I recognize that not everyone knows how to drove a stick, but not everyone enjoys driving an automatic. Since ZipCar seems to be experimenting with offering a few specialized vehicles I'd like to recommend trying a manual transmission, or at least attemtping to poll the community/customer base to see if there is a desire for such. Manual transmissions are still more efficient than automatics, and I should think ZipCar would appreciate the fuel efficiency. Personally, being in Cambridge MA I'd be willing to take the T out to Alewife or Braintree (except that that's a double-fare zone :-( which could be potentially mitigated by a rebate for in city users? ) to be able to access a manual transmission.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2003

Answers

I'm not not sure that I know how to "drove" a stick, and that is just the question to make, as some people drive like the spell, i.e. carelessly, and as we have all come to learn, in Boston that leads to wrecks. I gleefully drive manual vehicles when I am away from Boston, but in Boston, I am happy to have one less distraction in traffic. Another thing, modern automatic transmissions are much more efficient than the older ones, so much so that many "aggressive" driving habits can lead to the same or more fuel consumption with the manual than the automatic. Finally, reliability is a paramount issue. There is no way to completely "idiot proof" any transmission, but an automatic can come much closer to the "indestructible" ideal which makes Zipcars so reliable. And without reliablility, what good is Zipcar?

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2003