Cars that should have had a manual

I'd love a 6spd manual in our V6 RAV4, and in our AWD ATS.

Simply the V6 ATS would be great with a 6sp... Unsure why you can only get it with the turbo 4. Guess they are just trying to keep with BMW now making the lower end of the line-up all turbo 4's

I've driven these converted to 6 speed manuals, and with the excpetion of the 600hp supercharged one, NONE of them added anything added to the drive by having the conversion, and even the 600hp one was really only fun to do the 600hp and suspension mods.

Traditional automatics are great for drag racing but rubbish for road racing as they shift at the worst times (or so it seems) in the middle of corners when you are all hung out etc.

When I bought my Fiero 25 years ago, half the production had gone auto. When I bought my Solstice 5 years ago, the manuals were down to about 30%.

My wife has a Mazda that allows you to stick it in manual shift mode, so that it can't shift when it wants to, only when you nudge the shifter. That is actually quite good and removes the objection to the old style automatics, so I guess I could live with one if I couldn't get anything else.

I hate paddle shifters on anything but race cars though.

Paddle shifters are bad if they and the trans aren't tuned to shift really fast.

BMW V8 wagons, Lexus GS/SC/IS-F, Jaguar XJ-R, Mercedes Everything AMG Ever, Mercedes Roadsters, Dodge Charger Hemi, Q45, Porsche 911's that aren't equipped with manual transmissions...

ANNNNDDDD OUR WINNER IS....

The list could easily go on.

In reply to white_fly: At least with your winner, you can pull the manual trans and supporting parts from a 5-speed Mustang for cheap.

wspohn wrote: Traditional automatics are great for drag racing but rubbish for road racing as they shift at the worst times (or so it seems) in the middle of corners when you are all hung out etc. When I bought my Fiero 25 years ago, half the production had gone auto. When I bought my Solstice 5 years ago, the manuals were down to about 30%. My wife has a Mazda that allows you to stick it in manual shift mode, so that it can't shift when it wants to, only when you nudge the shifter. That is actually quite good and removes the objection to the old style automatics, so I guess I could live with one if I couldn't get anything else. I hate paddle shifters on anything but race cars though.

This, and I'm not sure street bred paddle shifters would bring anything good to road racing. My biggest gripe is I may need to drop 2 gears going into a corner and the computer says oh no you can't. Instant bog, if not worse; had them do it to me on the street. The street versions are playtoys, nothing more. Sells the car, the driver farts around with it once or twice then never touches it again.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

Paddle shifters are bad if they and the trans aren't tuned to shift really fast.

I think that's the simplest distillation of it that i've ever heard. If they are super responsive they'll be addictive, but if the response is slow or an outright rejection of your orders you'll just end up getting mad.

Volvo 850 Turbo. Only the n/a car had a stick. Could've been Volvo's first supercar.

In reply to wspohn:

Of all the car companies who have a sport shift feature, Mazda has the best that I've driven. If I had to resort to a sport shift manumatic equipped car, i'd probably go with a Mazda.

In regards to the op, I would enjoy a newer RAV4 with a stick shift. I drove a new RAV4 and it was a nice vehicle nonetheless. I think a stick shift would make it even that much better. The Transit Connect, NV200 and ProMaster City Vans need a stick shift in them. Put a manual trans in with the small turbos all three companies make and they would be sweet

Mazda puts their shift gates in the right direction.

I used the one in our old 04 Mazda3 with regularity.

But I am correcting the issue

Curmudgeon wrote:

wspohn wrote: Traditional automatics are great for drag racing but rubbish for road racing as they shift at the worst times (or so it seems) in the middle of corners when you are all hung out etc. When I bought my Fiero 25 years ago, half the production had gone auto. When I bought my Solstice 5 years ago, the manuals were down to about 30%. My wife has a Mazda that allows you to stick it in manual shift mode, so that it can't shift when it wants to, only when you nudge the shifter. That is actually quite good and removes the objection to the old style automatics, so I guess I could live with one if I couldn't get anything else. I hate paddle shifters on anything but race cars though.

This, and I'm not sure street bred paddle shifters would bring anything good to road racing. My biggest gripe is I may need to drop 2 gears going into a corner and the computer says oh no you can't. Instant bog, if not worse; had them do it to me on the street. The street versions are playtoys, nothing more. Sells the car, the driver farts around with it once or twice then never touches it again.

On the race car I frequently skip gears. If you are roaring into the end corner of the straight you don't want to use engine braking at all (unless you don't know what you are doing) you want to get into the gear you will use to exit the turn. That means 4th down to 3rd or even 2nd. Not being able to do that because I had paddle shifters would be a definite disadvantage.