Ah, the manual transmission. Once the default, it’s now obscure in today’s automotive market. Yet another manual has fallen by the wayside, and the cheapest three-pedal car on the market is now a lot more expensive.
The sad story starts south of the border. Automotive News shared reports from an anonymous source that production of the manual-transmission Nissan Versa had halted. Nissan confirmed the news soon after. It perhaps came as little surprise, given the manual take rate was less than 5 percent of the 42,589 units sold in 2024. With less than 2,500 sold, it would be hard to justify continued production, even less so when heavy tariffs were due to hit the Mexican-built model.
The manual Versa started at a sticker price of just $18,330. It was one of the most affordable models in the US market, and the only one available with a five-speed stick. With the manual dead, only the automatic Versa will remain. More importantly, now that it’s gone, the mantle of cheapest manual in America goes to a new model—and with a significant price premium.
Always The Answer
The new cheapest manual in America? It’s the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata. The affordable roadster is 10 years into its current production run, and has been heavily revised and refreshed over that time. As it stands, the base model Sport will set you back $30,515—over $12,000 expensive than the outgoing manual Nissan Versa. Yes, if you want a brand new manual, it’s going to cost you at least 66% more from now on.
The Miata is a lot more expensive than the Nissan Versa, but for good reason. One is an economy car built for grocery runs and day-to-day life. The other is a drop-top roadster offering one of the finest driving experiences of your life.
Mazda achieved the impossible with the ND Miata. It managed to keep weight within shouting distance of the feather-light original, while every other vehicle in the market bloated severely over the last three decades. Updates in recent years saw the Miata shake off the underpowered vibes. The current 2.0-liter inline-four offers a joyous 181 horsepower—enough to have fun, but so much you’ll to get into trouble. The tasteful engine with the lightweight chassis combine with a handling package that flatters all.
You get behind the wheel of this car, and you’re suddenly a driver, and you’re having a ball. It’s not the most practical vehicle—too small to haul luggage for long roadtrips, too impractical to daily for some. But on the right day? The sun is shining, the engine’s redlining, and you suddenly remember what cars are all about.
It feels fitting that the Miata becomes the new cheapest manual in America. It’s always been the entry-level enthusiast car, and now that title is truer than ever. It’s got the right drivetrain layout, it’s got three pedals in the footwell, and you can drop the roof to feel the wind in your hair as a bonus. Many of us started our journeys with these cars over the years, and they taught us much.
While it’s tough to see the cheapest manual draw farther out of reach, I’m not sure it’s a huge loss. After all, I’m not sure too many enthusiasts were hitting up Nissan for manual Versas, given less than 2500 sold last year. Indeed, despite the expense, the Miata outsold the manual Versa by four to one last year.
We’ll pour one out for the manual Versa all the same. I’m particularly heartbroken for the teens out there whose parents work at the Nissan dealership. They might have been hoping to get a brand new stick for their 16th birthday, but instead they’ll be pulling up to school to the hum of a Jatco CVT. Vale.
Image credits: Nissan, Mazda
Actually, wouldn’t the cheapest manual be the Polaris Slingshot S? (MSRP = $24,999) As an Autocycle, you don’t need a motorcycle endorsement to drive it, and it’s completely street legal.
Registration and licensing is state by state. Not all states allow a Slingshot to be driven without a motorcycle endorsement.
I’m waiting for Jatco CVT to tell us that you don’t need a manual when you have a much superior Jatco CVT.
Best thing about a Jatco CVT in a car is that you can enjoy the full life span, from fresh to death, of several Jatco CVTs in the time you might own the car.
So from the used car lot to repo?
I might be reading the data wrong, but if I’m not, Mazda sold under 9000 Miatas last year. Let’s be generous and assume 75% of them had sticks, so maybe 6500 stickshift Miatas were sold last year. That’s not a heckuva lot more than the stick Versa sold.
I’m pretty sure Mazda is mostly holding on to the Miata as a sort of halo car; it can’t be very profitable.
Somehow the Miata makes people think the automatic SUVs on their lots are performance cars?
I don’t know how marketing works.
Oh absolutely and that’s why I referred to the Miata as a “halo car”. In the crossover space, the RAV4 and CR-V are appliances, but the CX-5 has just a touch more “zoom zoom”. I’m kinda surprised they dropped that tagline.
Learned to drive stick in my sister’s 1990 Miata. It ruined most other manuals for me right off the bat. My other sister got a manual cavalier a year or so later. She was struggling to get it up the hill in the neighborhood and asked me to help. I thought I knew how to drive it as I was proficient in the Miata but nope! It was like stirring soup! Horrible. The smell of that poor clutch hung around for awhile after getting it going. Haha.
Miatas are fine as a 2nd or 3rd vehicle but they don’t have the practicality I want. For a daily driver give me 4 doors, a wagon, a hatch, something.
I daily an RF Club. It’s totally doable.
How about a Mazda 3?
Manual transmission, 4 doors, wagon/hatchback something.
$32k.
