Manual transmission rare?

kirkhilles

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Yeah, Manual Transmissions are going to be more rare (just like the Honda Sensing package) is which means you are going to pay a whole lot more unless you luck out and find what you want on a lot. People just don't want manuals anymore and I don't blame them. I used to drive my MT Miata on a daily basis, but I do not crave it AT ALL (at least the transmission side) compared to my CVT Civic. The thinking used to be that it was cheaper in the long run, but honestly I think its the reverse now. The cost to replace my Miata's clutch was going to cost $800-$1200, plus I've had to replace both Master and Slave Cylinders while a well-designed CVT will likely last forever.
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TimberWolf

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Every car I've bought had a manual transmission, so it was only natural that I went with a manual for my Civic. But yeah, trying to find a manual Civic is difficult, especially in the trim level I wanted. I was quite surprised that my local dealer happened to have one, since it seemed to be the only one in the province. That meant that I didn't have much bargaining power. Still, the manual in this car is quite nice, and since manuals are going to be extinct pretty soon, I figured that this will be the last manual I own. Especially since I have a sports car on order and it only comes with an auto transmission.
 

skrappss

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Every car I've bought had a manual transmission, so it was only natural that I went with a manual for my Civic. But yeah, trying to find a manual Civic is difficult, especially in the trim level I wanted. I was quite surprised that my local dealer happened to have one, since it seemed to be the only one in the province. That meant that I didn't have much bargaining power. Still, the manual in this car is quite nice, and since manuals are going to be extinct pretty soon, I figured that this will be the last manual I own. Especially since I have a sports car on order and it only comes with an auto transmission.
I was looking for a 2017 Civic Hatchback Sport and only wanted 6mt in black... that seriously had me in a bind and couldn't find one anywhere. I ended up ordering one from my local dealer to only be told the order was being cancelled because Honda wasn't allocating them to my area. I was so pist, especially after waiting for almost 6wks and then being told it was cancelled.

I then called another dealer in the area and he found one about 160 miles away, I drove up less then 48hrs later and it was still available. Since the car was on their lot, I was able to negotiate a bit and got to drive it for the first time 160 HAPPY miles back home... I am so happy that I just didn't settle for a different color/trim because I am LOVING this car.

I just figured I'd pass on my story that had some highs and lows but ended perfectly.

Honda Civic 10th gen Manual transmission rare? IMG_1724.JPG
 

spock_here

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Seems like a supply imbalance on the hatchback for sure. There are a few lx manual sedans in my state and dealers are looking to deal on them (2-2500K under msrp depending on time of month) at least in March. Nobody in my state has hatchback manuals and dealer says msrp if/when they get them. Same dealer offered the lx cvt hatch for 18888 (list 21333) so they are motivated to move the cvt, again end of month offer. To me most hardcore buyers want the manual hatches, not the cvts. Believe this imbalance = great deals on cvt but poor deals on manuals at least hatchbacks. Good deals on the 2.0 NA sedans manuals though. Oh well.
 

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I live in the Chicago area and was told that it was a RARE car(Civic Coupe EXT 6MT) and I would be hard to find on other than the dealership I was at(had Black with Black interior 6MT in stock). He wouldn't even come down from sticker. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday I contact another dealer for a quote and they came in $2000 under sticker, but had to locate one or order one. Later that day he called after looking to see what was available, I put $500 deposit down, they intercepted one that was in transit(my first choice in color and interior), and I picked up the car from them on Saturday. It may be faster to see if one can be located and transferred. I am so glad I did.
 


mrobison12

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I had some trouble getting my Manual LX hatch. I wanted a Sonic Gray, but there just weren't any available, and I would have had to wait weeks and weeks to have one shipped over. Then I wanted black, but there weren't any of those either. They wound up buying my WOP LX from a dealer near Chicago, but there were zero available in Michigan and only 4 LX manual hatches of any color in the 5-state Great Lakes region.
 

