The relationship between car enthusiasts and new vehicles has soured. Walk into a dealership today and you will find interiors that look like Tesla showrooms, massive screens where buttons used to be, and automatic transmissions as the only option on most models. For people who actually love driving, modern cars feel less like machines to control and more like smartphones on wheels. The disconnect is not nostalgia. The complaints are grounded in measurable declines in usability and driver engagement.
A 2023 APEAL study showed new-vehicle satisfaction fell for two straight years (845 score, down 2 points from 2022 and 3 from 2021)—a first in 28 years. Touchscreens topped the list of complaints. Meanwhile, data from the EPA shows that manual transmissions now account for less than 1 percent of new car production, down from 35 percent in 1980. The market has shifted toward vehicles that prioritize convenience over connection.
Touchscreens Replaced Intuition With Distraction
Modern cars have centralized nearly every function into touchscreen menus. Climate control, volume adjustment, seat heating, even windshield wipers now require navigating through digital interfaces. The result is a safety hazard disguised as innovation. Research shows that using touchscreen controls to perform basic tasks takes up to four times longer than using physical buttons at highway speeds.
Euro NCAP, the European car safety organization, announced in 2024 that starting in 2026, it will only grant its highest safety ratings to cars with physical controls for essential functions like turn signals, hazard lights, and windshield wipers. Matthew Avery, director of strategic development, explained that the overuse of touchscreens obliges drivers to take their eyes off the road and raises the risk of distraction crashes. Tesla faces particular scrutiny for eliminating physical stalks entirely.
The backlash has forced some manufacturers to reverse course. Hyundai admitted that the company was lured in by the wow factor of massive screens, and that people did not prefer touchscreen controls once they tried them. Volkswagen abandoned touch-sensitive steering wheel controls after complaints. Manufacturers chose touchscreens partly because they are cheaper to produce than individual buttons and switches.
The Manual Transmission Is Nearly Extinct
The EPA's 2024 Automotive Trends Report confirms what enthusiasts already knew: manual transmissions have all but disappeared from American roads. Production fell below 1 percent in model year 2021 and has remained there. Manual sales represented just 1.7 percent of new vehicle purchases in 2023. Only around 32 models out of 275 available still offer a manual option, according to Car and Driver's annual list.
The decline represents both market forces and manufacturer choices. Automatic transmissions have become more efficient and now outperform manuals in fuel economy and acceleration. Most consumers prefer them. Modern automatics can shift faster and more precisely than any human driver. These are objective improvements. What enthusiasts mourn is not inferior technology. They mourn the loss of driver engagement, the mechanical connection between human and machine that made driving feel like an active skill rather than passive transportation.
Where manuals remain available, they have become premium options rather than economical alternatives. A manual transmission now typically requires buying a higher trim level or performance model. Some enthusiast models maintain strong manual take rates: Porsche reports that 40 percent of buyers choose manuals on 718 and 911 models where both options are offered. BMW sees 50 percent manual take rate on the M2. These numbers exist in a shrinking niche.
Weight Gain Undermines Everything Else
Modern cars are heavier than their predecessors, and the weight increase directly contradicts efficiency improvements. The average car in 2023 weighs 18 percent more than it did in the mid-1980s. The average pickup truck gained 43 percent more weight in the same period. A 2010 Stanford analysis of EPA vehicle data shows fuel economy roughly halving as curb weight rises from 1,100 kg to 2,700 kg, though other factors like aerodynamics contribute.
This weight creep comes from safety features, emissions equipment, infotainment systems, and larger batteries. Government regulations requiring better crash protection add bulk. The footprint-based fuel economy standards implemented in 2008 created a perverse incentive: larger vehicles face less stringent efficiency targets.
Engineers have worked to improve fuel economy despite the added weight. New materials like aluminum and carbon fiber help offset some gains. Advanced high-strength steels allow thinner structural components. Research shows that a 10 percent weight reduction generates a 6 percent improvement in fuel economy.
The shift toward SUVs has accelerated the problem. The market has moved from lighter, more efficient vehicles to heavier, less agile ones. Combined with touchscreen controls and automatic transmissions, the result is a fleet of vehicles that feel fundamentally different from what came before. Enthusiasts are not wrong to feel that something essential has been lost.
