6 Crossovers and SUVs You Can Still Buy with a Manual Transmission

The field of crossovers and SUVs available with a manual transmission shrank yet again this year. Three models on 2018’s list of stick-shift SUVs no longer offer a manual transmission, with the Fiat 500X, Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, and Subaru Forester going all-automatic for ’19. That leaves behind only a handful of options for those seeking a tall vehicle that isn’t a pickup truck that also has a row-your-own transmission. We’ve gathered every new crossover and SUV-and the specific trim levels on each that come with the human-shifted transmission-that still offer a stick.

Trim levels available with a manual: Sport, Latitude

Want a stick shift and all-wheel drive? Jeep won’t restrict you to front-wheel drive should you choose the Compass’s six-speed manual transmission, the standard gearbox choice on the Compass Sport and Latitude models. Front-wheel drive is standard, too, but all-wheel drive is optional. Manually shifted Compasses come with a 180-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, and in our review of a Compass so equipped, we found the powertrain combination charming-way more so than an equivalent automatic-transmission model.

Trim levels available with a manual: Sport, Sport S, Rubicon

Most of the Jeep Wrangler lineup comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission. (We've tested a base Sport, pictured above, so equipped, as well as a Rubicon.) Those versions stuck with an automatic include the luxury-oriented Sahara, as well as any Wrangler equipped with Jeep’s new turbocharged four-cylinder engine with e-Torque mild hybridization. Buyers can equip the standard 3.6-liter V-6 with the same eight-speed automatic as the turbo four, but what’s the fun in that?

Trim levels available with a manual: Base

The 2019 Kia Soul is only available with a six-speed manual transmission in base form, which is named, appropriately, Soul Base. Instead of the mid-level Soul+’s 616-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine or the Turbo model’s 201-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter engine, the basic Soul comes with a 130-hp 1.6-liter non-turbo four-cylinder engine. Every Soul is front-wheel-drive, which might make you wonder how it ended up on this roundup of crossovers and SUVs. We categorize the Soul as such, and even awarded it as our favorite subcompact crossover among our 10Best Trucks and SUVs nominees two years in a row. It sits taller than a regular hatchback and offers greater driving zeal, better fuel economy, and more handy interior packaging than most entrants in its segment. Later in 2019, the Soul is being replaced by an all-new model that-thankfully-will continue to offer a manual transmission.

Trim levels available with a manual: Cooper, Cooper S, John Cooper Works

Mini likes to boast that it offers a manual transmission on nearly every model it makes, the only notable exception being the S E plug-in hybrid version of the Countryman crossover. The rest of the lot, from the base, three-cylinder Cooper to the mid-level, four-cylinder Cooper S to the range-topping, sporty John Cooper Works comes standard with a six-speed manual. It doesn’t matter if you specify front-wheel drive or ALL4 all-wheel drive (the John Cooper Works is ALL4-only), you can get a stick shift and a third pedal on Mini’s little SUV.

Externally, the Outlander Sport is dimensionally larger than most of the crossovers in this segment. Too bad its cargo space can't make the same claim. The Mitsubishi, with a 17-suitcase capacity, lags behind the Nissan Kicks and the Subaru Crosstrek. Also of note is the Outlander Sport's available subwoofer (pictured above, on the right side of the cargo hold), which eats up two cubic feet of space behind the second-row seats.

How would you categorize these 10 segment-bending vehicles?