![Hey Car Companies – Bring Back the Stick Shift [OPINION]](http://townsquare.media/site/87/files/2019/03/GettyImages-481371420-e1553859808576.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Hey Car Companies – Bring Back the Stick Shift [OPINION]
Maybe, just MAYBE, all of this new technology is making us less-attentive drivers.
I read this the other day and was absolutely FASCINATED by it - a recent study shows that our very own mitten state has the highest number of drivers who know how to or currently still drive stick shift IN THE COUNTRY.
I know how to drive stick, I love driving stick, and I'd buy a stick shift car in a heartbeat.
My first car was a 1988 Chevy Beretta. It was red and the clear coat was peeling, so it looked like it was sunburned. It was basically an $800 mobile-calamity; pretty sure I pumped about $3K of my measly part-time paychecks into that thing but hell, I had to get to my college classes SOMEHOW.
But the ONE THING I loved about that car was the manual transmission. It was fun to drive. I was into it. I was attentive.
Now, in 2019, I cannot IMAGINE trying to grab my phone, or even trying to use my Bluetooth display. And that's not a BAD thing, right?
Back in 2012, when I was finally financially stable enough to purchase a somewhat newer car, I searched around to every car dealership in the state of Wisconsin (where we lived at the time), and manual transmissions were hard to come by. I ended up buying an automatic transmission, simply because of lack of options.
Maybe, instead of MORE technology, we need LESS? Am I alone in this thought? Or am I biased, just because I love to drive stick?!
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