In 2016, a study revealed that only 16% of Americans knew how to drive a manual transmission car, and only 1% of the cars sold in the US were equipped with a stick shift. As concerning as this is for us *car-guys*, it’s not a surprising piece of info. Automatic transmissions are less work; they shift faster, smoothly, and make performance cars faster. So, honestly, why would you want to drive a manual if the alternative is better in nearly every metric?
The most common answer is that it’s a pleasurable experience to do so. That’s why I want to drive a stick, because I like it.

Knowing how to drive a manual transmission car is as impressive as playing the guitar. Lots of people know how to do it, yet, if you’re at a party where no one else but you knows how to play, you go ahead and sing Wonderwall a couple times. When a few people – ideally girls – gather around you, you grow a well-deserved ego as big as Donald Trump’s.

Like guitar, driving stick isn’t hard to learn. It is, however, hard to master. It takes time and practice. The unnecessary battle of learning how to do something like that properly is part of the reason why it’s so rewarding. It adds another layer of complicity between you and the car. 

The bottom line is that driving a manual transmission car is a choice that represents having fun during your commute.

So, according to the aforementioned study, less and less people enjoy driving. 99% of the drivers on the road get in a metal box with four wheels that has for sole purpose of taking them where they want to go faster than if they went there on foot. To them, a car is an appliance. Like a fridge. 

Fast forward a few years to 2020, when Cadillac called bullshit on the initial “study” and ran their own survey. Their results were considerably different. They claim that 60% of the population know how to drive a manual, as opposed to the 16% the other dweebs came up with. So, according to Cadillac, about 125 million people decided to learn how to drive stick in the span of four years.

It’s that or one of the surveys is wrong. 

I don’t want to point fingers, but, less than a year after Cadillac gave us those numbers, they unveiled the CT5-V Blackwing, which, coincidentally, has a manual transmission. The first to have one since the CTS-V, which they made SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO. Odd, don’t you think? 

I suspect the following scenario happened:

The accountants and the marketing people of Cadillac were tasked by the board (or whoever is in charge) to determine if it would be economically viable to make the CT5-V with a manual transmission. The accountants and the marketing people, who are clearly car-guys, teamed up and made the genius plan of inflating the numbers to convince the bosses that yes, there is a market for a luxury 4-door sedan powered by a 6.2L supercharged V8 with about 650bhp that comes standard with a manual transmission. “Trust us”, they said.

The plan worked, and the CT5-V Blackwing exist.

That’s a bloody miracle when you think about it. Because let’s be honest, all we want in life is to be happy and, unfortunately, the infrastructure that makes the world we live in isn’t designed for happiness, but productivity. A 6-speed 650bhp sedan isn’t productive; it’s childish. If it weren’t for the wackos at Cadillac, we wouldn’t have something like this on the market.

Thanks, Cadillac.

So here are a few very important lessons we learned from today’s rant:

Number One: Never trust statistics.

Number Two: Drive a manual.

Number Three: Be happy.

You’re welcome.

Max