How common are manual AU's ?? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

dazd · 04-21-2003, 20:32

The time has come for the ute to go(bambino on way), I am looking at an AU - onwards but have only come across autos so far , (I know look harder)
Im not a big fan on autos as I tend to be lazy and have been caught out not selecting P and leaving it in N and to come back to find car has moved.. far., like down the road talking to other cars.

So in a nut.

1. How common are manual Au onwards 6s

2. How heavy is the clutch as g/friend would be driving this , she had trouble with the xr ute clutch all 5ft 3 of her.

3. What price would one expect to pay say with 80-100k in good condition in NSW.

Thank you all answers much appreciated.

Daz

FalKeen · 04-21-2003, 20:45

youd be more likely finding a manual in the XR range or maybe even the S/SR models...

realistically looking at the early to mid 20's mark for a decent xr these days (bad thing for xr owners, good thing for second hand car buyers)

dont know about the weight of the clutch as i dont have a manual

you say your looking for a manual cos your lazy???? usually the other way round but ok...

Kiwi Falcon · 04-21-2003, 20:46

I was told by my dealer in NZ that it was 1 in 12 were manual. It took me six months to find a manual in the colour I wanted, my AUII XR6 in Liquid Silver.

I have hear others say it is 1 in 8. The reason I would guess is that simply more people want autos and the fleet market would be predominantly autos I would say.

Can't help you with pricing but I would reckon you would get a pretty good deal now the BA's are selling like hotcakes.

dazd · 04-21-2003, 20:56

Yeah Im more a lazy parker/stopper!!
I usullay pull up leave her in 1st and just get out, Ive been caught out 3 times in a auto, twice parking leaving it in N and once at a set of lights I didnt reliase the car had rolled forward into another car and it was uphill .
I was looking for a radio station, poor excuse I know but had it been manual it wouldnt of happened.
I know what you mean about the prices for XR Ive been to a few car sales and the best I could get for mine was 18 and a half and mines in pretty good nick with 50 on the clock...bummer

XR_Strider_GuY · 04-21-2003, 20:58

Quote:

Originally posted by dazd

So in a nut.

1. How common are manual Au onwards 6s

Your best bet in trying to find a manual as with my case is to look at an XR6. The base models and Xr8 tend to be rarer in manual.

2. How heavy is the clutch as g/friend would be driving this , she had trouble with the xr ute clutch all 5ft 3 of her.

Since the AU is abit newer the clutch would be abit lighter than your XH, but it's no lancer or pulsar clutch thats feather light.

3. What price would one expect to pay say with 80-100k in good condition in NSW.
About $25-30k would get you into a mint condition XR6 and depending on options like 17inch wheels, bodykit etc.

dazd · 04-21-2003, 21:32

Cheers XR ,I saw your other post on clucth springs and was gonna post in there but didnt want to crash.

How long did it take you to find yours??

I really dont want to sell ute as its everything Ive wanted in a car ,but the girl/f wont get in the back.

I even thought of getting a bench seat but that wouldnt work eithier cause of it being manual!
So she has to go,(ute) my g/f couldnt drive it without spinning it up and the old style handbrake gave her nightmares, Im sure AU onwards dont have the under dash style handbrake do they?

I thought I saw a T5 in Sutherland Ford the other day mmmmmmm, then I was told it was a fake, but they still wanted 28+k with high km and more swirls on the bonnet than a Mr Whippy Ice cream.

FalKeen · 04-21-2003, 21:45

are you talking about a T3?
i saw it in the paper, a Series 2 futura with the TS50 bodykit (burgundy i think)
theyre kidding for 28 grand

DXR88U · 04-21-2003, 21:45

Quote:

Originally posted by XR_Strider_GuY
The base models and Xr8 tend to be rarer in manual.

yeh guys i have an au xr8 5 speed manual.i bought mine when the au's first come out and i must say even from the factory it took a while because the majority of the cars were auto's and i had to wait till they got stock of manuals. but the wait was worth it. the car is now just over 4 years old and although i hardly get to drive it, as the speedo readout confirms(39,000kms) it puts a huge smile on my face every time. well worth waiting for.

dazd · 04-21-2003, 21:55

Gee I must get out more often it was T3 Falkeeen
T5 seems to roll of the tounge a bit easie,or I could of been thinking about the thunderbirds.
It looked OK from a far but up close eeeewww what a paint job it looked like the previous owner used wet and dry to chamois it.
Most of the late model cars except for the brand spankers had shocking paint jobs.
It made the ute look brand new and they still turn around and slap you in the face with thier trade in price.

FalKeen · 04-21-2003, 23:59

went and had a look at this 'T3' myself today at dominelli ford
and i only have 3 words - SHIT SHIT SHIT

truly degrades the whole T-series
i know people dont like the fact that ive made my car look like a T3 but at least ive put a lot of work into it to not drag the T series or Fords in general name down

the main reason why i went to look at it was to see how they had fixed up the problem with the driving lights not fitting the holes in the front bar as this was my main problem and spent many an hour bringing it back up to scratch, WELL, to my shock, they HADNT! they just bunged it on as is, not only were there huge gaps around the light itself but the lights werent even centred in the holes!!! the only thing helping it was the fact the car was black so the holes didnt stand out as much!

another interesting fact was that all it had was the front bar, with just the standard issue series 2 side rails and small rear spoiler with the standard rear bar. the salesman told me how it "only cost him (the previous owner) $1300 to add onto the car and its made a great effect"....

boy did this guy talk shit too! told me how "when it first came in i thought it was a real TS50!" get glasses mate, and also learn something about fords while your at it! he then mentioned that when he "took it down to cronulla to grab some chips..." which i thought was a strange comment to make to a prospective buyer, but then he went on and i found out why he said it, ""i couldnt believe how many people were trying to drag me at the lights, they thought it was a BIG V8!" it must have been cos they could see it had nothing because all it had was a front bar! ive got the whole kit and ive never had someone try me at the lights so far...

might go and take some pics of it in the next coupla days, truley a very bad example