It means a car that pretends to be a manual. Instead of a real manual gearbox you shift yourself, the car uses an automatic system but tries to mimic manual driving.
A dual-clutch transmission is an automatic gearbox that uses two clutches to shift very quickly. It can line up the next gear ahead of time, so the car feels more responsive than a typical automatic.
The Ferrari Luce is a particular model from Ferrari. The podcast mentions it as something that changed how people viewed Ferrari after it was introduced. It’s discussed more as a brand milestone than as a normal daily car.
A torque converter is a fluid device that lets the engine and transmission connect in an automatic car. It’s different from a clutch-based system, and it can change how the car feels when shifting.
Term
TCT
TCT is an acronym the hosts are using to describe the transmission type. They’re basically arguing about whether it uses clutches like a dual-clutch gearbox or works more like a torque-converter automatic.
Instead of a cable or rod connecting your clutch pedal to the clutch, the car uses electronics. Your foot tells a sensor what you want, and a motor/actuator does the actual clutch movement.
With throttle by wire, pressing the gas pedal doesn’t mechanically pull the throttle open. Sensors measure your input and the computer controls the throttle electronically.
The throttle body is the part that controls how much air the engine gets. More air usually means more power, and in modern cars it can be controlled electronically.
The Honda CR-V Hybrid is a real-world example the host brings up to show how modern cars can control throttle electronically. Even if it’s not a cable connection, your pedal still tells the car what to do.
The Ferrari 458 is a famous Ferrari supercar with a powerful V8 and a sporty, driver-oriented setup. Here it’s mentioned because someone installed a manual gearbox into one, and people reacted strongly.
Term
V12 Cilindri
“V12” means the engine has 12 cylinders arranged in a V shape. The point being made is that people buy cars like this for the experience and sound, not just for being the quickest.
“Pop the clutch” means letting the clutch out very quickly to make the car jump forward. People do it for hard launches, but it can be rough on the car.
Resvani is a small car company that makes very extreme, heavily customized vehicles. The host mentions them to illustrate the kind of wild, modified car they’re talking about.
Car
Resvani Beast
The Resvani Beast is one of Resvani’s most famous cars. It’s known for being extremely modified and flashy, not a normal everyday vehicle.
The Jeep Wrangler is an SUV made for off-road driving. People often modify it with extra parts and body kits because it’s designed to be customized. It’s a common choice when someone wants a vehicle with a very distinctive look and capability.
A dual-clutch transmission uses two clutches to make gear changes faster and smoother. The point here is that the car may already shift automatically, and the device is trying to make it feel more like a manual.
The Corvette C8 is the newer Corvette with the engine in the middle of the car. In this segment, it’s the specific Corvette they’re talking about for a “manual-like” control setup.
Paddle shifting lets you change gears using buttons or levers behind the steering wheel. The hosts are saying the setup mimics manual-style gear selection, but the car still shifts automatically and there’s no real clutch.
“Sequential” means the gearbox only moves through gears in order. They’re debating whether the device can mimic that strict step-by-step shifting, or whether it can jump around gears.
Skip shift is a feature that can make the car start out in a way that saves fuel by skipping a gear. The hosts are joking about whether the new setup could mimic that older, quirky behavior.
Overdrive is a higher gear that lets the engine spin slower when you’re going steady. That usually makes the car quieter and can help it use less fuel.
“Fake six speed” here refers to a transmission setup that mimics the feel of a six-speed manual (often via shift simulation or paddle/selector logic) while not being a true six-speed manual gearbox. The hosts argue that this can undermine the point of a manual—driver interaction—especially in a performance-focused car like the C8 Corvette.
Carburetors are fuel-delivery devices that mix gasoline with air before it enters the engine. The host contrasts them with fuel injection, noting that people sometimes choose carburetors because they can be more comfortable to tune or because they don’t want to deal with fuel-injection repair.
Fuel injection is how many modern cars deliver fuel to the engine using valves and sensors. The host is saying older fuel-injection systems were harder for some people to repair, so carburetors sometimes got swapped in.
A manual shift means you choose the gears yourself instead of letting the car do it. The host is saying people still want that more involved driving feel.
Koenigsegg is a small Swedish company that builds very high-end supercars. The host is using it as an example of a brand that takes unusual engineering approaches.
