Have you switched from a manual car to an automatic? Do you like it?

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Asking because I drive a large, heavy clutch, quite old manual estate car. It's hard on my knees and ankles. The clutch doesn't engage until almost fully up and it's a big clunky car, quite difficult to park.

I have a new job which requires me to drive the company car. It's an automatic Golf, only a couple of years old. It's like a whole new driving experience! Although I have some experience of driving automatics on holiday, every car I've owned in the UK has been manual. So it's taken some adapting. It feels like if I literally brush my foot over the brake pedal we go into an emergency stop! I can't seem to set off smoothly either - lots of kangaroo jumps - the car speeds away from me as if I have no control and I'm terrified of smashing into cars parked just infront of me as I set off.

But once on the road and cruising around - it's lovely! I'm always driving in a slow urban environment so constantly stopping and starting and not having to go up and down through the gears all the time is something I could get used to.

Remind me again - what are the disadvantages of automatic cars?

This isn’t an issue - if someone has learned and passed their test in an automatic their licence doesn’t allow them to drive a manual. So if they did they would breaking the law and in theory it wouldn’t happen.

my daughter and all her friends learned to drive manuals but if they become less common then I suppose people may switch to the automatic test instead.

What do you mean it isn't an issue? It's exactly the issue! If you've not learned to drive a manual car, you can't drive one AND it's illegal. So you'd be as useless in an emergency - or just when it would be good to share the driving - as someone who can't drive at all.

I do think it's a good skill to have. I don't know why they have automatic-only licenses though, are there any other countries that do this? I first learned in an automatic and had no problems switching to a manual. For the vast majority of people it only takes one or two drives to figure out.

To be fair, if you have learnt manual but haven't used a manual car for years, people wouldn't really want to share the driving with you. I'm in that situation, and DH is certainly not asking me to share driving when we go anywhere in his manual car. I could drive manual in an emergency, but I think there would be a fair bit of graunching and bunny-hopping while I got used to it again.

I had a 22 Yr manual car and switched to an Automatic electric, totally life changing for the better .
Id been driving a manual 18 yrs and lord I was annoyed I hadn't changed until now!

@Passepartoute I dunno, I had to drive a manual the other day after not driving one for about five years and it was fine. (I was actually a bit surprised.) I think it's a bit like riding a bike. Every car is different though so engage at different points so it does take a minute to feel it out.

No but having slated them as being for people that can't really drive I'm actually about to swap my manual for one as having driven Dh's, I can't be bothered to change gear anymore 😂

What emergency scenario are you alluding to though? Wouldn’t you just deal with it as same you would if you’d gone out with the car and take public transport, get a taxi or call an ambulance (if appropriate)? In the UK you can’t usually drive other cars because you’re not insured, or it’s only 3rd party coverage. So like fuck would I be driving someone else’s car, ‘emergency’ or not. As for when it’s a preplanned long journey when you want to share the driving, you obviously take the automatic driver’s car, since the manual driver can drive that too, and arrange proper insurance coverage in advance- easy peasy.

And more and more cars these days are automatic- luxury cars tend to all be auto (with sports mode and paddles if you want it), electric cars aren’t manuals (yes I realise they’re technically not autos either but they may as well be as far as the driving experience goes). Look at the US or Australia for instance, very few manuals left on the roads there at all; give it a few years and the UK likely go the same way.

Would never go back to a manual transmission

Love my automatic BUT I would say the only issue I have had is recognising speed in built up areas. I got 2 speeding tickets in the first 8 months of driving it because it crept to 33/34mph so quickly in a 30 zone and I couldn't "hear" the changes that would have alerted me in my manual. I do feel they should allow a few months for drivers to adjust re speeding tickets, but maybe I'm just being bitter!

I found this too. I've driven only auto for the last few years but recently we bought a little station car and could only find what we wanted in manual. We were both reluctant to go back to manual and actually tossed a coin at who would drive it home from the garage. I lost but within half a mile it was like I had never stopped driving a manual. I didn't even have to think about changing gear. It just came straight back.

We got an automatic around six months ago but still have a couple of manuals. I love them all in different ways. Automatic is obviously easier but I think it makes you lazy and less aware of the road, so potentially increases risks, especially with other modern tech like cruise control, as it's far easier to lose concentration when you're not watching the road ahead to plan gear changes etc. On balance, I think I prefer the manual cars as they make you think more, plan more, be more aware of the road ahead, etc. Our automatic has "manual" mode which I've just started using which I quite like too - I can drive it on manual mode around town and then automatic mode on longer drives. Sometimes you need a manual gearbox when you need to drive more decisively, i.e. to pull out at a busy junction and get up to speed quickly, or to pull out of a motorway lane into traffic to overtake, or joining a motorway/dual carriageway sliproad etc., our automatic has very good acceleration when it gets going but it very slow to "kick in", whereas with a manual, you can just go for it.

