#manual

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Jaguar just announced pricing for its newly expanded lineup of F-Type sports cars.

It was slightly above freezing, it had rained all night, there were puddles on the drag strip and I had 707 HP worth of Hellcat on summer tires.

Everyone knows high-horsepower coupes and all-wheel drive go hand-in-hand. Need more proof? Just look at the latest offering from Jaguar, which pairs the sexy F-Type with all-weather capability and enhanced performance. 

As if Jaguar’s F-Type sports car wasn’t already thrilling enough, the British bad boy of luxury cars is making things even more enticing.

There could be especially good news for American fans of Audi’s smallest sedan: the performance variants might make it here with a manual.

Starting at $15,455, the Hyundai Accent has long been a value proposition in the sub-compact segment and for 2014, the car gets a few more standard features.

The Jaguar F-Type shook things up with it revived the brand’s presence in the sports car segment, but there’s still plenty to come from the British brand that loves to be bad.

The 2015 Subaru WRX STI is the real deal. Ignore the detractors who have yet to drive the new car; it’s not at all a mildly updated carryover.

Chevrolet wowed the automotive world when it unveiled the 2015 Z06 in Detroit last January, but it turns out the brand was only getting started.

If it’s not a diesel-powered, rear-wheel-drive station wagon with a manual transmission, it’s not worth considering, let alone buying.

Everyone knows “bigger is better,” especially in America. It’s practically our national slogan; the founding fathers should have included it in the Bill of Rights as the 10.5th Amendment. Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave there may be a compelling case for all things large and in charge, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for small.

The 1990s was a great time for Japanese sports cars. Pretty much every manufacturer was building a world class performance machine including Mazda, with the third generation RX-7. But that was twenty years ago and what may have been great then, might not be any good today. So, we have gotten our hands on a pristine, low mileage 1993 Mazda RX-7 to see if it was all hype, or the real deal.

The 1990s is a decade known for things like flannel shirts, grunge music, Barney the purple dinosaur and Napster. But for those who live and breathe high octane fuel, the ‘90s was also a great time for performance vehicles. With the world economy in fine shape, manufacturers everywhere were producing some impressive machinery. This is the decade that gave birth to the Dodge Viper, McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Diablo.

Updated February 2019

Is the manual transmission dead? Die-hard auto enthusiasts may shout out: “No way” but is anyone listening? If you’re in the market for a new car, a manual transmission might be a good idea, for a few key reasons.