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Another thing to consider is acceleration. Classic Automatics don't like to Revulate very high and the torque converter is only active during cruising not under moderate acceleration even in high gear. And then gear these things for Highway low RPM cruise for MPG and bam it's even slower. Which means a 25% larger engines is considered to be "Required" to accelerate an AutoCar at an "acceptable" rate. The same size engine in a manual transmission car would be overpowered aka Sporty just 10 years ago. And now people regularly cruise at 80mph because it just so easy to go that fast without working for it.
The problem I see doesn't lie with Manuals being work it has to do with Consumers picking the Automatic cars and not seeing the Big Picture. Most people could care less too. The 90's was the Autocar Decade. Cheap Loans and oversized engines ment AutoCars were faster than previous generations and Gasoline was cheap. The 90's subcompact cars were ridiculed for being slow despite being small and lightweight mostly because the Automatic version was a 3 speed with poor MPG and even worse acceleration. Now the double 00's were where these 90's Autocars were even cheaper and first time car buyers don't bother learning to drive a Manual transmission anymore. 9/11, Iraq, Hurricane Katrina happen and people don't see any connection between their Gasoline Consumption and wars being fought over Oil.
Realistically a proper Manual transmission car could be the same size and geared taller for better MPG but be just as fast as an Automatic or they could be smaller, geared shorter and still be just as fast but better MPG. The Problem there is that most car buyers are City people and don't consider a Manual an option.
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-Allch Chcar
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