Not to hijack the thread, but what do you guys think about getting a young driver a manual transmission in their first vehicle, assuming adequate practice time to become used to the operation? My wife has her first manual vehicle now, a Mustang GT we bought this summer. After getting the hang of everything, she loves it and is amazed at how much more she has to focus on driving and on the flow of traffic. There's much less freedom to talk on the phone, text, or do other things like eat or interact with passengers. I agree with her, but I also just enjoy driving a manual transmission because I like the driver involvement. She mentioned the other day that she thinks teenagers would be much better drivers with stick shifts, due to the level of actual focus needed versus an automatic. Thoughts?
