Gadgetory

I get a lot of email from particularly younger drivers who feel they're missing something having never known or had a car with a manual transmission I'm Brian Cooley with my top five cars that do have one these are all mainstream cars that come in below 25 grand yet have a stick and a clutch to make driving more fun not just to lower the price here's our list number five the Camaro v6 and the Mustang v6 that's where I'm giving you a twofer here and sort of a well-kept secret these two classic American pony cars both come base with a six-speed manual a lot of folks don't know that and they also committed some really low prices as you can see though they're big brothers with v8s and automatics tend to get all the headlines add in the fact that these are rear-wheel drive cars and you've tapped into a vein of unfussy classic American fun by the way if you're asking where is the Dodge Challenger it doesn't offer a manual on the lower price base cars number four a Fiat 500 Abarth now Fiat recently added an automatic transmission to the 500 a barth but don't fall for it all 500 Abarth or otherwise really reward you for getting a 5 manual version because you really need to wring every bit out of these cars and they reward it Italian cars of all prices have historically been built to rev and shift often they practically invented the shift gate that doubles as art after all number three Mazda's Mazda 6 now Mazda styles the six as the driver's car among its more defined competitors and frankly we don't argue a great-lookin good handling car with a 6-speed manual offered on two of its three trim levels they're serious about this it's also a family-sized 4-door the only one on my list and as we'll see in a moment you can actually find one it's not just theoretical number two Ford's Focus ST and Fiesta ST the Focus and it's more affordable little cousin are an automotive dynamic duo these days very celebrated and their unusual in that they only come with a 6-speed manual you want an automatic you go somewhere else you seldom find that to be the case in a pair of cars a big volume manufacturer before I get you to my number one pick know that manuals remain small potatoes for the US car business because dealers know they tend to sit on the lot a recent survey of mainstream cars done by cars.com found that manuals made up anywhere from a half a percent to maybe seven percent of cars in stock they're just not a lot of what people want out there partly because most people never learned to drive a stick or they don't want the hassle of babying wanting to commute or they notice that in most cases fuel economy is actually better with an automatic my number one pick if you want a car with a clutch has got to be the Mazda mx-5 the Miata hands-down my favorite because it gives cars with a stick a good name the Miata has always offered an automatic but to order one that way is to miss the point this car has a short shifter throw a nice linear clutch feel it's close to perfect wrapped up in one of the truly celebrated roadsters of all time and with rear-wheel drive handling to complement that drivetrain this is a lot of fun per gallon stay on top of everything regarding high tech cars and modern driving at CNET on cars.com i'm brian coulis thanks for watching