Dd to learn in an automatic from the start?

[makemineadecaf]

Dd will be 17 next year and is already nagging me about lessons for her birthday. My husband and I both drive autos (but both drive manuals for donkeys before). Now I’m in an automatic, I’ll literally never go back. And isn’t it the sign of the times for manuals to become redundant?

Forget manual. No point bothering with.

I can only drive automatic and my middle child same.

I have rented cars before, had courtesy cars etc and plenty of automatics available and I mean as many automatics as manual cars.

don’t stress it just go with the automatic and they are safer and no stalling or rolling backwards on hills which I think is great for learners! Can pass driving test in half the time thus saving money.

My daughter learnt and did her test in an auto. When we went to buy a car for her they were all mostly auto. Don’t think it’s an issue.

But automatics are much more straightforward, so what's the problem in focusing on learning more about safe road awareness rather than wasting time getting to grips with unnecessary mechanisms?

Good driving is mainly about how you move about on the road, safely and considerately in traffic, with an awareness of other road-users; once you're used to them, the actual mechanics are a very minor part of it all.

Hire cars in Europe are almost all manual, If you want to book an automatic for your holiday reserve one early and expect to pay more.

DS has dyspraxia and will be learning in an automatic. I drive an auto but learnt on a manual and have been driving over 40 years.

However, I’ve had to hire vans in the past to move large items and it was always me having to drive the bloody vans so I think not having a manual licence could actually be a bonus. 😂

Have you tried hiring an automatic car in Europe? Yes it's a bit more expensive but none of those I know with an auto licence have found it more difficult to do so, even on last minute trips to smaller areas.

I agree I wouldn’t ever hire a van, just use man & van. I’ve never driven abroad and wouldn’t but hire cars have always been auto.
My 18 yr old niece passed recently in auto, both parents have only driven auto for years.
My DD’s instructor had an electric mini and was booked up months in advance for lessons.
Can’t stress how much I love my electric fiat 500, push a button and go it’s like a go cart.
I can’t think of a scenario I’d need to drive manual.
I’d let your dd decide.

I don’t think it’s essential to learn a manual now. I’m sure when my two learn they won’t really exist outside of older second-hand cars, but there will be plenty of automatic second-hand cars too.

You can hire automatics really easily throughout Europe. Americans often prefer them and they’re a big tourist and business market - my American uncle always hires automatics and he spends his life travelling, no issues ever hiring an automatic.

We have both, but the automatic electric car is definitely nicer to drive than a manual!

We've been hiring cars in Europe for over 30 years. There is absolutely zero problem getting automatics. Yes, they sometimes cost more, but only 10% extra or so in peak season.

Well, that's our experience.

Dh and I both have autos. Dd is 18 and wanted to learn auto. Dh and I were both against this. It takes longer to learn in a manual, which means more practice time to be aware of road safety. We got her a manual and the instructor took her out in that, rather then her car.

I took dd out a lot and ensured she was bullet proof before she took her test. I taught her to drive on gears alone, which imo is an essential pert of driving in case something goes wrong. Automatics also have manual gear change overrides. So to me, learning in an auto alone is not optimal.

Unless there is a very good reason, I wouldn’t do this.

Are all company cars automatic these days? DS is currently job hunting, but has not yet passed his test. There are a lot of jobs that he's had to rule out when he gets to the bit in the job advert that says "Driving licence essential". Would an automatic licence always be sufficient for that or is it likely at least some of these jobs will require a manual licence?

What do you mean by ‘trot out all the old excuses’? Why do people need an excuse to learn to drive a manual car? Are they doing something wrong?

You misunderstood this post. The poster means all the old excuses people use as to why just driving automatics is a bad idea. These excuses are usually unfounded or outdated.

DSD insisted on learning on an automatic a few years ago and after witnessing that debacle I really wouldn’t recommend it.
It did not speed up her progress, she needed the same number of lessons she would have done in a manual, and she failed her first two tests.
Part of the issue is that there aren’t many instructors with automatic cars, so there is very little choice. Where we live there was literally just one instructor with an automatic car, and he was an absolute bell end.

I’d just go with the best rated instructor OP.

Manual for all the reasons that have already been listed.

My current car is automatic and I haven't had a manual car for about 15 years, but about a month ago, I had booked mine in for some work to be done at a Ford dealership & all of their 20 loan cars were manual.

In my early 20s, I worked for a ski company in the Alps & my very sought after position was only available to applicants with a manual license.

I've hired many cars overseas and never had to worry what they had available because I knew I could drive them.

Plus, you actually learn how to drive a car not just steer it!

Then there's all the extra stuff with instructors and Insurance.

Yes, all the time.

This summer the island I went to had virtually no auto cars for rent.

Manual. (Passed the test). I've driven an automatic ever since I could afford it.

But... (apart from everything upthread) my boyfriend once got a chaise longue he wanted to reupholster. So he bought a manual Toyota Avensis estate that it fitted into and we drove down to an upholstery workshop in Wales quite a lot. While he spent 5 days re-upholstering, I spent 5 days driving his car around S Wales as a happy tourist.

Good practice for me. You never know what life throws at you...

I’m not convinced that they’re safer. Every time you read about somebody driving through a shop front or ending up in the living room of someone’s house it’s always an automatic. I much prefer a manual and won’t choose an automatic until that’s all there is. I find driving an auto quite boring and it doesn’t feel like real driving to me. And as for faffing about with the gears and clutch, I don’t have to faff about. It’s something I do without having to think. Changing gear certainly doesn’t detract from me concentrating on the road.

@Moreholidaysthanjudithchalmers

"Can’t stress how much I love my electric fiat 500, push a button and go it’s like a go cart."

Oooh, I have an automatic Toyota Corolla Mild Hybrid. Is your Fiat an Abarth? I have been overtaken by Fiat 500s on motorways and have thought about buying one. Very zippy.

I mean it's stating the obvious that a manual license has more choice. I suppose the only thing I'd flag is I used to drive fleet cars for work - while we could request an automatic there was no guarantee and basically you'd get what you were given.

Same with any situation with hire cars - yes there likely will always be an automatic option now but it still limits your choice. Or if she has to drive someone else's car - either planned to share driving for a long trip or in an emergency situation.

Is she going to be practicing in yours/dhs cars? If they are both automatics then it might be confusing if her driving instructor has a manual. Or if she picks it up easily could be the best of both worlds.

tl;dr I don't think it's hugely limiting now compared to ten years ago or more, but personally am not sure why you would limit yourself for no real reason? It's not like it's any cheaper to learn in an automatic.

I drive an automatic now and wouldn't go back to manual.

However - I'll be making sure my kids have a manual licence. Why choose to go automatic only and limit your options so much, rather than keeping things open from the outset?

There are numerous reasons why it's better to be able to drive a manual (if you've ever tried to hire a car on a tiny Greek island, for example) but the key one for me is work. The jobs market is terrible at the moment and it's getting harder and harder for young people. So many jobs need a full driving licence, and a lot of these places have pool cars that are manual - so why put your DC at a disadvantage?

DD learnt manual, dd is planning on learning auto. I only have an auto licence and the only thing i can’t do is drive other people’s manual cars. That’s becoming less of an issue now most newer cars are auto.

Dd learnt in an automatic.
We both drive automatics
We all spend a lot of time in Europe and automatics are abundant
When our cars are serviced the courtesy car is always an automatic, hybrid nowadays.
I woukd never want to drive a manual again

No brainer.

Yeah I wouldn’t recommend anyone bothers learning in a manual these days.

automatic is much easier. and dd wants to pass quickly. They can always decide to take a manual test later if they want to.