In 1979 my Dad bought a Datsun 210 - today?

Supporting six kids with five drivers and doing freelance engineering work he needed another car to run around Chicago and Milwaukee to drop off prints and hit up job sites.  He needed a new (depreciation thing) car so he bought a Datsun 210.  It had air and stick shift and was a step up over his Beetle.

So what cheap NEW stick shift cars are there?

Nissan Versa stick?

Hyundai? Kia?

Jetta?

Civic?

We've become spoiled and forgot how we used to be happy with basic transportation.

Why does it have to be a stick? That's actually more of a luxury/sports item today instead of the cheapest option like it was in 1979. If you're looking for basic transport today, it's going to be an auto.

The MSRP for a 210 was $4,468 in 1978. That's $21,387.06 today. That'll buy you a whole bunch of various Kias that are faster, cleaner, more efficient, safer and longer lived than that 210 would have been - and probably save you a few thousand at purchase time.

If you really want a stick, you can get a Versa and put $5000 in cash in the glovebox to pay for gas. Or, for almost exactly the same as that 210, you can get a stick shift Jetta.

In 1977 pops bought a new Toyota Corolla automatic that everyone hated. It was one of those full on or nothing acceleration transmissions. He dumped it on my sister and bought the 210.  I agree todays automatics are better. 

You have a good point on not needing stick.  I just think you would hate yourself more if it's a CVT Versa.

I think the quality of automatic transmissions has been the most noticeable advancement in ICE vehicles in the past 20 years. There's been a lot of other stuff going on, but in terms of what you notice on a test drive I think it's the trans. And that's compared to 2000, not 1977!

The '77  Corolla was a pee yellow color that we all hated - maybe that was the reason?  

My own: "The Borg Warner 35 automatic transmission- the most efficient way of transforming torque into a stream of oil on the ground ever invented."

A friend bought a Volvo 122 back in the 80's.  It had an automatic.  I had replaced the 215/65 15 Eagle GT's that came new on my Camaro with Euro T/A's, and since there was a bit of tread left, Garnet squeezed them on the 5" Volvo wheels.  Came out to a slalom, and basically ran the full course flat out, just slowed a wee bit when needed with the brake.  Three of us pushed him away from the start box on his last run, and he picked up 2.5 seconds.

Yeah, automatics are better now.

Actually finding one may be tough, but fuel economy.gov list most of the small cars on the market as having a manual option:

Honda Civic

Hyundai Elantra

Hyundai Veloster

Kia Forte 

Mini Cooper

Nissan Versa

Toyota Corolla

VW Golf / Jetta

Edited to add a few more.

The Chevy Spark and Mitsubishi Mirage had manual options in 2022, but we're losing the Spark completely and the manual Mirage next year.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Those are not particularly small cars.

+1 that manual trans is a luxury item today.  If you want fun, look for hand crank windows.  I think even work vans have power windows.  Power windows are cheaper to make than manual windows nowadays so nothing gets manual windows.

I stand when I pee.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Those are not particularly small cars.

This may be more a sign that small cars have gotten bigger. There aren't many smaller options on the market. And several of these names would have been small cars in 1979.

So is todays Versa the size of an older Sentra?  I think it might be. 

A MINI Cooper isn't a small car? Since when?

In reply to MiniDave :

Since they got big 

In 2011, we gave a neglected '79 Datsun 210 a second chance, destined for LeMons glory.

Today: I'm going to reach out to my buddy who has the car to check in, it's been a couple years.

In reply to MiniDave :

Not sarcasm or tomfoolery at all, unfortunately. We attended the launch of the second gen MINI Clubman wagon. The salesman from MINI USA corporate was exclaiming "This is a new direction for MINI, bigger and more luxurious!"

Apparently the GRM software hates my Samsung internet browser. I have ttried several times to respond to posts, and after a couple minutes typing, it suddenly selects all my text and bolds it the same as the "reply to ____:" line.  Then it keeps refreshing and adding returns/blank lines above whatever I am typing.  Sometimes it refreshes and moves the cursor on me as well, so I'm suddenly typing in the middle of a word.  My apologies if my replies make for awkward reading.

 Yay for the infinite sandbox of mobile browsers and hardware that we are all stuck playing in nowadays...

I love the look of the 210s, especially the 2 door wagons. I've always idly thought of finding one to jam a WAY too big engine into it.