Manual or automatic?

We went over to automatic late last year and haven’t regretted it. If it was me, though, I would take lessons and a test in a manual car and then all options are open to you. Automatics are easy to get used to.

I am pretty dyspraxic and struggled learning to drive. I transferred to automatic and took my test in an automatic and passed first time. I drove an automatic for a year or so to gain confidence and then had a few lessons in a manual and took a further test in the manual and passed.

I always had company cars which were manual and enjoyed driving them. Now, however, I have gone back to automatic. Less strain on the wrist.

I’ve had both manual and automatic cars, and can switch without thinking.
However, if anyone really needs to learn in a hurry and gain confidence quickly, then I’d go for the automatic - it’s a good deal easier to learn.
Of course it means you’d have to take another test for manual, but maybe that would never be necessary.

Vickysponge Mon 02-Nov-20 19:53:34
I love the old vintage cars- so beautiful. Our car is automatic. Very easy to drive

That depends how you define old. My vintage MG doesn't have synchromesh gears, so to avoid the gears crunching you need to know how to double declutch.

Automatic cars of twenty years or more ago were much more fuel thirsty than manual but with the advent of the computerised gearbox today's automatics are actually more fuel economic.

Whether you your daughter goes for manual or automatic is academic because the future is electric cars. Most electric cars are automatic, and likely will be in the future. This is because an electric car doesn’t require a clutch due to its inability to stall like a petrol or diesel vehicle. Therefore, adding a clutch and various gears might not make much sense. However, some companies have been trying to produce electric vehicles that do still have a five- or six-speed gearbox, to maintain some form of normality for UK drivers who are used to manual vehicles.

When you drive a manual vehicle and you come to a complete stop, you must use both the clutch pedal and the brakes to prevent stalling the engine. However, as stated above, electric engines cannot stall in the same way, which is just another reason why the clutch isn’t needed.

Not only are electric cars missing a clutch and various gears, but the braking system is different too. Regenerative brakes are used, which convert the heat produced from your vehicle’s brakes back into energy for the vehicle’s battery to use.

Spangler I was taught by my husband to double declutch. Long time ago though. Used it too.

I didn’t learn to drive until I was in my 50s. I gave up twice because I found it too challenging so I tried for the third time in an automatic and passed my test first time. DH always had a manual car for work but when he retired we decided to just have one car and we bought a new one. I said I was happy to let him do all the driving if he preferred a manual car but we had spent a lot of time in the USA and Canada for holidays and most cars over there are automatic which he enjoyed driving so we have had three automatic cars since he retired 14 years ago. We had a new car last year and since I don't enjoy driving these days I asked him if he wanted to go back to a manual car but he said he wouldn’t ever go back to a manual car.

Aldom

Spangler I was taught by my husband to double declutch. Long time ago though. Used it too.

Wow Aldom I am impressed. We did have a very old Morris minor years ago but I couldn’t drive then so sadly I never learnt how to double declutch?

Vickysponge Thank you!! You've reminded me that we also had an old Morris Minor. It was the early 1960's. I remember the bonnet flew open whilst my husband was driving. Very scary when suddenly we could not see where we were going!!

Aldom

Vickysponge Thank you!! You've reminded me that we also had an old Morris Minor. It was the early 1960's. I remember the bonnet flew open whilst my husband was driving. Very scary when suddenly we could not see where we were going!!

Haha we had one like that. The clutch went on ours and we had to push home to the nearest garage! Happy days!

Aldom Mon 02-Nov-20 22:41:04
Spangler I was taught by my husband to double declutch. Long time ago though. Used it too.

Well done you, it's not easy but it's most helpful to assist steep hill braking. You might like this anecdote.

Women can't drive of course, not that they drove trucks, buses, taxis and farm tractors during the wars of the 20th century. Nor can women double declutch, what is known as, a crash gearbox. Of course they can't, they are just females.

My wife often asked me what I was doing when I double declutched, so I explained how it slowed a vehicle without the gravitational pull that happens when you have to brake hard. It took a while to teach her but eventually she cracked it and often used the technique with great dexterity.

At her inaugural training when she became a paramedic, one of the driving skills that the ambulance service instructed was double declutching. It was used to help reduce forward movement whilst braking when carrying an injured patient.

My wife was out with her instructor and two younger male trainees. The instructor had gone through the concept a number of times, now it was the trainees turn. First fellow nigh on ripped the gear stick out and the second didn't fair much better either, he all but tied the gear stick into a reef knot.