The Porsche 718 is Porsche’s mid-engine sports car line. The host mentions it to compare sales and to talk about how Porsche is changing what versions get built, including manual options.
The Porsche 911 is Porsche’s famous sports car. In this segment, the host is talking about how many people buying different 911 versions choose the manual transmission instead of an automatic.
Manual take rate means: out of all the people who could buy a manual, what percent actually chose it. The host uses it to show that plenty of buyers still want manuals when they’re offered.
The Porsche Carrera T is a specific 911 trim level. In this segment, the host says it’s set up to be manual-only, which helps explain how Porsche is steering buyers toward (or away from) manual transmissions.
PDK is Porsche’s automatic transmission. It uses two clutches to shift very fast, so it can feel close to a manual even though you don’t shift yourself.
Car
Porsche GT3
The Porsche GT3 is the more track-oriented version of the 911. In this segment, it’s important because Porsche buyers can choose a manual, and the host says more than half pick the manual.
Car
Porsche GT3 Touring
The Porsche GT3 Touring is a special GT3 version meant to be a bit more comfortable for real-world driving. The host uses it to show that even expensive GT3 buyers still strongly choose the manual—83% in this example.
The OBD port is a plug in your car that mechanics and scanners use to read the car’s computer data. The idea here is that someone could plug in a gadget to affect how the car behaves, like shifting.
The “shifter ninja” is a gadget that looks like a shifter and is meant to make an automatic feel more like a manual. The hosts are skeptical and suggest it may mostly be for show.
A cup holder shifter is a fake-looking shifter gadget that sits in the cup holder. It’s often meant to give you a manual-like vibe, but it may not actually do much mechanically.
Drive-by-wire means the car uses electronics instead of cables or direct mechanical connections to control things like throttle. That makes it easier for the car to imitate manual-style actions.
“Fake shifts” are software-created gear-change sensations in vehicles that don’t use a traditional multi-gear transmission (common in EVs and some hybrids). Instead of real gear ratios changing, the car simulates the feel—often with torque shaping, sound, or timing—so it resembles shifting.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an electric car. In some EVs, the computer can make it feel like you’re shifting gears even though there’s no real manual gearbox.
The Toyota Corolla is a small, everyday car that many people use for commuting and errands. Some buyers specifically look for versions with a manual transmission because it changes how the car feels to drive. That’s why it can come up in conversations about finding the “right” setup.
The Honda Civic is a very common small car. People mention it a lot because some versions can be had with a manual transmission, so it’s an easy way to talk about what manuals are like in daily driving.
The Ford Mustang is a sporty car that’s meant to feel fun to drive. Some people prefer it with a manual transmission because it gives you more control over shifting. That’s why it often shows up in conversations about finding cars with manuals.
The Mazda MX-5 (Miata) is a small two-seat roadster designed to be fun and easy to drive. Many people like it with a manual transmission because it makes the driving feel more connected. That’s why it often comes up when someone wants a manual sports car.
Fuel economy means how far the car can go on a given amount of fuel. The hosts are saying transmission type might change how efficiently the engine runs.
The Nissan Sentra is a regular, affordable compact car. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a car where people might want a more engaging driving feel than a typical automatic provides.
A semi-auto is a gearbox where the car helps with shifting, but you still have to choose gears (or at least start the change). It’s not fully automatic.
A hydraulic clutch uses fluid pressure to move the clutch mechanism rather than relying purely on mechanical force. In many cars, the pedal operates a hydraulic master cylinder, which then actuates the clutch slave cylinder to disengage and engage the clutch.
A rear transaxle is the gearbox and final-drive hardware packaged together near the back of the car. If you’re trying to add a manual, where that unit sits can make the job much easier or much harder.
The Corvette is a sports car built for performance. Some versions are available with a manual transmission, which is what the podcast is focusing on. The C5/C6 generations are often mentioned because they can be found used and still feel like real sports cars.
CVT means continuously variable transmission. It’s a type of automatic that changes ratios smoothly, and the host is talking about how some CVTs can be made to feel like they’re shifting gears even when they’re not.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, fun roadster that many people buy because it’s enjoyable to drive. The host is name-checking it as a cheaper option if you want something that feels more like a real manual.
