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?

Plus, the fun of driving is in the changing of gears, IMO. Autos are boring to drive, again IMO, but I can't be the only one who thinks this.

I have on a couple of occasions.

It's like most things though, you don't know whether you'll need it until you do, at which point it might be too late. Kind of like insurance I guess. I know I can drive any car if I need to.

I agree. I ended up with an automatic hybrid when I had to get rid of my old car because of the ULEZ expansion. I don't like driving an automatic as much as I did a manual.

Those discussions always remind me when my grandma was complaining about all those new fancy automatic washing machines. For lazy people only. You can only do proper washing in a twin tub!

Just made this decision ourselves - we have two family cars - a fully electric and an automatic/petrol. If my DD19 (and DS about to turn 17) pass their tests, they need to be able to drive our cars. Why learn manual only to then have to buy a (third) manual car for them to drive occasionally?

If the world goes fully electric or hybrid, all cars will be automatic so, again, what is the point of struggling to learn how to change gears/manage the clutch when most of their generation will never need to drive a manual car?

Agree, we'll all be driving electric cars in the very near future.

If you're a relatively well off family and planning on buying her a newish car as her first car it may as well be automatic.

If you will be buying an older car as the first car, probably best still to learn on a manual.

You've got it wrong - manual licences can drive manuals AND autos.
Auto licences can only drive autos.

LOL no we won't.

seems short sighted to me
unless you plan to finance their car in future

why is it such a touchy subject for some that manual is becoming obsolete? It’s literally just a fact 🤷‍♀️

I had driving lessons in a manual but just could never "get it". I took a long break for a few years and then learned and passed in an automatic. I agree that driving a manual was more fun, but I just needed a license and a car for my career choice

Not touchy, but very short-sighted to think that manual will be obsolete in any of our lifetimes.

It’s not a touchy subject. Remember when the government told you to buy diesel? Electric cars will NEVER be enforced as an only option for the purchase of a new vehicle. I work in the industry. I’ll rattle off the reasons why if you like. You are all being blindsided and it is sole destroying for those of us that can see that. A simple google will show you that EV production is being scaled back.

So glad we managed to help get both DDs through driving lessons and test during COVID - not easy with all the stop/starting of lessons and then the wait list for tests. They both did the manual test and I’m glad they did as it proved worth it. DD2 was one of only three people in her course at Uni able to drive one of the, manual, old minibuses and therefore drive the group on tour. But for those three they would have had to raise a lot more money to cover a driver. And DD1 has got a placement year in her dream job that requires driving really old crappy, trucks, Landrovers, and vehicles that can tow. She wouldn’t have been able to do the placement if she couldn’t drive manual. So well worth getting that skill imo.

She should definitely go automatic - manual will become obsolete. Having a car to practice on is also so valuable when you are learning!

Manual gearboxes are already obsolete in medium sized cars and and
above. Try buying a new, manual BMW 3 series of Mercedes C class. You haven’t been able to for years. You can’t buy a manual Golf GTi, and soon you won’t be able to buy a manual Golf either. Regardless of the rate of conversion to EV by the Luddites, ever tightening emissions target for fossil fuelled polluters will mean more and more autos as it’s easier to control their emissions. Less than a quarter of new cars available in the UK are manual (source whatcar: https://www.whatcar.com/news/which-cars-come-with-a-manual-gearbox/n26678 )

i hate driving auto's with a passion. completely souless. Learn in a manual and have the choice.

I think in 2024 its absolutely fine. DS1 had quite a few lessons in manual and he really can't cope with gears and clutch, so his instructor suggested that he move to automatic.

I was originally of the school of thought that being able to drive manual is a useful skill BUT whilst this may have been true when I passed in 1992, I don't think it is the case any more.

I passed in a manual but have only driven an automatic since (15 years). There's absolutely no way I could drive a manual now. Of course with a bit of practice I could pick it up, but in an emergency, with adrenaline pumping - no way. It simply wouldn't be safe.

Honestly, how many times have people needed to drive someone else's car in an emergency? Most of my friends seem to have hybrids that are automatic anyway. It was a bit more expensive to hire an automatic in Spain last year, but not a huge amount. Ditto buying our second hand car... a bit more, but not prohibitively.

Exactly. The overwhelming majority of young people buying their first cars need them to be as cheap to buy and insure as possible, which means a lot of them are going to be driving base-spec small hatchbacks which could be 10+ years old. Good luck finding one of those that isn't manual.

Auto insurance is more expensive and auto cars are more expensive. If you have the money to throw at it, why not. I couldn’t do auto only as I am a mechanic and need to be able to drive everything. Also it was a lot cheaper. Might be cheaper to buy and insure a cheap manual for practicing rather than do auto only. Look at insurance quotes for both provisional and new driver

I've got a manual petrol car from 2014 that is fully ULEZ compliant.

No I’ve not got it wrong - they will likely never have access to a manual car so they will never need to have a manual licence or know how to drive one. They only need an automatic licence to drive our cars and any future electric or hybrid cars.

No point whatsoever in learning to driving in a manual car.

You said you'd have to buy another car for them to use, should they pass in a manual. Why?

Logarithmic tables and slide rules are proper ways of multiplying numbers, calculators and smartphones are for lazy people.
Same as A to Z’s , Yellow Pages and encyclopedias are the proper ways of finding information, Google is for lazy people