Vehicle shopping...need opinions

[Catrin]

My niece has the newest Mazda3 hatchback, and she loves it!
I'll be in need of a new car before long. I'd get the same car I have now, except they no longer make that model in a manual. I get annoyed that less and less of the affordable, yet with some bells and whistles, cars come as manuals.

I hear you, I won't buy an automatic either. I did once and hated it...that car only lasted one year before I replaced it. It was a very nice car, I just don't care for automatic transmissions. Thankfully the Kia Soul does come with a manual transmission and I've a few bells and whistles. Not as many as the Gallant GTZ did (it was used), or the Lancer (manual) that followed it, but it suits me much better. When I purchased my Soul, they had to actually bring one in from Ohio, none of the Indianapolis dealers had a manual in stock... I've hopes my green machine will last many years