I first started thinking about getting a Jeep since shortly after I got back from Bonaire in 2018. The rental truck I had down there was a stick shift, and after struggling with it a little, I started to enjoy it, and when I got back, I started looking. Jeeps were one of the few vehicles around that still came in manual transmissions. As I started looking at them, they looked more and more fun, and I started looking at them more seriously. In the summer of 2019, I took an overnight trip to Martha’s Vineyard, partly to be able to rent a Jeep, to see if I’d like it. I wasn’t able to rent a stick shift, but I was able to rent a two door soft top and liked it, and started to think more seriously about one.

Then life stepped in. The situation at appScatter became tenuous; we went weeks without getting paid — obviously not the best time to be thinking about buying a car. Then Mum had her series of strokes, and taking care of her became the priority.

In the meantime, I spent a lot of time with the Jeep configurator, trying to figure out what I wanted. I knew I wanted a manual transmission. I wanted to get a stick shift while I still could, since they’re increasingly uncommon. Initially, I thought I wanted a two door model, until I got a closer look at one at an Auto Show, and saw how little storage space they had. Basically, there was room for a cooler behind the rear seat. In addition, while I would have liked to have a soft top, I knew I needed a hard top because of the kayak. I looked at the various trim levels, and decided a Sport S was probably the best version for me. It had a few extra amenities over the base Sport model, and I didn’t want the extra plushness of the Sahara, or need the added ruggedness of the Rubicon. So I would play with the configurator, choose the features I wanted, click search– and invariably I would find that nobody had the configuration I wanted. Usually, it was the transmission that was unavailable.

I kept looking at new Jeeps, and not finding what I wanted for a few years — not that I was looking too seriously, because I still had my hands full in other areas, but the fact that I wasn’t finding what I wanted meant I wasn’t pushing too hard, either. Finally I did a web search for manual transmission Jeep, and found that what I was looking for was available on the used market.

I started looking more seriously the end of last year. The Element was starting to become more expensive to maintain. I put nearly $4000 into it last October, and then another $1600 in December. Right around Christmastime, I saw a nice blue Wrangler with shockingly low mileage on CarMax that had the features I was looking for… in Maryland. It would cost about $200 to have it shipped here. I looked at it, and looked at it, and couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger, until one evening, I looked, and it wasn’t available anymore. Damn.

So, when another one became available, I had it shipped up to Norwood, took it out for a rather lurchy test drive…and decided to buy it. It’s a 2021 four door Sport S Unlimited. The color is “granite”, meaning a nearly black dark gray.

It’s really nice. It’s a former fleet car, so that while it’s a 2021, it had under 23,000 miles on it. The body was clean, and the interior was in nice shape. It has CarPlay, and a lot of other computerized systems. And, it’s a stick shift.

So how has it been, getting used to driving a manual? It’s been a process. When I was test driving it, the salesman took me out onto the nearly empty roads around Vanderbilt avenue to get used to it. Driving it home was nerve-wracking. It was just before rush hour, and one of the first things I had to do was go uphill in stop and go traffic on Dean Street in Norwood to get to I-95. Somehow I managed to get up that hill, and then home in stop and go highway traffic. But after getting home, I just had to take it out again that night after supper.

The first week or so was rough. I was having real trouble finding first gear, because I was grabbing the stick under the ring that unlocks reverse. It was also hard to get used to starting up from a start. Like everyone learning a manual transmission, I stalled out a bit, or would unintentionally peel out from a start. I took it down the Cape the first weekend, and ended up in a little cul-de-sac in Wellfleet. I could smell the clutch burning as I was riding the clutch trying to ooze out and get turned around.

I feel like it’s starting to come together though. I’m starting to get the hang of starting up from a start, though, to be honest, I’m still nervous on starting up on an uphill, especially if there is someone close behind me. I spent some time practicing on an uphill on Sunday. It’s been a shock to me to realize how much shifting is necessary.

Driving a stick gamifies driving. I keep score on myself. That was a good shift, this one was really smooth, oops, I peeled out of that stop, or I shifted into third when I meant to shift to first, or worst of all, I stalled out. I had to drive over to Braintree this morning, in heavy-ish traffic, through a bunch of traffic lights (a lot of them red) and it went pretty well. I’m definitely gaining smoothness and confidence, though hopefully, not so much that I get myself in over my head.

Still, I’ve been finding reasons to go for drives after work. It’s starting to become fun to drive. And during the day, I’ll look out my office window down at the driveway and smile.

I have a Jeep.