[Biturbos4] BMW becoming the 'ultimate poser machine'

[Rich Shiba]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004, Bill  Coleman wrote:

> A friend of a friend wanted to test drive a 330i only to discover every car
> on the lot was an automatic!  The salesman told him that 95% of what they
> sell are automatics, so the only way to get a manual transmission was to
> special order it.  No slam on automatics, but for me the 'ultimate driving
> machine' would be a manual.  Has BMW crossed the line from sport sedan to
> luxury sedan?  Or is this just a local (nothern Detroit suburbs) phenomenon?
> 

I think it might be the difference between the company's corporate
identity versus who's actually buying their cars.  A friend of mine
bought a 3 series in N.CA and definitely had a hard time finding a
manual trans.  I'm assuming M3 manuals would be easier to come by tho'.