There Are Only 2 Manual Performance Cars Left Without Automatic Rev Matching

If you ask a recent college graduate to drive your stick shift car, you'll probably get a blank stare. After all, most younger drivers have driven an automatic and nothing else and this is not a great surprise due to a serious lack of "manual" availability. Yes, there may be some gimmicky manuals around with automatic rev-matching, but there are only two modern performance cars that come without. So, what's happened, and are the VW Jetta GLI and Mazda MX-5 Miata the only ones left out of this dying breed?

While both these cars are available with automatic transmissions (seven-speed auto in the Jetta GLI and six-speed auto in the Miata MX-5), the specifications and informaiton provided below pertain only to the models with manual transmissions.

Manual VW Jetta GLI Specifications

Engine

2.0L turbo I4

Transmission

Six-speed MT

Horsepower

228 hp

Torque

258 lb-ft

Drivetrain

FWD

0-60 mph

6 seconds

Top Speed

126 mph

The Jetta GLI retains the six-speed manual gearbox for its 2025 model year. Purists may wonder why Volkswagen decided to give this honor to the Jetta rather than the Golf GTI, which is typically the sporting model of the two. It appears that this decision came out of Volkswagen’s US headquarters and managers opted to keep the manual. The Golf GTI is a global car, and related decisions come out of Germany. Apparently, most global GTI customers want the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, which may have prompted the decision to go automatic.

VW has also given the Jetta GLI a nice 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, a limited slip differential, and sport-tuned suspension. As such, it can certainly provide an engaging driving experience for a purist who is still looking for that stick.

Manual Mazda MX-5 Miata Specifications

Engine

2.0L NA I4

Transmission

Six-speed manual

Horsepower

181hp

Torque

151 lb-ft

Drivetrain

RWD

0-60 mph

5.8 seconds

Top Speed

137 mph

Mazda gives the MX-5 Miata eikther a six-speed manual with short throw shifter, or an auto with the same number of gear ratios. The short throw shifter is meant to shorten the distance that your hand needs to travel as it shifts from one gear to the next. It may sound quite trivial if you're familiar with the design of a typical stick shift, but it can often reduce the amount of time as well, speeding up the shift and allowing the driver to keep their engine revs much higher.

The MX-5 Miata is also lightweight with rear-wheel drive and a 2.0-liter 16-valve four-cylinder engine that the company mounts further back in the chassis. This helps with handling and allows the driver to make full use of the 181 hp on tap. There's a reason the MX-5 has achieved the status it has as a true enthusiast car.

Even after 10 years on the market, Mazda has found a way to make the MX-5 perennially exciting.

When Mazda tells you that its 2025 MX-5 Miata is like a classic 1960s roadster convertible, you can see why the company may have wanted to make it as authentic and old-school as possible. Also, Mazda has a very specific design philosophy known as “Jinba-ittai.” This roughly translates to “horse and rider,” or the wish to connect the car to the driver as closely as possible, without the intrusion of unnecessary technology.

Rev matching is a technology that adjusts the speed of the engine to match the speed of a gearbox in a manual car, which allows for smoother shifts. There are other benefits, like improved vehicle balance and less wear and tear, but the biggest advantage is the ability to shift quicker due to not having to wait for the engine's speed to increase or decrease to match what the gearbox requires.

Automatic rev matching came along in 2009, courtesy of Nissan with its 370Z, to "allow drivers of any skill level to experience professional-like gear shift performance", as the press release from the brand describes it.

Rev-matching matters on a racetrack and even in the real world, but the first car to include the automatic function might surprise you.

For the driver who didn't want to learn additional skills to rev match manually, automatic rev matching turned every spirited drive into an effortless affair. The transmission automatically matches internal speeds through the use of a variety of sensors, which are found next to the output shaft, gear array, crankshaft, and clutch. They're constantly sending information to the ECU, which calculates the ideal engine speed and can adjust the throttle accordingly. The system can target engine speed to a very high degree of precision, no matter what gear is in play, so, drivers can now drive their car just as efficiently as a really skilled racer.

So why would VW and Mazda leave this technology by the wayside for their sporty models? For much the same reason as true lovers of driving laud the manual transmission; simply put, for the purist, for the enthusiast, and for the driver who wants to truly engage with their car.

It's difficult to see a bright future for the traditional manual gearbox, even though they represent a very gratifying experience for many. Certainly, enthusiasts will own and maintain cars that feature a stick shift, but in the mainstream market, models that have this unmodified feature will be very few and far between. If that's not reason enough to invest in one of these cars, take the words of those who have experienced them:

"The turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine produces 228 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels with enough vigor to chirp the wheels through first, second, and third gear on hot concrete. This goes for the manual transmission, and vigor is the perfect word - it's not a powerhouse, but the engine wants to work, and the power is consistent. The manual transmission is a six-speed that might be a little light for the hardcore enthusiast, but we had a lot of fun running up and down the gears without having to learn any nuances."

- Ian Wright, Senior Road Tester, CarBuzz

As for the evergreen MX-5, it remains hallowed be experts and gearheads alike. In the words of CarBuzz's senior road tester, Ian Wright, "It's brisk off the line, the manual tranmission is joyous to work the three-pedal-dance with, and the chassis i perfectly balanced to invite any driving style to have fun. It's a classic sports car with modern design and engineering implemented damn near perfectly."

The Mazda MX-5 Miata gets some updates for 2024 that make it even better at what it does best: provide sports car attitude in a user-friendly package.

So, the Volkswagen Jetta GLI and Mazda MX-5 Miata are outliers in today's automotive landscape, by offering the purist a manual transmission and without automatic rev matching. If you're one of those increasingly small groups of people who value the engagement of a stick shift, neither of these cars are particularly pricey. You can get a 2025 MX-5 with a manual for under $30k (excluding destination) to start, while a 2025 Jetta GLI with the stick shift will cost around $33k before options and dealer fees.

Sources: Statista, Mazda, Volkswagen.

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