[geeks] crash tests

[Lionel Peterson]

On May 13, 2009, at 1:39 PM, Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> Dan Sikorski wrote:
>>> I'm positive that the transmission is a big enough change, not  
>>> sure about brakes and axels, but it may be possible. In the past,  
>>> some foreign car makers only imported the automatic transmission  
>>> version of a car the first year, though the stick was available in  
>>> Europe... I'm thinking this was the gas with the BMW Z4, and maybe  
>>> the Mazda Miata, but I could be way off...
>> Maybe Miata, but not Z4.  2003 was the first year for the Z4, and  
>> it was definitely available with three transmission options:   
>> manual, automatic or SMG.  The 2003-2008 Z4's were made in South  
>> Carolina, production moved to Germany for the 2009 model year.
>
> I've seen manual Miatas on dealer lots.

The issue was first model year, not recent/current...

>
> However, my Audi A8 Quattro is available in Europe with a stick, and  
> only with automatic here.  A popular change to A8s here is, when a  
> transmission goes bad, instead of replacing it with another  
> automatic, get the manual parts from a supplier in Europe.

Demonstrating that Audi doesn't think there is sufficient interest in  
the stick A8 to justify the investment required for that combination...