Ugh, manual transmissions, am I right? All that clutching and shifting and engine braking and being more in control of your car – it's exhausting! Forget all the reasons you should learn to drive stick. Everyone knows we need to have our hands free so we can eat french fries or text photos of our junk to people we met once at a bar.
Fortunately, one car company realizes that driving stick is like the worst thing ever. That company is Mazda circa 1990, when they offered FREE slushboxes on a bunch of their cars, including ones that really should have had manual gearboxes like the MX-6 and 323 hatch. Now, you can drive clutch-free, like a majestic freedom-dove soaring into the air.
All sarcasm aside, I'm pretty surprised to see an ad like this come from Mazda, of all places. They've always seemed to be advocates of the manual transmission and are usually more than happy to play up their motorsports heritage in their ads. Maybe things were different in Canada, where this ad aired, and where it's pronounced "Mass-Duh," which is jarring to say the least. Seriously, Americans, watch this ad and try not to be super weirded out.
The good news is that Mazda must have eventually learned the error of their ways. The manual in the Miata and RX-8 are some of the best in the business, and you can only get a Mazdaspeed3 with a manual. You can even get a Mazda5 minivan or a CX-5 SUV with a stick, and that's pretty damn awesome.