Manual trnasmissions have become a luxury item, often difficult to find in the cars we wish we could get them in, even though theyre still considered “standard”. They’re only standard in trucks, Jeeps, and base model cars that you wouldn’t want to drive in the first place.

But why are they so hard to find?

There are a variety of reasons that combine to make it difficult to find them in the cars today. On one hand, the technology for automatic transmissions has improved so much that they are now almost as fuel efficient as manuals, and in some cases more so. The proliferation of the dual clutch transmission couple with paddle shifters has also increased the speed of gear changes, reducing the time each shift takes to milliseconds.

On the other hand, though, the automakers perception of the market forces are also responsible.

As the “standard” transmission, the manual has always been the cheaper choice when buying a car. Automatics were, early on, a luxury upgrade and were generally sought after as status symbols in addition to adding to the ease of driving. Fast-forward to today and manuals are often found only in the most basic models, no longer even being an option for upgraded packages or even some performance-oriented models.

The reason for this has been speculated as being a self fulfilling prophecy—by only allowing manuals to be purchased in base model cars, few people purchase cars with manual transmissions because they don’t want to buy base model cars. Because people aren’t buying cars with manuals, carmakers don’t offer them as an option on most models. And so the cycle goes.

Many of us, however, want to buy manual transmissions but can’t. So what do we do?

The only thing we can do as consumers is to put pressure on carmakers with our money: buy cars with manual transmissions.

Fortunately there are still some cars left that offer a manual as an option, though they’re becoming fewer and farther between. Buying those cars is the best way to get the message across to carmakers. If we don’t, they’ll have no incentive to offer manuals as an option. We can’t let that happen.