Absolutely!

Not just because they are my favorite way to stay involved with the car while driving either.

As a criminal defense attorney who does a lot of court-appointed work with juvenile offenders, I have learned an important fact; very few Americans under the age of twenty or so have any idea how to drive a stick shift vehicle.

My clients, several of whom are teenagers who steal cars for fun and profit, have told me that when choosing a car to "boost" will not even bother with a car that has a clutch. They can't drive it so they don't want it.

I do not pretend to know what percentage of car thieves who would tackle a new-ish BMW are actually juveniles or young adults, but I figure driving a vehicle with a standard transmission has got to cut the odds some.

I will never own another automatic shift vehicle, at least until they are all gone.

D