Originally Posted by samuell421

I think its a real shame US automakers have neglected manual tranny's like they have. I'll be picking up my 05 xfire this week and it will be my first vehicle with a stick.

The sad part is that I've always wanted a stick, but could never either find one or afford one. I'm not sure about the situation in other parts of the world, but here in central PA, any used, sports/sporty cars with an auto tend to be worth much less than a similar vehicle with manual trans. My junk cavalier z24 (which I'll be trading to the deal in a few days) has an auto (which I enjoyed for the convenience of it), same with my 2 corvettes.

In the case of the vettes, a 76 and an 84, the stingray was rarely produced with a manual after the early 70's (the going rate for the manual examples tends to be much higher as their generally in better shape, I'm assuming this is because they were more likely to be owned by gearheads) and the 84's auto manual is prone to all sorts of problems. So I was pretty much stuck with getting an auto in order to be able to own both of those without breaking the bank.

Take it from me, its hard for someone in the US to find a decent, affordable (and in some cases reliable) sports car with a manual transmission.