Automatic Transmission And A Girlfriend

As a petrolhead I find myself in a difficult situation…. I’m in love. Why is that difficult? Well you see, in the various car pages that I am subscribed to on Facebook, the impression is given that true petrolheads are only allowed to fall in love with cars. You do not simply declare that you are in love with a woman, and you do not simply declare your support for a vehicle with an automatic transmission. You can’t fall in love with a woman because you can’t hold hands while operating a manual transmission.

Cars with manual transmissions (or stick shift in the USA), are cars that demand proper driver involvement as opposed to the lazy, less involved action that automatic transmissions requires of the driver. You are generally considered less of a petrolhead -or not a petrolhead at all- when you vouch for automatic cars. Even if today’s automatic double clutch transmissions are programmed to shift quicker than manually-operated transmissions. 

manual transmission

Now I’m pro-manual transmission due to my love for proper driver-involved vehicles. But at the risk of upsetting the petrolhead kingdom and king Monkey Wrench and being banished to the outskirts of town where ravenous dogs roam, I declare my newfound support for automatic transmissions. Why? Because girlfriend. I am in love, and this time not with a classic Alfa Romeo, but with a woman and I want to hold her hand while driving.

Being in love can alter you. I’ve become softer. Although I still appreciate the joys that a manually-operated vehicle can bring, there have been occasions while driving when I wished that I could hold her hand while the transmission changes cogs by itself. In fact I would be content driving an “old man's car”.

But before you decide to run me over with a manual transmission 2 tonne Ford Galaxie, know that I haven’t shunned the manual transmission from my life. I just have different priorities, and the desire to hold her hand is greater than the need to hold a gear knob. I’m not any less of a petrolhead than I was before; it’s just that I’m in a different space and all I want to do is hold her hand.