I love my car. For those of you who don't know I speed around in a little blue Acura RSX. I once had a friend tell me that my car and I were the perfect fit - we're both small, powerful, fast, and "aesthetically pleasing." Indeed, for those reasons and many others, it seems like my car and I were made for each other. I just have so much fun driving her.Anyhoot, as in any loving long-term relationship, sometimes one develops a bit of a wandering eye. My most recent temptress: a Mercedes C230 Sport Coupe. I really
have a certain "type" when it comes to both cars and boys. One is 5'11, blond hair, blue eyes, and generally a finance major, the other is a sporty little hatchback coupe - I leave you to figure out which is which. Back to my story... so today I happened to be passing by the Mercedes dealership in town and decided I had 10 free minutes to stop in and really see what the C230 was all about. Apparently not much. First off, they're discontinuing the line this year because they don't sell enough or something like that. Being that it's a most attractive car, that's fairly reasonable in terms of cargo space and whatnot, I wondered why they didn't sell very many.Well, at least I wondered until the guy told me that some 95% of the Mercedes they sell are automatics or those fake-automatic-stick-shift (where you can "shift" without a clutch, which is like saying that you can run without legs). I promptly told the overly-perfumed salesman that I was looking "for a car that was fun to drive - not an automatic." He promptly replied that many cars on his lot were fun to drive, completely missing my not-so-subtle insinuation as I was soon to find out there were no pure manual cars at the dealership. After that it was simply a race for me to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but I didn't get to leave before the salesman told me I'd be wanting an automatic in 3-4 years as that's all they'll be making. I simply replied, "Well, then I suppose I'll have to move to Europe."
Why don't people drive stick shift anymore?
- I suppose if I lived in downtown Chicago I might not want to as your left leg gets a real workout. But then again, if I lived in downtown Chicago I wouldn't want to own a car anyway.
- I also don't buy the argument that driving stick is too much work. You might as well just claim that you drive only in straight lines because turning the wheel is too much effort.
- I once had somebody tell me she didn't drive stick because then she could smoke and talk on her cell phone and eat and drive all at the same time. I vowed never to get in a car with her again.
Basically, I can't imagine not driving a stick, although admittedly I did so for a period of a year and a half. When I do, on the very rare occasion, find myself behind the wheel of an automatic, I feel like I'm not driving. My left leg is itching to do something so it generally just flails about in the footwell and my passengers wonder if I have some sort of nervous disorder. I'm also a significantly worse driver when I'm driving an automatic. You simply don't pay as much attention. There's a reason car insurance rates are lower if you drive a stick-shift. Besides, it's just so much more fun to drive a stick.
If Mercedes wants to be all-automatic, then let them. I'll stick with my fun car. My true love.