“Fake shift points” means the car is programmed to act like it’s shifting gears at certain moments. Under the hood it may still be doing something different, like smoothly changing ratios.
OBD-II is the common diagnostic system most cars use. The host is saying it’s not just about whether the diagnostic standard works—it’s about getting the car to actually do what you want.
A control ECU is the car’s computer for a particular system. The host is saying the key is getting access to the transmission’s computer so it will respond to your commands.
The Volkswagen Tiguan is a popular SUV. Here, they’re talking about using one as an example of how an automatic car can be made to feel like it has a manual by controlling the gear changes.
LIVE
This week on Carbage Time,
we're talking about fake manual transmissions.
Ferrari's got one now.
Are these things silly toys?
Or do they actually make a ton of sense?
Or somewhere in the middle?
["Fake Manuals"]
Matt, I heard you had a take.
I heard in the news fake manuals are either coming back,
is it back?
Have there ever been fake manuals?
Point is, car makers are now making
fake manual transmissions for cars.
And I heard you had thoughts.
What are those thoughts?
I do have thoughts.
It wouldn't be Carbage Time, the podcast,
if I didn't have a thought.
And my thought, I don't think it should be controversial,
but it's basically car makers lied to us
because they said people didn't want manuals
and now people are retrofitting backwards,
either companies or third parties.
Basically manual transmissions.
And as an example, this is a Ferrari V12 Cylinder,
a beautiful car, for sure.
It only came with a dual clutch transmission.
And let's just say after the introduction
of a certain car called the Ferrari Luce,
all of a sudden Ferrari was like,
I'm sure they had to have this plan before.
They're like, oh, hey, everybody hates this.
Great, we're bringing back the manual transmission.
It's not really a manual transmission.
This is something that sort of feels
like a manual transmission in the sense you move gears.
There's no clutch here, right?
This is just a gated shifter.
Well, this is where it gets weird.
So this one does, Thomas wrote about this for the website,
this one sort of does have a clutch.
It's clutch by wire.
Is it actually actuating the mechanical clutches?
Because it's a DSG transmission, you said, right?
So there are physical clutches in there.
It's not all torque converters.
Yeah, it's a DCT.
It's a TCT.
So it sort of is.
Here's the way that Thomas described it.
It's a clutch by wire,
letting drivers manually control clutch actuation
and the dual clutch transactional
by reading pedal position and uptake rate,
then transcribing that to the actuators.
So it's reading, which, okay, right?
I'll play my own devil's advocate.
Throttle by wire is like that, right?
You're not connected.
While in your cars, the throttle body is connected.
Mine and mine are just cables, literal wire cables.
Yeah, wires and cables.
But in my Honda CRV hybrid, right?
It's throttle by wire.
I mean, that's still your input.
It is translating what you do
via potentiometer, new electrical signals,
but it's still directly controlling something.
This feels like it's adding, it's weird because, okay,
the DSG system they had set up works great.
That's the other problem here.
Is the reason manuals aren't around anymore
as much anymore is because there was a time
where they were more efficient and they got better mileage
and they were faster and you could accelerate
and drive faster, and that's just not the case anymore.
The automatic transmission is just better at it now.
Doesn't mean it's more fun.
It just means it's better at it.
So what they're doing is a little silly.
It's silly.
It's a little silly.
And Ferrari was basically Ferrari's point was,
you don't, it's better with an automatic.
Like we're not gonna build a manual anymore
because with the automatic version of this,
the DCT version, whatever version we have is better.
Therefore, that's what you want.
And that's kind of silly.
And I will say that there's a guy named Jeff Siegel
and he put a manual in a Ferrari 458.
And we did a video on it and people went insane for it
because these cars aren't rational.
And you're not buying a V12 Cilindri to be the fastest.
You're buying it to be fun
and a manual transmission is more fun.
Which brings up the point of why not just build
an actual manual transmission?
Why not just, why even bother
with all the fake manual transmissions?
Why isn't it just a manual transmission from the get go?
Yeah, I think this is them acknowledging that it's a mistake
and that there actually is a huge desire for this.
Okay, so the Ferrari ones,
they did put a lot of work into it.
