Originally Posted by Air&Road

I have a few sporty cars with stick shifts that I alternate as daily drivers. I have no desire to drive anything without a clutch pedal. I am at a point I need to drive something with more than two seats due to different times toting the grandkids.

I want a small SUV, but something with some fun. I looked at Porsche Cayennes, but there is only one I can find for sale nationwide with a clutch pedal and they want almost double the normal price due to the demand for a stick model.

I stumbled across an early BMW X3 with a six speed manual. I have always thought of BMW’s to be wonderful in the drivers seat, but not all that durable or reliable.

Any knowledge here about BMW’s in general and X 3’s in particular? They are so cheap on the used market it makes me suspicious.

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Okay then, anyone know anything about Porsche Cayenne. There is a base model with a six speed manual for sale.

Originally Posted by Capt. Mike

Might be time for a compromise and get an SUV with paddles, and always drive it in sport mode.

I drove a Ferrari around Maranello and asked if it was an MT. They said, no, it is easy to drive. But when I got in, you could manually shift using the paddles, and it was most of the MT experience, since it held whatever gear you put it in.

Originally Posted by engatwork

I had an M6 in shop recently that I took for a test drive. It seemed that it would let you get into red line with the paddle shifters. I made sure to stay away from it.

Originally Posted by MTUpower

a quick search of autotempest shows all "manual" transmission Cayenne's have no third pedal.

Originally Posted by tbomachines

I used to bounce off the rev limit in my 135 m sport with the DCT during autocross. The M6 had a SMG (sequential gearbox with solenoid automated clutch), and later versions are now the excellent ZF 9 speed.

Some people really die on the 3rd pedal hill, and I get it...but from a pure performance perspective a true performance oriented (not just "equipped" like our jeep has lol) paddle shift is amazing. Traditional autos (not dual clutch or sequential etc) have quickened their shift speed to the 1/10s of a second these days, and also offer comparable mileage to row your own boxes. Other than nostalgia, not too much reason to buy a modern manual. That said, 2/3 of our cars are old school manual, go figure.

Originally Posted by Air&Road

That’s incorrect. One week ago, I bought a 2014 Cayenne Base model with a six speed manual INCLUDING the clutch pedal.