Manual vs Auto - resale?

Hi, I'm about to order a new Evoque Pure SD4 5 door for my wife. She, for use strange reason, has a strong preference for a manual. Clearly it is cheaper, & would have a lower resale value. Do you think the car would be hard to sell on without pricing it very low, after say 2 years, or do you think that if it was priced say £1500 less than an auto will make resale easy? I don't want a LR dealer to make out he is doing me a big favour by offering me a low price. All advice most appreciated

The manual is just as popular as the auto - it is a good manual box too BUT lots of people are chopping in their 2 year old manuals and 6 speed autos for the new 9 speeder auto which is proving very popular. I would say more important to spec the right options than whether to have a manual over an auto.

If a strong preference has been expressed for a manual gearbox....that's one I would purchase. I have always found more satisfaction in buying the car I want rather than what the next owner wants.

(12-03-2014 04:44pm)JDS Wrote:  If a strong preference has been expressed for a manual gearbox....that's one I would purchase. I have always found more satisfaction in buying the car I want rather than what the next owner wants.

Amen

I understand about ordering what you want, which is a well made point. I just want some confidence I'll not be left with something that proves to be hard to sell at resale time. Could it be like ordering a prestige car with a cloth interior?

I have had both manual and auto cars, but at the time of sale in my case it has not made any difference. I know certain makes and model must have an auto box come resale time, however you will always find that someone prefers a manual, although I admit with the increase of autos that is likely to decrease. When it's time to sell it is nearly always a lottery on price being offered anyway. It's up to you but I went for the manual this time because it's a good box and I was wary of getting the new auto in case of issues with it, but that was just me being a bit paranoid

It's clear you have a view that auto's will sell eaiser than manuals.....
I do think the auto is still a growing market in used cars as there is more confidence in them than a decade ago but..........
The 6 speed manual on the Evoque doesn't seem to have gained any bad reviews where as the auto has (hence the new 9 speed box).

New or used, I have always opted for manual so I am living proof we are out there. I don't see it making a huge difference to the right buyer.

Your friendly car dealer will tell you the colour you chose is not popular, and if only you had chosen a different set of options it would be worth more!! wrong size wheels everybody wnts the other ones...blah blah blah. You have to bat these things back to them having a ready made answer.

The manual is very good, I have it, and it depends what you want from your car, easy driving (which can relate to boring I find whenever I drive an Auto) or more driving input. I don't like any of the command shift boxes as they are just an auto with a bit of control on the change point not like a manual. If you want it for towing then manual is often better too.

Also Auto's will become the norm in all cars as their increase in gears and reduced rev ranges is driven by the "efficiency" demanded by ecological decisions, and Manuals may well become hard to come by, but we are a while away from all cars only coming in Auto.

Also remember you get Start/Stop, which works well on a manual, from what Tim was saying the 9 speed Start/Stop on Auto seems hardly worth it.

Buy what you want and like, there is a hardcore "Range Rovers should be auto's" tribe out there, but it's your car for you.

I would say if you buy a Prestige that needs to be an auto as the Prestige name would sugest.
Dynamic = IMO sports models should be manual but there is an argument for both.
Pure/Pure Tech (like mine) Mine is manual & yes as above sell it for £1500 less than an auto but don't forget it cost £1700 less in the first place!!

Unlike the FL2 which I had in manual that was horrid & I would only ever have another one of them in auto guise but the Evoque handles so much better than the FL2 I and I suspect many others find either a good drive. Also I think the Ewok being more car like you can get away with a manual on that point alone. My Si4 Dynamic Lux was auto & I actually prefer driving my Pure Tech!!

Thanks for all the comments so far. Consensus seems be that manual is fine on resale, so thanks for all your input so far, I think if the Mrs prefers the manual, then it won't cause a problem at resale