Sorry, I can’t buy this “manuals are back only for supercars” take. I spend most days outside King’s Cross watching cars roll by the station entrance. Half the black cabs here are manual, just regular work vehicles, not seven-figure exotics. Last week, a guy in a scuffed Vauxhall Corsa stopped to ask me about a chord progression, his clutch pedal visible through the open window. Stick shifts aren’t just for fancy shows; they’re still here for the rest of us.