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I live in the Chicago area and was told that it was a RARE car(Civic Coupe EXT 6MT) and I would be hard to find on other than the dealership I was at(had Black with Black interior 6MT in stock). He wouldn't even come down from sticker. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday I contact another dealer for a quote and they came in $2000 under sticker, but had to locate one or order one. Later that day he called after looking to see what was available, I put $500 deposit down, they intercepted one that was in transit(my first choice in color and interior), and I picked up the car from them on Saturday. It may be faster to see if one can be located and transferred. I am so glad I did.
Nice, that's how I found my 6MT hatchback.
 

old sparks

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I had no problem finding a 6MT LX coupe, in the colour I wanted, Rallye red. It was built in mid-feb in Alliston, sent to a dealership in Cornwall, Ontario on spec, and then trucked up to Ottawa, when I made a downpayment 2 weeks ago.

I am amazed at how light the clutch is compared to every other vehicle I've owned. Is that a function of the dual-mass flywheel?
 
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360glitch

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I had no problem finding a 6MT LX coupe, in the colour I wanted, Rallye red. It was built in mid-feb in Alliston, sent to a dealership in Cornwall, Ontario on spec, and then trucked up to Ottawa, when I made a downpayment 2 weeks ago.

I am amazed at how light the clutch is compared to every other vehicle I've owned. Is that a function of the dual-mass flywheel?
6MT's seem to be much more readily available in CA.
 

Fanoflive

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I could find a couple LX Coupe with a manual however EXT Coupe was a little harder to come by. Sedan LX with a manual were more easily found. I even found a couple sedan EX-T I would have taken if I couldn't find what I wanted.
 


1.5CivicEX-T

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I only pay attention to the EX-T sedan manuals, but it looks like they are slowing down production on those. Not rocket science, but using cars.com and autotrader.com as a guide, the inventory has been in the low 100's for several months and has now dipped well below for the first time that I've seen. This morning was at 82. The other factor is the email updates with new EX-T sedan manual inventory has gone nearly dead the last 2 weeks. Each email used to be like 5-8 new cars. Now when an email update arrives, it's 2 cars at most. Usually 1. And the email updates are few and far between now. This could be due to many reasons. But I've been watching for several months and it's been relatively the same until the last 2 or 3 weeks.

When do 2018's start coming out?
 

RetroJR

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I only pay attention to the EX-T sedan manuals, but it looks like they are slowing down production on those. Not rocket science, but using cars.com and autotrader.com as a guide, the inventory has been in the low 100's for several months and has now dipped well below for the first time that I've seen. This morning was at 82. The other factor is the email updates with new EX-T sedan manual inventory has gone nearly dead the last 2 weeks. Each email used to be like 5-8 new cars. Now when an email update arrives, it's 2 cars at most. Usually 1. And the email updates are few and far between now. This could be due to many reasons. But I've been watching for several months and it's been relatively the same until the last 2 or 3 weeks.

When do 2018's start coming out?
Is it really because of low demand for manuals? I swear if there were more on the lots , they would move more.:doh:
 

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That's what I hear from every dealer I have talked to, yet every time a manual sport hatch shows it doesn't last more than 1 day.
 

skrappss

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That's what I heard from every dealer I have talked to, yet every time a manual sport hatch shows it doesn't last more than 1 day.
I totally agree... I am in NY and couldn't find a Sport 6mt anywhere... tried to order one for it only to be cancelled several weeks later and then finally drove 200+ miles to buy what I wanted. I am so glad I did but was told by the dealer I found that he had several callers the same day after I drove it off the lot. :dunno:
 

SleepyFC1

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Sounds like a lot of shady dealerships out there.

I never necessarily 'ordered' my M6 Sport, but rather put a feeler out to a local dealership in my area. My saleswoman let me know that all dealerships are allocated cars, and can negotiate and swap with other dealers to shift inventory prior to final destination shipping. Just so happens that exactly the color I wanted came up in their queue, so I put a $500 refundable deppsit down to hold it. Worth the wait to get exactly what I wanted.

Bottom line, dealers can't 'order' cars anymore. Honda allocates the cars, and they'll build what they're going to build regardless of demand. Sadly, I was told that only 1% of all Honda vehicles produced are manual transmission anymore. Even less for the Hatch.
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