The Hennessey Venom F5-M Roadster Is a $2.65 Million Tribute to the Simple Life

They say less can be more, but this is getting ridiculous.Manual transmissions have gone nearly extinct in mainstream models, and are entirely unnecessary in electric vehicles, but there are still a few niche cars that offer them as more of a premium novelty than a necessity. Similar to the revival of vinyl records in music.For example, while you can’t get a regular Honda Civic economy car with a stick anymore, the high-performance Civic Si isn’t available with an automatic transmission at all. That’s not because it makes it a better car. It actually reduces the performance and efficiency compared to a modern automatic, but also makes the car more interesting and engaging to drive for those who are so inclined. There aren’t many.Courtesy HennesseyOnly around ten percent of the new vehicles in the U.S. offer a stick shift and they accounted for less than two percent of sales last year. Aside from the lowly Nissan Versa, which is the lowest-priced vehicle on the market, all of the cars that still have one are sports models.Not any Ferraris, Lamborghinis, or many other exotic vehicles, however, as high-tech automatics are just better at harnessing the kind of power that is on tap in those cars today. Especially for owners who’ll spend most of their time cruising the boulevard rather than hitting the track. You can’t even get one in the latest mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette, but there is an American supercar that is regressing.The Hennessy Venom F5 is a car that you’ve likely never heard of and probably couldn’t afford if you had. It’s built by a Houston company called Hennessy Performance and priced above $2 million, with good reason.Courtesy HennesseyThe two-seat, mid-engine vehicle is constructed with a racecar-style carbon fiber chassis and is powered by a turbocharged V8 that can generate an astonishing 1,817 hp when running on high-octane E85 fuel.It was designed to go beyond 300 mph and Hennessy has been testing and developing it as it works towards an attempt at breaking that barrier, which would make it the fastest production car in history. That is if you consider a car with a price tag larger than $2 million that’s built in the dozens a production car.Hennessey hasn’t had any trouble finding customers, but a few of them asked the carmaker to change one thing before they got out their checkbooks. The Venom F5 was first launched with a seven-speed automated transmission that allows the driver to change gears by pulling on paddles behind the steering wheel as in a Formula One car, but that wasn’t appealing enough for everyone.Courtesy HennesseyThey wanted a good old-fashioned stick shift with a clutch pedal and Hennessey decided the customer is always right, especially when they’re paying this kind of money. It has now revealed the Venom F5-M Roadster, which features a six-speed manual transmission housed in a billet aluminum gate like in the sports cars of old. The power remains the same, so fancy footwork will be required to send it to the wheels without stalling the engine.The F5-M Roadster is priced at $2.65 million, so choosing the manual doesn’t make it a budget option, nor a faster car. Hennessy hasn’t even mentioned its performance statistics because the change isn’t about speed, it’s aimed at improving engagement. Between the driver and the car, that is, not on social media.Even if you are a millionaire influencer and “like” the Venom F5-M, I’m sorry to tell you that all 12 that will be built have already been reserved. These days, there’s a good chance you never learned how to drive a stick shift, anyway, and this is not the car you’d want to use for your first lesson.

The Hennessey Venom F5-M Roadster Is a $2.65 Million Tribute to the Simple Life

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