Vehicles that you would not expect to see a clutch in.

Post by **Johnf514** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:05 am

Sypher wrote:
Johnf514 wrote:The Corolla LE is standard equipped with a 5-speed . . .
really? cuz in Canada, all LE's comes comes with only Automatic...
Are you sure you're not thinking of CE?

The American website states 5-speed as the standard for the LE, with automatics available. http://www.toyota.com/corolla/specs.html

SteveUK · Post by **SteveUK** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:47 am

I am popping over to France in July with my housemate. Probably spend a few days there. Of course, I will be taking my own car.

I imagine that the MPV (we don't have minivans, yuck) is gonna be the Zafira .

Sypher · Post by **Sypher** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:42 am

Johnf514 wrote:
Sypher wrote:
Johnf514 wrote:The Corolla LE is standard equipped with a 5-speed . . .
really? cuz in Canada, all LE's comes comes with only Automatic...
Are you sure you're not thinking of CE?
The American website states 5-speed as the standard for the LE, with automatics available. http://www.toyota.com/corolla/specs.html

hmm you're right... It says so on the Canadian website too.... Hmm.. I must've never saw any that had a stick before so I assumed it came auto-creep standard...

Post by **Johnf514** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:00 pm

Grant it, they are "technically" standard, but like yourself, I've yet to see one. I don't imagine they sell too many.

Etanimulc · Post by **Etanimulc** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:33 pm

I believe a Kia Sportage, or some type of Kia, one of my fellow church members has one.

hockeystyx16 · Post by **hockeystyx16** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:04 pm

kias are death traps with automatic. a lawnmower motor with a slush, no power.

Tinton · Post by **Tinton** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:25 am

Oh yeah I didn't expect to see a manual in my friend's '00 Saab 9-3. I've driven it though and its pretty fun, especially with the turbo charger. I knew Saabs were owned by GM so I thought they'd be like Buick/Chevy/etc and not offer manuals in their sedans, but apparently back in 2000 when his car was made Saab was still a European company. So it does kinda make sense that it has a 5-speed.

uh2lsaab · Post by **uh2lsaab** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:49 am

Tinton wrote:Oh yeah I didn't expect to see a manual in my friend's '00 Saab 9-3. I've driven it though and its pretty fun, especially with the turbo charger. I knew Saabs were owned by GM so I thought they'd be like Buick/Chevy/etc and not offer manuals in their sedans, but apparently back in 2000 when his car was made Saab was still a European company. So it does kinda make sense that it has a 5-speed.

Saabs and most Euro brands sell a (relatively) high percentage of vehicles with manual transmissions. Just because GM owns them now, doesn't mean that that has changed significantly. (GM also owns Opel which is a purely non-North American brand.) Plus, Saabs are sold all over the world in countries that are heavy manual markets.

Turbos sure do make manuals fun to drive and less of a pain because they require less shifting.

Take it easy,
Atul

SteveUK · Post by **SteveUK** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:55 am

I would say that taking the whole planet in to consideration (a novel idea for some people) there are probably more manual cars than automatics.

Yes, the north american market is a large automatic one, but there is the rest of the world.

eaglecatcher · Post by **eaglecatcher** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:03 am

SteveUK wrote:I would say that taking the whole planet in to consideration (a novel idea for some people) there are probably more manual cars than automatics.

Yes, the north american market is a large automatic one, but there is the rest of the world.

yeah, us lazy north americans don't count for the majority of the world, that sfor sure.

snikro · Post by **snikro** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:52 pm

eaglecatcher wrote:when I go to france in july, my dad rented an opel minivan with a stick.

Dude you never told me you could predict the future!

eaglecatcher · Post by **eaglecatcher** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:32 pm

lol. You know what I mean, I just think it will be interesting to see a minivan with a shifter in it.

DrNick · Post by **DrNick** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:20 am

Johnf514 wrote:Grant it, they are "technically" standard, but like yourself, I've yet to see one. I don't imagine they sell too many.

Car dealerships tend to cater to the demands of the local area. For example, in my part of NYC, most people don't drive stick, and most people want cheap cars with the bare minimum options. Therefore, when I go looking through local dealerships' inventories, I see cars with automatic transmissions, I4s, basic radios, cloth seats, etc. You'd be hard-pressed to find sticks in my area.

When I extend my dealership searches to other states (or even other parts of NY), I suddenly start seeing a lot more cars with manual transmissions.

As for weird cars that I've seen - an old Taurus or two (not SHO, which was surprising), and some vans. I'd love to see soccer moms actually driving those.

ekincam · Post by **ekincam** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:30 pm

VTECaddict wrote:
Johnf514 wrote:How about a 2007 Toyota Camry?
those things are like rarer than ferraris.

I have a 07 Camry 5M...Too bad it's not worth as much as a rare Ferrari

ekincam · Post by **ekincam** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:32 pm

paul34 wrote:Yes, I think I'd rather get the Accord in manual if I had to get a sedan. The manual in the Camry is almost like "punishment" from Toyota... "tisktisk that you can "only" afford the CE! Here, have this crappy manual too!"

My Camry is my first 5M car...What's wrong with the 5M? It feels fine - to me at least. The same transmission, with some different gearing and different final drive, is used in Scion tC and I haven't read much about transmission issues from that car either.