AIBU to think DD might as well learn to drive on an automatic car?

[whiteroseredrose]

DD is 21 and has not yet learned to drive. The plan is to learn next summer when she finishes university.

Problem is that DH and I both have hybrid cars that are automatic. I couldn't find a hybrid manual car as they probably don't exist.

Rather than have DD take lessons in.a manual car with either no practice in between or practice in our automatics, take that test and then maybe do a 'conversion' at a later date.

Would that make sense?

My dd is 15. We've already said just learn automatic. It's so much easier and I can't see a situation where she'd ever need to drive a manual.

Not for me, changing gears is just drudgery to me. I did learn in a manual, but have driven automatics for the past 25 years and would never go back to manual.

For our DS it came down to availability of instructors - there were more instructors with manual cars and even they were thin on the ground. Good to have options - especially when hiring cars - my H has automatic license so sometimes we can’t share driving. Also when I have hired transits in the past they have always been manual (and great fun to drive) but that may have changed, it’s been a while. But agree it’s likely to be less and less useful.

Because they will have learned to drive in a manual, will be nervous, young and inexperienced drivers with no experience in an automatic car. They are also both autistic/ADHD [like both myself and DH] so of course if they learn to drive manual, they will expect to drive a manual.

Not that it’s any of your business of course or relevant to the @whiteroseredrose ’s thread which asks: if you have an automatic/hybrid car and given these are increasingly more prevalent, should you simply encourage your DC to learn on an automatic. My answer is, yes. Why would you do anything else?

Do you really think there will be a significant number of people driving manual cars in, say, the year 2074 when plenty of us will still be alive. Unless the planet has been wiped out by the combustion engine by then, of course…

My 5 all passed their test on a manual at age 17 as did I. I think it is important eg sometimes they have to hire a van to move furniture at university stage and beyond. One of my did post office work and had to drive a Royal Mail van at one stage. I have an automatic now but when one child moved house we hired the biggest van I have ever driven and it was manual. My twins share a manual car and sometimes I have to drive it.
One of their friends passed on automatic only and when he wants to use one of those new services where in London you can pick up a hired car for short journeys (cannot remember name of that thing) he has to walk very long distances until he can get to one that is automatic rather than manual.

Yeah, I recently did some work driving company vans. The one I used 95% of the time was automatic but they had several manual ones. I'd have been a bit screwed if I'd not been able to drive them.

I'd been driving nothing but manuals since I passed my test before I did that job. Getting used to an automatic took me all of two minutes - I was confident driving it before I got out the car park. You can't do that the other way around.

For the sake of just making learning to drive slightly easier, I would still encourage new drivers to learn how to drive manual cars. It's just pointlessly limiting what you can drive otherwise.

Yes, you might plan to buy an automatic but if you need to rent a car or a van, or you need a courtesy car or whaever, it's still extremely useful to not be limited to just automatics.

But the vast majority of new non-electric vehicles are also automatic now

Agreed. When I learned to drive last year, everyone was telling me to learn automatic. I only went manual because the only instructor available taught manual. Learning probably took a bit longer. The advantage is a bigger choice of cars to buy.

😂 We most certainly will NOT all be driving electric cars in the near future, I think that's very obvious!

I think it's a good idea to try learning in a manual to start with for all the reasons posted. If it's too difficult after a good try, ditch it for auto but it seems really daft to me to not try manual initially.

I can't believe a PP thinks passing your test in a manual means you can't drive an auto 😂

A lot of the people here saying "everyone drives automatics" and "you can't buy manual cars anymore" clearly live in privileged bubbles where they're able to buy or lease brand-new, premium-brand cars every couple of years.

A lot of us can't afford to do that.

Exactly. Plus the ones saying 'oh you'll all be in EVs soon' - what about those of us that have nowhere to charge them?

This x 1000.

I can only drive autos and have had no problem sourcing older, cheap cars. The newest car I've bought is 6 years old and that was only because the mileage was double what it would be at that age so it was the same price as my usual 10 year old cars!

I think there's a bit of conflating auto with electric on this thread. I agree that all electric everywhere is a long way off for us normal folk (I'm rural and there's nowhere to charge!) but cars are definitely slowly shifting more auto. In 15-20 years that should mean a higher percentage in the used market.

I don't know what the problems with the electric vehicles were, I know some were battery related. This is a main dealership, they aren't going to go broadcasting the problems. I do know very few cars are selling. My ds now has my 15 year old diesel estate, kept in tip top condition by my old school DH. I know one person with an electric and one with a hybrid. The rest have petrol or diesel, like the older land rovers.

You couldn't find a manual hybrid ?
You obviously never looked that hard ! I have a manual hybrid and it's a Ford.

Yeah- I mean some carmakers including Subaru, Volvo and Mercedes don't even make manuals anymore. I'm pretty sure I read that you can also no longer buy a new manual Fiesta so I think the trend towards automatics will massively accelerate due to the choice just not being there- in 2024 only 90 models in the UK were available as manuals vs twice that in 2018.

The switch to electrics and hybrids are accelerating it but even numbers of manual ICEs are being reduced.

Good for you. Not entirely sure how this is at all relevant when I was buying a 2023 car though.

Soulless?

We're talking about a vehicle used for going to work, the supermarket, carrying kids and dogs around, picking up potting mix? And it's meant to have soul?

If you're lucky enough to forgo all that drudgery and are spending your weekends zipping around Lake Como with an Hermes scarf tired around your hair, good for you I guess. You might be interested to know that Ferrari and Lamborghini don't make manuals with clutches anymore.

Is it though? Why? If we're moving towards hybrid/electric, it's going to be a completely unnecessary skill.

Although, OP, the vast majority of people I know don't practice in another car between lessons. So don't let that be the reason you choose automatic.

FWIW I passed my test in an auto 9 years ago, and it's been an issue for me 0 times since, despite people telling me it would be.

I have 10 year old Audi A3 TFSI Auto, got it when it was two years old and even then the road tax was just £30 and it still is.

All electric cars are automatic and eventually, all cars will be electric. So there’s no point. I got my automatic only licence in 2010 and haven’t regretted it for a second

The key word here is eventually. Not now.

I've been driving since 2013, and I've already bumped into several situations where an automatic licence would have been quite a problem. I'm glad I have a manual licence.