Manual transmission will “hopefully” be back for model year 2024 Bronco says Mike Levine

[Cetacean Sensation]

Unfortunately there are not ENOUGH manual enthusiasts or Ford would still still be building manuals.

So do you just enjoy shitting in everyone's cheerios or what?

I don’t think that’s the reason they stopped making manuals for 2023. Lmao.

Do a quick search on the forum and you’ll see they are probably stopping production until Getrag can produce a manual that doesn’t sound like a rock tumbler.

There are plenty of us with year and a half old unfulfilled manual orders. You're probably right, but getting told I need to wait another year to get what I ordered is a real kick in the nuts.

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[Bigeye27]

these are niche vehicles, not a dime a dozen crossover

117,000 Broncos built last year makes them anything but "niche".

Can't swing a dead cat in my neighborhood without hitting a Bronco.

 

[Bigeye27]

Not to mention, he just communicated to me that the manual transmission will only hopefully be back for next year. That is very much in his wheelhouse and is very much big/bad news.

Allow me to translate "hopefully" in Ford Speak...It translates into - never in a million years.

 

[EVH1994]

So do you just enjoy shitting in everyone's cheerios or what?




There are plenty of us with year and a half old unfulfilled manual orders. You're probably right, but getting told I need to wait another year to get what I ordered is a real kick in the nuts.

Trust me, I feel your pain. I waited 23 months for mine which was irritating as it is. Now I’m on my 2nd transmission that sounds like it’s dragging a tin can down the street. I hope they can figure it out soon and keep cranking the manuals out.

The manual option is the only reason I have a Bronco.

 

[johntesi]

Allow me to translate "hopefully" in Ford Speak...It translates into - never in a million years.

Oh, I know that’s what it means. Which is why I thought his message to me was pretty interesting and newsworthy.

It sounds like the manual may be on a million year hiatus if Levine's language is to be believed.

 

[Lèòn]

117,000 Broncos built last year makes them anything but "niche".

Can't swing a dead cat in my neighborhood without hitting a Bronco.

Well niche in they aren't the expected bread and butter. It's still got enough of a take rate I presume to warrant it. What's the rate, 15%? That's still 17,500 potential repeat customers, and they'll take their business elsewhere if they drop the ball on this, something Jeep's all too willing to exploit

 

[Cetacean Sensation]

Trust me, I feel your pain. I waited 23 months for mine which was irritating as it is. Now I’m on my 2nd transmission that sounds like it’s dragging a tin can down the street. I hope they can figure it out soon and keep cranking the manuals out.

The manual option is the only reason I have a Bronco.

Same here. I wanted a manual and I hate the Wrangler's on-road manners. We all like to think we're offroad kings, but I'll compromise a bit on offroad performance to get something that's good for the 95% of its life it will be on pavement. Also, my build being 31k when I ordered it was a very nice thing. That build is 36.5k now that Ford's axing my price protection.

Wish I didn't want a stick, I would've bought a 4Runner two years ago and been done with it. lol.

 

[EVH1994]

Same here. I wanted a manual and I hate the Wrangler's on-road manners. We all like to think we're offroad kings, but I'll compromise a bit on offroad performance to get something that's good for the 95% of its life it will be on pavement. Also, my build being 31k when I ordered it was a very nice thing. That build is 36.5k now that Ford's axing my price protection.

Wish I didn't want a stick, I would've bought a 4Runner two years ago and been done with it. lol.

I felt the same way. Pretty much the only two things I was interested in that offered a manual was the Bronco and Tacoma. I can’t believe in year three there are still so many hoops to jump through when trying to order the Bronco.

All I can tell you, is I originally pushed my order back on the Bronco because I wanted a Black MOD hardtop. Well, it’s 2023 and they still aren’t offering that.

I hope that they make the manual in 2024, but you should probably have a backup plan just in case. You might want to consider getting one off the lot before the dealers figure out how rare they are now.

 

[Blackcat]

With it being a 'heritage' vehicle, I would hope they'd keep the m/t. However, I wouldn't be surprised it it did disappear in 7G. As far as I know, the only other Ford available with the m/t is the Mustang and those are even hard to come by with m/t's. I was at a dealer this week who had 3 Mach 1's, and they were all auto's.

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Well niche in they aren't the expected bread and butter. It's still got enough of a take rate I presume to warrant it. What's the rate, 15%? That's still 17,500 potential repeat customers, and they'll take their business elsewhere if they drop the ball on this, something Jeep's all too willing to exploit

They make what ... a million F-150's a year so 117k Bronco's is just a niche to Ford as the manuals are in relation to the overall Bronco numbers. With that reasoning then Ford should just drop everything and tell everyone to buy an F-150, sad thing is that most would be happy with that.

 

[Cetacean Sensation]

I felt the same way. Pretty much the only two things I was interested in that offered a manual was the Bronco and Tacoma. I can’t believe in year three there are still so many hoops to jump through when trying to order the Bronco.

All I can tell you, is I originally pushed my order back on the Bronco because I wanted a Black MOD hardtop. Well, it’s 2023 and they still aren’t offering that.

I hope that they make the manual in 2024, but you should probably have a backup plan just in case. You might want to consider getting one off the lot before the dealers figure out how rare they are now.

Ohh trust me. I've been trying. Silly me doesn't want to drop 10k on markups though.

