Manually Getting There.

So I composed a list for North American car manufacturers offering a manual transmission in their line up. I found a lot of interesting things when searching through different car web pages, especially gaudy flair.

The Alfa Romeo webpage was by far the most confusing of them all. I tried to get a simple spec sheet that took me more than 6 minutes to find, I should have been paid for fanyarin’ that kazi. Porsche also has too many options for their cars that they fail in giving a clean webpage to properly choose and differentiate between the options. Honestly, if you are getting a brand new Porsche, find a dealership and let them help you with those choices. The easiest page was Scion, nothing flashy and quite simple to understand and build my car.

Few surprises were with Audi only having manuals for its A4, A5, and R8 lines, this includes S models. They had the easiest and cleanest web configuration when building a car out of the other luxury brand vehicles. Volkswagen also shares parts with the A3 through the A6 models, so I was surprised that the A3 didn’t have a manual transmission standard/option, yet all Volkswagen’s do. With the release of the new Lamborghini Huracan I won’t be surprised if the new R8 V10 loses the manual option too.

The three Japanese luxury brands have essentially phased out all manual transmissions in their line up. I know Acura is now officially overseen by U.S. management as of the beginning of this year, so I’m not sure if the ILX will even remain a manual. Infiniti hasn’t released its official Q60 coupe since it shares engines with the Fairlady Z and Lexus decided the IS models don’t need manuals anymore.

For the American brands, Ford had options on almost all their sedans and coupes besides the Taurus. Chevrolet and Dodge also had a great line-up for a manual transmission package on their cars. As for luxury U.S. cars, Buick and Cadillac had at least one or two options performance cars with manual options.

Lotus, Porsche, and Subaru were my all time favorites. They still offer manuals as standard and their line-up’s were amazing. The BMW range disappoints me, it looks like they are slowly trying to let go of the manual. However I’m glad the M6 and M5 still have that option available.

DTM BMW M3….YEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoUvIT_zJzs

i8 cruising!

LEts gO! IND Tuning!

M Power….When’s the Z4 M coming yo?!

SO even though it seems that the M badge is being thrown around for any model BMW can throw it on, why isn’t there one for the Z4?

ADV.1 to make the week fly by…

BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH MY FAVORITE WHEEL MAKER!

GT6 Event Shows more BMW rides…

Looking at this photo you can see the Nismo Z34 in front and also looking further you see the BMW M5 f10 and the M6 Granturismo!!! Plus they announced the M4/M3 will be available exclusively in GT6!!! In your face Porsche, we still love you though!

DAY 2 6 series: M6 BELLA

From the E24 to the F12…no F13…wait nooo F14! Whatever chassis number they call it for the different designs (cabriolet, coupe, GT) its the M6 we are talking about. Looking better each year, the M6 is an M5 that hugs you with all its might and gives you a race car sport like feel than a family event in the M5.

I love it that bmw is still trying to stick with manuals, well at least testing popularity in the US. This also confused me when it was only the Gran Coupe that had the option. Usually sedans would be the ones least likely to have a manual transmission….whatever maybe in the 2015 models it will go to all models; doubt it. The V8 engine is an s63 so different from the outgoing e90/e92 M3’s which, will add value to these M3’s down the road. The only problem I have is that is not as agressive as it used to look. The M-spec models look a little more aggressive that the actual M-powered vehicles.

Specs:

Engine – 4.4L BMW S63 V8 (Twin Turbo Charged)

Power – 560hp/502lbft

Weight – 4430

Limited Speed – 155 (I’m waiting for tuning companies to take it to the limit)

DAY 1: THE NEW 6

WITH THE FRANKFURT AUTOSHOW ITS ONLY FEESABLE TO HAVE A GERMAN MADE CAR AS THE CAR OF THE WEEK. THE 6 SERIES HAS BEEN ON MY EYE FOR A WHILE, I’VE SOMETIMES LOVED LOOKING AT IT AND AT THE SAME TIME HATED THE CONCEPT AND DESIGN OF IT.

HOWEVER IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER IN STYLE, BUT HAS ALWAYS HAD AN AMAZING ENGINE EVEN IF ITS SHARED WITH ITS YOUNGER BROTHER/SISTER THE 5!

NOW WITH MORE COMPETITION RISING BMW EXECUTIVES ARE MAKING SO MANY CHANGES TO THE BRAND THAT I CAN’T KEEP UP. ONE OF THEM IS ADDING A GRAN COUPE TO OBVIOUSLY COMPETE WITH THE A7 OF AUDI AND CLS OF MERC; AS WELL AS OTHER BRANDS.

ENDAGTR

BMW