The Last Fully Manual Ferrari

It's a sad day for purists – and yes, on some days. I am accused of being one myself. Likewise, on both counts, it is a sad day for the Ferraristi out there – and again, I am most definitely one of those. The currently available Ferrari California Spyder will be the last car produced from Maranello that has an available stick shift.

I have long been a proponent of manual transmission cars over automatics for all of the reasons obvious to gearheads. Of course, technology marches forward, and over time, and automatics, or at least semi-automatics, have more than caught up to what manuals ca deliver, performance and efficiency-wise.

Ask anyone who has driven a modern Ferrari with a semi-auto box, and they can tell you about how well they perform. I have, and they're just stunning machines, all the way around. Not once did I find myself wishing that I had a traditional stick shift. And Ferrari understands this, in as much as once they are done producing the Cal. Spyder with the stick, it will be semi-autos from here on out.

If you are still of the purist bent, you can now order the California with a six-speed manual that still features the traditional third clutch pedal. The California Spyder also features double-cone synchros with multiple pawl asymmetric geometry and an oil bath fork and lever system in the manual box as well.

Being a traditionalist though, will come at a price. No, not the cost of the car (which is actually cheaper, I believe) but in terms of both performance and fuel economy. The California with the seven-speed DSG transmission can go from naught to 60 miles per hour in the sub-four second range, and will return a 17.8-mpg efficiency rating.

The manual-equipped California will take 4.2 seconds to get from zero to 60, and fuel economy-wise, it returns 15.8 miles per gallon. So, you can see why Ferrari will finally do away with manual transmission entirely.

And of course the purists can wail and gnash their teeth and rend their garments, but I'm not all that taken aback by the move. Sure, you do get better performance and better economy, but also keep in mind that Ferrari was the company that invented the paddle shifted, semi-auto box.

Source: AutoBlog