If you have a manual transmission, you’re going to need clutch repair. But how do you know if your car has a manual transmission or an automatic one?
How Do I Know If My Car Has a Manual Transmission?
The easiest way to tell if your car has a manual transmission is to look at your gear shift and your pedals. If your gear shift has a lot of numbers and only one letter or very few letters, then that is a sign of a stick shift. The other way is to count the pedals in your car. If you have two pedals, you have an automatic transmission. If you have three pedals, however, that means you have a manual transmission. Like all vehicles, cars that have a manual transmission have a gas pedal and a brake pedal. But where they differ is that they have a third pedal, which is the clutch pedal.
When you’re shifting gears in a manual transmission, remember CSR. And by CSR, we’re not talking about a customer service representative. CSR stands for Clutch-Shift-Release. An automatic transmission shifts gears for you. In a manual transmission, however, you shift gears up or down depending on your speed, incline/decline and other factors.
How Common Are Manual Transmissions in the US?
Manual transmissions are extremely rare in the US. They only account for 3% of all cars. According to this article excerpt from the article “The disappearing stick shift: Less than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions” by Charles Fleming:
“For decades, almost all automakers offered almost all their vehicles with a choice of automatic or manual drive trains. The stick shift had so long been the standard that a manual transmission was actually known in the industry as a “standard” transmission.
Driving enthusiasts and bargain hunters preferred them, because cars with three pedals on the floor tended to perform better, get better gas mileage and cost less to buy — sometimes up to $1,000 cheaper.
But as automakers perfected the automatic transmission, and learned to make it less expensive and more dependable, drivers became accustomed to the relative ease of leaving the shifting to the car. Automatics gradually became the preferred option, and automakers began offering them in fewer vehicles, saving them money because they no longer had to manufacture two drive trains.” [Read Source]
Car enthusiasts love manual transmissions. So if you have one, take care of it. Take your car into a transmission repair shop in Mesa that does clutch repair and service.
Trail Transmission
11240 East Apache Trail
Apache Junction, AZ 85120-3529
(480) 986-7367
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