There's a stick TRD OR tacoma that just hit a dealer near me at msrp. I like tacomas even though I wish they were shorter. Maybe I just do that to get out of this insultingly stupid car market.

 

[ecomguy]

I was hoping to jump into a Wrangler after the announcement that Ford isn’t taking manual Bronco orders, but Jeep’s manual transmission Wranglers are in a recall stop sale due to the transmission potentially grenading.

The car search would definitely be easier if I didn’t care to row my own!

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

With it being a 'heritage' vehicle, I would hope they'd keep the m/t. However, I wouldn't be surprised it it did disappear in 7G. As far as I know, the only other Ford available with the m/t is the Mustang and those are even hard to come by with m/t's. I was at a dealer this week who had 3 Mach 1's, and they were all auto's.

For '24 you can only get a manual in the V8 Mustangs, no more on the 2.3. I guess Ford didn't read Mini's latest survey results:

https://www.miniusanews.com/newsrelease.do?id=1368&mid=1

MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS ARE FUN TO DRIVE AND STILL “IN” WITH MOST CONSUMERS – MINI USA SURVEY REVEALS HIGH INTEREST

MINI USA announces return of manual transmissions in more models, and the opening of its manual driving school for eager drivers looking to learn how to drive “stick”

Thermal, CA, February 9, 2023.

Offering a fun and engaging experience behind the wheel, driving a manual transmission car is an art that many drivers are still familiar with, but few have the opportunity to practice today. To better understand consumer insights around manual transmissions, MINI USA recently conducted a consumer survey to find out just how people feel about manual transmissions today. Commissioned by Engine’s CARAVAN®, the survey found a few indicators that were both surprising and optimistic that show manual driving still has an opportunity to shine.

Validating the appeal of driving a manual transmission car, an impressive 63% of all respondents agree that learning how to drive a manual transmission is a rite of passage and an important life skill. Additionally, “fun to drive” was the top characteristic respondents most associated with a manual transmission vehicle. However, despite this, less than a quarter (24%) of all respondents indicated they own a manual-equipped car.

Regarding consumers’ knowledge of how to drive a manual, nearly half of all Gen Z (49%) and 42% of all women indicated they did not know how to drive a car with a manual transmission. When asked if they were willing to learn, more than half of all respondents (53%) indicated they are interested in learning. Impressively, two thirds (67%) of younger respondents aged 18-34 were most eager to learn to drive a manual transmission car.

These results show a clear opportunity to impart the fun and engaging element of driving a manual to current and upcoming generations of drivers. It comes at a time when MINI USA is announcing the return of more models available with manual transmissions. As of November 2022 production, MINI USA announced the return of manuals in its Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works 2-door hardtops. MINI is now pleased to announce four additional models that will be available with a manual transmission. They include:

1. MINI Cooper Convertible
2. MINI Cooper S Convertible
3. MINI Cooper 4-Door Hardtop
4. MINI Cooper S 4-Door Hardtop

Ordering for these four additional models have opened effective this week, and will begin production March 1, bringing the total count of MINI models offered with a manual transmission to seven.

Offering drivers the opportunity to learn to drive a manual, MINI USA in conjunction with the BMW Group Performance Center West in Thermal, CA, announced plans in November to launch a dedicated school. Effective February 8th, 2023, registration for the MINI Manual Driving School is now open with the course available at a cost of $499.

This school is designed to welcome a new generation of manual drivers while allowing others to sharpen their skills after years of driving automatic. The school creates a foundation for drivers to build their comfort with driving manual transmission vehicles, with a curriculum that focuses on vehicle controls, finding the friction point, practicing smooth starts, stops, acceleration, and more. At the conclusion of the course, participants will be tested on a timed course to assess the driver's knowledge.

To learn more and register for the MINI Manual Driving School, see here.

Survey Methodology
The General Population survey was conducted among a sample of 1,012 adults, all 18 years of age and older on behalf of MINI USA. The online omnibus study was conducted from January 18-20, 2023.

About MINI in the US
MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC, located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and includes the marketing and sales organizations for the MINI brand. The authorized MINI USA dealer organization is represented by a network of 104 MINI full passenger car sales and service dealers located throughout the US. MINI USA began selling vehicles in the U.S. in 2002 with the introduction of the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S Hardtops. Since then, the MINI Brand in the U.S. has grown to encompass a model range of five unique vehicles.

Journalist notes: Media information about MINI and its products is available to journalists on-line at www.miniusanews.com.

 

[BroncoManualBB23BMBB]

If anyone wants a 23 big bend manual with hardtop (in ON, Canada), I'll sell it. It does make the manual grinding noise but is under warranty of course lol

 

[EVH1994]

Ohh trust me. I've been trying. Silly me doesn't want to drop 10k on markups though.

There's a stick TRD OR tacoma that just hit a dealer near me at msrp. I like tacomas even though I wish they were shorter. Maybe I just do that to get out of this insultingly stupid car market.

BTW, I for sure wasn’t trying to talk you out of it, I still love the Bronco. I just know how difficult it was trying to get one. I felt like giving up on the order countless times.

Maybe you could find one out of state and drive to get it. I drove a manual 2019 Tacoma Pro before getting mine, and while it was really nice, I think I’d rather drive to get a Bronco over it. That’s just my personal opinion though. Like you, I wasn’t a fan of how long the Tacoma was.

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