Automatic car help! I can’t do it!

[ghostyslovesheets]

I feel like such a twat but my hire care it a bloody automatic and I can’t even reverse it of the drive!
always driven with gears - not even sure how to control this thing. Take foot of break it shoots backwards- break and it stops. How do I reverse slowly?
holy hell I have to do a 200 mile trip tomorrow - considering hiring a car with gears!

can anyone talk me through it like a 5 year old?

im 56 and have no problem driving a normal car

I found it was all about keeping the left foot out of the way and braking to slow down because there’s less engine braking effect.

Most people would have started driving in a manual before automatic. I don’t know anyone who has only learned to drive in an automatic.

It’s not really that different, manual requires a gear change for acceleration and deceleration and automatic does not.

I have an i10 and ended up with a ginormous automatic Peugeot 2008 as a courtesy car. I was petrified, but it was actually really easy to get used too. And I couldn’t t move it off the forecourt because I didn’t know how to start it. 😂😂 once I got used it it, it was brilliant to drive and super easy.

I feel your pain , I’ve had to get used to an automatic recently and it wasn’t fun. The only way I survived the first few journeys was repeating the mantra “leave left foot alone”

you will get the hang of it

Take your left shoe off, it will help to remind you not to use it.
I really like the creep, great for manoeuvres and traffic jams, I also love no hill starts.
I'm in my third auto and would never go back

I bet you won’t want a manual again by the time it goes back!

I wonder if a lot of the problem (particularly for those driving electric cars for the first time) isn’t so
much that an automatic is difficult, but that the engine is more powerful than previous manual cars. Electric cars are notoriously “quick” ie they pick up
speed straight away and many automatics with ICE engines have a bigger power train and more torque than a manual. It would be like the equivalent of going from a manual fits 500 to a manual Ferrari if such a thing existed 😆

Thanks for all the top tips and support! I’m such a twat - honestly. Just took it out - up and a couple of local duel carriage ways, round some roundabouts - even reversed it back on the drive!
no left foot used, no one died - did keep reaching for the gears though!

Driving from Birmingham to Liverpool tomorrow for my dads memorial so I was a bit fraught but I’m going to be fine - appreciate you lot in the viper’s nest

When I first started with an automatic hire car, I used to twist/put my left foot under the seat to remind me not to use it

Hired an automatic in Florida, was really stressed driving out the hire place. The guy said to me “forget you have a left leg” so I did and it was fine !

Me too. I can do it but I don’t enjoy it because of the (irrational) feeling that I’m not totally in control. Most people prefer them, I think.

If you ever want your opinions to be taken seriously, you could think about writing "you" rather than U. It's strange how much it affects the impact of your post and makes it hard to take it seriously.

But you are wrong anyway. It's completely normal to need a short period of adaptation to a new car. OP hadn't taken the car off the drive because she knew she wasn't safe. Now she's worked out what she was doing wrong and is perfectly safe to drive.

yep the only using right foot thing got me too! we just got a car last week automatic and i waas flustered at the start !

You'll be fine op! good luck

I don’t understand why someone would use both feet the first time they drove an automatic after a manual.

Surely it’s common sense that you only need the right foot, as it’s just brake and throttle.

I can see the benefit on long drives and particularly in traffic jams - I was stuck for over an hour yesterday and inching along my foot was killing me.

But if you want to nip about… my old car is really fast off the blocks - necessary in a busy town, particularly at roundabouts. Dh has an automatic and it feels more stately . And it does lurch… or that may be dh’s driving!

It's not about common sense, it's about instinct and muscle memory. The fact that quite a few of us have had the same experience shows that it is a fairly easy mistake to make. And as soon as you realise what you are doing, it's very easy to put right.

What the OP describes, and what I experienced, is using the left foot instinctively, and finding the car reacts very dramatically and is almost uncontrollable. As soon as you realise what you are doing and use the right foot, it's very different.

It’s completely common sense but I think it’s just muscle memory that you’re used to using a clutch with one foot and the throttle with the other. You soon learn hopefully without hitting anything.

It's about what you're used to, I accidentally used both feet a few times, most people do.

I must be a weirdo. It never happened to me, even after driving a manual for over 30 years.

There do seem to be regular occurrences of elderly people accelerating/reversing randomly. They’ve had to install heavy bollards in my parade of shops after two drivers accelerated straight into the shops. Before anyone starts shouting “ageist!” a lot of people driving round here are certainly rather infirm and imo should not be driving at all, and certainly not automatics. (Of course younger people have accidents eg Wimbledon school woman but round here at least it is very frequent.)

Top tip OP, if you get in and the engine won't start, make sure your gear is in P.
Automatics won't start if you've left it in drive, had a couple of panicky moments with that one. Worst was on a motorway when I was stuck for half an hour, turned off the engine, when it all started moving the bloody engine wouldn't start because it was still in Drive !

I think you'll get used to the automatic quite quickly. I find them a lot easier in heavy traffic and stop/start on hills. You just accelerate/brake with your right foot in exactly the same way as in a manual car.

Driven one once and hated it. I just couldn’t get used to not having to change gears, and the brakes were so keen. I was seriously considering just dumping it in the middle of the road and walking the rest of the way

This! I first had an automatic 10 years ago and I wouldn't go back to a manual but it took a few days to get used to it. DH's car is a manual and when he drives mine he has to concentrate hard at first.

I routinely switch between our manual and automatic with no issues. If you’re trying to drive it like a go kart that’s probably the issue. Don’t use your left leg, it will feel really unnatural anyway as you wouldn’t brake with your left foot in a manual. I find the automatic much smoother to drive now. So much easier in stop/start traffic, pulling quickly out of tight junctions, across dual carriageways etc. Helps that mine is also an EV so goes like shit off a shovel