First automatic

[mylittleyumyum]

I'm picking up my first automatic car tomorrow.... I had a brief play with an automatic in the Tesco carpark the other night and the worst part was coming to a stop and thinking I was going to stall 😂 I literally drove round twice.
I need to be confident and 100% for mixed motorway and city driving on Thursday morning. Does it click quickly?

@Balloonhearts not old, but I think a lot of Mercs have them

I got my first automatic in the summer, and bought it at the other end of the country so had to drive 8hrs to get home! That was certainly a crash course, fortunately I didn’t crash. It just feels weird for a while but I settled in very quickly and now adore it, agree it’s grim getting back in our old manual!

yes. and you'll wonder why you bothered with manual all this time.
We are an all EV household and all EVs are automatics, i hope to never have to drive a manual ever again. It's not like the 1990s when they were limited to the elderly.

You'll never go back to a manual

I switched about three years ago after 30 years of driving manual. It is an absolute breeze and I love it. But still really enjoy driving DH's manual car and no problems going from one to the other even if I don't drive the manual for several months at a time, you never forget.

Yes I used to drive our cars interchangeably when one was a manual and one was automatic. But we've had two automatics for years now and won't go back unless we get given a manual courtesy car.

DS passed on a manual but has only driven my automatic since he passed his test and will never go back to a manual either. In fact DH passed on a manual but his dad gave him his old automatic when he passed, so he's never driven anything other than an automatic, either!

The trick with reversing and also moving forward slowly is to keep your foot on the brake. Do not touch the accelerator while reversing.

However, be aware that you MUST ALWAYS put an automatic in park when getting out of the vehicle. Otherwise you run the risk of pressing the accelerator accidentally when getting back in.

You should always put the car in park but if if you don’t you won’t be able to remove the ignition key (if the car has one). As an added safety feature, the engine won’t start if the gearbox isn’t in N or P.

The trick with reversing and also moving forward slowly is to keep your foot on the brake. Do not touch the accelerator while reversing.

That is OK on the flat but sometimes you have to use the accelerator. When reversing up a hill, for example.

It's not like the 1990s when they were limited to the elderly.

Thanks. I switched to auto in 1991. I wasn’t remotely elderly.

Auto has long been the norm in bigger cars.

Had my first automatic last year. I was nervous but it only took half an hour or so to get used to it.

But now we have a manual again and I still prefer it. No problem switching back.

It doesn’t take long to get used to it but agree I was very nervous about hills to begin with. You will love it and never go back to a manual.

Oh god, I test drove an automatic ( as I've had surgery on my left leg so could do without a clutch) I kept jabbing the breaks, trying to find the none existence clutch, I opted for a different trim with a manual gearbox 😂😂

Clicks very quickly.

now after twenty years of driving a manual I struggled to move dh’s car off the drive last week! I’d never go back to a manual.

Hated automatic, recently test drive one and didn't like it at all so ordered another manual lol

We have one of each in the house and neither of us have any issue switching between the two. It just seems to click which car we are in. It probably helps that they are very different cars.

You will find it difficult to go back to manual

That isn’t a given. I have just been driving a manual hire car for a fortnight without any issues at all.