I don't buy this argument that manuals are 'outdated' or 'obsolete'. Sure, modern autos are very impressive but they're complex and expensive. A manual gearbox is still cheap, simple, efficient and easy to use.

It's a start, but they need to buy more of them. My American mate visited last year (he's a petrolhead with a Corvette and a an F150 Raptor) but even he's still a bit wary of a manual and was most impressed with my 75 year old mum being able to pootle about in my LR SIII with a no synchro 1st & 2nd SII box (long story).

Ah well done! Another man of impeccable taste

They are cracking little cars. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and while the straight line performance is fairly wide of the mark by today’s standards they are bloody quick.

If the new one is DSG only, 5 door only and forced induction I will have a little cry...... then go and drive mine to make the world feel right again

My problem with the current 200 Cup is it is to my mind probably too grippy (because the 182 is too grippy for the visibility of most b roads) it is too sure footed making it less fun at moderate speeds and the fact that the interior space feels huge!

I still love the 200 though, don't get me wrong. I just prefer the old school feel of the 182.

That was my initial thought as well. Fuel prices there are quite high now (three times what it was when I left) and as much as I love big V8 trucks with autoboxes, I would be seriously considering a smaller economical manual if I were to move back.

Just not seeing the point in paying that much money for fuel if I could avoid it.

I luv that comment, but it is really close to the unfortunate truth though....

Sadly this comment matches the truth on the ground today, not the world I learned to drive in ~4 decades ago. In that would we went from Regular gas @ $0.19-0.25 as gal to $0.75-0.80 a gal over night in 73-74. Everyone I knew was driving 6-12 mpgUS big 4 gas guzzler in late 1973 with a slushbox automatic. But by mid 1974 they all had switched to either a German or Asian model with a manual trans that had little trouble brushing up against 30 mpgUS.

The fall of the manual in the US can be laid out in a little history background.....In the mid 80s( 1985/1986 ) gas & diesel dropped from $1.30-1.50 a gal down to below $0.90( as low as $0.75 in my part of the US ) a gal when world oil prices crashed. Around the same time the US abandoned CAFE, the US energy policy that had reduced transport oil consumption by 75% in the 9 years it had force of law. This policy forced auto makers to sell a certain number of, not just offer manual trans options to bring up fleet CAFE. In 1987 model year the first year without CAFE the US fleet mpg average dropped from a high close to 40 mpgUS to 26 mpgUS where it has stayed for the last 2 3/4 decades. When the abuse of the SUV/Truck loophole real US CAFE dropped into the single digits by 2004 model year.

Here is the reason for the current upsurge of manual offerings;... With the coming in law increase of CAFE beginning in 2014 to 54.5 mpgUS by 2025 auto makers are being required once again to offer the manual trans options to bring their CAFE in line with law requirements.

I have taught some 60 drivers, many girlfriends/several wives to row their own gears over the last 3 1/2 decades. I refused to be stuck somewhere with a significant other that couldn't take the wheel when I was incapacitated or when they really needed to be able to drive in an emergency!!

Most on the road in the USA today have no clue how a automatic or manual trans even works much less how to row their gears. So the ones that are actually looking for a manual are only the hardcore drivers like me and drivers looking for maximum mpgs over the life of their purchase.

Also there are a fair amount out there that are looking specifically for a manual to assure of a longer service life without a required auto trans rebuild in the 100-150k mile range.

Because of the recent US propensity to go with automatics I have been shamefully forced to have my two current main drivers be automatic, which I hate and complain about whenever given the chance. I manually shift the things at every opportunity to improve mpgs and to save the brakes....I am hoping that with the coming in law rise in required CAFE rules more manual trans models will be available when I purchase next....

LOng Live the Manual!!

Me too!!

But 3.9% is still a huge number of cars, don't you even understand simple percentages

Count me in. An American petrolhead driving a British manual coupe!!

Based on the US EPA mileage estimates for most new cars today, the difference between a manual and an automatic is very little. That's IF a manual is even available as an option.
It is worth noting that mileage estimates in the US are typically very different to those in Europe due to (I've read somewhere) different regulations of their calculation.

They don't use that much less fuel though.

Focus ST 1300kg + driver manual 2.5l turbo 225bhp day to day 24mpg
Mustang GT 1580kg + driver automatic 4.6l N/A 300bhp day to day 20mpg

Given the near 300kg weight increase (large engine block for a 4.6 and auto box to blame) I don't think that the extra fuel used can be all attributed to the automatic (yes it is a slush box - electronically controlled maybe but it is still a slush box).

I used to be a staunch manual gearbox driver, always swore I would never own an automatic, they were (a direct quote from me) "for fat lazy people and those with disabilities" then due to a knee injury I test drove the Mustang with one, and now, knee injury or not I'd never have another manual gearbox if I could help it. Unless I bought something like a Caterham etc where frankly an automatic (other than a sequential 'manual') would be rubbish and would stifle the car (same with a lot of smaller cars really).

People who like performance cars in the US seem to think that the manual gearbox is king, (this is easily visable by the over emphasis of the gear shifting on films like F&F) load of tosh unless you are circuit racing and even then an SMG/DSG is far superior to a stock manual, they shift quicker than any human can and when it actually matters in a race you don't want to lose time so you go for the fastest best option.

This manual gearbox obsession grates on me because it stops me from owning cars like the GT500, without going through the great expense of removing the manual gearbox binning it and fitting an automatic in its place - put it this way I drove a hire Transit Luton Van at the weekend to help a friend move house and covered no more than 10 miles, I wasn’t stuck in slow moving traffic at any point that meant lots of gear shifting. My knee ached from pumping the clutch for a couple of days afterwards and the transit clutch isn’t exactly heavy

For drag racing there are really only two ways to go, conventional automatic or a Lenco, a manual gearbox on the drag strip is nothing more than a handicap.