why no manual transmission?

Yeah, I was curious about this several years ago, too. In '98, I finally gave in & ordered an automatic when after ~2 months, my dealership *still* couldn't locate the exact car I wanted, in a 5-speed stickshift. The correct (desired) permutations in automatics kept popping up, but no manuals. I finally got tired of waiting, & gave in to an automatic. I had always driven manuals (since the mid-60's), & was reluctant to give it up. But guess what? When I bought my '04 car, I didn't even bother looking for a manual, just ordered an automatic. ;-)

Cathy

Reply to
Cathy F.
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I agree. There's a feeling of control over a manual - when to shift - Vs. the car deciding for you; and some people simply find it more fun to do the shifting - they're more engaged in the driving process. Plus, the cost between a manual & an automatic (last I checked into it, which granted, was several years ago) was only $300 - 400 bucks. A semi drop in the bucket when pitted against the cost of the car in general.

I've read the same thing. OTOH, if I could, I would (manually) shift up into 5th before my automatic usually does it. Waits several seconds too long, IMO.

You can look & might get lucky, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

Cathy

Reply to
Cathy F.

The Tacoma PreRunner trucks do not have a manual trans option, except the

4X4 models, but the straight Tacoma trucks do have it. I can't explain why the PreRunner package would not have a manual trans, especially when the base truck has it, but my guess is that there are smog or CAFE rules that demand it.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Shame on you!

I lucked out...I was looking for a low-mileage used Scion, with 17" wheels, the full 'Panoramic' sunroof, Bridgestone Potenza tires, a 5 speed tranny and a rear lip spoiler

THere was a guy who posted here last year saying he had tCs for sale (they were hard to get) I never hooked up with him...I was 3 miles from the dealer but we were on our way to a gig.

So, one nice Sunday a few weeks ago I popped the roof off the Supra and took a ride. I went to the WRONG place; the same dealer, but his 'used car' outlet. Right as soon as you drove in, there it was...everything but the spoiler! (Had some 'groovy' graphic down the side, too...) I had settled my mind on Silver, the red is HORRIBLE, the blue TOO flashy (but nice), and it was all there! At a decent price, to boot, with 11,225 miles on it.

I don't miss the lip spoiler at all!

Reply to
Hachiroku

I don't miss the manual transmission, after all. And my left foot hasn't accidentally slammed into the car's floor when coming to a stop for years now. ;-) The only time I semi miss the manual is when - as I mentioned in some other post - I'm on a highway & I want to shift up from 4th into OD/5th, but the automatic doesn't think it's quite ready yet. And if I ever manage to own a Prius, it'll all be a moot point anyway. :-)

Cathy

Reply to
Cathy F.

I had a '74 Corolla 1200 until '76, then a '72 Corona MKII until '77, a Volvo 1800ES Sport Wagon until '78. In '78 I bought a '73 Nova SS, the first automatic in the bunch...

Coming to an intersection I saw the other guy was NOT going to stop like he was supposed to, and hit the brakes!!!! And the clutch!!!! (Force of habit..) I caught the left half of the brake pedal full force to the floor!!

Good thing I had my seatbelt on! Those brakes locked up so hard, that, by that time I was only doing about 15-20MPH and STILL left quite a set of skid marks!!!

Every car after that was a 5-speed, except an '88 Honda Accord I bought for my wife, and the LHS I traded for the Scion (a mistake...), my '92 AWD Grand V-Ger, and, unfortunately, my Supra...

Reply to
Hachiroku

While I could drive it fine, it felt odd, I didn't know what to do with my right hand, and my left foot.

I suppose I could live with it if I had to.

Reply to
Esmail Bonakdarian

Yes, I was surprised how much the price difference has come down since I bought my current car (1991;-)

Yeah .. I'm slowly coming to terms with that thought :-(

Reply to
Esmail Bonakdarian

hi,

Yup, I'll do that for sure -- after all this isn't a trivial purchase.

Esmail

Reply to
Esmail Bonakdarian

As I said, you might strike it lucky... but this is what happened for me back in '98 - for a ~2-month span my dealership combed the whole NE & couldn't locate even one manual that also fit the rest of my chosen options (which weren't all that weird - after all, it was a Corolla, which is pretty mainstream). If I'd been way less picky, then I could've had a manual. But as you say, a car purchase isn't exactly a small outlay of $$, so wanted to get what I wanted to get, and in the end the correct permutation of options & color won out over transmission.

Cathy

Reply to
Cathy F.

My son wanted a new Corolla S.

We would NOT buy one in the south east because of the 700 bucks of worthless crap that Southeastern Toyota adds to EVERY Toyota sold.

We contacted a dealer in Philadelphia who located a stick Corolla S for us.

We flew to Philly, they met us and we drove the car back to Florida.

If anyone is interested, I'll give the name of the dealership. We had an excellent experience.

Reply to
Scott in Florida

I may be wrong, but my *guess* would be that the "S" model is more likely to come w/ a 5-speed stick than the other Corolla models. The manual adding to the sportiness factor.

Cathy

Reply to
Cathy F.

If you go to Toyota dot com you can find how many are available.

I found 268 CEs 43 LEs and 83 Ss

Now that is only using my Florida zip code.

That is how I started the search for my son's Toy.

The dealer in Philadelphia searched and located the exact specs my son wanted.

He wanted stick, black, sunroof, spoiler. They found it.

Reply to
Scott in Florida

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