Cars with manual transmissions are becoming rarer and rarer each year. That’s why it’s such big news when a brand like Toyota returns the three-pedal transmission to the Supra. While we might get excited about that as enthusiasts, we’d be remiss to not mention that not every manual gear shifter adds to the car with its design. With that in mind, show us the worst gear shifter designs of all time.
Our lead image is the 1986 Renault Alpine GTA Turbo. For those that are unaware, this car was meant to be the flagship supercar for Renault and despite its lack of worldwide acclaim, it has some famous connections. Underneath that bodywork is the same engine as the one used in the DeLorean DMC-12.
In fact, the engine in the back is a turbocharged version of the Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 that ended up in the production version of the DeLorean. It sent its power to the rear wheels through a five speed transmission. That all sounds great until you see and experience the shifter itself.
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Not only is it totally unmarked, a feature that one admittedly gets over fairly quickly, but it’s also halfway off of the transmission tunnel. This isn’t a particularly spacious grand tourer but that’s made all the worse by a shift knob that literally bumps into your right leg any time you shift into first or second gear.
Surely, the Renault Alpine GTA Turbo can’t be the worst offender though. Don’t forget that for a long while gear shift levers were part of the steering column which could prove to be awkward, to say the least. That’s to say nothing of the countless cars, trucks, and SUVs designed throughout the years with little more than a crude stick and a shift knob protruding out of the floor of the vehicle.
While we don’t know that they count the same way, we could also include automatic gear shifters and then this whole conversation gets exponentially crazier. There is no shortage of ways that manufacturers have us shifting into gear today from buttons to dials, to joysticks. What’s the worst in history in your opinion?
