It's been said, but my vote is that alarms are worthless (completely ignored). Maybe the 2-way pager systems IF you're willing to toss your life over a confrontation, knowing that you'll be made an example of in the court system after the fact. You have to make yourself not a target. This is accomplished by not having the nicest vehicle on the street. Not having Anything in the vehicle, including trash... nothing. No tinted windows either, you want them to be able to Easily see there's nothing inside. Use a stock (or walmart special) headunit, something thieves know isn't worth the effort. Sadly, it's cheap and easy to get replacement faceplates for those that are removable. I've even heard people talk about leaving doors unlocked so the windows don't get smashed. You do need a smartly integrated kill switch though. I know, most people tie their identity to their vehicle and want the nicest they can get. It's just a bad thing to do when you can't protect it appropriately. I was motorcycle-only for a decade and road around on sub-$1000 bikes because I had to park in shitty places. Worst I ever had happen was kids playing on them and get knocked over, not a big deal, and I lived in some shitty ass hoods while coming back from homelessness. And forget the manual trans BS. Watch some bait car vids on jewtube and you'll see the thieves actually like manuals better.