And I don't wanna hate on Ferrari too much
because I think that if they were like in a vacuum,
if they're like, hey, we're coming out with the car
and we're coming out with two options,
you've got your full automatic or you have this.
Actually, what's funny about this is that this,
it can go in full automatic mode.
You can just go drive.
Sure, yeah.
It prevents you from money shifting,
which is actually good.
Can you burn rubber?
Can you just pop the clutch and just lay a wheel?
I don't know if you can.
That's such a good question.
I don't know.
Like what's the point if you can't?
I think it says it won't let you money shift it,
but if it lets you pop the clutch,
I think that that's cool.
Like I think that's kind of,
if you get enough feedback,
like I actually think like, again,
if this didn't just feel like this weird,
somewhat cynical ploy to get people to care again
about Ferrari and stopping mad at them after the luce.
Like I think I would be more open to this,
but what they should offer is this
and also offer a manual.
Instead of the default being no manual at all
or air stats manual, which is what this is,
they should be, this should always be an option.
And then, cause it looks better.
It looks good.
Like it looks like, show it again, like it's pretty.
Do we have a picture of the pedals?
Do we have a picture of the clutch?
This is an option, right?
Or is this, come with the car?
So this is, yeah, this is what they've shown.
So, it is an option to have a third panel.
So the dealer will install a clutch pedal.
No, no, no, no, it's Ferrari.
You're buying a new one.
Okay.
Like that's how this is happening,
is they're going to make you buy a new one.
And so, but it looks so much better
than just having nothing there,
Like or the little buttons are everybody loves a gated shifter
So this should be the default and the option you should have is it should be either the the fake
Manual or the full manual and I think that is by far the better option because then if somebody doesn't want to drive
Stick you say hey, this is faster, etc. Etc. You're on the racetrack and for some reason you're racing a Ferrari and time matters
You've just put it in race mode you drive off. You're okay now. This is this one. I'm okay with there's another one coming
Really bothers me. You can actually see
Yeah
this is
This is sort of the car
You know like when you have a little cut toddler and they're sitting in their car seat and you put the little fake steering wheel in front of
Them with the honky honk and the shifter
That's a little bit of what this is. Is it actually affecting is it shifting gears?
Yes, so
So you can see it here. It's really complicated like it looks it looks really interesting
But what this is so this doesn't look like the thing that he would it looks like the the guys in the video at first
Like he was using on a chronic thing not not this complex mechanical looking thing like look how short that thing is
Yeah
It's weird, right like it's it's weird. So this is from two companies, but the main company is resvani
And we all know a resvani from
From the resvani beast they build
The Wrangler that's got all kinds of body kit on it and they make a lot of very armored
Like consumer vehicles for people who are convinced everybody wants them dead
Yes, target. That's their target audience where I can tell rich guys who think everybody wants to murder them seems to be their target audience
Yeah, that's resvani. Yeah, and so they're saying for 25000 dollars. I
Don't know if that includes installation. They will
Install for you and I will say car scoops is the first one of a person
It's basically it and if you have a dual clutch supercar
They can take out some of the and they're building this for the a few cars interestingly
They're doing it for the Corvette C8
But and this is I think actually a great application for the sea
So if you get a C8, there's a little plate where you can control where you have all your controls for for selecting gears
They're taking that out and they're putting in this fake panel and that fake panel will now have a fake
Gearbox a fake 60 piece gearbox and it will translate what you want as if you're paddle shifting, I guess it'll translate that
To the car and but there's no clutch
So it's basically another interface for paddle shifting like also. Does that mean it's always got to be sequential good
Could you go from?
