Those who love the engagement of the drive and want to hear the rumble of the engine, feel the power under their feet, and row the gears when it’s time to change from one to another, may find themselves with fewer choices in the near future. While manual transmissions are certainly fun and keep you engaged with the driving you’re doing, they aren’t as practical as an automatic and with some brands, they aren’t even compatible with the systems that are being put in place for safety and added driving assistance.
One brand that you’ve trusted to ensure you can have a manual transmission has stated they want to become the safest brand on the roads, which means the end of manuals in these vehicles. That brand is Subaru. Over the years, this brand has been admired for adding AWD to every model in the lineup with the only exception being the BRZ sports car. This was the first step toward incredible safety because drivers have the ability to enjoy greater control on the road, but now, it’s time to turn away from the manual transmission in order to add the safety system needed to every Subaru model.
EyeSight Sees the End of the Manual
The EyeSight active safety system has been developed by Subaru to be an excellent way to have the ability to see and enjoy the aids needed on the road. This system uses a series of cameras to control lane departure warnings, automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control. These three active safety systems make driving much safer for you on the road and can make a huge difference in the experience you have, but they are not compatible with the manual transmission models we see offered today.
In order to be the safest brand in the world, Subaru has to riditself of the manual transmission, which means we’ll see the EyeSight system offered with the Lineartronic CVT transmission for the long term. Does this mean Subaru is going to be a boring brand in the future? Are we going to see the end of performance models from this brand? It seems that safety is always in the same discussion as boring, but the Subaru team appears to be confident this isn’t what’s going to happen when the entire lineup is offered without a manual transmission in the future.
How can this brand be confident they won’t be boring? By studying some of the higher performance models in the BMW M lineup that make use of automatic transmissions, they can see the fun and active driving offered with a car you don’t have to shift gear on manually. This has the Subaru team considering making a WRX STI that’s a hybrid model, which will also require an automatic transmission. You can scream blasphemy all you want, but once Subaru makes these changes, its likely going to mark a much closer end to having manual transmissions on the market at all.
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