar yeah I mean it's an amazing packaging feet because it's such a small car to fit the battery in there but I mean it has 400 PB feet of torque yeah it's like an attack poodle you know you just you know it torque steers like crazy you know if you have your foot in it but small cars with lots of power good they they we broke that story right there there there you have it more power more better yes you know and I guess the shame of it is it's only for sale in California and Oregon yeah I think a lot of people would benefit from it beyond the those two states yeah cuz it's cheap I mean the sticker price is 27,000 but you get 8 to 10 grand in incentives right and I think they're leasing that one's leasing for under 200 a month or something like that mhm they're being they're being realistic though I mean all these you know dedicated electrics with limited range are only appealing to a certain amount of people and they're not selling in in big numbers I mean do you think they're saturating the market I don't think there's a whole much of a market to begin with well it's it's an artificial Market isn't it because of California the California mandate you need to make electric cars to sell other cars in California maybe they just need to put one p turbo into this into the spark and that would be a good time with a stick shift oh that would be a bigger Market actually speaking of stick shifts we got a question from Facebook uh from Kevin dve why didn't you test the new Ford folks with manual transmission you tested two models both with automatic then downgraded the car because the automatic transmission didn't work well well actually we did test it with a manual because the innards of that box are a manual transmission only the control interface is different it's a computer that does the clutch for you I get a sinking feeling that's not what he's getting yeah the point is the computer's got the problem and the truth is the manual transmission does transform a lot of vehicles and if I hide my way we'd test manual transmissions for a lot of vehicles because they do make the cars really enjoyable to drive and can really transform the vehicles in terms of the drivability the enjoyment the acceleration the fuel economy um the issue is is that not many people are buying them anymore take rates under 10% you know and it's it's frustrating I mean you know if I if I had my way and and we had all the money in the world to test everything we want I mean we'd absolutely be testing stick shift Mazda stick shift uh focuses um um I want a fusion with a one6 turbo and a and a stick probably very nice nice nice car if they build one that's not just on paper I think I've seen one online somewhere okay yeah I mean the thing is is that you know this question sounds a little bit like my car would have done better better in your test if you had done this and I mean the focus no matter you know we have driven a focus with the stick shift and it's fun it's nice you know not not just the St but I mean the focus still has a small back seat still has some wonky controls and it's even fun to drive in terms of ride and handling even with a not so good automatic that's true I mean no no matter what it's a very grownup car and actually the the SF version we tested did score it scores really well hopefully they work out the problems with that automatic that you call manual yes I mean from working it out so much I think that they lost the fuel economy gain that was the intention of going with that kind of transmission I mean that's the challenge of of making those Transmissions really palatable to to the American Market I mean they're popular in Europe people are willing to put up with a manual like Driving Experience yeah it's a whole different thing I mean if you grew up on manuals then you say okay well it's does the work for me I'm fine with it if you grew up with an automatic you what's that I mean it's like vibrating and the clunking the problem is that even if you're kind of like you know not that great at driving stick you could usually drive stick better than that you know so I mean it's not the work of it it's actually the fun of it and it's a whole different mindset and whether or not you would to be driven around or you want to drive so it's a decision that people need to make I think we like driving yeah yeah yeah we wouldn't mind having that third clutch pedal so that's going to wrap up this episode we thank you for taking the time to listen to us we'll see you again thank you\n"