I had a Mazdaspeed 3, was a great car. But $32k isn’t so great.
Manual transmissions became less attractive to me when rev hang became a thing. My last manual was a TDI Jetta and the revs dropped down immediately while shifting. I test drove a ’17 GTI and it was just so annoying to wait for it to come down to match the next ratio.
My Focus ST came with a “helpful” feature that keeps the car from rolling back on hills when you take your foot off the brake with the clutch still down. But it’s the weirdest feeling, I kept thinking I had stalled the car. Luckily it’s controlled by sa software setting that you can turn off permanently.
The Jetta had that too. It was definitely weird.
My forester has that. It is slow to disengage, so any attempt at even a slightly quick start is met with a stall.
I had a 2011 Jetta TDI manual. It was tough to shift smoothly in the lower gears. The narrow power band didn’t help either. Sure, you had torque down low, but it also had a basement level redline. All around, it was fine but nowhere near as satisfying as the ‘06 TSX manual I bought for cash with the proceeds from the buy-back.
Sorry to see this manual Nissan go away, just as I’ve been with various Civics, Toyotas, Hyundais, etc… Well, if the ability to buy a semi-affordable Nissan with a manual transmission is really what I want, I guess I could always move to Canada (where they still sell a manual version of the Sentra). But Canada, as much as I like it (been there several times) is just too cold for my old bones in the winter, so perhaps Mexico? There, I could finally buy and drive a Toytota Hilux Champ with a manual and a diesel, with perhaps a manual Suzuki Swift for around town?
Who am I kidding? I don’t have another move in me, let alone one to another country, no matter how tempting the idea of being able to get a new, semi-affortable car with a manual might be. I’m just going to stay right here in SoCal, where the weather is always so nice and the cost of living always so high, and just continue to drive old cars with manual transmissions (I’m supposed to buy another one, a 36-year-old Volvo 240 wagon, just a few hours from now).
It really is a shame that the Civic and Civic hatch no longer keep a manual in the cards (non type-r, non si).
I had an ’04 Miata, stick of course, and my wife eventually learned to drive stick. I had to get rid of it about a year later, as the year round driving made the rust on the undercarriage unsafe to drive. Got 165K out of it in 11 1/2 years I owned it. Loved driving, but trunk space was an issue. Never getting golf cubs in that car.
Golf clubs go in the passenger seat.
There is a guy at our local golf course who brings them on his Motorcycle. He fabricated saddle bag mounts for his bad and walking cat on both sides. If I got another one, I’d probably make a tire hitch type mount, that could maybe accept 2 bags.
An even better solution! I almost bought a hitch for my RF for my pedal bike.
I think the Miata will eventually be the last manual left on the market.
Perhaps that’s true. If Mazda ever kills the manual Miata, I’ll officially lose all hope for the future. 🙁
While europeans love boasting about how they have more manuals, a lot of their automakers are trying to kill the manual. I think Porsche will be the last German automaker to offer a stick.
Probably, but BMW keeps saying they are stopping and then comes out with another manual m3/4. I wonder what the current eras take rate is.
The list is still pretty long: https://www.motor1.com/features/746345/manual-cars-2025/
There are about 30 models on sale new in 2025, including ones from Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Jeep, Lotus, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, and VW.
I taught both my kids how to drive a manual when they first started to drive and they are the only ones in their friend circles that know how to. I understand why manuals are disappearing but it is sad to see the knowledge of how to drive one slowly disappearing as well.
Contrast with Europe – we rented a car in Greece and it was just assumed you drove stick. They saw my US lisence and were like “You can drive this?” I said I was rusty, but a 5 speed was no problem. Ironically, it was the German couple that could not handle a manual.
My wife was a bit unsure with my driving in Ireland with the Right hand drive stick, but it wasn’t hard.
I’ve been curious about that, spouse and I have been going back and forth on it. We usually stick to trains at the beginning because jetlag, alien driving conditions and attempted navigation all don’t mix, and I figure I can work it out after that.
For me in Scotland the hardest part wasn’t the right hand drive manual and being on the opposite side of the road; it was how NARROW those roads were. Lane keep assist was working overtime.
Yes, and getting used to look left, instead of right for the rear view mirror
European here, I’ve never driven an automatic. I’m not sure I could do it without some clues before…
Whilst there may be 26 manual vehicles available in the US, bon chance finding a Bronco with a stick. The take rate is so low that I fear Ford will eventually axe it too.
Remember when you could get any Subaru with a stick? It wasn’t that long ago.
Well, you can get a BRZ.
I would have also (incorrectly) sworn that the BRZ is cheaper than the Miata. The extra $3k over a Miata to pretend it is a practical family car due to the back seat would be well worth it for me, though.
I was wondering if a base wrangler could beat the miata, but the cheapest is about 2k more out the door.
I thought about that too and also the Toyota GR86 but I checked and the 86 is $600 more than the Miata.
Actual transaction prices probably favor the Jeep though. Big discounts out there.
