Experiences buying a new car with manual transmission (vehicle, 2014, driver)

[verybadgnome]

I was looking at the new versions of my old car (2006 BMW 330i) and it looks very hard to get one in manual these days. So I was wondering what the landscape is like today for buyers.
Did you have to special order it and if so how long did it take?
Did the dealer try to talk you out of it?
Were you able to test drive one first?

[Checkered24]

I bought new stick shifts in 2007 (WRX) and 2014 (BRZ). No issue with dealer either time. The WRX they brought in by flatbed, the BRZ was in dealer stock. I did test drive both, the reason the WRX was brought in was due to color.

[notnamed]

I just use the online dealer inventory tools to find a manual then drive to that dealer.

[DHN]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

I was looking at the new versions of my old car (2006 BMW 330i) and it looks very hard to get one in manual these days. So I was wondering what the landscape is like today for buyers.
Did you have to special order it and if so how long did it take?
Did the dealer try to talk you out of it?
Were you able to test drive one first?

It's always better to special order a car
You get exactly what you want (transmission, options, color combinations, etc).
It probably doesn't take any longer to order manual vs. automatic - timeframe probably depends more on the dealer's vehicle allocation - there may not be space in the order banks, or they may be able to take an allocated car, and configure it the way you like.
Some dealers may be willing to do a factory order, others may try to steer you towards finding the closest match possible from dealer inventory.
Depending on dealer inventory, I'm sure getting a test drive won't be a problem.

My experience with my (2013) C-Class was as follows:
Called my sales consultant (had bought from him once before).
Told him what I was looking for.
Test drove a similar model.
Went over the full options list (internet, and brochures, didn't list all available options/colors).
Paid $2000 deposit (don't remember if it was refundable - didn't really matter since I bought the car anyway).
Waited 5 months for the car - got to do 1-2 more test drives during this time (longer test drives/different environmental conditions).
Car came in, bought it.

[Coldjensens]

My son was looking for a manual car at the lower end of price. After finding nothing he went to VW - the manual transmission kings according to the salesmen. Nope. Nothing under about 35K with manual. For the most part, only high end cars are available with manual.

[Axxlrod]

Plenty of cars still available with manual... you just have to know where to find them. And convince the dealer to order one (risky).

https://www.caranddriver.com/flipboo...ion-in-2018#21

[UrbanAdventurer]

Those were good cars. I had a 2004 325Ci with a stick and kind of miss it sometimes. Wasn't fast or anything but it drove nice and the clutch/shifter were real nice to use.

[20yrsinBranson]

My experience is that if there are manual transmission cars on the lot that they are THRILLED to get rid of it. As far as ordering one, it would certainly be worth the wait.

[00molavi]

I was looking for one in 2016/early 2017. Finalized a deal on a regular Golf (not GTI or R) making sure it is manual. Went to the dealership to pay and pick up, turned out the car was automatic. The salesman was stupid.

Eventually bought a Veloster turbo, they had quite a few with the 6 speed.

[UrbanAdventurer]

If you like BMW a real good one was the E90 M3. They made a 4 door version with manual trans. Probably would not be easy to find the right one in the used market though. That V8 was pretty wild.