DD learning to drive - EV or petrol automatic?

[Sausagescanfly]

I need to get a new (to me) car that DD will be able to practise driving in while she learns. She will also get lessons, I assume in a petrol automatic. Has anyone been in this position and got themselves an EV? I'm trying to work out whether switching between an instructor's petrol and my EV would be a problem and I actually need to also get a petrol car. Thanks

Will your DD ever want to hire a car say on holiday? Learning on a manual one should be considered.

I'd still learn in manual while you can. Second hand cars will be manual for years

Both mine learnt in manuals.
Whilst cars are heading towards automatic only, both DCs have hobbies, interests and career aspirations that mean driving work vehicles, hired vans etc are a distinct possibility, and we thought it unlikely that automatic versions would be available in the near future.
That said, DD now has a little petrol automatic car.

This

I'm always amazed by the number of people on MN who assume their DC will never want to travel the world beyond Europe and North America...loads of other countries don't offer automatic cars - and definitely not EVs (I'm going on holiday to such a place next month.)

I'd always advise learning in a manual for this reason, certainly for the foreseeable future.

Whilst I agree with learning in a manual you do know hire car companies hire out automatics? Every time I hired a car in the last 2 years the default was an automatic car and usually electric (even though I requested manual when booking)

My dd learned in a Zoe. It was great, easy to drive , small, economical. At the time, that was the car we had and there was such a shortage of tests that it was almost impossible to book a test and make sure the instructor and car were available so we wanted to make sure she could drive the Zoe and his car just as well as each other. She ended up doing and passing the test in our Zoe in a place that she had never driven.

in my experience it's a load of nonsense you won't be able to hire a car easily. I can drive a manual but I haven't for over twenty years. I'm abroad right now, no problem whatsoever in hiring an automatic. And I have never experienced any difficulty. We travel a lot. And we have also lived in other countries twice, one time which is responsible for me driving automatics in the first place.

I think it’s really important to learn to drive in a bog standard petrol car with gears! This will stand them in good stead for driving any other car/vehicle for the rest of their life.

They will be really restricted if they can only drive automatic.

The physical driving of an automatic is no different in a petrol car or an EV.

Always learn on a manual. There will be some point in her life when she will need to drive one.

Definitely learn in a manual then she can drive anything. DH is an ADI and has people coming to him who passed their test in an automatic but for whatever reason they now need manual so have to go through it all again

She's not learning on manual because she will be practising on my car and I have no desire to go back to a manual and we aren't buying multiple cars. We've considered the restrictions and they aren't significant enough to change my mind.

I am only really asking whether the EV vs automatic petrol makes a difference.

I currently drive an EV and it drives a bit different to DH's petrol automatic. Things like it pulls away quicker. But I don't know how much that matters when you are learning - hence the question.

My DC will be learning in an automatic and getting an automatic-only licence because our family car is a hybrid which is therefore intrinsically automatic. There's no way DC will pass a test without plenty of practice as a learner and that cannot all be in paid-for lessons so automatic is the only option. I have no problem with them therefore being a bit more limited in terms of jobs that require a driving licence or holidays with a hire car. These so-called negative consequences are part of a deeply embedded car-centric culture and I hope we can be part of the change we want to see in the world. It's good for a 17yo to learn to drive but there is no need for every member of the household over age 17 to have their own car, each journey that can feasiblly be done on foot, on a bike or on public transport, these options are still often better even if you have a licence and access to a car, and our family holidays have always been to places that can be enjoyed on foot or by bike or with use of public transport. Hanging on to 20th century technology and 1980s style Car-First Ideology isn't the world my DC want to be part of either.

Whilst I would say that manual gives flexibility, recently I’ve had issues renting a manual because I hate automatics, rental agencies increasingly only have automatics (only noticed in past 2 years and in Europe) my dc all have full manual licences and didn’t practice in my car, they bought cars for themselves, cheap runaround’s and it’s cheap to insure on a provisional licence (much more expensive when they pass but wasn’t crazy here, I think home postcode matters)

I think it's pretty rare for a 17 year old together able to afford their own car.

On the contrary I'd say it was quite common for 17yo's to buy cheap bangers to drive because getting insured on their parents cars is absolutely extortionate.

My DH learned to drive a couple of years ago in an automatic petrol car and then we bought an EV. He switched over no problem, barely noticed a difference.

People are being a bit extreme saying there will come a time when you NEED to drive a manual! Not everyone NEEDS to drive at all! You can learn to drive but simply choose not to get a job which will require you to drive specific manual vehicles, or to hire a car in countries which don't have automatic cars. Hardly anyone does those things.

My son learned on a manual and my DD is currently too. Our car is a manual. They don’t drive my car much as it’s much bigger than the car they took/are taking lessons on, and I find it quite stressful (we live in London so loads of hazards)!
A manual license can drive an automatic not the other way round.
Of course many car hire firms offer automatic cars they are generally more expensive. Plus there were no automatic second hand cars within my son’s budget.

I agree with PP, hire cars tend to be automatic these days.

My DC both live in London and don’t need to drive but if they did, it would be automatic only. No point in learning a manual these days.

Ten years ago? Manual, no question.
Today? Automatic, it's the way things will be in the future.

Needing a manual licence in order to drive hire cars is a complete red herring, automatics have been available as hire cars since forever and will become ever more available as they start to offer more EVs.

I switched to auto 35 years ago. In my experience, small and medium sized automatic hire cars are getting easier to find in Europe although manual is still the norm. In North America and Australia the opposite is true, automatic is the norm.

I do appreciate the flexibility that being able to drive a manual gives me.

Any other experiences of learning on a petrol automatic and practising on an EV please?

I learned to drive in a petrol automatic and now have an EV. I didn’t switch between the two, but at one point I was having manual lessons and practising in an automatic and even that wasn’t really an issue.

I can’t see why switching between an automatic and an EV would be a problem? I drive both now (we have one of each) and can’t say I really notice any difference between them, other than the EV being easier to drive and easier to do roundabouts in as it’s nippier to pull away.

Also, people insisting she should learn manual are mostly talking rubbish. I’ve never had any issues renting an automatic car here or abroad, and I’ve never found myself in a position where my automatic license limited me.

Always try to learn in a manual. My car is 18 months old and I deliberately bought a manual, 6 speed mild hybrid (not plug in). Perfect.

I insisted on mine learning in a manual and also that their first car was a manual. A good life skill, which means that if they find themselves needing it it’s available to them. Came in handy for Ds on a farm abroad last year when he was able to drive some of their vehicles.