You’re probably right for actual purchase price. There’s about a dozen “base” wranglers within 100 miles of me, dealer advertised pricing (including incentives) still put the cheapest one at $30,930. Amazingly there is a single Miata Sport in the same radius at $30,515 no advertised incentives (other than financing rates). I bet the jeep dealer would be more willing to budge a little on pricing though.
I would really love if I could figure a way to make a Miata my daughter’s first car. They’re too small for me (I mean to fit in comfortably, not conceptually), but it’d be perfect for her.
I fully intend to give my daughter (who is currently 3 years old) my RF as her first car. Being a manual 2-seater there’s no way her friends could drive it (a plus) and being maxed out at 1 passenger is a plus. Also, no back seats (I was once a teenager, too). It really is the ideal first car.
I would have loved to get my son a Miata as a first car, but (and I hate this fearful stance), I worry about the fact that there are COUNTLESS F150-sized things on the road now. Miatas have stayed roughly the same size/weight while the rest of the bloated whale carcasses that represent current large pickups and SUVs have grown and grown.
From a robot:
Silverado BEVs weigh north of 8000 lbs. Where I live I see cybertrucks almost daily, many F150 Lightnings, an occiasional Hummer and plenty of electric Silverados. Normal sized cars are the minority, full sized pickup trucks and full sized SUVs are the majority. I have NFI what’s going on, I don’t even live in Texas, no clue why so many suburban people are driving these fat bastards.
I so very much hate taking a fearful approach to determining what to buy, but I just don’t think I could put anyone in my family into something as small as a Miata, especially a new driver. There is so much right about a new driver in a car that is very much a tactile experience like a Miata, but given what else is on the road these days, it seems like a huge risk.
Until someone has sufficient experience of being able to spot dangerous situations, it seems like they might well be served by something that might actually be able to sustain a crash with one of these suburban MRAPs.
It’s totally valid. The Miata was a 2nd car for my son. His first was an 08 STS. He showed for a couple years that he was responsible with a 320hp rear wheel drive car with a lot of steel and safety features around him. His ND is a automatic, but he does want to learn to drive stick this summer, so I’ll teach him on my NC.
Check out a used kia soul manual. it is not new but would be a great first car. My kid has an automatic soul she has had since she was 15 and is now 24. (my mom bought it for her with the automatic)
I don’t know what transmission my soul has, but it seems to always be stuck in reverse. Maybe there’s a recall.
It’s been a long time coming, but the transition of the manual from being the budget option to the enthusiast option is now complete.
I keep telling myself that my NA is all the Miata I need. But then another ND Miata article comes along and again I question whether I should snag an ND RF before they move on to the next gen or disappear for good. The FOMO is strong here.
Do it. You owe it to yourself. But there’s no rush. They’ll be plenty on the used market for many years to come.
As an extremely biased RF owner for the past 5 years, do it. Do it now. Thanks for attending my TED talk.
If you do be careful on the years as there are transmission issues with certain years of ND’s. I had a 2023 RF and the trans lost its 3rd gear synchro around 8k miles sure it was replace under warranty but I just could not trust the longevity of the car so I traded it in.
How is this cheaper than a Mazda 3 hatch? Looks like they start around 25-26k and can be had with a manual. Or did they axe that option?
EDIT: I guess only on the higher trims, which pushes it over 32k. At least it still exists.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the Miata is also the lightest car sold in America now too, at a bit under 2400 pounds.
It’s still not a bad choice as an economy car. It’s gets in the mid-30’s for MPG’s, insurance isn’t crazy, it’s mostly aluminum bodied, they are very dependable cars, and it handles fine with winter tires/wheels. My son dailies a 2016 ND in Michigan without issues… And he loves it.
The Versa is finally not a hideous car with this generation but it would live up to its name a bit more if it were a hatchback. To me small cars with trunks just don’t make any sense.
See, if I had that level of “F You” money like so many of our technocrats, instead of trolling the Federal Government (which I would also do, it just wouldn’t be my full-time job), I’d buy up every last manual Versa in the country and weld cages into them, creating a spec racing/training league open to everyone.
Ugh, why do the good-crazy ones never get rich?
Choice #1: Miata = $30K for eternal happiness
Choice #2: Versa = $18K for the car and $100/week at the bar drowning your sorrow over driving a Versa until you ultimately buy a Miata
Even the most irrational of car nerds knows the Miata is the sound financial option here.
The Miata is a joyful car to drive, making the commute or errands fun rather than a chore.
Correct. This is why I daily mine year-round, and wifey stuffs the groceries into the trunk of hers.
Similarly, I have a GR86, and while some people think it must be frustrating as a commuter, it’s the opposite. Driving something that sucks to drive is far more frustrating and the ’86 is enjoyable at normal road speeds and makes traffic more tolerable even with a manual. The boring cars greatly increase my road rage as I can’t wait to get wherever it is I’m going to not have to be in it anymore.
To quote Jeremy Clarkson: “Oh no! Anyway…”
Another reason why Miata is always the answer.
Sad!
But not that sad.