I think a big part of this is that leases have gotten dramatically better. A fully loaded Mustang GT was leasing for almost $1100 per month, you can get one in the mid $700s now.
All 3 of my cars are manuals.
2015 Ford Focus SE 5MT, the Focus turned out to be a hell of a car. No DCT BS and she has been awesome for 12 yrs and well over 100k mileage on her.
2024 BWW M2 6MT
2025 Ford Bronco Badlands 2dr 2.3 7MT
I wish you can buy a 911 Carrera T for under $70K. I think you may have missed that part. Porsche pricing has become insane!! I remember when a Porsche 911S sold for just $15-20k more for the base models compared to a BMW M3. Now its almost double.
For a performance car, the Brembos on the Mustangs dust level is very acceptable. Now owning a modern BMW M car (G8X) the brake dust is ridiculous. A 10 mile drive coats the wheels with a nice cinnamon colored dust.
As far as Ceramic Pads, you won't get the same stopping power as you would...