Was it just last week that we all had Taco-mania? When the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma came out? Maybe two weeks ago? I think I was so flabbergasted by the wildly complicated, shock-absorber-enhanced seats that I forgot to talk to you about something else that caught my attention: the shifter. The manual shifter, the stick shift. It caught my attention because it was a perfect example of a strange phenomenon in the shifter zeitgeist right now: modesty. As in, like, the Puritanical sense. There seems to be a strange trend where, bafflingly, the actual stick of the stick shift has been deemed to be something that must be hidden at all costs, and, as a result, we get these strange, huge shift boots. Why? This looks weird? What the hell is going on?
Let’s have a look at this thing:
That’s a tall shifter. That makes sense, it’s a pickup truck, and the geometry of it all means you’ll need a tall shifter if you want to be able to comfortably shift the transmission without having to have a set of gibbon arms grafted on in place of your stubby human arms. Tall shifters have been a staple of trucks for decades and decades, and somehow, we never used to mind seeing the, you know, shifter. Look at this Land Cruiser shifter, for example:
Long shift lever, nice rubber accordion’d boot (which I actually prefer to these scrotal leather ones everyone uses now) and that shifter shaft is just out there, loud and proud, and looking fine. The Tacoma has one, too, under that leather tent there, of course, it’s just all hidden:
I’m not the only one to notice this; over at The Drive they found the shifter to be awkward and weird looking, so they asked a Toyota engineer, which was a smart idea. Here’s what they were told:
“We had to change, of course, the bell housing and so the mechanical attachment to where that goes to the transmission is a little bit longer. We have just a little bit longer throw, so, therefore, we had a little bit longer shift lever and the boot is just there to match that.”
Really, all that means is that it’s a long shift lever, which we all knew. But it doesn’t explain why the whole damn lever has to be covered with the boot!
Why do we need the boot to go all the way up to the “neck” of the shifter? It looks weirder like this! It looks like the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter series, stuck there in between the seats, ready to tell you you’re a Slymeron or Ravenclams or whatever:
When I look at it, what I actually see is something strangely ecclesiastical, like the shifter is a medieval Jesuit monk or something like that:
Want to shift from third to fourth? Just grab Brother Theodore there by the head and drag him down. Easy!
When did this happen, exactly? Does this image make anyone feel uncomfortable, really?:
I’m just going to come out and say it: this total-boot/hide-the-stick business is not healthy. The strange, conical results of the shaft-modesty boots are bulky and clumsy things, and provide no real benefit to anyone. Let your shifter be a shifter. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Free the shaft! Free your mind! It’s called a stick shift, dammit, not a leathern-gown shift! Enough is enough! To the streets!
{Editor’s Note: I noticed this on the Jeep Wrangler JK, as well. Early JKs had shifters that looked great:
Then in 2011, the shifter turned into this:
Come on. Clearly that’s a step backwards! -DT]
If they all just used gated shifters, you wouldn’t want to hide that beauty… jus’ sayin’.
Out of curiosity, has any other automaker used them aside from Ferrari? I feel like there may be others but I can’t think of them for some reason, maybe b/c I always associate them with Maranello’s finest.
Lamborghini and Audi have
People think the long shifter, because it was so often paired with the rubbery, accordion-like boot, looks “cheap,” and so no one wants to put it in a new car.
Yet comparing the JK shifters, I’d guess the later version is much cheaper to produce.
I’m sure Jordan Peterson and Josh Hawley have opinions about this…
*gag*
agreed
Wait wait wait. Shhhh (They could be listening).
Let’s not complain about any part of the stick shift.
Just be happy it’s a stick shift.
Besides those look easier to clean than the old accordion boot with it’s layers of 360 degree crannies.
But really though, it’s probably cheaper to install a tall boot than it is to paint the shifter all the way and still put in insulation.
My favorite interior feature by far (the only other thing I liked were the sun visors) on my old Isuzu Hombre was the accordion shift boot. My thought was the tall boot keeps out debris from getting trapped and being hard to clean, but the accordion is wonderful for that!