Like second to fourth like if you wanted to pretend like you had one of those
What was it like the C4 Corvettes that had that thing for the fuel economy? Oh the skip shift
Yeah, could you emulate a skip shift on there for nostalgia value or I have to be
Sequential it's a good question and
It I guess it there's not details. So I don't I don't know I think maybe you could
Maybe maybe you could like here's here's a picture of it
This isn't I think a GTC for Luso so another Ferrari, which is a car. I wish I had a manual transmission
I love actually with are these six speed manuals or it's aren't some of these DSG's like eight speed and higher
Yeah, you keep saying the DCT DSG is specifically volts. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, but it's or PDK right if it's Porsche
Yeah, yeah, I I think I think
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's it's weird because
Yeah, they are six speeds
Which is funny because they do they have more gears. How does that work? Yeah, and
Yeah, so does that mean that the you know first is probably first second is probably second. Is it
Yeah, will you get to six are they just going okay six and then seven and then yeah
You just leave it in six because everything after there is basically an overdrive. I guess yeah
It's basically overdrive and then reverse is reverse. It's funny though
But like the fact that Resvani might actually sell some of these for C8 owners
I love a Corvette and I know Griffin is a Corvette owner. So I will be nice
But like if we're being honest a fake six speed
Automatic and a C8 Corvette is like not a bat the best possible application of this GTC for Luso feels silly
I will it's weird who minds about this because I'm one hand if you're having more fun in your car
Great do whatever the hell you want have more fun pretend to shift gears
Who gives a damn just enjoy it more if it means you're enjoying driving more
Great if it lets you feel like you have a little more control great the same time
It is a little silly and part of me wants to say
Why don't you just find a car with a manual transmission? You're gonna get a lot more out of it
You're actually doing something the engagement of the clutch to feel is real like it's it's still
One is still a pastiche of the other
But I can't fault someone for just having more fun in their car at the same time. I'm very conflicted
I don't and I'm trying to think has there ever been another example of
Like a faking a technological
Backstep when it not comes to looks because we've been doing that with looks like cars
You know there were those weird neoclassic cars in the 60s that had wanted it
You know may look like older cars
They had like side pipes and they had external headlamps and those stuts is and those I mean
Calibers and zimmers
Excalibur all the way up into the night those have just been aesthetic changes like something where it actually like I've never heard of
Mechanical keyboards we love people love to do more mechanical keyboards
Sure, but that's like like has anyone like and they know
occasionally I've heard of people going back to like a
Manual choke in and some old cars instead of an automatic choke because there's some people didn't like it, but
Not common people don't usually step down
To having that like nobody was trying to like I mean people do put carbs on fuel injected engines
That's a common thing carbs and fuel injected. There's plenty of applications for that
But that usually happens because they're either more comfortable with a carb. There's more tuning options
Or you know, they don't know how to repair fuel injection, which was the case in like, you know
Like the 70s when things were just starting to move to fuel injection
So there's that's a thing but even that is still you're not directly interacting with that in the same way
like this is direct interaction with how you engage with your car and
I'm trying to think is there ever been a time where we've
Deliberately gone backwards to interact with their car in a more
In a more manual way and a more like hmm
It's odd
But I mean odd the one things that we know it acknowledges that there's still a demand to manually shift your car
It's still fun
Even if it's not as good at some point. It doesn't matter people just like it and it tells us that
You know, maybe there's always going to be a place for manuals think so but it's strange
And I will say this isn't the first time we've seen this so Thomas made this point
The the the Koenigsegg also has sort of a version of this
Where it has a sort of drive by wire. It's a different situation and it
It's it's interesting and it's it's Koenigsegg. So that you know, Koenig the way Koenigsegg does everything is
Insane so it's like that that I like better and maybe it's just a bias because
You know, there's another example of this. It's even weirder
What's a weirder example there was this is a Chinese car make I wish I could remember
I wrote about this years ago a Chinese car maker that was specifically making EVs for driving schools had built an EV
With a fake manual transmission setup just for teaching purposes and it like emulated the torque
You know changes that you would get by going gear to gear, but it was an EV
There's no way it ever was gonna need a manual and it was entirely fake
It was training purposes though. That was training
But it's I mean it was probably the most fun of all the EV Chinese EVs you could have trained on
We're we're trying to get into that one. Yeah, it's it's weird and I think like, you know
The point is like the furry one. It's kind of interesting the Resvani fake one
I would have a
You know more than someone if I saw that on the in somebody's car
I would have thoughts and I try not to be too judgmental about everything
If a jackass would I am I gonna be if I see someone who has this on there and
They're shifting through the gears and I know it's fake
I'm going to feel things that I'm not
It's not entirely fake because it is changing like because you don't you know when somebody's paddle shifting
You don't think it's fake, right? I'm bothered by someone who though. Well, that's oh, yeah, then then this is like
K-fab paddle shifting, right? Like that's what like it's there is something K-fab about like that's that's interesting
how
But my meta point is that this just proves that manual transmissions are the thing and I'm gonna pull up a sales chart here, so
This is this is
Porsche sales last quarter and then year-to-date and you'll see that 9-11's killing it the 718
They stop production of the 718 are these total sales or these manual transmission sales these are total sales
Okay, however when I got this I
Like I'm like man put the 9-11 is is it's third best-selling model so far year-to-date
It was the second best our third best-selling model
But close in in the fourth quarter the second quarter it's could
Become depending on what happens with cayenne it could become the second best selling model
It's not entirely out of the possibility that the 9-11 is the best-selling models here
I doubt that's what's gonna happen, but there's some change over with cayenne and all that
So, you know, it's kind of an interesting thing, but I asked because I was curious I asked
Porsche I was like, okay. What's what's the take rate on manuals?
