Driving lessons mix of manual and automatic?

[User565394]

Ds is having driving lessons in a manual car. We still think he should pass in a manual car because he's going to be buying cheap second hand cars for years to come.
We've got an ancient landrover that's so old it doesn't even have proper power steering and a small electric car which obviously doesn't have gears.

Would it be mad to insure the electric car so he can practise driving around with us even though he's not using gears?

There's nowhere near us where we can hire a dual control car. I know that's a thing but we'd have an hour's drive either side to collect the car to then drive around for just an hour so it's not very practical.

What car will he be driving after passing?

Presumably the Land Rover will be very expensive for him to be insured on and the little car will be much cheaper?

In which case, does it really matter?

My young adult took her test during covid in our small automatic, and drives it now. I can't see she'll ever need to drive a manual tbh but if she ever does, I think it would be very quick and easy for her to pass a test in one after several years of driving experience.

I just had my driving lessons. No practice in between. He may not need to practice in between. See who he gets on.

My son failed five times in a manual car.
We've had automatics for donkey's years. He went with the , age old adage that you must pass in a manual car as most cars are manual.

Truth be told, many second hand cars are automatic as are electric cars, in the main.

He passed first time in an automatic and has an affordable automatic as his first car.

I don't understand the the manual mentality as we've driven automatics for decades.

I think a mixture of both whilst learning would be really tricky. Even my husband who had been driving for years, had an automatic courtesy car for a week, got his manual car back and went round roundabouts in 4th gear a couple of times the first day because he forgot he had to change gears.

I think gears are the hardest bit of driving to learn. I've been driving an automatic now for years and it's like driving a fast go-kart so I don't think having him drive your electric car will help him pass in a manual. But also automatics are so common these days that I don't think there's quite so much need to learn in a manual. Although get the reasoning that older, smaller cars are less likely to be automatic. It will narrow his pool of options but it wouldn't be impossible for him to get an older automatic. In a few years, gears will be entirely obsolete.

Driving lessons in a manual and the practice in an automatic was the way I and my siblings learned. Personally I think the automatic gives you road confidence without the faff of gear changes etc.

My ds had lessons in manual (and test) but practised in my automatic and got on just fine.

I'm currently learning in a manual but intend to have an automatic as my first car. My husband only has an automatic so I haven't any access to a manual for outside practice.

My driving instructor has told me there is little point in me doing much practice practising in an automatic as the vast majority of things I need to practise involve the gears. He says that's true of most people. And for me personally, I would find it confusing switching between the two.

If your DC is struggling with things that don't involve gears (confidence at speed, when to pull out on roundabouts, manoeuvres) then it would make sense to do some practice in an automatic.

I think you’ll struggle anyway to insure him on either!