Originally Posted by Crowz

Im in Alabama too and I spent a year hunting for a manual version and ended up settling for an automatic. No regrets. In all honesty I think the automatic was a better fit seeing as I wanted to creep up my driveway which was in bad condition and the automatic was much better suited for that. Plus when we had that ice/snow storm last year the automatic was definitely better suited for that vs the manual.

Last plus for the automatic is the odds on finding a manual trans x5 at ALL are slim so you will have to take what you find.

Going with an automatic allows you to find one that has all the other options you want and to focus more on the overall condition since you wont be settling for what few if any manual ones you may find.