Yes, it's actually easy to switch between manuals to autos back to manuals. We've got two manuals and an automatic, and I drive all three regularly with no problems at all. Maybe takes a couple of minutes to get the feel, but that's the case with all different cars, even manual to manual. Funny in the automatic as if I've been driving a manual for the day or two beforehand, I find myself reaching for my bottle of water in the centre console to change gear! But I only do that once and a minute later, I'm driving the auto like I've never driven anything else. And vice versa. When you get back into a manual, the engine noise tells you to change gear.

I don’t know who all these people are who are kicking back ignoring the road thanks to their automatic cars doing the work. I’ve largely always driven autos, use adaptive cruise control/auto lights/windscreen wipers etc and am still very aware of my lane position, who is behind me, who is beside me, etc.

Judging by the number of people who don’t do shoulder checks or just expect people to get out of their way, driving a manual doesn’t make you any more aware of your surroundings!

EVs also solve the issue of needing gears to get out of roundabouts/junctions or join motorways, mine does 0-60 in 4 seconds.

I switched from manual to an EV reluctantly last year for medical reasons and wish I had done it sooner. I would never willingly go back to manual.

Unless it was through dire economic necessity, I would never buy another manual car.

What emergency do you think would require someone to drive someone else’s car? The only time I did this was when I was senior nurse on call and we had a theatre incident and a patient was transferred from one hospital to icu at another. The family concerned were actually friend so I drove them in their car which was a manual. It had been years since I drove manual so I crunched the gears a bit. It would have been possible to get a taxi too so no real need for me t9 drive them other than it meant they had their car at the other hospital.

What emergency do you think would require someone to drive someone else’s car?

zombie apocalypse?

Yeah, we get a lot of those. 😂

Do you not have the option to change gears manually? We do on our car and I use it all the time when visiting DH's family who live in the mountains

I'm guessing this. Place your left foot firmly on the foot rest and leave it there!

We currently have two manuals (car and MH) but we've had a semi-auto (robotised gearbox) in the past, and I've driven automatics quite a bit as pool cars and hire cars.

I prefer manual, but mostly through habit - if anything I prefer the column-shift on the MH to the normal gearstick in the car. I really liked the semi-auto, but it had reliability issues with the gearbox - when it was working it was perfect, when it wasn't it was a dog. Automatics I can take or leave, autos with an electronic handbrake (VAG) I can definitely leave - I had to drive a friend's car once with that set-up and it was just odd.

A while back up-thread the OP suggested that driving an automatic with both feet would be "stupid". Far from it, there's a split opinion on this but many expert sources suggest that two-footed driving with an automatic is safer than right-foot driving.

Best thing I ever did. And contrary to a PP, the fact that the car takes care of most of the 'mechanics' of driving means I'm more focused on what's going on around me on the road, not less, so I'm quicker to respond/evade etc.

Asking because I drive a large, heavy clutch, quite old manual estate car. It's hard on my knees and ankles. The clutch doesn't engage until almost fully up and it's a big clunky car, quite difficult to park

I'm not an expert but doesn't a high bite like that mean there's a new clutch in its future?

I'm not fussed either way. I'm happy with a manual but autos can come into their own I think as you get older.

I had to swap to an auto a few years ago following an accident that irreparably damaged my left foot. I was very opposed to it, partly I guess because of the circumstances but also because I had a lot of stereotypical ideas about autos and those who drive them. I've had to eat humble pie. The technology has improved so much now that most of the issues that used to plague automatics have been ironed out, and whilst it galls me to say it, the computer in my car can change gear more smoothly than me, makes perfectly good gear selection and drives very economically! My car has a DSG gearbox which is basically an automated manual box and I can override it if I wish. But I never bother now that I have learned to trust it. The only things that bothered me at first was the lack of engine braking and having to use the brakes more, and not changing down in advance of overtaking etc. As I say, you can do that in mine if you want to, but actually it does it so quickly itself once you start to accelerate that I don't bother. Only major disadvantage to me is that those gear boxes are very expensive to fix if they go wrong but so far I've had no problems fortunately.
I don't think I would go back to a manual now even if my foot was miraculously cured. I live in a very hilly area and now wonder why I put myself through all the years of multiple hill starts crawling up steep hills when the traffic is busy - it's so much more pleasant in an automatic.
Of course EVs don't have a gear box at all so in due course far more of us are going to have to get used to driving without changing gears anyway.