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Well, Americans are Lazy. And a lot of them don't know how to drive manuals. It's a lost art.
You will have a lot of people saying yeah they can drive a manual online. But out in the real world, about 2 out of 10 knows how to drive a manual.
I'm one of the 20% who loves cars with three pedals (and knows how to drive them), and I have since getting my driver's license in 1966. My other car is a '13 Mustang GT 6 MT, and even though its clutch is as stiff as a leg press, I love driving it. I also love driving my IS 350, and I don't blame Lexus for marketing an automatic-only car when just 6% of the American market opts for manuals.
Regrettably, I think manuals are in permanent eclipse with the advent of DSG's and quick-shifting automatics like the great 8-speed in the IS 350 rwd. There's something incredibly satisfying though, about rowing through your own gears and using the clutch. My parents' generation, who drove manual-only cars until automatics made their mainstream entrance in the late 40's, embraced automatics and never looked back.
Well, Americans are Lazy. And a lot of them don't know how to drive manuals. It's a lost art.
You will have a lot of people saying yeah they can drive a manual online. But out in the real world, about 2 out of 10 knows how to drive a manual.
Actually Americans want manuals, its why the F10 M5 offers it, solely b/c Americans demanded it. Ferrari, Lambo etc are now all automatics. Porsche's new GT3 is PDK only....
Manual Lexus is never coming back. They were not that great in the first place and there isn't a large enough amount of buyers dying to buy a manual Lexus.
No Lexus is available with a manual transmission in any country. The last generation IS220d was offered with only a manual. It was hated. Even some ferrari's dont come with manual anymore. Auto's are much smoother
my 2007 IS250 i was manual and the transmission was just terrible in my opinion, so when i bought my 2014 i made sure i got auto although i still love my manual transmission but not in the IS
I dont like automatics too much because they are prone to fail if you own the car out of warranty.
I've owned a couple of Lexus products upwards of 200,000 miles and the transmissions on both were/are as good as new.
Outside of some issues with the 98-03 AWD RX look around the forums, people here with OLD cars with hundreds of thousands of miles. You don't read about a lot of transmission problems.
Does lexus plan on making a manual transmission for the IS in the near future?
I would be shocked if Lexus ever made another manual transmission anything ever again.
I've been driving a 5spd manual last 15 years. Maybe I'm older now but too lazy to drive a manual in traffic.. And with smart autos lately with smooth rev matching, I'll take a great auto over manual.
Look at the GTR.. No manual there..
I agree 100%. Been die-hard manual driver since I got my license, this auto is the first one I actually enjoy driving. It really is a thing of beauty. Sure using flappypaddles isn't the same as rowing through gears, but whatever, I'm over it.
However, turn my motorcycle into an automatic and there will be hell to pay!
not sure why people are complaining about manuals. because the stupid mouse used to control the navigation and radio is far worse than using a manual car.
manual cars are more fun to drive plain and simple. and it keeps you awake and aware of your surroundings.
having to constantly apply pressure to my brakes is more tiring than shifting gears and resting on neutral.