The new C-8 mid-engine Corvette does not even offer a manual transmission as an option. You can’t get one.
There is just something wrong about that.
I would like to join this Save the Manuals Society. (2019 Miata 6 speed).
I used to consider the Mazda3 my first choice if I were to need a more practical car, but I was dissapointed to learn that they no longer offer it with a manual transmission.
I’d rather have a 250hp manual than a 700hp paddle-shifter. These new cars coming out, they try to justify the lack of a manual option by saying the monster horsepower is better served with a DCT. The average driver IS NEVER EVER EVER going to use all of that horsepower. NEVER.
The horsepower arms-race is just pointless at this point.
When I started doing my research, I was amazed at how few options there are for new, small coupes with MT and decent power (the 370Z had 332 hp) for less than $60K. I was relieved when I test-drove the M240i and loved it: it was really either that or another 370Z.
And here I was thinking maybe physical manuals for certain cars were valued more than others :smack: A car person, I am surely not!
I was very surprised and disappointed (as were lots of other Z fans!) to find out that the first 370Zs couldn’t be tracked without serious mods like the oil cooler. My 2003 350Z was pretty much bullet-proof on the track (after they replaced the transmission twice – bad synchronizers in the first year’s models), so it was a shame that upping the displacement to 3700cc caused so many problems.
Did they solve the oil overheating problem in later models? (I haven’t been to the track in almost 10 years.)
No idea…mine was a 2010, and it was still a concern for that model.
Unfortunately, my current daily is an automatic, for now ('12 VW Golf TDI DSG) but it’s the better 6 speed wet clutch DSG (DQ-250) not the problematic 7 speed dry clutch DSG (DQ-200)
the DSG isn’t a bad automatic, actually it’s pretty nice, crisp shifting, fast, no sludgebox sogginess, no rubberband-effect CVT (CVT must be utterly exterminated, I loathe them even more than sludgeboxes!), but it’s NOT a manual
it was purchased because I needed a replacement car fast, and the price was right, i’m keeping my eyes open for a manual Golf TDI in the same price range, and when I find one, I will trade out of the DSG
I haven’t fully abandoned manuals (nor will I ever), as I still have a 1999 Yamaha Vstar 650 Classic motorcycle, manual transmission, rear wheel drive, the way vehicles should be.
and when the time eventually comes to replace the Golf TDI, i’m going back to manuals, no more automatics for me… (unless my left leg falls off/stops working, and even then, it’d only be back to DSG, no sludgebox or CVT)
I briefly considered a Golf GTI, but stopped that research when I realized I couldn’t get a 2-door. I don’t mind having back seats, but I definitely wanted a coupe.
When I was at CarMax, the woman who handled my appraisal commented that she loved manuals but currently had an automatic because her left knee couldn’t take clutches anymore. Even though I’m 48 and fat, and several years ago I watched my mom’s bad knee make her switch from manuals to an automatic, it had really never occurred to me that there might come a day when I’m not physically able to drive a stick! 
Please tell that to the X1 I had to dust off my rear bumper yesterday…
wrong wheel drive or not, my l’il ST can scoot!
We bought a Mazda 3 a week ago. Straight off the floor and the informaation compared to our ten year old Mazda 6 is amazing.
Mind you someone will get a very goos used Mazda 6. Never had a problem and had less than 50,000 Kilometres on it.
Yeah, I agree about the horsepower war. Part of the reason I got the car I recently got (2019 BRZ) is because it was a delight to drive with only 205 horsepower and a 6 speed. I could have afforded a more powerful car (in fact I own one), but those are all dragging around a car that’s almost 1000 lbs heavier. I find heavier cars to be a lot less fun to drive.
Nice car, Misnomer! It’s heavier than I would have wanted, but that is one sweet engine pushing it around, and yeah, it’s nice you got a manual. My father-in-law drives BMWs most of the time, but he buys used, and can never seem to find manuals in most of the coupes he buys. So, it’s a rarity even in BMWs, it seems.
I will be doing my first autcross in a RWD car next weekend. The stock tires on the BRZ are silly, but I’m planning on learning how to drive the car more than anything. So, shredding them while their lack of absolute grip keeps my speed down seems a fitting end for them.
How much did that new Beemer depreciate when you drove it off the lot?
Way to harsh a buzz, dude.
Likely about the same amount that ANY new car depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot; 15 to 25%. However, the peace of mind that a full warranty and that all the miles on the car are yours can be a wonderful incentive, especially on any performance oriented car. Buying a used Corvette can be a pretty tricky business, for example. You pretty much have to assume the car has been driven hard and put away wet.
