Manual Transmission B8 A4's. How rare are we?

[AngryBaconGod]

edit: I can spell manual, I promise. No way to edit title.

I took our '12 A4 (Quattro, Premium +, Sport Package) into our local dealer a few months ago to get the 15k service completed. We had originally bought the car in Denver, CO but moved to Sacramento, CA late last year.

When he got into the car to pull it into the bay, I saw him hesitate for a few seconds. I asked him if something was wrong and he stated that everything was fine, just that he had not seen a manual transmission B8 A4 before....

He told me that less than 1% of these vehicles were imported with manual transmission and his specific dealer had never ordered one or had one in stock. Never I asked? Never he confirmed...

Now this is a pretty big dealer, the only Audi dealer in the Sacramento area as far as I am aware. The guy really had no reason to lie to me (Its not like he was the sales manager trying to explain to me why he was offering me 4k less for my trade in ) or anything.

So is this the case? Less than 1% of B8 A4's come in manual. Im sure the numbers for S4's are higher, but probably only marginal nowadays.

Personally, I wouldn't have this car any other way. I love this transmission pared with the 2.0T. But then again I am biased. Out of the past 8 vehicles I've owned, the only one that wasnt a manual was a '974Runner (and trust me, I tried to find the manual version).

[brittney]

I work for a dealer, and I can count on one hand how many B8 Manual A4's I've seen.

[billyhelmsorig]

I saw one when I picked up my b8. same color as mine and everything but went with the auto at the time because I couldn't drive stick. now that im good at driving stick from doing it every day at work I regret getting the auto more and more each day

[TheKid23]

Very hard to find, ask me how I know...

[simek3ru]

Put in an EC Short throw and you'll love it even more!

I am in Northern Virginia and they only had 1 manual A4 on the east coast at the time which just so happened to be a P+, Sport Package, no Nav which hit my criteria. Had it sent up from North Carolina. Sometimes its better to be lucky.

[Jessy403]

I had a 2010 red sline in a manual transmission. I sort of regret letting it go though. Only red a line in manual I have seen around my area

[RemusUSA]

Very hard to find, ask me how I know...

How did you know?

[elscotto80]

I agree they seem to be rare. Case in point when i bought mine. I saw it online, went to take it for a spin and made it up my mind. As I was in the process of signing the paperwork, two people came in wanting to check it out. Needless to say, they were not as lucky. I even heard another sales guy on the phone calling a customer saying the manual a4 has been sold. I am happy to have it and its tons of fun. Snow+quattro+6spd=sweet.

[stewmann]

I've been entertaining the idea of upgrading the B6. I was hoping for something CPO and I have yet to find anything in Texas or Louisiana, new or CPO, except a couple S5s in manual. I've been driving manuals for a long time and i really can't find myself to settle for and Auto. Pretty much only option is to order it that way.

[Frinkferta]

Ask for Scott Bunker for a Service Adviser. He's awesome!

[kngfisher]

Had mine since March of 09. Dealers near me don't get them usually. Almost had to order one but found one in Philly and had to put down a down payment while one phone with dealer before the car got off the boat.

They are out the just not many of us. Shame really that more manual options even for Audi are not imported into the United States.

[mr_milo]

Very hard to find, ask me how I know...

+1

I had to compromise with the car I got since there wasn't a single A4 Prestige in the western US. Even when I moved down to a Premium Plus I could only find 4 cars with a manual and sports package. I really lucked out getting the car I did but still had to have it shipped from San Diego to the SF Bay Area. Well worth it!

By the way, it's basically the same with BMWs now a days too. My 328 Convertible was the ONLY stick in the western US when I got it. :(

[copperjdmeg]

I looked from and wide for my B8 so far and wide that I looked around for almost a year before I found my Pride and Joy in Florida and Im in Vegas but it was all worth it the wait considering didn't realize how rare my car was but when I took my car in to get it serviced only to have my service advisor to say "wow you've got a rare car" If you read my signature you'll know what he meant

[gunsmoker]

The 6MTs are not that rare in the North East. When I ordered mine these were about 10-13% of the inventory.

[jmass]

When I bought my 2012 manual, there were less than 10 others being sold through dealerships in the whole state of texas...

