I'll drive a manual car wherever I find one. Here's why. | Opinion

A 2025 U.S. EPA trend report highlighted how close manual transmissions are to disappearing from the American market: fewer than 1% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. are equipped with a stick shift, down sharply from about 35% in 1980. In an opinion piece, the author argues the decline isn’t only due to electrification or automation, but also to changing habits—driving increasingly treated as something done between phone checks rather than as a full experience. The writer recalls learning to drive on a 1971 Volvo station wagon and later enjoying manuals in a 2002 Honda Civic, describing gear shifting as a “dance” with the car.