Agree with both points about manual/standard. I'd get an auto for 90% of the cars out there (so much for my truck being a manual
). I simply don't care too much for shifting manually for basic transportation-type cars.
But for a "driver's car", there's no other way than a standard. It reminds me of an RX7 I recently saw with an auto tranny in it. Why the hell would you buy an RX7 with an auto transmission?
You can actually buy kei cars in the US now...well, sort of. ...The Honda Fit (decended from the classic Honda City) is sold in the US with a "huge" 1.5 liter.
Fit isn't
quite the kei-car -- it always had a 1.x liter engine, which would've been way too big for the kei-car class in the first place. The Fit is a step-up from the Honda Life, which is a true kei car -- a touch smaller in dimesions, with the kei-car compliant tiny engine.
And talking about mileage, I recall certain models of metros were listed at an EPA 49~59 mpg in the early-mid 90's, then cars obtaining such mileage were never heard of again until the hybrids came in. Well, shit, if they can import such fuel efficient cars back then, why not now? No gasoline cars here these days (and even majority of hybrids) get anywhere near that mileage these days.
That's not quite as good as mileage as I hoped, but still way better than I get now. It'd be fun to ride on the sunny days, though it'd take forever to save enough gas to offset the initial cost, so I'm probably better off saving my pennies and dreaming.
The gay little 49cc scooters get like 110~120 mpg.
(Gay as it may be, I wouldn't mind owning one if I were back in California or something.)
