As you might expect from a walker in the suburbs, I’m not big on driving. I do it, of course, because I have to — but I do it almost exclusively with a manual-transmission sedan. I shift up, I shift down. I lean into corners and feel the road. Piloting a stick shift has made driving as fun as it can be, almost as much fun as walking.

I did not come to this skill easily. I was an automatic transmission girl until I married into a stick-shift-car family and painstakingly learned to handle a clutch. With no automatic to fall back on, I had no choice. But it wasn’t easy, especially after living for 10 years in cities where I relied solely on public transportation.

For decades now I’ve mostly driven a manual, and loved doing it. I mourned our old stick-shift when it finally bit the dust. The 25-year-old Saab that we’re keeping alive by dint of a mechanic named Louis and way too much money may be the last manual I’ll ever drive.

A recent Washington Post article reveals that stick-shift automobiles account for only 0.6 percent of the American auto market now compared with more than 34.6 percent in 1980. Manufacturers are discontinuing their stick-shift models. Electric vehicles don’t require a manual transmission. And then there’s the comfort factor. As one auto industry expert opined, “The more the car becomes your couch, the less you’re going to want to shift your gears.” 

For me, a car is a tool, not a couch. It’s a necessary item. And if I have to own one, I’d like it to be one that mimics walking with all its stops and starts and adventures.