Thursday, May 22, 2014

Why "The Last Manual Transmission?"


Why "The Last Manual Transmission?"

Because sticks are getting quite hard to find.  Many people don't want them anymore, and with good reasons for the most part:  paddle shifters are taking over as more desirable, derived from significant advances in the racing industry, and automatic transmissions combined with advanced on board computing has finally overtaken the human ability to shift at the optimum time, for the best fuel efficiency.  I'm old enough to remember when a stick bought you better gas mileage.  No more.  The other reason people are veering away from old fashioned manual transmissions is a bad one:  overwhelmingly escalating use of one's free hand for texting and web surfing on one's mobile device, while driving.  This is so dangerous and foolhardy, but people will be people.

It took me several months to find the car I wanted.  But it was worth the wait and the pursuit is always part of the thrill, as it is in most of life's fun adventures.  This blog is about that chase and my getting intimately familiar with the new car, learning it-- there is a lot to learn-- and taking care of it.  Some of my other interests may likely get mixed in to this writing endeavor as well.  We'll see where we go.