To want to get an automatic car

[birobenny]

I am learning to drive at a relatively late stage in life and am a terribly nervous driver (seriously so bad a feel sick before I get behind the wheel) I am learning in a manual and will do the test for a manual but I really want to get an automatic when I pass. I need to be confident by the time D's starts school in September and every panic (well a lot of them ) that I have while driven happen when faffing with the clutch/gears. Dh has been driving for 20 years and is a very confident driver. He will not get an automatic car because he says he doesn't like them. Who IBU?

men thinking that in some way more skill is involved in driving a manual

There most certainly is. Any idiot can drive a manual, however there's a skill involved in driving a manual quickly and smoothly.

Take your test in a manual then you can drive either.

Dh was very anti automatic until we hired one in Canada and was sold. We still don't have automatics but it's an option.

I failed my driving test three times and my dm insisted it was on gears. It never was: I was a shit driver at 17... She still maintains I cannot cope with gears. Apparently I ride the clutch (I don't). I change at the wrong time (I don't). She also forgets I have had 18 years of relatively incident free driving (few accidents, all non-fault - I was rear-ended - and NOTHING TO DO WITH GEARS).

In short: you will be the driver; you decide.

Tobysmum, the thought of an automatic used to scare me too.

Generally, I like what I know. I had been driving manuals for almost 30 years, but then needed to use a hire car while mine was off the road for a little while. The hire car was automatic and I was nervous as hell, but had learned to love it before I had to give it back.

When I next had to change my car I managed to get an automatic within my price range.

No problems. Just strap your left leg back against the driving seat for the first couple of weeks.

haha yes topset I would brick it if I turned up at avis to drive the wrong side of the road and they informed me they only had an auto .

I will have to give it a go at some point but the years keep passing.

They are also less fuel efficient (about 10% less so generally)

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I think the Golf DSG automatic is rated as (marginally) more fuel-efficient than the manual.

Some of the newer autos are as good as manuals but older automatics still lack something fuel efficiency and performance wise when compared to a manual of the same age Driving style plays a role too.

She has a Volvo XC90. It has no power at pulling away whatsoever. Once it's going it's powerful but initially it's awful.

Are you sure it was the car rather than a driver? I've driven automatics by several different manufacturers (not including Volvo) and never had one that was like this. (I have driven several manual cars that were asthmatic, but that was because they were underpowered.)

The most surprising one was a small 1.3 litre Proton loaded up with four adults, it was very responsive. When you put your foot down, the rev counter went straight to about 5000 RPM, the car accelerated very satisfyingly, and over a long period the gears caught up with the engine. (Apparently Lotus who are owned by Proton helped tune it.) It was even nippy getting from 40 to 70 when coming out of road-works on a motorway.

Autos all the way.

We both have one.

Theoretician, at asthmatic manual cars.

Compo Some of the newer autos are as good as manuals

That's only true on the drive cycle figures. A well driven manual will always have greater fuel efficiency than any automatic. However an auto can trump a badly driven manual.

DH has just corrected me. The exception to that is where you have more than 6 forward gears. 6+ auto boxes operate in the optimum range of the engine and can produce better efficiency.

I have an auto and would never go back, so much easier to drive. I can drive manual and DH car is manual but I would never buy one through choice

Theoretician I test drove a diesel XC90 once which had exactly the same problem, and I'm notorious for my heavy right foot so it definitely wasn't me. I ended up buying a petrol XC90 which went like stink. I now have a Touareg which can take on most boy racers.

Topseyt: Most of the artic tractor units are auto now, except for a few old ones used as training vehicles. Smaller rigids tend to be manual, as the work they do is urban or multistop. All autos have a manual option and a lot have a "marshalling" option which locks you into 1st or 2nd with reduced power.

I use manual on ice without traction control, as some years back I crashed a gearbox computer in auto. Set off, spin, change up, traction control cut in, change down, spin, repeat. Not fun.

When you put your foot down, the rev counter went straight to about 5000 RPM

Sounds like a CVT rather than a conventional auto.

I now have a Touareg which can take on most boy racers

I'm guessing that's the 4.2 petrol V8 or the 5.0 V10 diesel?

They've only recently started putting CVT in Protons.

They've only recently started putting CVT in Protons

Well, since 2011. The behaviour described by the pervious poster sounded very much like a CVT to me.

I wouldn't own an automatic again if you paid me. I've just bought a new car and that was my absolute non-negotiable. Manual all the way for me I'm afraid.

Can you afford the outlay and running costs of a second car? In that case get a automatic for you and he can carry on driving the manual.

I wonder if you could recommend a make/model to the OP?

I'm "relearning" in an Auto after passing in a Manual 20 years' ago, then not driving since. I cannot tell you how much more confident the Auto makes me, personally.

Thanks Disgrace, that makes sense.

I think I had some of the impressions I did as I rather enjoyed watching some of the TV series and specials made by a group of the Eddie Stobart drivers.

That and sometimes Ice Road Truckers. Have to admire them driving their HGVs across frozen lakes etc. in Alaska.

Guess I had better stop derailing the thread.

Dh and I both drove manual until we moved to Canada in 2001, when we ended up with an automatic. Drove that for a couple of years (no issues with wrong pedals - wtf?) and when we moved back to UK, I wanted to get an auto. Dh not keen, but in the end, the first car we liked (we had to buy one within two days of arrival) happened to be an auto, so we did end up with one. With bundles more kids, we needed another car, so dh bought a smaller manual car and left me with the auto bus. We switched cars back and forth depending on who needed the big car for the kids that day. Switching between my massive auto people carrier and a teeny manual in a car park was not unusual .

Having moved back to Canada, we now both drive auto. I would say the difference in accident rates are more to do with kids driving much earlier, shit road conditions with way more ice and snow for months on end, and bastarding trucks driving past too fast causing complete white-outs. As well as SUV drivers who think they are invincible doing a ton on sheet ice. Some mornings I count the cars in ditches as I drive to work.

In the op's case, I would probably be tempted to get a manual license, as it gives you the option, but try an automatic and see how you go. For me, as an a to b driver, I prefer auto. There are a lot of people that prefer the feel of a manual, believing that it represents a higher skill level, a more in touch driving experience, etc etc. I don't disagree, but I'm not particularly interested in that 'experience'. I just need a vehicle to get me where I need to go, safely. Sometimes the car available is a manual, so I drive that. but I will always buy an automatic, now.

richthegreatcornholio I wish! It's the V6 which I think is all they make now. Perhaps it is the fact that it is the size of a small house and driven by a middle-aged mum that lulls the boy racers into a false sense of security?!

YANBU. I'd buy my own car. He likes manuals, he can drive one. I love automatics would never drive a manual again.

I passed my test in a manual and drove one for years, but back and neck problems mean that I can't drive manuals any more. Have driven automatics for about 15 years now. I have a hybrid now , which has an automatic gearbox anyway. Love it! Not all automatic gearboxes are equal though. I had an Astra hire car and the gear box was awful, a huge lag. Shop around and find one you are comfortable with.