26th Aug 2018, 12:34

Low production options doesn’t mean it’s not desirable. Not everyone wants to pay more for a manual. Convertibles often cost more today to order as well. It used to be the reverse. I have scoured the country for well equipped classic sports cars with manuals and with air and amenities. I have a lot of friends with higher end sports cars. What I seem to see a lot is many automatics as well. A lot of guys buy a new car with automatics so that the wife can perhaps drive them. A high end purchase often purchased that way to get the blessing of the spouse. Some of her income perhaps has gone into its purchase. And yet it’s rare to ever see the spouse anyway and many of my friends wish they had manuals. I know that sounds bad, but it is very common. My wife always liked and had sports cars before with manuals, convertibles and cars that were not slugs. I thought she was incredibly cool to be single then with one. But she now has an automatic work car now. Let the car do it’s thing, being older now. One friend bought a new twin turbo Porsche with an automatic. I cringed. And his wife doesn’t drive it unless he’s with her anyway. I get that many paddle shift automatics can win a race today vs automatics. But nothing compares to winding back roads with a manual. The new cars have tight short shift ratios. Often I turn the Sirius radio off to listen to the car (a far better sound). Lastly I cannot find anything more boring than having an automatic in a sports car. A real disappointment. If you look at most new regular cars however they are fine with automatics. If I get to where I cannot handle a clutch someday, I may add to your statistic as well. But modern cars have a light effort clutch and are easy to shift today. Try one!