What are we seeing and what they said was and I thought this was awesome. They basically said the Carrera T
100% manual because that's what it is now Carrera S is 100% PDK so then but the Carrera T
Do extremely popular. It's a very popular model. It's done very well
The GT3 which is our best bet to look at what the manual take rate is for 9-11 because you have a choice
the take rate is
above 50% and then the GT3 touring which is gorgeous and
Perfect and and in some ways the best one out. So this is my night. I drove a 9-11 T
Wonderful, you know, it's not the best manual transmission I've ever driven in my life
But it's fantastic Porsche makes a great manual
But the the GT3 touring which is like the ultimate test of like people who are paying the most kind of for a GT3 and getting a
Very specific kind of GT3
83% got a manual and that's an expensive car. That is that is an expensive car
I mean, it's not shocking the people the set of people who are looking looking at that car in the first place
Are probably the set of people who appreciate a manual transmission. That's not that's not shock
No, it's not but like I think if you're like a GT3 touring is in kind of like
Lentry-level Ferrari sports car territory and I think that that I mean the look a v12
Cylindry is a is is an expensive GT. So it's it's it's a it's a price class higher
But I don't think functionally. It's that big of a different. It's like so much of a different customer and like
83% of of those like for because Porsche's thing is Porsche's weird because it doesn't have all these different models like 9-11
Has to be seven different cars where's Ferrari gets to build different cars
The people who are getting not the most most expensive 9-11, but like like the drivers 9-11
83% that's a cute. That's almost all of them. That's almost like why even make an automatic version of that car also
Don't buy don't buy the PDK version of a GT3 touring also GT2 sure turbo. Yeah, but
All right, here's another thought just a hypothetical hypothetical because we've been talking all of these things have been expensive things
They've been for expensive cars. Yeah, hypothetically you could make a little
Shifting do Hickey plugs into your OBD port gets control of things. Let's you shift sells at pet boys for
4999 comes in a blister pack you get it it comes a double sticky tape you put it on there and you shift it
How do we feel about manual transmission add-ons then okay fun silly thing you buy?
50 bucks any car plugs into the OBD port. I think it's hypothetically possible to do
The OBD P port yes, I will say what we've written about this before. Do you guys know what the shifter ninja is?
What's the shifter ninja?
So well, I will show you a picture of the shifter ninja because this is hilarious and like it's one of those things where it's like
Where are we in the?
How fake or how real is this of it all because the shifter ninja
Is a thing for oh
The cup holder shifter yeah, that's the model threes and oh, yeah, thank you Griffin for pulling it up so
That's that doesn't do anything. It just looks okay, but
The difference between this and the res Vani one is just like a lot of oh man
That's a great video is a lot of work right they put a lot of work in to make it actually shift
but
if
I mean you're not using the clutch
I mean it's not different that different really. It's just not that different
But what if there was something that actually did shift your gears?
