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Ricky Bobby · #10 10-22-2013, 09:42 AM

x2 on what mD said, yes I feel like my X is "missing a gear" so to speak as I'd love to have a 6-speed, I just couldn't find one with Sport package and some other options I wanted when I was shopping two years ago.

FWIW, I searched for about 6 months for a manual X in a desirable color/option combo, I wasn't shopping for silver, and don't care for the maintenance of a black paint job (aka once you wash it and take it out of the garage its dirty again), so I was rather picky. I only wanted a sport package car, and wanted lower miles. I bought my '03 for 15k, with 59k on the odometer. Looking back I might have paid a few more bucks than I should have, but then again those of us who are shopping for a manual trans X don't have many other options.

Is the one for 10.9k a facelift 6-speed? What color combo and options on it? Does it have a maintenance history?

For what its worth, the 3.0 is more than powerful enough to keep me happy with the manual trans, I'm sure with the auto its definitely more sluggish, but I would literally take another manual X (6-speed loaded with options) rather than trade up to a 4.8is, I don't care if it has another 100 hp or not, being fast in a soccer mom's grocery getter is not cool to me.

I average about 18.5 mpg in my X, with 20" staggered wheels and 5-speed. At 80 mph, you're doing 4000 rpm's in 5th gear, yes its high but you get used to it, and 1st is extremely short but you get used to that too. Delete the clutch delay valve and you'll have much smoother shifting (its free to do), and remember, in comparisons to an automatic SUV, the manual trans is one less "ticking time bomb" that can go wrong in a car. I've had 3 manual cars in my life, have never replaced a clutch and have never had transmission work, just changing fluid.

As long as you know how to drive stick properly, the clutch should last a very long time, and we all know a manual transmission has less failure prone points than an automatic (see my "ticking time bomb" statement above), just don't drive it like Vin Diesel, and it will outlive the engine, lol.

And also, the 3.0 is much easier and tried and true bulletproof design out of most all the v8's from BMW, in my opinion I feel like I am reading about N62, or M62 engine problems all week long on here.

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