It turns out my wife new what the issue was and told me what to do.  It is indeed one of the weird new things that can be automatic or clutch-less manual.  The design of the floor control fooled me into putting it into the the clutch-less manual mode and all I needed to do was not get fooled.

FWIW, lots of cars are still sold with standard transmission, mostly lower end fuel efficient models.

artie_fufkin wrote:

Does anyone still sell cars with a standard transmission anymore? Outside of the Maseratis and Ferraris of the automotive realm. Could you walk into a Toyota dealership and ask for a Camry with a standard, without having the salesman look at you like you've spent the last 50 years in a bomb shelter?

I thought you had to get specially ordered from the plant or something. I loathe automatic transmissions.

APRTW wrote:

I hink what Max is speaking of is the bend between auto transmission and standard.  It is a clutchless thing.  I drove one car with it.  It was fun to play with but really pointless.  It was some kind of Dodge car.  You could either drive it in auto or use the clutchless standard.  I dont know why you wouldnt use auto uness you were just showing off

It might be a generational thing. My dad thinks you're not really diving if you don't have a standard. But my dad really isn't much of a barometer. He also thinks football hasn't been worthwhile since facemasks were invented.

"It looks automatic, but won't automatically shift into a higher gear.  I have to manually bump the gears up using the floor shifter."

Sounds like you rented a drum kit.
Does anyone still sell cars with a standard transmission anymore? Outside of the Maseratis and Ferraris of the automotive realm. Could you walk into a Toyota dealership and ask for a Camry with a standard, without having the salesman look at you like you've spent the last 50 years in a bomb shelter?