How do you shop for cars with manuals online?

[Standardshifter]

Greetings Standardshifters!

When looking for a new or used car with a standard, how do you look for them online?

I know a few places (http://autos.aol.com/used-list/trans-Manual/ for example) offer a filter for cars with manuals, but not all do.

Do you guys have a set group of places you search?

[theholycow]

I've used these before:
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/
http://motors.ebay.com

I haven't found a good way to search craigslist by transmission. There's no built-in functionality for it, people use a million different names to specify manual transmissions, and some don't even specify so you have to look at the photos. It would be helpful to do a negative search, looking for all results that don't include "auto" or "automatic" (can't exclude "AT" because it also means the word "at"), but craigslist won't let you do ONLY a negative search, you have to include at least one term you want to find. This is a bummer because craigslist is the modern version of newspaper classifieds and is where most non-technical private sellers advertise cars.

[bk7794]

Auto-Trader was where I found a majority of the used cars that I looked at. Plus it costs money, so generally it wouldn't be a scam.

[chrisa]

I've used these before:
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/
http://motors.ebay.com

I haven't found a good way to search craigslist by transmission. There's no built-in functionality for it, people use a million different names to specify manual transmissions, and some don't even specify so you have to look at the photos. It would be helpful to do a negative search, looking for all results that don't include "auto" or "automatic" (can't exclude "AT" because it also means the word "at"), but craigslist won't let you do ONLY a negative search, you have to include at least one term you want to find. This is a bummer because craigslist is the modern version of newspaper classifieds and is where most non-technical private sellers advertise cars.

I bought my car from Craigslist and the best I could do was search for the word speed (as in 5 speed). It wasn't perfect, but it returned lots of results and was pretty accurate.
I also only show listings with pictures, and ignore those with idiotic grammar/capitalization. The listing for my car was well written with detailed information, honestly described all of the problems, and had good photos, which shows me that the owner actually cares enough to write more than two lines about the car in all lower case. It also helps narrow the search even more, as if searching for manuals didn't already do that enough!

[watkins]

For me it was easy. I wanted a Viggen. Viggens only come in manual. Searched "Viggen" on craigslist and had success.

Doesnt ebay motors have a transmission selector? I dont remember.

[bk7794]

For me it was easy. I wanted a Viggen. Viggens only come in manual. Searched "Viggen" on craigslist and had success.

Doesnt ebay motors have a transmission selector? I dont remember.

It does, but sometimes idiots still post Autos as manuals.

[potownrob]

For me it was easy. I wanted a Viggen. Viggens only come in manual. Searched "Viggen" on craigslist and had success.

Doesnt ebay motors have a transmission selector? I dont remember.

It does, but sometimes idiots still post Autos as manuals.

match.com....then craigslist.com

[Squint]

match.com....then craigslist.com

No, rob, that's a different meaning for the word "tranny".

[DKaz]

Search in Craigslist "<Make, Model, Fuel type, and/or Body Style> <'Manual' or 'Speed' or 'Standard'>"

Most of the major used car dealers around here have transmission filters. Some of the new car dealers have these too.

[theholycow]

Search in Craigslist "<Make, Model, Fuel type, and/or Body Style> <'Manual' or 'Speed' or 'Standard'>"

Or spd or stick or std or manuel or standird or whatever other fails...

I'm the only perfectionist here who does not accept missing a single listing, aren't I...

[IMBoring25]

Then there are the people who don't mention the transmission at all. Sometimes you luck out with a useful interior picture or a reference to a new clutch but searches would never turn those up unless you subtract auto.

[AHTOXA]

Cars.com has a filter for trans type. I had good luck there.

[DKaz]

Search in Craigslist "<Make, Model, Fuel type, and/or Body Style> <'Manual' or 'Speed' or 'Standard'>"

Or spd or stick or std or manuel or standird or whatever other fails...

I'm the only perfectionist here who does not accept missing a single listing, aren't I...

I've had some success looking for "clutch", they may not specify the transmission type but "New clutch!" is a good indication it's a stick shift.

And yes, I've had more success finding manual transmission Previas when searching "Previa speed, "Previa spd", and "Previa standard".

[SonicHKS]

I wasn't really shopping for a new car when I bought my Sonic, so I'm not sure if I count. I was just researching new cars and seeing what options they had. So it'd start out with me being aware of the car, looking it up on Wikipedia and checking its specs, then I went out and test drove them. Later on when looking for my specific car I'd search car dealers and specify manual trans in the search parameters.

[SonicHKS]

I've used these before:
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/
http://motors.ebay.com

I haven't found a good way to search craigslist by transmission. There's no built-in functionality for it, people use a million different names to specify manual transmissions, and some don't even specify so you have to look at the photos. It would be helpful to do a negative search, looking for all results that don't include "auto" or "automatic" (can't exclude "AT" because it also means the word "at"), but craigslist won't let you do ONLY a negative search, you have to include at least one term you want to find. This is a bummer because craigslist is the modern version of newspaper classifieds and is where most non-technical private sellers advertise cars.

Best way on CL is to try each different search term, seeing what results you get. Better if you're looking for a specific make/model of car, though just putting in "5 speed" and a price range comes back with pretty good results. And I usually only have to try "5 speed" and "manual trans" or just "manual" and I find relevant results.