If you'll indulge me with a personal story for a moment: when I was in high school, my father bought himself an NB Mazda Miata. But I wasn't allowed to drive it. It was a five-speed manual, and he was convinced I'd either wreck the car or the gearbox or both. Then, when I came home to visit from college one day, I learned he traded up to a C5 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. And he said I had to drive it.
