At the beginning of the year, we talked about BMW still offering the 1 Series with a manual gearbox. However, now that the F40 is gone from the lineup, so is the stick shift. With the fourth-generation model, the company’s entry-level car is an automatic-only affair. Going forward, the F70 will be sold strictly with a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission.
From the lowly 118d to the mighty M135, the new 1 Series comes only with a two-pedal setup. The standard Steptronic is optionally offered with shift paddles, included with the M Sport Package “for spontaneous manual gear changes.” Step up to the M Performance version and BMW adds red accents for quicker shifts. There’s an M Sport Boost function activated by pulling the left paddle for at least one second. When turned on, everything is dialed for maximum performance.
The automatic gearbox routes power to the front wheels in the case of the regular 1 Series variants. The M135 gets xDrive as standard. We reckon the manual is never going to come back, especially since BMW is having an increasingly harder time justifying it even in M cars. The do-it-yourself transmission likely won’t be missed in the 1er, but its demise represents another nail in the manual gearbox’s coffin.
Logic tells us the new 2 Series Gran Coupe (F74) will follow suit when it debuts later in 2024. The swoopy sedan will also abandon the six-speed manual still offered on the outgoing F44 in some markets on lower-tier variants. The mechanically related X1, X2, and 2 Series Active Tourer are auto-only as well. Consequently, only the M2, M3, and M4 will continue to have a clutch pedal, alongside the Z4 M40i. It’s unclear for how long, but we wouldn’t hold our breath for the manual to survive beyond this decade. As a refresher, MINI has already bid adieu to the manual. We don’t even remember the last time ALPINA let alone Rolls-Royce had a car with a stick.
Source: BMW