What up
And it was cheap and you could just do it and you might get it because you're a little bored
You drive to work every day and you're just tired
You're just bored and you just want to mess around and shift your gears a little bit and it's cheap enough
People get them as like a gift a sort of gag gift maybe use it for four months and forget about it or less
I wonder how that changes the calculus of how I feel about all this
Okay, yeah, okay premise of this podcast is that we were lied to about people not wanting manuals and
The fact that they're either retrofitting it or offering in themselves and that Porsche is doing better is proof
That they were wrong and people plenty of people want manuals and they are coming up with like
However, it's kind of weird and the the more effort that they put into making it seem like a manual the weirder it is however
Generally, okay with drive by wire
I do think I agree with you
And this is so weird if somebody had a little obi like it fits in the cup holder
And they can do a thing and it actually makes it shift
Even if it's I mean because electric cars now and like hybrids have fake shifts
Yeah, you could even do with an evie. It would make like a little
You could like fake it you could you could down 50. Ioniq five does that like it could be done
Ioniq 5m you could do this with actually very easy not very easily, but like it's possible
I kind of like that. I mean because there's just certain cars
It's a shame that if you can't get a Toyota Corolla
Ahanda Civic ahanda cord with the manual that stinks because even though those are not high take great cars
Like it's fun
It would be nobody wants to get rid of a manual and a Mustang or a miata
But it would be nice if you could just get a cheap car the manual because maybe your fuel economy wouldn't be as good or whatever
Based on mono ones, but repairs will probably be less over the life of the car. I would bet yeah, I think we're still
Yeah, and I think we're generally like pro it better than a CVT
But that's the thing like this honestly if you if you could get one of these for like a CVT
Nissan Sentra
And you're just like it can make you feel like you're shifting and it makes you feel like you're doing something
You know we this is the this is a car if somebody's listened to 20 plus minutes of us talking about manuals
Like they're already bought in on the manual premise so we don't need to sell people on manual transmissions, but
I do I do agree like I think like at least make the CVT's fun by giving something someone to do because you don't
It makes you concentrate on driving. It's better. I think if you're not taking it too seriously
There's no harm. What's the what's the problem some if this was literally something you could buy
For 50 bucks plug it in drop it in your cup holder and shift. Okay
You have fun with it like we should mind you should make that
Maybe we should make this a merch item. We should make this a merch item. Yeah, okay, so I think okay
The fur one it's kind of weird and it's an admission
I think a tacit admission that they screwed up by not doing manuals and they should go back to making manuals is my belief
The little cheap one that you can put in your club box and actually somehow shifts the car
And hooks up to your OBD deport is genius and someone should figure out how to do that
And I will partner with them it takes away any pretension about it
It just distills it down and I'm doing this because it's kind of fun and
Fundamentally though, I know it's silly
But if it's cheap that's okay
If it's a really expensive add-on thing then you start to feel a little bit like a tool
But if it's cheap and you're just having fun, that's different. So I think
I think for me that's where the line is
I think the res Vani one I'm not okay
But the Koenigsegg one is kind of cool the Ferrari 11 of these days
We might go fully manual clutch by wire and I think like like clutch by wire is okay
Like I think brake bar like all these things are coming and they'll get better over time
Just like anything I've had a car that had no clutch, but you shifted my old beetle
Originally had a semi-auto and the clutch was invoked when you touched the gear shift
It hit a little electrical contact and I had a hydraulic clutch
So you shifted but you didn't have a clutch and it was still more fun than a straight automatic
Because you were still shifting. So I don't think the lack of a clutch
Has to get rid of everything. I mean it it's a huge difference, but
Yeah, I do think though
If there's something about the res Vani thing that's just bought it's just it's trying so hard
That's the problem with that. That's the difference much work
Like if somebody put a manual transmission in a ca corvette, I would a thousand percent respect that
Yeah, and it would be awesome
Also, I think it's not the same. Is it gonna cost more than $25,000 to put a manual transmission in the c8 like
At this point at this point how much like I know it's good. It's it's hard, you know
Rear transaxle is it trans I come trying to remember the c I guess it is meninges the setup like papers
You just buy like an old c5 with a manual or something
Or a c6 like like griffin that's the answer
The answer is the $25,000 that you could spend to put a bake a manual is you could just buy
A pretty decent c6 corvette or is maybe even stretching at a c5 06 right griffin
My c6 was 26 grand. So there's been the money you can get yourself the best uh, the best sports car that money can buy
So that's our conclusion
Don't get the Ferrari because if you want a manual for like that is the best
fossil injury is the one with the fake manual
The best cheap car cvt is one that has a fake one that we've somehow developed that communicates with the car
and then in between everything else is just
To buy
Just just buy a c6 or that or a miata or literally anything and anything your lives
Okay, you know, it's fun if with the fake ones that you plug in the obd port
We can make versions that actually shifted like like the two cv shifter
Like it can be like the push pull shifter. You can just go down the rack
Oh, I want to try one with a dog leg first or a two cv shifter or on the tree
You could have like a three on the tree version like all these you could you could do
Because it's all fake. So you could just go go ape
What do we think is the car that we could buy that would be easiest to do this with
We'd have to see which ones expose
Like how much gets exposed in the open through the obd maybe the obd port won't do it
But some there's got to be some that exposes anything that has fake shift points already
Like there's that Subaru that has a cvt that has fake shift points. I mean, there's a bunch of I think anything that's already doing
Fake shift points. All this thing has to do is send the command to do that
And then that part's already done
I think it's less about
Whether the obd two works or not it's you're going to hijack the the the specific control ecu like that
So it's like how easy is it to program?
