I went to the BMW dealership today, because it's Sunday and I could poke around without being "helped". They had exactly one car on the lot with manual transmission, and it was an X-Drive.
I guess all the enthusiasts are snapping up all the cars with sticks...
You're never going to find any car with a stick these days. I drove 2 hours to get my manual trans 3er and I was happy to find it.
sad but true..
I picked up a Chevy Cruze Eco press car yesterday, and sat there like an idiot after turning the key over twice, wondering why it wouldn't start. Finally realized it had three pedals.
Lesley wrote: I picked up a Chevy Cruze Eco press car yesterday, and sat there like an idiot after turning the key over twice, wondering why it wouldn't start. Finally realized it had three pedals.
How many manuals does GM expect to sell versus the automatics? I'd be curious about the ratio.
FWIW. When I ordered my Honda Fit back in 2007, there was none in the country due to $4.00 a gallon gas so I had to wait for it to be built and shipped over. The salesman and the other people at the dealership asked me a zillion times if I was sure that I wanted a manual transmission. They told me the difference between a stick shift with three pedals and the paddle shifters and two pedal maybe a dozen times. When the car arrived three months later it caused a minor sensation at the dealership because it was a manual transmission and not the "normal" automatic. Apparently hardly anybody buys a car with a manual transmission anymore so nobody stocks them.
Not sure what the numbers will be, but apparently GM has added more manuals to the Cruze lineup, and is aggressively marketing them. It's a really nice shifting gearbox. I'm getting 7.0L/100 km, vs the reported 6.8L ... but it reallllllly likes you to keep it below 2,000 rpms by flashing a green "shift" light at you all the time. I just don't like working that hard!
The Cruze Eco with a 6 speed gets 42mpg which is pretty awesome and it's a bit more "spunkier" than the automatic counterpart.
And at least Honda, when it builds a "sports" model like the S2K and Si, has one transmission option....MANUAL.
I thought BMW was there with Honda as one of the few manf. that consistently put three pedals in it's vehicles?
When I was car shopping for my wife, I saw Cobalts in every trim level with manual trans.
40 mpg per tank, every tank, with no gimmicks 
just rubbing it in
Elantra? Just read a (poorly written) review on the Genesis with the 5.0 and 429 hp. 8 speed auto though. Definitely intriguing if I was into that sort of thing.
this is a bit out of date ( it's probably worse now ) but through 2003....
These are total light vehicle sales (in millions of units) of domestic and import car and trucks broken down by automatic and manual transmissions:
Year Automatic % Manual % Total
1985 10,021,482 , 77.6% , 2,887,171, 22.4%, 12,908,653
1990 10,141,794, 78.7%, 2,752,150, 21.3%, 12,893,944
1995 12,816,559, 83.1%, 2,602,211, 16.9%, 15,418,770
2000 15,995,874, 90.0%, 1,785,377, 10.0%, 17,781,251
2001 14,898,961, 90.6%, 1,540,618, 9.4%, 16,439,579
2003 16,752,979, 92.6%, 1,335,531, 7.3%, 18,088,510
*Includes manual/automatic hybrids
Source: Ward's Communications
Last statistic I saw was 08 or 09. Only 9% of cars sold in this country had manual transmissions.
that's actually an improvement compared to 2003
Lesley wrote: Not sure what the numbers will be, but apparently GM has added more manuals to the Cruze lineup, and is aggressively marketing them. It's a really nice shifting gearbox. I'm getting 7.0L/100 km, vs the reported 6.8L ... but it reallllllly likes you to keep it below 2,000 rpms by flashing a green "shift" light at you all the time. I just don't like working that hard!
saw my first cruze at work the other day, and I have to be honest: it was a surprisingly good looking car. Waiting on someone to bring one in for service so I can drive it lol
One of my neighbors just flew from Mass. to Maryland to bring home a new Focus with a manual. She had her heart set on a new Elantra, except there's an indefinite wait for ANY manual cars to come to the U.S., and her minivan was dying rapidly.
It's gotten bad enough, I once got bumped at a light when I took my foot off of the brake. The lady's response "I thought you were moving up"
Thankfully no damage to either car
mad_machine wrote: It's gotten bad enough, I once got bumped at a light when I took my foot off of the brake. The lady's response "I thought you were moving up" Thankfully no damage to either car
My response woulda been something along the lines of "You'll know when Im moving up when I begin to move up." Brekeleying soccer mom sheeple in minivans...grumble grumble...
...sorry, was a bad drive in this morning...
I've been looking for a V-6 Stang with a manual just to test drive. NO. WHERE. TO. BE. FOUND.
Hey, the ultimate driving thing has always been overstated anyway. I used to take my turbo CRX to BMWCCA track events and let it feast on BMW sandwiches for lunch. Yeah, my little econobox.
I've been looking for a V-6 Stang with a manual just to test drive. NO. WHERE. TO. BE. FOUND.
I want to drive one of those as well.
Vigo wrote:I've been looking for a V-6 Stang with a manual just to test drive. NO. WHERE. TO. BE. FOUND.I want to drive one of those as well.
I want one as a summer toy, then want to turbocharge it. 
"Naw, it's just a V6, you 5.0L boys will beat me quite handily".
As I go zooming by, "Looooooooooooooooooooo000000000000000000000lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll"
(that was the dopler affect of my voice btw)
bravenrace wrote: Hey, the ultimate driving thing has always been overstated anyway. I used to take my turbo CRX to BMWCCA track events and let it feast on BMW sandwiches for lunch. Yeah, my little econobox.
heh.. your turbo econobox probably had more power than most of the cars on the track. unless a BMW has an "M" in the title, it has less power than you think. most non-M's are in the 200hp range
I'm going with a friend of mine to pick up his new 9-3 with a real manual transmission. We're going from Kentucky to Younkers, NY to pick it up. Infer whatever you wish.
This sucks.
Lesley wrote: Not sure what the numbers will be, but apparently GM has added more manuals to the Cruze lineup, and is aggressively marketing them. It's a really nice shifting gearbox. I'm getting 7.0L/100 km, vs the reported 6.8L ... but it reallllllly likes you to keep it below 2,000 rpms by flashing a green "shift" light at you all the time. I just don't like working that hard!
The light has many factors, not just RPM. Its been used in GMs for a long time... I have it in my 94 Saturn. Its easy to ignore if you feel like it, but then again if you follow it, you'll get excellent mileage. Also, if you decide to beat the piss out of the motor, the light comes on at redline as well. I kinda like that feature.
I purposely bought my first mazda3 with a stick, I got strange looks. Walk into the dealer "I want leather, heated seats, all the fun gizmos, and a man pedal (manual) dealer was all errr...uhh...wat? Found the PERFECT car- and they wanted it back every time I walked in for parts/svc/whatever. Come to think of it, the only time I didn't get that look when asking for a straight shift was when we ordered the first MINI- those people got it. I wonder if Fiat will too.
back in 1999 I bought my last new car. A 1999 Hyundai Tiburon. They had 15some odd tibs on the lot.. the one I bought was the stripper... because it was the ONLY one with a manual transmission
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