Manual Transmission Thwarts Jeep Thief; WTAE Action 4 News
This thief couldn’t conquer the mighty stick shift, so he ditched it near the crime scene.
Heart-warming stories don’t get much better than this. According to Pennsylvania police, a 25 year-old man couldn’t get away with an attempted car theft because it had a manual transmission.
Pittsburgh’s WTAE Action 4 News reported a man picked up two other people in the stolen Jeep before throwing in the towel and abandoning the vehicle in the parking lot of a hardware store near the scene of the theft. His journey thereafter then was completed on foot. Thankfully, the Jeep was located by police and returned to its owner, who now likely has a higher admiration for Jeeps with three pedals.
Jeep is one of few brands that still is steadfast in their belief in the merits of the manual transmission, although in their marketing department, they probably mention off-road capability and transmission fluid temperatures more often than crime rates.
As automatic transmission development continues, we will eventually see a phasing-out of the manual, especially with implementation of dual clutch technology and transmissions with an increasing number of gears.
A transmission doesn’t really make or break how good a car is, but it can certainly add to, or detract from the experience. For our faithful followers of the #SaveTheManuals movement, we want to know why it is you’ve picked that option. Was it familiarity with always having three pedals? The strength of the gearbox on offer? Any other reason?
Let this not be a reason to scoff at those who can’t drive manual, but rather to help out another enthusiast who’s eager and willing to learn. We all started somewhere, right? For the new generations of enthusiasts, it may as well be a Jeep.
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