Milton defends his choice of driving a manual transmissions:

My new Acura TL has a short-throw shifter standard on the car, which decreases the ratio between gear shifts significantly. This has multiple effects: one, it makes a bad@ss 'snick' noise every time you shift--highly satisfying. Two, it enables you to shift gears much quicker than in an automatic car, and faster than a MT car with no short-throw. Three, it makes it feel like you are driving a race car (even if you are no speed demon, which I am not, the feeling is awesome).

But the biggest reason is that it actually feels like I am the one doing the driving, instead of passively sitting back and letting the car dictate all the gears, etc. The gears shift when I tell them to.

Nice to know that his preferences are rooted in practicality. The feeling of a race-car is extremely important in getting from Point A to Point B. :)

Seriously, I can understand the attractiveness of a manual transmission. Some of my fondest driving memories are in the old Dodge Colt. Yeah, it's not an Acura TL, but it got me from point A to point B and did so in as unglamorous a fashion as possible. It was a manual transmission and the car that I learned to drive manual on (something I believe everyone should learn). It was truly neat to have such control over the car. When going on one of my random drives, I believe I'd appreciate that kind of feeling again since I'm really just going from Point A to Point A again, taking the long and scenic route so I can sort out my thoughts for the day.

The rest of the time, though, I much prefer an automatic transmission. And cruise control.

I remember getting into an argument with Mrs. Tyler, the widow-lady next door and a second mother to me. She believed that cruise control was a hazard to the road. It made people have to think less when they drive and therefore they were more accident-prone. It's an interesting argument except she lost all credibility when I asked if she thought the same was true for automatic transmissions (which she used). What is true for cruise control is true for automatic transmissions is true for anything that makes driving easier and require less thought.

For my part, I like to put as little effort into driving as I can while driving safely. If I could, I would very gladly have a self-driving car. In fact, if I lived in a place with a good mass transit system that was actually efficient, I would rather take the bus or choo-choo train. I took the bus for jury duty for about four trips to Houston and found it nice to be able to read on my way to work.

In the movie Minority Report, the cars drive themselves with amazing efficiency. I'd love to be able to do that.

Except that I still want to own a car for my Point A to Point A driving.