I recently bought a 2003 PT Cruiser (or TP Loser, as my 12-y-o son calls it). I wanted a stick shift, and that’s what I got, but the car doesn’t have cruise control.
For my daily driving, cruise control is irrelevant. I kinda miss it for highway driving.
I’ve found a couple of sources for a PT Cruiser cruise control kit for manual transmission.
One of my car guy friends says factory-installed is the only way to go for cruise. Aftermarket, in his opinion, is teh suck.
What say you, AutoDopers?
My observation has been that aftermarket cruise, properly installed, works rather well. It may be that late-model factory cruise is better yet, I don’t know. What exactly is your friends objection here?
I had an after market cruise control installed on a stick shift, four cylinder Ford Ranger truck. It worked like I expected it to, with no problems.
Did your friend say why he thought an after-market CC wouldn’t be as good as factory installed?
I haven’t worked with an aftermarket cruise for many a year. I always thought they were not the robustly engineered items I had ever seen, but if they are installed with care, I don’t see a problem.
He’s a car snob! 
That’s the only reason I can determine.