Like and and actually there's probably a benefit to a dual clutch as opposed to just like a traditional torque converter
So I think like an automatic
dsg like gulf or something
You know at voltwagon tiguan
Would be a great car to do this with do we know anybody with a voltwagon tiguan?
And it does have a manual. I mean even in my old tig, my 2010 tiguan
You can go and shift up and down through the gears like with the you know with the shifter
You go to that little side gate all you'd have to do
Is replace the contacts in that side gate like something that just talks to those up and down contacts
And it would just have to I wonder if you could do it like
Like a old pulse phones that would be so like you go into first gear it sends up pulse go into second gear
Another up pulse. Oh, yeah, as long as you did sequentially it'd be okay
Then down to how would you downshift going from like fourth to second? How would it know some clever coder could figure it out
We can figure it out. Okay, so we're gonna take your voltwagon tiguan
Which is some is it running now currently? It's running. It's running. Yeah, we're gonna
Weirdly everything's working right now. So, you know, knock fingers crossed. Okay, so we're gonna take your tiguan
We're gonna make a fake shifter that goes in the cup holder. I guess in that car and then it's gonna connect
Okay, well, we've solved it. Congrats new merch coming Christmas 2029
From the utopian when we haven't figured out and torch. I'll say looking at your old reporting the Chinese EV that had a fake manual gearbox
It was the cherry new energy eq to driving school version
There you go. Okay. I think we've solved it. So the ferrari manual conan's egg style. It's kind of interesting
They should just sell that and a regular manual and then get rid of the just normal automatic version
The version that we want to build ourselves. Let us know in the comments
How we can do that the obd two port or like hacking the ecu like one that looks like the fake tesla one
But you can actually use that's brilliant
Tell us what car needs it if you would put it on your car
Let us know in the comments the resvani one where you put it in your gtc for luso your ca corvette
I think we've decided it's a little trying too hard
Just buy a c6 corvette and be happier that way and you get two cars, which is better than one car
I think we've solved all of it, right? Were we done? Did we figure it out? Did we figure it out jason?
Oh, you're asking me. I thought this was from behind. Yes, we figured it out. We solved it. My little job. Good job
Let's back off early. Let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's solve some other problems. All right. Thank you artlist
For our music. Thank you griffin for producing this as always. Thank you jason for being here and listening to my bad ideas
Thank you all to our readers members for watching this again
Let us know in the comments what you think why we're dumb why we're smart
You can get this on youtube you can get this on spotify you can get this on apple podcast or anywhere
You get your podcast
About this episode
Automakers, the hosts argue, have been “lying” about manual demand—claiming people didn’t want manuals while quietly offering “fake manual transmissions” via gated shifters, clutch-by-wire, and dual-clutch setups. They debate whether a “manual-feeling” Ferrari is truly a manual, explain how electronic control translates pedal inputs, and point to real-world proof that drivers still chase the clutch feel. Porsche data, EV training simulations, and DIY/OBD ideas all reinforce the episode’s core theme: manual-like engagement matters.
Carmakers almost had us convinced. They almost did it. They almost made us believe that no one wanted manuals anymore, that DCTs were better, and that rowing your own gears was going to go the way of POGs, The Hustle, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. They were wrong! And fake manuals from Ferrari and the aftermarket are just proof that demand is there. The question is: Are these real manuals?