[hookahmaster]

I searched for months at various dealers around south Florida for a 2013 2.0t manual transmission. Not a single dealer ever had one manual in stock, I even had them all search the country for manuals that I could have shipped. Finally I struck it lucky in June when made a visit to the dealer by my house, and he said he was able to find one A4 manual in california and could have it arrive the next day. So needless to say I jumped on that opportunity. Sadly it wasn't the s-line, and doesn't have many options, apart from manual, quattro, convenience package and lighting package and that is it. But I wouldn't trade it for an automatic A4 with every option offered.

[Amorphic]

They are getting pretty damn rare. I lucked out finding mine. Hardly any dealers carry them anymore. Sucks.

[doowopaudi]

When I searched cars.com for my B8 back in April, there were over 400 results. When I narrowed it down to manual transmission, that number dropped to 2 cars. I got it the same day. These cars will go as soon as they become available.

[kwbdc]

Had mine special ordered and got it with 8 miles on it. The only thing that I HAD to have was MT. Never regretted for a second waiting to get what I wanted, it feels like driving!

[Dan_Q]

Getting manuals is really becoming a PITA and has turned my car buying experiences into real projects. I originally wanted to get an Avant but they're not offered with manuals. I ended up flying to Kansas to pick up my manual S-Line sedan from a private party. He told me when he bought it new that he had to have it shipped from a dealer in Minnesota as it was the closest one in the country.

I'm quite jealous of buyers who can just walk into a dealer or search the classifieds to find their new car within a short driving distance. I actually assumed about 10% of A4s were manuals, but from the sound of it there are fewer than that. At least they still make them!

[joey.delorenzo]

Spent a year looking for one-- after a year and half, "manual" + "cpo "+ "right price" never actually happened. So approximately 500 days after I started my search, I ended it with my current A4 tip. Do I regret not continuing searching for a manual? A lot of days I really wish I did keep searching. My next car will be manual, I won't even have to think about (I can probably afford a new one by then hopefully)

Am I disappointed in my car, though: No lol.

[smetch]

bought my about 5 months ago, manual a4 2010 there was 2 on the lot, in long island was only about 4 on the east coast within distance

[Limey]

I have a 6 Spd MT and I found it across the other side of Canada. Needless to say I bought it and wouldn't have anything else

[John4378]

I went to my dealer in April 2009 and wanted a 6MT A4 S-Line. He did not even have the ability to order me one. I was baffled. Turns out that only in certain regions of the US can you order a manual transmission A4. AoA won't allow (computers don't even have an option to order 6MT) the southeast region of the US to order them. In the end, we had to work out a deal with a Colorado Springs, CO dealer for me to assume a car that was already in the queue to be built. It was still early enough in the process though where I got to customize it exactly how I wanted it:

Deep Sea Blue
S-Line
6MT
Loaded with every option except manual rear sun shades.

[r6_11b8]

i actually saw a manual at the dealer 2 weeks ago(keyes van nuys in which im never going there again)....i was looking at the b8.5's while i was waiting for my car and the car salesman ended up telling me that he had 4 people waiting to see it just cus of the manual..believe it was an s line as well

[gunsmoker]

Turns out that only in certain regions of the US can you order a manual transmission A4. AoA won't allow (computers don't even have an option to order 6MT) the southeast region of the US to order them.

I find that really hard to believe. There was obviously a way for you to get that car so it's unclear what AoA would accomplish by blocking 6MT sales in that region. And if they do eventually say goodbye to the manuals, there's always BMW, Porsche, or Lotus...

@ joey.delorenzo who spent 500 days looking for one, why didn't you order it - it takes 8-12 weeks.

To be brutally honest, we are doing that to ourselves in the US by letting our wives and kids get away with driving automatics.

[doowopaudi]

I find that really hard to believe. There was obviously a way for you to get that car so it's unclear what AoA would accomplish by blocking 6MT sales in that region. And if they do eventually say goodbye to the manuals, there's always BMW, Porsche, or Lotus...

@ joey.delorenzo who spent 500 days looking for one, why didn't you order it - it takes 8-12 weeks.

