Dave...
Not having a dig at you...on the contrary, full dibs to you for not getting a lazy left leg....
I have read stories of robbers trying to car jack a car only to find they can't drive it as it is a manual change...it seems that it is rare in the US to have a manual car regardless of size.
...and it is getting that way here. If the car is a larger 4cyl (say camry/Mondeo/Mazda 6) sized vehicle, the chance of buying a manual used is greatly reduced compared to say a Ford Focus or Holden Astra sized car. However, as the capacities of these cars grow towards and beyond 2 litres, more and more people opt for an automatic as the torque of the engine can cope with it.
From a European car perspective, you generally get a more reliable car if you go manual (though Volvo did use one of the best autos in the 240 and it is particularly understressed). Demand in Europe for smaller automatics is not high and often they used to be a specific model on their own. Renault, in particular, did this. They are more common on larger cars now, but I would guess that they are still around 50% on anything Mondeo/camry sized and probably less than 25% of Focus/Astra sized....
