AIBU to think learning automatic is enough for a new (unconfident, adult) driver?

[Lexibletheflexible]

Woman in her 30s (not me, I can drive!) is wanting to learn to drive. Very little experience. What experience she has had lessened her confidence more (her dad, and a BF tried to teach her in her teens/20s, she never got the gist of it).

I think that it's fine for her to just do automatic. I think the UK is heading the same way as the much of the world.

Partner thinks that she should learn manual, because automatic only will be insufficient in the long term.

Who is right?
YABU- Him
YANBU- Me

I know someone who couldn't get the hang of driving at all (dyspraxic). They switched to automatic and passed very soon after.

You don't need any mental capacity to change gears anyway after you have enough practice. It's learned behaviour and you do it without thinking, a bit like walking, you don't think left foot right foot. It just happens.

I think there is an argument that if you are in an automatic you have both hands on the wheel all the time which might give you greater control in the time it takes a problem to develop. But since a lot of people tend to slouch around with one hand on the wheel a these days while the other waves around, rests on the armrest, holds a mobile or a packet of crisps or as someone in a previous thread I read said, "fending off kids" it probably doesn't make much difference as an advantage - until something goes wrong that is and the few milliseconds it takes to get both hands to the wheel to get a better level of control makes all the difference.

Transmission oil changes on auto gearboxes can be horribly expensive, whereas a lot of people won't bother with manuals.

If you look for a relatively new used car ( up to 3 years old), then more than half these days are automatic, I’ve found. That figure will only increase.

Funnily enough, I worry the other way, as I’m older and have only ever driven a manual. I’m not used to anything else!

I took a manual test 25 years ago at 42 because evetyone said I should. Took me three attempts. Very nervous driver then. Have never driven anything but an automatic since then though. Never had a problem with a hire car being automatic either. Cars were more expensive back then. Bought my brand new Nissan Juke as an automatic 5 years ago and it wasnt much more than a manual.

@GasPanic ,

‘You don't need any mental capacity to change gears anyway after you have enough practice. It's learned behaviour and you do it without thinking, a bit like walking, you don't think left foot right foot. It just happens.’

Yes, but you need to learn it. And it is in the first year after people pass their test that a lot of accidents happen.

That is what cognitive overload is, learning too much simultaneously. For an experienced mathematician, basic integration, differentiation, geometry etc can all be done without thinking too much. But imagine trying to learn them all at the same time.

Even for good experienced drivers, they need to learn new cars’ gear layout, and some gears can be sticky as well.

Ha ha! This is so far from the truth I can't tell you - neither of us are high earners, I assure you! My car is second hand (6 years old) on PCP. My charging costs are relative low as I only drive locally. DH's are more, he just tries to use cheaper/free slow chargers where possible, but otherwise absorbs the cost same as he'd have to for petrol/diesel. And not all autos are EVs...

My point was that, realistically, if you don't have a career that relies on driving a manual, most people will cope fine with an auto. My mum has driven a manual for 40 years and never needed to hire a car/drive a car that's not her own; she would have been fine with an auto too.

I see quite a lot of Gen Z kids (my children’s peers) with anxiety, learning with an automatic because they are scared of driving a manual car. They find it a bit harder to find an instructor with an automatic car, which surprised me. But once they have passed, it does not seem to be an issue.

Yes, you don’t need any capacity once you know what you’re doing but it sounds like the lady in question can’t quite get to grips with it in the first place.

there is an argument for the hands but I think a lot of learners struggle to see everything around them safely and change gear or the wobble on the road as they change gear. Both unsafe but different reasons.

Automatic isn’t limiting any of these things anymore.

Electric cars are everywhere

I've passed and driven automatics for nearly 20 years with no problems. Insurance wasn't higher for that reason. YANBU.

Dh learned to drive in his late 30s . He only has a licence for an automatic. We have had an automatic family car for over 20 years now. I barely think about it and I a .happy I did not have to do all the driving for the last 20 years

Don't see why anyone would bother learning manual these days (obviously there's exceptions if you're planning to be a professional driver in non-standard cars, or if your family already own a manual and you don't want to swap). The jokes about how a stick shift is an anti-theft device for anyone born post seventies have been going around for many years now. I am over 40, but haven't driven a manual since before I had a smartphone, and I'd be less likely to do that now than to use a Nokia 3310.

I love an automatic. I’ve got a manual licence but I’ve had as many automatic cars as I have had manual and I’ll always choose auto if possible. Id do an auto test if the person in question issue is gears and clutch control

It's not a sound argument.

Automatic is an equalizer here. Two drivers can be equally good and safe driving an automatic, even if their competency with manual would differ.

Manual mostly makes the learning curve slower at the beginning, so people with less experince, worse teachers or less natural confidence (or less arogance) take longer to get over it. Some get stuck at that phase. Get that technical problem away, go directly to observing traffic around and you get perfectly good drivers.

The aim presumably is to be independent so if she isn’t comfortable driving a manual then why ever not?

Same here. I am never ever driving manual again. I love my Fiat 500 automatic!

I’d say if she has had a poor experience so far it makes sense to switch to automatic. She will find that easier so it should give her confidence.

Once she is confident (and competent) in the automatic she can always switch to lessons in a manual if she feels she needs to.

I passed in a manual 12 years ago or so, did a little bit of driving by myself. However, I didn't ever really need to drive, and my then-boyfriend really liked driving, so he ended up always doing the driving and I soon fell out of the habit.

Then I found myself with three DC and a school that was about a 30 minute walk away. I had a few goes at refresher lessons but I was a nervous wreck. Then I tried driving in a decent automatic, with parking sensors and a reversing camera, and it was so incredibly easy it felt like cheating.

I ferry my kids around safely and confidently every day now without even really thinking about it. If I was starting out now I'd only ever go for an automatic.

I’m extremely clumsy person and really struggled with the gears when learning to drive and even after getting my test. Now I drive an automatic also have lots of features like park assist and rear view camera ect.. and it’s just sooo much easier for me. I will never go back to manual.

I love driving manuals, they’re fun, I find automatics boring and whenever I’ve had one as a hire car I’ve been very glad to hand it back!
But in this case I’d definitely say go for automatic only.

I changed my car last year and I was only looking at manuals. Because the manual version of the car I bought had a deep set, hard to reach clutch, I ended up with the automatic. I’m a short-arse you see and that clutch was very far under the footwell.

I am delighted with my auto car and it’s got a very good steptronic gearbox. There’s no roll-back on hills either. It’s a Mini in case anyone is wondering.