What car - AWD, 4 door, manual Edition

In reply to Secretariata:

The S60 is only sold with an automatic as well, regardless of engine choice or number of driven wheels.

Yeah... "brand spanking new" is not a criteria this group is used to dealing with... we're kinda out of our element here.

I was about to say Suzuki SX4, but then I remembered Suzuki stopped selling cars in the US.

I really think his only option is Subaru. While I don't dislike Subaru, this is sad.

Can the Juke be configured w/ manual and AWD? I know it's got them separately, but not sure if they can be had together. CX-5?

Nope, auto only w/ the AWD.

All Subaru's except the Tribeca are available in nearly all trims with the stick. They also all except the wrx/brz have generous tow ratings. I love my 2013 WRX hatch.

nocones wrote: All Subaru's except the Tribeca are available in nearly all trims with the stick. They also all except the wrx/brz have generous tow ratings. I love my 2013 WRX hatch.

But, the only "sporty" 4 door is the WRX. Which is his established benchmark to try & find competition for.

I tried to talk him out of AWD & into RWD, but he won't consider it. I think he's missing the boat there because there is no valid reason he needs AWD.

$30k us, isn't that STi territory down there?

I cheated and used the cars.com search, filtering for those criteria. You've got a couple 4 door Golf Rs in the low 30s, with only WRXs and the MINI Countryman actually coming in under 30k. That's it, unless you count the base Impreza or XV Crosstrek as sporty.

If you remove the hatch/wagon criteria, there's also the Evo in the low 30s.

If you remove the manual transmission criteria, add SX4 (CVT only for 2013?) and Matrix to the list. If you count them as sporty.

These are pretty much my criteria for my next car, though I'd open up the search to used cars too. Kinda sad how few new car options there are.

Hm, a 'sporty' if slow new car could be a base Impreza with suspension/wheel take-offs from a new WRX. Might be a little too 'grassroots' in this case, but I think I just gave myself an idea...