manual transmission in V6 Escapes

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I'm really annoyed that Ford neglected to provide the option of manual tranny for the V6. It annoys me to the point that I may consider buying something else. But I really love all the other features. They have such pithy offerings of options with the XLS manual model that I wouldn't even consider buying that. Maybe if we all ganged up on the design people, or whoever decides those things at Ford, they may reconsider. I for one, like to decide when the transmission shifts, and get slightly better gas mileage. And it's way more fun to drive a stick! Any other thoughts on that?