To be brutally honest, we are doing that to ourselves in the US by letting our wives and kids get away with driving automatics.

Those of us who demand manual transmission may find ourselves having to upgrade to the S4 one day.

[jbradle7]

I had to order mine to get the MT... believe I used my dealers only/remaining allocation for the year as well.

[b6onboost]

The % of manuals is low and continually falling. You pretty much have to order one if you aren't willing to compromise on everything else.

[a2 4.0t]

they're hard to find, I searched and had the dealer looking for a couple weeks only to settle for an auto. at the time my preferences in order of importance were ibis white->S-line package->manual trans, I was able to get two out of three but I really regret not having a manual, rowing through gears in my b6 3.0 a4 on winding roads was so much fun in comparison to putting my b8 in S mode(which is a joke) and just hitting the gas.

[tgrundke]

Those of us who demand manual transmission may find ourselves having to upgrade to the S4 one day.

Well, those days may be numbered as well considering that Audi has discontinued the S4 manual transmission power train for the European market.

[Scribe42]

I decided to buy a 2012 A4 P+ in January of 2012. Wanted specific options, including manual transmission. The dealer had NO manuals in stock, much less with the options I wanted.

How about ordering one for me?? (In the past, I'd ordered four other Audis from this dealer, with no problems. Each one took six to eight weeks for delivery.) Then I learned that AoA had already stopped taking orders for 2012 models. They wanted to clean out stock to make room for the facelifted 2013 that was coming. And there was no concrete info on when the 2013 models would be orderable, what they would cost, what content would be available, etc. Probably a late summer/early autumn delivery at soonest.

So I had the dealer do a search of other dealership inventories for a 2012 with manual transmission. Only one was available, and it had my second choice color. Got P+, Monsoon Grey, grey interior, walnut trim and 6 speed manual. Had to take the pushbutton ignition option, though. A fairly pricey option I would not have ordered.

The dealer had to do a trade to get my car. We're in Michigan, the car was in Ohio, so trucking was involved. It was mid-February before I got the car. In several visits to the dealer for routine maintenance the past year and a half, I've yet to see a manual transmission A4 other than mine.

[doowopaudi]

I just performed a search on cars.com for A4 B8's in the entire US and only 2 came up.

Dang, back in April, there were 2 in my area. Now there are none. People with MT are holding on to them. I know I'm holding onto mine!

http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchr...250&slrTypeId=

Edit: oops, my mistake. There are 2 in my area and 153 in the nation:
http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchr...250&slrTypeId=

That's an average of about 3 per state!

[PuNLeT]

I must have been really lucky to have gotten it then. Dealer found one for me in PA with the color options that I wanted White with black interior. Took delivery 3 days later.

[GotTD1?]

Bought my P+, sports package, manual back in May 2010 brand new. There were only three on the east cost with those three options, Parsippany, NJ (Phantom Black), Turnersville, NJ (Ice Silver)-my car and Alexandria, VA (Monsoon Gray). The only reason I remember this is because it took me 2 months to find and debated about colors. They are rare finds....

[kongmw]

If I didn't live in a city with this much hilly terrain, I would've probably gotten or at least looked for a manual....

[mr_milo]

i actually saw a manual at the dealer 2 weeks ago(keyes van nuys in which im never going there again)....i was looking at the b8.5's while i was waiting for my car and the car salesman ended up telling me that he had 4 people waiting to see it just cus of the manual..believe it was an s line as well

Yup! That was the P+, Deep Sea Blue, manual, sport, nav, black optics, I believe.
I was looking at that car but my wife didn't really like the color and I didn't feel like dealing with the upkeep just coming from a black car.

[SilveR316]

Well, those days may be numbered as well considering that Audi has discontinued the S4 manual transmission power train for the European market.

Rumour has it that there will be no manual transmission available in the 2015 S4 (or whenever the B9 platform arrives). If that's true, it looks like I got the last model year with a 6MT.

[gunsmoker]

There is a couple of manual 2014 A4s out of 7 at my dealership so you guys are probably not looking where you need to be. Check primeaudi.com.

[gunsmoker]

And 1 out of 4 2014 A4s at iraaudi.com in my area.