Yes the 240TD and 300TD were sold in Europe with manuals but the 300TD turbo was never sold anywhere with a manual. In Europe turbo and non turbo 300TD's were both available up until the end of production.

Everyone should remember that our 617 Turbodiesels were the first passenger car turbo-charged engine and as such they do not compare well in many aspects with the current diesels.

Our turbos don't give any low end boost, so as I mentioned before under 2000 RPM's our engines are gutless. Also with a manual tranny turbo diesel every time you change gears you will lose boost and there will be a delay until the boost comes back up, with an auto you just stay wide open and boost doesn't drop off.

The C111 comparison isn't very valid, the C111 car was tuned for top speed and not for acceleration. When trying to exploit the maximum top speed drivline inefficiencies must be eliminated and of course the manual has less losses than an automatic.

As I said before I have 2 manual tranny 617 turbo conversions one 4 and one 5 speed and I love them, but I didn't do it for a performance gain.

If you want the fastest acceleration keep the automatic.

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1993 300D 2.5 Turbo (blue/ blue tex)
1991 350SDL (White/ Gray leather)
1983 300TD Turbo 5-speed manual (Green/ Beige)
1985 300SD (Black/ Black Leather)
1985 300TD (White/ Green Tex)
1980 300SD (Astral Silver/ Black Leather)
1990 560SEL (White/ Gray Leather)
1993 300SD (Black/ Black Leather)
1967 200D (Green/ Beige Tex)
1969 300SEL 6.3 (Moss Green Metallic/ Green Leather)
1975 300D (Astral Silver/ Green Tex)
2001 Ford Excursion Diesel