> Rachel Cosker, 24, is questioning her commitment to the stick. As one of the few people at her high school who drove a manual, she says she leaned into the pe

> Rachel Cosker, 24, is questioning her commitment to the stick. As one of the few people at her high school who drove a manual, she says she leaned into the persona of “girl with the cool BMW stick-shift car.” That was before her leg grew sore from the clutch as she navigated traffic commuting back and forth from law school every day in Tampa, Fla. There is a stop-and-go technique to driving a manual in heavy traffic that could arguably been seen as less leg work than with an automatic transmission. It does mean that you have to be more relaxed and accept that people will cut in front of you, but it works. It mostly involves keeping the car in a lower gear than you normally would and using engine braking instead of the actual brakes.