We spent the first couple weeks of 2025 getting sales data on manual-transmission cars in America. That led us to some interesting findings, which you've seen published on this fine website. We don't have take-rate figures for every single manual car sold here last year, but we have enough to crown a winner: the Honda Civic.
The manual take rate for the Civic in 2024 was 7.2 percent, or 17,424 cars out of the 242,005 total for the model. Remarkably, it comes as Honda pares back its manual-transmission Civic offerings. With the facelifted 2025 model, which began production partway through the year, you can no longer buy six-speed versions of the regular Civic sedan or hatchback. If you want three pedals, you'll need an Si or Type R. Despite that, the Civic proved to be the best-selling manual car in the US last year, based on our data.
If you add in the 4,831 manual sales of the Acura Integra—which is mechanically almost identical to the Civic—the total jumps to 22,255 units. It's not that many cars in the big scheme of things, but I'm betting it's more than you might've guessed.
Here the top-10 selling manual cars in the US based on the data we gathered.
| Car | Take Rate | Total |
| Honda Civic | 7.2% | 17,424 |
|
Subaru WRX |
86.7% | 16,115 |
|
Volkswagen Golf GTI / R |
41% / 52% | 6,721 |
| Toyota GR86 | 53% | 6,056 |
| Toyota Tacoma | 3% | 5,784 |
| Mazda Miata | 70% | 5,762 |
| Toyota GR Corolla | 97% | 5,414 |
| Acura Integra | 19.8% | 4,831 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 6% | 4,310 |
| Subaru BRZ | 77.8% | 2,602 |
There are some caveats. We believe the Ford Mustang and Jeep Wrangler should be in the top 10, but neither automaker provided us with take-rate data, so we can only guess total manual sales. The Porsche 911 might've made it on here, too, but Porsche only gave us a manual take rate for models where there's a choice of transmission. Given that we don't know sales of specific 911 model variants—many of which are manual- or auto-only—it's impossible to even guess with anything resembling accuracy. The GR Corolla's extremely high take rate is also because the new automatic model went into production at the very end of 2024.
You could add together cars like the Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ: combined, they accounted for a healthy 8,658 manual sales. But we've decided to leave them separate since they're sold by different automakers. Speaking of Subaru, the WRX was in a close second to the Civic with its 16,115 manual sales. That came as WRX sales fell overall, but the manual take remained high, at 86.7%.
It's funny to see the Volkswagen Golf GTI and R so high up on the list given that 2024 was the last year you could get a manual on those models. But VW told us this was actually the reason manual Golf sales were strong—people wanted to get these cars while they still could.
Next year, it'll be interesting to see if the Civic retains its crown. Honda might've pared back manual Civic models, but one imagines not a ton of people were buying six-speed Civic Sport Hatchbacks in the first place. Time will tell.
