Minivan

Jan 14, 2004 1 Replies

Why can't I get an economical 4 cylinder stick shift van in the U.S. anymore? Pete


Two main reasons:

1) Fewer and fewer people are willing, much less wanting, to use a manual transmission.

2) Manual transmission vehicles have higher tested emissions than automatics (when you shift gears you get a tiny spike in emissions: in the real world the effect is negligible, but in the test environment it looks like a big deal.) That means manufacturers are disincentivized, to use a Dilbertism, from selling them, because it increases their fleet emissions.

D

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