Manual or automatic driving lessons for today’s teens?

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

Are your teenagers (or you) learning to drive manual or automatic? When I took my test 15 years ago it was suggested that everyone passed the manual test, but as a family we’ve ended up with 2 automatic cars anyway!

DS isn’t bothered and we if we go automatic they will be able to get practice in family cars. DH reckons manual will give more options in future. Anyone with recent experience with words of wisdom?

I also wouldn't teach them how to wash the bedsheets in the bath as we have the washing machine - exactly the same logic

But the washing machine might break down, or you find yourself stranded without a washing machine, or need to wash something which can't be machine washed.

I still maintain it is a useful skill to learn manual, as it covers you for all eventualities. Like learning to hand wash 😁

Manual all the way! Better driving experience, gives more options for driving other types of vehicles, more fun.
Automatic cars suck the soul out of driving!

I think the opposite - hire cars will be among the first to be predominantly auto as they keep their cars a relatively short time.

That said it would depend on where you are hiring the car - but given the EU phase out date is only ten years away, it's going to be a fairly short window of advantage.

Automatic if you can. Slightly easier to pass and manuals are pointless nowadays anyway.

I read recently that insurance premiums are lower if you have a manual licence (regardless of what you are driving). Presumably because it's more difficult.

Also a small 2nd hand manual car will be cheaper to buy than the EV equivalent.

I think the cost of lessons is a bit of a red herring. The price of the car and the insurance are the big ticket items. They shouldn't need thousands of lessons if they are practising regularly in between. You wouldn't expect a child to pass something like a grade V piano exam just on lessons alone - a lot of practice in between lessons is needed. Lessons just hone and refine technique.

Wow thanks for all the replies!

Good to see that there’s no clear answer, I thought I was overthinking it 😂

Would he be disadvantaged by not being able to practice manual driving in our automatic family cars?

Seriously limiting? Maybe in the 1990s that would’ve still been the case.

I get this and agree in principle! However both of our family cars are automatic so we’d have to buy an additional runaround for him to practice in!

He won’t be able to practise in yours if you don’t have a manual. For this reason alone I’d say automatic. Can always upgrade later but seeing as all electric cars are automatic probably no need. Manual is a dying breed of car.

Both my dc have learned to drive in the past few years along with loads of their friends, all in manual, all drive manual since passing their test, only 2 did automatic and they were entitled to motibility (is that right) cars, no one cared though, my daughter is insured on her friends automatic car and switches between both cars easily!

It is much harder to find an automatic instructor though, my daughter's friend waited about 18 months.

With every year that goes by there will be more electric cars coming onto the second hand market, so the ‘cheap runaround’ argument is also dwindling.

As for the fun and joy argument, my DH is a complete ‘petrol head’ car lover and even he wouldn’t buy a manual car these days. The amazing automatic gearboxes on premium cars also enable you to flip across into a manual mode for extra performance when you want it. On the other hand, I have never, ever moved the gear stick across from ‘Drive’ and even in automatic mode our car can still give you seat-pressing acceleration whenever you need it.

Yes, perhaps if we one day move to somewhere with outbuildings, he might buy a manual classic car to restore as a hobby, but I can’t see it happening any day soon.

And the last time I had a hire car (2019) I struggled to find a manual hire car and had to pay extra for it! That was Mexico though so maybe they have a more American market. They were 99% automatics.

Manual has advantages:

more teachers
smaller cars are cheaper when manual
more flexibility driving other cars

DD though will learn on automatic as she has ASD and ADHD. We think she will find it easier learning just one thing. She can always add manual lessons at a later point if she really needs them but then she has the general basic of driving already ingrained.

DS is 11 and is having young driver lessons, and drives my car on private land. He's learning in a manual.

Manual for us. It keeps options open.

Same dilemma going on in my house. We have two automatic cars but I think driving manual is a skill that might be needed. It doesn't happen often but sometimes you might need to drive someone else's car. Last year on holiday we could only get a manual for example. I don't know what way the world is going but I think DS should learn both. He will be doing his test on an automatic anyhow so it's just for the lessons that he will have the manual training. Also he isn't prepared to wait so wants to get the first lesson he can.

My DD is learning in an automatic as that is our family car and she can practice once she’s been on main road. She’s only had 3 lessons so far. No issues finding an instructor though the first one she had was awful! Made my dd upset at end and was also on her phone texting whilst my dd was driving! I wanted to complain but dd told me to leave it. We’ve gone with a different, family run business and she has a lovely instructor now and has just booked a block of 10

DD learnt in an automatic nearly 10 years ago, we only owned an auto so it would have been a costly expense for her to learn in an manual, especially as we live in a hilly area (hill starts!). DD bought a cheap second hand auto run around car (early 2000s Japanese model) when she went to Uni, there are more and more autos out there.

Both mine passed on manual. They couldn't drive our automatics anyway as we could not insure them, still can't!

Personally I think it's better to do manual as you have more options eg hire car etc. Changing gear is one small part of driving! That said their second cars will be automatics mainly because it is easier driving automatic esp in our clogged up roads!

Manual for sure so they are not limited going forward.

I'd still recommend doing a full manual license because if they need to ever drive work vehicles for a job then they usually are manual gears.

Manual.
All hire cars will be automatic before very long, and all new cars will be automatic or gear-less by 2030. But there's a big legacy of manual vehicles, and it could still be limiting in the future if they needed to be able to drive a manual vehicle for work.

I'm learning automatic.

We're getting solar installed and I intend to buy an ev when I've passed.

I agree that manual is useful now but things are going to change and manual is going to be a legacy technology fairly soon.

It is not an easier driving test, where on earth did you get that idea from? Whether you learn in a manual, or automatic the diving test is exactly the same!

Manual. It will be mostly automatics in the future, but learning only in an automatic is still too restrictive right now.