Going Automatic

I love my Subaru Outback wagon very much.

She knows that.

But when her clutch started acting up last fall, I began to feel something was going very wrong with our relationship.

Oh yes, the first four years had been divine. Nary a complaint to be made. Nothing but love and kisses.

Silly me.

I’d temporarily forgotten the “ALL THINGS BREAK” rule of Life.

When my clutch started to go, I didn’t want to just run to the car doctor. So I put off fixing it, trying to get as much as I could from a clutch I’d already paid for before I paid for another one.

Cheap, perhaps. I prefer frugal.

Anyway, I was slightly irked. Why should a clutch give out at 100,000 miles when everything else is working so fine (knock on wood)?

So, like I said, I put off the repair.

Most times, it worked just fine. Other times, it would emit a raspy sound as it performed its vital function, over and over again.

And I guess that’s when the light finally came on for me.

You see, almost all of my adult life, I have driven stick shifts. As a teenager, nothing’s better than popping that clutch and “laying some rubber,” as we kids used to say.

As a man, I’ve always loved shifting gears as I zip my car through traffic or down a sinuous mountain road.

But back to the light.

After I shelled out the dough to replace my clutch, I started thinking about something I’d always refused to consider before: That maybe an automatic transmission wouldn’t be that bad.

Bad – as in old.

It’s a perception I must now distance myself from – that driving an automatic is a sure sign of getting old.

At my age, I’m daily fighting off any reality bulletin that tends to suggest I’m getting, you know… older.

So the thought of giving up my stick shift for the old folks’ automatic was always a big psychological hurdle for me.

But I believe I have finally cleared that bar.

After my recent clutch crumble, it suddenly became so clear: All things DO break. Some sooner than others, but eventually anything made by human hands (even with robot assistance) WILL break.

Think about it: How many times EACH day do you push in that clutch? A hundred? More? In a month? Or a year?

Undeniably, a clutch is a real mechanical wonder. But no matter. It WILL break, sooner or later.
I was pretty lucky when mine finally went. I was only about a mile from home and able to get it back to my driveway without shifting too many times.

A thousand dollars later, it’s nice having a new clutch again. Everything’s hunky-dory again between me and my Subie.

I’m shifting gears and feeling really engaged in the art of driving again. Just the way I always liked it.

But I haven’t given up my intent to go automatic. And it’s not that I’m caving in to the demands of Age.

But I’ve heard some of those “matics” can really get up and scream like a banshee down the old freeway on-ramp.

That sounds like something I ought to check out.

And, it’s one less thing to break.

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