7 Cars You'd Wouldn't Expect To Come With A Manual Gearbox Option

Aston Martin DB9

It’d be unthinkable to offer a luxury grand tourer like the DB9 with anything other than an automatic gearbox these days, but once upon a time Aston Martin’s gorgeous DB7 successor was indeed sold with a stick shifter. Pretty much no one bought one however, so unsurprisingly Gaydon dropped the manual option for the 2013 Virage-inspired facelift.

However, it went one step further by replacing the DBS - which could be optioned with a manual - with the auto-only Vanquish, and only giving the option of a seven-speed automated manual in the V12 Vantage S which superseded the boggo V12 Vantage. A step too far, some might argue - particularly in the case of the V12 Vantage S. Fortunately, Aston has since kindly fitted the V12 Vantage S with a manual.

BMW M5 (E60)

In pretty much every country in the world, you don’t get any transmission choice with the E60 M5: either you have the 5.0-litre V10 hooked up to a seven-speed SMG gearbox, or you choose another car. Except of course, if you live in the USA or Canada. Here, buyers were given the option of a six-speed manual, but it wasn’t popular - just 1364 stick-shifting E60 M5s were built.

BMW M5 (F10)

Despite switching to a slicker seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox for the F10 generation, the M5 continues to be offered with the option of a six-speed manual. As with the E60 version, you have to live in North America to take advantage of the rare phenomenon of a manual box F10 M5.

However, BMW M boss Frank van Meel told us earlier this year that demand for manual M5s has declined even further, meaning that the 4.4-litre V8-powered F10 will be the last M5 to be offered with anything other than an automatic.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Yep, it is possible to enjoy the 612bhp V12 in the 599 GTB while rowing through a glorious gated manual gearbox. But good luck finding one: the vast majority of 599s were fitted with Ferrari’s ‘F1’ semi-automatic, with just 30 manuals built worldwide. 20 went to the US, and the other 10 were spread across Europe.

The 599 was one of the last manuals Ferrari ever offered: all current cars from Maranello are fitted with seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions.

Ferrari California

The manual 599 GTB may be a rare beast, but it has nothing on the scarcity of the first-gen California’s manual population. Ferrari built - drumroll please - three. Yep, just three, only one of which resides in the UK.

We can see why: the California is supposed to be more of a look at me cruiser of a Ferrari. It’s not a Ferrari you buy with the intention of tearing up mountain roads, so the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic makes far more sense.

Unsurprisingly, Ferrari took note of the manual California’s savage unpopularity, and currently offers the second-generation ‘California T’ with the auto only.

Porsche Panamera

The idea of a manual Panamera just feels wrong. As a big, wafty saloon, we can’t see why you’d want one with three pedals. And yet, a few buyers decided that was exactly what they were after. An example we looked at a couple of weeks ago served as partial inspiration for this list, and is one of only two manual Panameras for sale in the whole country.

Unsurprisingly, the new Panamera is offered only as an automatic.

Porsche Cayenne

Since we’re on the subject of aesthetically dubious Porsches with logic-defying three-pedal arrangements, how about the Cayenne? We’ve managed to find more Cayenne manuals than Panameras, but since we’re talking about six out of almost 800 listed for sale on Autotrader, the manual Cayenne is still a spectacularly rare thing.

What other cars can you think of that had a ridiculously unpopular and relatively unknown manual option?