The reason I *didn’t *get a BRZ was the horsepower…LOL! My 370Z had 332 hp, and I was worried that 205 would feel draggy by comparison (even in a lighter car). The M240i has 335 hp, and only weighs 174 pounds more, so it’s quite comparable to what I was used to (and liked).
Thanks! 
This question is supposed to be…what, sobering? Shocking? Because clutch my pearls I had no idea that new cars depreciate significantly as soon as they’re purchased? :dubious:
My salesman tried to interest me in some kind of “tester” M2 that “only” had 5,000-7,000 miles on it. Yeah…NOPE.
Plus the OP clearly stated that a manual transmission was a must have. Have you ever tried looking for a used car with a manual transmission? It’s like a needle in a haystack nowadays. If there’s something really specific like that that you want it’s less hassle to buy new than to scour the country looking for the one used car lot that has what you’re looking for.
Hehehe, on my previous car (a 2017 Fit, with a manual, naturally), my wife said she was surprised I wasn’t grabbing a 2017 BRZ. Unbeknownst to her, I wasn’t sure I’d keep my spiffy new job with the long commute. So, I wanted to go cheap (she basically demanded I buy a new car for the long commute), and after having the 2012 WRX (which I still keep), I wanted a car that I could wring out a bit without being an extreme danger to myself and the general populace.
To be honest, that Fit can be plenty fast (I earned my only ticket in the last five years in it). It’s got 130hp, doesn’t weigh much, goes if you’re willing to rev the crap out of it (max HP is conveniently located at redline) and with decent tires it can corner. I kind of hope my niece doesn’t find out that I handed her what amounted to a hot hatchback 30 years ago. But, from a video shared by her father about her learning to drive a manual in a parking lot and making a u-turn at 35 without incident other than terrifying him, I think she might somehow have already intuited this in her adaptable monkey brain.
And the BRZ is only 75 hp up on the Fit, but it weighs largely the same. With RWD, it’s a combo plate of bizarre, stupid fun for less than 30K if you’re stingy. At least, on the stock tires it is. When I get decent rubber on it to actually put some power to the ground, I might think it’s more scary fast than fun, but I kind of doubt it. It doesn’t have quite the shitload of HP/weight to screw with you like a lot of cars I’ve driven, and you don’t have to go terrifyingly fast to get any feedback like you do in an AWD system like the WRX - in that car, I’ve only turned traction control off in extreme weather. If it goes off in the dry without you being on a dirt road or gravel, you’ve really screwed something up or are launching like a maniac.
Long story short, you might be scared of the BRZ’s lack of raw horsepower (yeah, I found it a feature), but you could have gone a lot loonier HP wise in the BMW stable, and I salute you for picking the teeniest locomobile they had to offer, it’s a treasure. With the hp/weight roughly around my WRX’s and a RWD BMW chassis, I can’t imagine it being anything but a joy. I loved my MINI Cooper S, but it got pricey when it’s valve train crossed 100K miles. Not all BMW engines are cursed with that, though. I thought the MINI engine was too clever for it’s own good when I bought it, but I was wrong about which parts were fragile, and still pine for that damn car some days.
(ok, not after buying the BRZ).
Oh, and I forgot to mention. You picked the correct color. All other things being equal, there is no better color to paint a car than black. It’s got nothing to do with Henry Ford or how long it takes for the paint to dry. If your car has good lines, black will accentuate them in the highlights - if it has bad lines, black also somehow hides them and smooths them out. I can’t count the number of cars this works for. The best example I can think of is the '86 Mustang GT with the cheese-grater tail lights. Red? “OH GOD! Why would you make a car look like that?” Black? “Ok, I could drive it, I could even look at it when I’m not.”
Wellll, that was honestly more about $$ than anything else. If I’d had an extra $10K I would have gone for the M2.
LOL! My first car was white and my second car was silver, but since then they’ve all been either black or dark gray (BMW’s “Mineral Gray Metallic” would have been acceptable for the new car, as well).
Heh!
Frankly, I’m not a fan of the M240i’s styling; most BMWs don’t really appeal to me aesthetically. But the car I test-drove was blue, and there was no way I could live with that color! Black is much more acceptable. When I see the car in my driveway or a parking lot I still feel like it’s kind of generic-looking*, but I don’t hate it. I would have hated the blue.
*As soon as I get inside, I forget all about the bland exterior!