Only 1.3% of vehicles sold in the U.S. have a manual transmission, according to Cars.com. That’s down from 3.4% in 2010. So, it should come as no surprise that Honda is cancelling, make that, has cancelled, the manual-equipped Accord sedanin December of last year.
The six-speed was only found on the Sport trim with either the 192-hp 1.5- or the 252-hp 2.0-liter four. The whole package was one of the best in the business for inexpensive sedans, but Honda says the take rate was between 1% and 2%.
The Accord follows the Mazda 6 and others out of the midsize sedan stick shift category, and sadly, we’re not surprised. We loved the last one we tested saying, “the 2.0-liter turbo, a variant of the motor in the rabid Civic Type R, is the range-topper now that the V6 is gone. Even if it doesn’t have class-leading horsepower, its 252 horses and (more importantly) very accessible 273 lb-ft of torque play nicely with the six-speed manual. The last Accord I drove had an auto, and it was plenty smooth. But again, these days you can’t take a manual for granted.”
