These are the only manual performance cars on sale in Australia

It’s no secret that powerful three-pedal cars are a dying breed, but in looking at what’s on sale – you’d have to class them as critically endangered.

A few years ago, our brothers at Wheels took a stab at listing out all of the vehicles on sale that were available with a proper three-pedal manual gearbox and produced over 250kW. There weren’t many back then, and the list has only grown slimmer in the interim.

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Four years on, you can pour one out for the H-pattern Aston Martin Vantage, discontinued Ford Focus RS, Jaguar F-Type, Lotus Exige and Evora, previous-gen BMW M2 and a raft of homegrown Holdens.

The 250kW cut-off eliminates some truly sweet steerers, such as the Hyundai i20 and i30 N, incoming Toyota GR 86, Subaru BRZ and Mazda MX-5. While we continue to cherish and celebrate those bastions of affordable performance, it’s the premium performance sector where manual cars are really giving ground to whizz-bang dual-clutches and advanced automatics.

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As a result, the manual cars on sale in Australia with over 250kW belong to a truly exclusive club. Going shopping today? Your choices are:

• BMW M3/M4
• Ford Mustang GT/Mach 1
• Porsche 718 Boxster S/Cayman S
• Porsche 911

Hope is on the horizon with a few new cars in the pipeline to look out for.

Nissan’s new Z has our interest piqued, slated to arrive this year with almost 300kW, a rear-drive chassis and a true manual gearbox.

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The Lotus Emira is also due mid-year, and will initially launch powered by the longstanding Toyota-sourced supercharged V6 and a traditional six-speed manual as standard. A new variant powered by the atomic Mercedes-AMG A45’s engine will also follow, but will solely be available with a seven-speed dual-clutch.

BMW has also committed to manual availability for its hotly-anticipated next-generation G87 M2 which is expected early 2023. The same, sadly, can’t be said for the rest of the 2 Series range, with 2 Series Senior Product Manager Emanuel Varga stating in November: “The 2 Series including the M240i will not be available as a manual. Not in the near future”.

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Under the twilight of internal combustion motoring, the crop of manually-shifted sports cars is withering. Just a handful of manufacturers look set to keep the faith.

Are you a manual or bust driver? Or do you think that the rate of progress in modern cars is such that three pedals are best left in the past? There’s no right answer with cogent arguments to be made for both sides.

What are your thoughts on the state of the manual transmission? Leave a comment below or drop us a line at motor@wheelsmedia.com.au