[dorkdog]

I bought my car the day it was traded in on a 335... I had to wait 4 hours to drive it after it went thru the CPO 'process'... I bought it that day not knowing what an apparent rarity I'd discovered. I'd told the dealer that I wanted a manual and he replied that, other than Z4s he had had that he'd not seen a manual in quite some time on their lot.

When I went back the next day to finish the transaction, the SA showed me no fewer than 23 online inquiries, some wanting to paypal the money for the car right away! Most stating how they had been looking for an MT for quite a while and had been unable to find one.

I think the 128MT will be a desirable car in the future, but only to us collectors/enthusiasts/whatever. The average person will see the Steptronic and its ilk as being more convenient ('It's like a manual without a clutch!') and the namufacturer has I'm sure recognized that engine management is much easier to program when the computer is also controlling the transmission. How will they handle, for instance, the auto shut off with a manual?

I give MT 3-5 more years in production and then they will disappear as computer integration becomes responsible for more and more of the car's functionality. You will see the mileage numbers become higher for 'AT' than MT at some point and the MT will simply drop off as have manual window cranks.

Hopefully I am wrong.