Find this car?

The all new 08 Cadillac CTS is everywhere. Inside cover of Sports Illustrated (Sept. 24th issue) front page ad on the Wall street Journal, and countless auto journalists writing about test drives. But I defy you to find one with a six-speed manual. That’s right a Caddy with three pedals, no “sport” mode or “auto” stick gimmick, a real bona fide stick. Here’s why you can’t find it.

Cadillac started building the 2008 CTS in mid July, all automatics. Considering that 95% of the model will probably be represented by automatics, not surprising. The first manual CTS rolled off the line in early October and now is headed to a certain west coast buff magazine for evaluation. So you won’t find a manual CTS anywhere.

An actual build sheet, done online is below, second line right below the Engine, states six-speed manual. Yea, yea we know, nobody wants a stick anymore. Everyone is too busy with cell phones, their Starbucks cup and God forbid, working their NAV system, because they can’t recall how to get to work. If Cadillac is using the tag line “when you turn on your car, does it return the favor”, shouldn’t the dealers take a chance and put one of the CTS manuals in a few showrooms? Don’t lay around and wait, here’s how the dealers are set up to order cars.

Each month dealers are allocated a certain number of “frames” to build out how they see buyers in their market wanting cars. It will indeed be a rare dealer that orders one equipped with a six-speed manual. Colors, options and accessories, the dealer would never get it right for the one stick buyer that walks in their showroom every year. Heck, first the dealer has to get the stick buyer out of the BMW dealership.

Cadillac, according to Chicago Tribune transportation writer, Jim Mateja, hopes to sell 60,000 CTS models for the 2008 model year. Of course, Jim lists the transmission as a 6-speed automatic. Turn the page BMW and Audi drivers. How many of these drivers might get intrigued if they knew a manual was available as it was in their now aging 5-Series or A4s. How frustrating it must be for Cadillac marketing to get the word out. BMWs were cool in the 80’s because no one had one, it was a fun car to drive and a major financial drain to put a wrench on them, but cool costs money. In the CTS’s case, not as much as one might expect. $38,135 is what the Vehicle Total says above, including an UltraView sunroof, that extends over front and rear leather seats, a nice panorama feel and something different. Try buying a new 5 Series for $38K.

Here’s what makes the CTS with a manual so attractive for an enthusiastic enthusiast. You will have a fun to drive, unique car that will put a smile on your face each time you slip behind the wheel. Plus, the added bonus that the dealership lecture about resale value doesn’t apply. If you buy one of maybe 3,000 or so copies out of the total CTS run of sixty or seventy thousand, you have a future “barn find” or a car that rolls through the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale or Palm Beach and gets top dollar. Or in a few months, American Garage will have a manual only classified section for just those drivers searching for or selling manuals only.

Order your CTS and in 60 to 90 days it should be at the dealer, depending where they are in the monthly cycle of configuring their allocated “frames”. A Caddy with a stick, way cool! All my cars are sticks and when I turn them on, they certainly return the favor.