Now it was the girl's turn, the female, women can't drive, remember, and women certainly can't double declutch. My wife gave them a master class. The two males went stony silent, the instructor looked across and said: "Done this before, have we?" "One or twice," my wife replied, with that smug look that said it all. I mean, ladies can't possibly double declutch, can they?

We still have an old Morris minor (which I don’t think needs double declutching) but I prefer driving my little automatic ,

Spangler

Aldom Mon 02-Nov-20 22:41:04
Spangler I was taught by my husband to double declutch. Long time ago though. Used it too.

Well done you, it's not easy but it's most helpful to assist steep hill braking. You might like this anecdote.

Women can't drive of course, not that they drove trucks, buses, taxis and farm tractors during the wars of the 20th century. Nor can women double declutch, what is known as, a crash gearbox. Of course they can't, they are just females.

My wife often asked me what I was doing when I double declutched, so I explained how it slowed a vehicle without the gravitational pull that happens when you have to brake hard. It took a while to teach her but eventually she cracked it and often used the technique with great dexterity.

At her inaugural training when she became a paramedic, one of the driving skills that the ambulance service instructed was double declutching. It was used to help reduce forward movement whilst braking when carrying an injured patient.

My wife was out with her instructor and two younger male trainees. The instructor had gone through the concept a number of times, now it was the trainees turn. First fellow nigh on ripped the gear stick out and the second didn't fair much better either, he all but tied the gear stick into a reef knot.

Now it was the girl's turn, the female, women can't drive, remember, and women certainly can't double declutch. My wife gave them a master class. The two males went stony silent, the instructor looked across and said: "Done this before, have we?" "One or twice," my wife replied, with that smug look that said it all. I mean, ladies can't possibly double declutch, can they?

Wow just wow

I insisted that proper use of the gears was one of my few remaining skills, but ten minutes test driving an automatic changed my mind. Manual Fiat 500 now being used to teach GD1 to drive and I have no intention of ever driving a manual again. We live in a rural area with narrow, quite hilly lanes and life is just so much simpler now.

Spangler Great story.
I used to use double declutch on hill starts. You may be interested to know before our marriage my then boy friend was the proud owner of a Vintage Riley, and he was a member of the Riley Register. The car was sold to buy my engagement ring. I believe Riley cars are valuable now.

i am wary of automatics. because they do not stall like a manual, there are frequent incidents of injury where a person has confused the pedals.
this nearly happened to me years ago, when an auto volvo mounted the kerb at speed, described an arc and luckily embedded itself into a sturdy lamp-post.
a few seconds earlier i had been standing on that spot.

Surely most cars these days are automatic? The last time I drove a gearshift car was during my test half a century ago.
Driving is easier and safer in an automatic because the car does all the gear changing for you so you can concentrate on the road.

Aldom, those old Riley's do indeed fetch a good price whenever one comes up for sale. They were built solidly, a lovely car, I wonder if you kept a photo of it?

I just could not manage a manual car...failed a few times ?so I moved to an automatic - and passed.

I passed my driving test and Advanced Driving test in a manual car but now I have an Automatic car I love it and wonder why Manual cars still exist.

My new (well, nearly 2 yrs old) car is a manual. There are still plenty of them, @Esspee, and there were more to choose from among the not-very-old 2nd hand.

Dh prefers an automatic - his is - but having had both TBH I wasn’t bothered either way. I don’t see that an automatic is necessarily safer because you can concentrate on the road. An experienced manual driver doesn’t even have to think about gear changing - it becomes ‘automatic’. However I can see that for a new or nervous driver, it may well be preferable.

I drive both. Started off with a manual car. I think they are both easy. You just ha e to remember that you have gears in a manual one, automatics make you lazy with your left foot! I believe that if you pass your test in a manual car you can drive automatics but not the other way round, not 100% certain on this though.

Automatic every time.

Have had both through the years. Manual for sports cars, but when DD1 produced DGS, I had to get a sensible car - the Grannymobile. It’s automatic, but I’ve got flappy paddles (ooo er Mrs!) if I want to give the engine a work out.

I wouldn't be seen dead in an automatic! My dad always referred to them, in a derogatory way, as 'women's cars'. He wasn't a misogynist; he taught me to change wheels, clean and set points, clean and set spark plugs, check the oil etc., saying that if you drive you have to know how to look after the car, too.

But what really put me off automatic cars was the time that my friend's mother took us out for the day in her automatic. We drove best part of the way to the coast in first gear because it was stuck in that and there was nothing she could do about it. I definitely prefer to be in control of the gears!

I have driven both but prefer a manual car. However I can see their days are numbered and automatics are less stressful to drive and readily available now. I would advise your daughter to go for the automatic option Trisha57 especially if she is going to be driving a lot in town.