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?

I'm amazed you can type that quickly and aren't touch typing.

I'm also amazed you haven't just picked up touch typing, most people who use computers and type quickly just pick it up.

It's rare to see a two-finger typist these days!

Because once you've passed your test, having to spend more money and time on lessons and redoing your test is a pain in the ass. It's hard enough finding money for your first set of lessons, without doing it all over again a second time.

I passed my test in an auto, and in the years since I’ve never needed to drive manual.

If she’s not interested in learning manual, why force it? If for whatever reason she wants to learn it in the future, she can. Let her learn in and pass for automatic if that’s what she wants.

I don't think we are talking about the same thing regarding touch typing. I am referring to the old fashioned RSA typing that secretaries used to do on a type writer. You can't just pick it up.

My DS learned to drive in an automatic. The car he was going to drive was an automatic and I wanted him focussed on road awareness rather than gear changing and clutch control.

One bonus is that insurance is significantly cheaper. Premiums are calculated on accident statistics so the most expensive cars to insure for teenagers are the ones that most of them drive. Very few teenage boys drive automatic Polos so accident rates are low as are insurance premiums. Fortunately DS is not a petrol head and a car is just for getting him from A to B, a recycling container for MacDonalds containers and overflow wardrobe for sports kit, his and several of his friends.

I think manuals will soon be redundant and I don’t think the argument about only being able to hire manuals abroad holds up. HOWEVER, my DD’s have learnt in a manual and now drive a manual, purely to slow them down.

I have an auto licence. It’s never disadvantaged me.

IMO there’s no point learning on a manual unless you want to do a job that involves driving vehicles other than your own. Manuals are fast becoming redundant.

Errrr… touch typing is a very useful skill. I can do that too.

I usually drive an auto, as does DH, but we also have several manual vehicles so being able to actually drive them is quite useful.

I do appreciate that driving a manual isn’t essential for most in this day and age.

Think you misunderstood me, if you learned manual then it's easier to switch to an automatic because you can just get in a car and drive.

If OP's DD learns in an automatic and then needs to learn manual later it is harder that way around, not just learning the clutch control, but also more hoops to jump through as you need to arrange a vehicle to practice in and take another test and I think a lot of qualified drivers might find a practical test quite daunting!

I've driven automatic only for twenty years since 2007 and had no problem sourcing small automatic cars. Now some manufacturers are not even making manual cars anymore and the move to hybrids and EVs are increasing, I don't see the point in anyone learning to drive manual unless it was a specific HGV driving job they were training for.

Very unlikely they would need to switch to a manual license and if they did I don't think it would be difficult if someone was already used to driving. It wouldn't be like starting from scratch and probably would only need to pay for a couple of lessons.

Did you take RSA exams or similar? I know a couple of people who have those qualifications and while they are very fast (about 90 words a minute) I don't think they need to be. I can type as fast as I can think as can most people nowadays if they use the computer a lot. Plus there is now dictation software which is extremelt speedy too.

There’s a loop hole that many schools use which means you can drive a light minibus on a regular licence 😬

I think I'd quite glad of an excuse not to drive the school minibus!