In reality, manuals are barely available at all. Dealers rarely stock them, so you have to special order. And then the manufacturer forces you to either take “Option Package A” if you want the manual, or decides that you absolutely cannot have “Option Package B” if you choose the manual. All the choices go away once you’ve decided on a manual. It’s like they are offering them to make the magazine writers happy but doing their best to make sure nobody buys one.

IMO they're really there to provide the cheapest possible option for there "starting from as low as $X" marketing spiels. Of course they don't want to sell them if they can - they don't make anybody much money.

Yet they do exist (and from most major manufacturers), and if you're not after the bells and whistles, they make for a reasonable investment.

Not in the U.S.

Miata, Wrangler, Mustang, and a handful of others, but they’re the exception rather than the rule.

So that's Mazda, Ford, Dodge. I know Subaru (WRX, BRZ, STI), Jeep (Wrangler), Nissan (370), Audi (A3), and Chevy (Malibu) do as well.

You won't find them at dealers very often (they're not popular) but they are available for most of the budget lines provided by the manufacturers.

“Most budget lines” (which I’m skeptical is accurate) is different from “broadly available”, but I suppose lacking any precise definitions of either phrase it’s not a useful argument.

> which I’m skeptical is accurate

Feel free to look for yourself. They list it under "powertrain" in the specs pages.

> is different from “broadly available”,

FWIW, my definition boils down to: available from most manufacturers, in the major form factors (truck, SUV, sedan, compact, sport).

Well, as one counter-example, because there's far too much data to dig out of the aether, as far as I can tell there are only two manufacturers selling manual pickups: Jeep and Toyota.

No Chevy, Dodge, GMC, Ford. That's just one huge gap.

Update: also, if you extend that to SUVs, one of the hottest markets, I think the only model you add is the Ford Bronco.

So there are no entry-level pickups or SUVs as manuals. For CUVs you could probably add Kia Soul and Mazda, but not much else.

My list might be dated.. Fords Focus ST/RS, Fiesta ST; VW GTI, Golf R; Honda Civic SI, Civic Type R, Accord; Toyota Tacoma, FRS/86; Subaru WRX/STI, Forester, BRZ.

Most of those are performance oriented. Those that aren't will probably be all automatics.

Ford has discontinued US sales of the Focus and Fiesta.