Manual trans special order?

[E92inNC]

Is it possible and legal to order a car from the dealership with a manual trans if it’s available outside the states (Japan/Europe)? Or bringing a used one here without it being 25 years old? Anyone have any experience?

[Humdizzle]

i dont think you can do either of those options. you could do a swap though.

for instance you can buy an alfa quad here (only available in auto in the US, but europe got manual). You could order all the manual parts and trim pieces though and have a place swap it over and do the software.

you may be able to bring a car here and drive it under that 'show and display' law though. i dont know the details of that but i think some guys with skylines can legally drive non-Motorex cars with that.

[UPSROD]

Supposedly only in M2's for 2023.

[RM7]

No, the variations sold here have been approved by the various regulatory agencies, basically the MFR proposes what models they'd like to sell, they are inspected and found to be compliant with the applicable regs, and sold. If the MFR has no plans to sell a variation in the US, they won't go through the trouble of submitting it and getting it approved, even if it would pass all the applicable regs.

There are some ways to import stuff outside of this, but they tend to be very limiting.

[Red Bread]

By and large, we're becoming the hold outs for manuals. The GT3 came back with manuals primarily because of North American demand. The Mk8 Golf R is only available with a manual in North America (if yours doesn't immolate and sink coming over) and we tend to have the highest take rate for manuals GTIs, Miatas and others.

The only real exception are total shitboxes that we don't get in any form. But the Euros all think they're F1 drivers and dig their flappy paddles. Suckers.

[E92inNC]

Disappointing but unsurprising. It sucks all the manual cars now are either econoboxes or coupes/2 seaters.

[Humdizzle]

Originally Posted by E92inPHX

Disappointing but unsurprising. It sucks all the manual cars now are either econoboxes or coupes/2 seaters.

theres still the CT4 and CT5 BW. The 5 has absurd markup right now though. The 4 looks awkward at some angles imo. But both are supposedly much better drives than the G80.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by E92inPHX

Disappointing but unsurprising. It sucks all the manual cars now are either econoboxes or coupes/2 seaters.

People want to play with their phones while driving. They don't want to vote for politicians that would restrict/regulate cell phone technology for driving. Autos are what everyone is asking for.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by RM7

People want to play with their phones while driving. They don't want to vote for politicians that would restrict/regulate cell phone technology for driving. Autos are what everyone is asking for.

I can text and drive with a manual just fine, thank you. Just takes experience

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by RM7

People want to play with their phones while driving. They don't want to vote for politicians that would restrict/regulate cell phone technology for driving. Autos are what everyone is asking for.

Yep. Nearly was in a head-on collision in my neighborhood over the weekend from someone looking at their phone. I slammed on the brakes and pulled partly in to someone's driveway to avoid being hit.

But how do you police it?

[RM7]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Yep. Nearly was in a head-on collision in my neighborhood over the weekend from someone looking at their phone. I slammed on the brakes and pulled partly in to someone's driveway to avoid being hit.

But how do you police it?

You can't with "police", at least IMO there's no effective way to do this. Even if the consequences were huge, there is no way to catch the majority of people doing it, so if there's a good chance you can get away with it, people will continue doing it, severe consequences make no difference when there's literally no chance you'll get caught. Penalties for this are generally "after-accident punishment" which is to say, after something bad has already happened. This is kind of unfortunate because the person that did it is really not the most guilty one for this act, they are just the one left holding the bag at the end of the day and they did screw up, but they were led down that path by everything that encouraged and enabled it. The best way to mitigate a hazard of course is to design it out of the system. This would be like disabling phones while diving, but that brings up a myriad of issues, like what about using a phone in other moving situations, or what if there's an emergency and you need to use it while moving, and so on. They are "designing the hazard out of the system" by moving towards automated cars...automatic transmissions are a step in that, but it's not the solution that enthusiasts would like to see. Problem is, again, by the vast majority, people are asking to be able to play with phones while driving and those people really drive what happens here. It's not an age thing, I see people of all ages doing it, from old to young, single to family, etc. It's everyone.