There’s no question that fewer people know how to drive a stick shift car these days. In light of this, Volkswagen decided to take advantage of the incompetence with their latest advertising. In VW ads, it’s now recommended that the Jetta GLI’s manual transmission is a safety feature. Still, at the end of the commercial, there is a little warning that the VW manual transmission isn’t enough; you should always lock your car.
Is a VW Manual Transmission a Safety Feature?
If you haven’t seen the ad yet, now is a great time.
The question stands, “Is it safe to leave your manual transmission vehicle unlocked since most people can’t operate the gearbox?” Our answer is absolutely not. If we’ve ever left a car unlocked, it was generally because the car was old, not worth anything or had nothing valuable inside.
Indeed, the GLI doesn’t fall into any of those categories. Even if a thief couldn’t steal your car, we are sure they would find plenty to keep them busy. Some might also attempt to drive it away which could prove to be disastrous to your gears and clutch.
Still, VW asserts they aren’t attempting to get you to leave cars unlocked. VW wants you to know that driving a stick shift puts you into an elite group of people. It makes you different and rare.
The Death of Stick Shift
Fewer cars are offering a stick shift as an option anymore. Even the 2018 Ram 2500 was the last truck to offer it. Because of that, most people will understand this ad, realizing that thieves in this country probably don’t know how to drive a manual gearbox.
What’s funnier is that this ad wouldn’t make much sense outside of the United States. In Europe and several other countries, the manual transmission hasn’t died like it has here.
Still, we can’t help but chuckle at the ad and the “advice.”
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