It’s all unimportant now, but when I was driving semi’s in the early 90’s we still had actual manual transmissions (8 fwd gears w/hi-lo box behind it for 16 gears total). The shift lever was very tall and as Road & Track would say, “fell readily to hand”. It’s shift boot was rubbery plastic that covered the hole through the floor and not much else. Once you learned the intricacies it was a real blast to use. Hardest part was telling yourself to quit resting your hand on the shift knob.
Keep the shiny side up!
Do semis have automatics now? I thought they were all still manual, TIL
Standard transmissions in most modern semis are “AMTs”, or Automated Manual Transmissions. Essentially the same kind of tech as a dual-clutch automatic in cars, just designed specifically for heavy-haulers. Traditional manuals are still available, but more and more are options.
Agreed, very little in the driving world is quite as satisfying as *nailing* a downshift in an unsynchronized manual and feeling it fall in without a single bump. Bliss.
And even better when it’s a column shift
They‘re offering a pickup with a manual transmission in 2023 and folks are still complaining? Let’s just be happy that it exists at all.
Auto makers decided to start going after the “regrow your foreskin” crowd.
I feel like the author of this particular piece is not the mensch to try that particular sales pitch on.
Although it makes me wonder if perhaps JT is just another shill for Big Circumscion and is once again trying to subvert us all.
It’s well known JT is a registered lobbyist in the pocket of Big Scalpel
My dad’s 95 Ranger had a rubber boot over a super long stick that went all the way up to the ball, while my 99 S10 had a short rubber boot on a shorter stick.
’80’s vintage Ford F-series with the 4 speed overdrive manual. A 2-and-a-half foot long, twisted metal rod with a small rubber boot at the base. Unabashed shifter. I believe the twist was to clear the 4 wheel drive lever, which I miss as well.
78 F-150 with a 4 speed granny low NP435 – the shifter on mine was bent so the shifter wouldn’t hit the dash.
Shorter shifter = shorter throw. I don’t think it’s that they are targeting the shifter specifically, but that modern interior design doesn’t want exposed metal that isn’t a dashboard garnish.
This article made me super nostalgic for the 90s trucks with those 2-foot-tall sticks that jutted out of the floor. Fun to shift and kinda hot to straddle whilst sitting in the middle seat while your boyfriend drives. *rawr*
It’s not as bad as the Ford trucks from the 90s with the two-foot-long rubber boot covering the whole lever. Those always looked really bizarre to me.
But these days, when manuals are damn near a religious statement, the shifter should be as obviously mechanical and prominent as possible. We should go back to gates. Or that gimbal-thingy that Volvo used a while back.
It’s just gonna get replaced with a Crown Royal bag eventually, anyway.
Came here for a Crown Royal comment, was not disappointed.
Obviously it’s a trans gender thing.
To match the interiors, which even on trucks are car-like these days b/c comfort and “luxury”?
Back in the day, everything in trucks was pretty utilitarian. Like how center consoles were rare; now, I can’t think of any regular truck that doesn’t have one.
And once designers decided car interior was what people wanted, it was a short jump to going to what many people would say was the platonic ideal of a car – the sports car. So things like the boots, gauge setups, etc. now, even on vehicles as far removed from sports cars as possible.
Mazda put a leather boot around the base of my parking brake lever, all it does is collect crumbs and sticky spots.
I’m guessing the current wave of shifter covers is a cheaper one-size-fits-many-models solution.
Ha! Brother Theodore is a knob-head!
And in a black leather S&M robe no less!
not that there’s anything wrong with that…
(Thanks, Jerry)
If they’re trying to hide the shaft with all that leather I guess they succeeded but I some how find it more offensive.
It would take a burlap sack to hide the shift lever in my Blazer.
The leather boot in my Si does nothing but collect an interesting array of crumbs, which is suppose is the point. But the accordion version looks much better.
Are you, perchance, referring to this Si shifter? I had one of these for a while before it was flattened by a Suburban. It’s the last accordion shift-booted new car i can remember driving.
The 97-01 XJ manual shifter is the perfect style for a mid-size truck/suv shifter.
Jason, YOU live in AMERICA. You know if they didn’t cover that with a shroud that some dingus would fill the shifter area with change or cheerios or something. Pretty soon they’ve lodged something in there that causes a mis-shift into R on the interstate and they’ll blame the manufacturer for their screw up. It’s just trying to design around idiocy.