sakimano

well don't forget, forum geeks like us aren't indicative of the entire population.

I think sales are indeed more like 75:25. Maybe even more. What we (forum geeks) want isn't such a big deal when you compare the 10,000 or so forum regulars to the million cars Audi sells every year. They're making decisions based on the market as a whole, and the market is telling them 'we don't want manuals'...just like the market in america told Audi 'we don't want wagons'.

b45H1r

This is amazing. I checked and you're right. I hadn't seen a manual in a lamborghini in so long, I guess I just assumed.

Apparently they sell about 1-2% manual transmissions.

They have said that next year is probably the final year, because of those stats.

India Whiskey Charlie

They will offer a stick shift on the current Gallardo until the model is completely redesigned. The new Aventador does not come with a stick shift option.

JMSIV

The Lambo dealer in NC (Lamborghini Carolinas) told me several years ago as the LP560 was coming out that though the manual was "standard" you had to essentially pay for the car up front before they would order one for you. The demand was for e-gear, the manuals being much harder to sell. It's too bad, because I have found in my (brief) encounters with Gallardos that - like most cars - the manual is much much much more fun.

But you are right that they are still out there. There is an orange manual Superleggera out there - that was special order to GET the manual. And there are 4 (total) LP670-SV's with manuals.

I agree that the forum polls are worthless. I would bet 10% of S4s are manuals. I think we forget that maybe 5% of owners actual go to an internet forum like this.

Same is true for people that actually buy high end cars - most of them are NOT enthusiasts. The bread and butter simply have a lot of money.

BTW, I think this is what makes the R8 special. It seems a relatively high percentage of them are manuals, much more so than Gallardos. A manual R8 spider would be a helluva car...

India Whiskey Charlie

That sounds like B.S. to me. No dealer can operate a business requiring full payment in advance.

sakimano

The enthusiast factor of B8 S4 owners has been dilluted quite a bit here in North America...because Audi took away the A4 3.2...so if you want a more upmarket A4 that doesn't have a tractor sounding 2.0T (like my B8 A4 2.0T), you are pushed into the S4 now in the absence of the V6 A4. Considering the very fair starting price at $47,000, it's a no brainer if you want more than the 2.0T. It also means lots of non-enthusiasts buy the S4 (those who would be content with a 250hp 250 torque NA 3.2). Those people are not posting on forums, so the numbers are certainly not reflective of the population at large.

A friend and his wife were looking for an A4, but she didn't want a 4 cylinder (neither did he as he drives it once in a while) so they called me and said 'what about this V6T A4? There are 2 of them on the lot? Thought you said they didn't have a V6'. I tried to explain that it was an S4, not an A4, but he didn't seem to care as long as it had a V6, and not a 4 cyl, under the hood. They bought the S4, with DSG, for his wife. They love it.

JMSIV

It's BS that Audi dealers "order" cars for people when they have already burned their allocation to stock their lot, but it happens all the time. I am sure he meant that he wasn't going to order one for just any Joe. I know they have long standing customers who they trust, but it isn't you or me.

Call them and ask them yourself: Lamborghini Carolinas, 888-455-2626.

When you are buying a car that is stickered at some $260,000 and will depreciate $50,000 as it drives off the lot, you don't take a $5000 deposit and get something you think will be next to impossible to sell.

In any case, the point was they can't sell sticks easily, so they are not just going to get them. Anything past the 560-4 is extremely rare in a manual from Lambo. For some reason, there is a much higher percentage of R8s in manual trim, even now.

jjm4life

Manuals are dead.
My mom just bought a r8 v10 to replace her 997.1tt. Her demands were:
manual trans, exclusive, prefers awd.
So with that in mind I brought her to an Audi dealer showed her the r8 and said pick a color because this is all there is.

Reggie

I posted this in another forum about Porsche PDK http://forums.quattroworld.com/rs4b7/msgs/72192.phtml

India Whiskey Charlie

Most of those guys have no idea what they are talking about. All these sequential type paddle shifting transmissions are only good for track driving. On the street, everybody tends to just leave the shifter on D and drive in auto mode. Two weeks ago, I had to drive in stop and go traffic for 30 minutes and the clutches overheated and started slipping. No stick shift I ever drove did that unless I was climbing a mountain in stop and go. I hate those automatics. No matter whose car it is I'm driving.