Learner driver - any point in manual?

Hodders

Hodders

Hodders

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My daughter is 17 in about 3 months and has been talking about learning to drive.

Her question - by the time I'm 25 there will be very few manual cars as they will all be electric. Is there any point in taking a manual test?

My reaction is "why wouldn't you?". It really isn't that much harder and just keeps options open.

Thoughts?
 
There will be fewer manual ones and most new ones will be electric, but there'll still be a plethora of older, cheaper manual ones around, as well as nice classic cars that she may suddenly develop a love for.
There will also be a number of industrial and commercial vehicles that remain manual, which she may end up driving for whatever reason.

I drive automatic vehicles several times a week, but I still prefer the physical engagement of manual, every single time.
 
Go manual, plenty of times where you may end up in a manual car hire car/pool car/courtesy car. Cheap auto for her first car will 9 times out of 10 be a hateful little thing.

No point in limiting yourself unless there's a very good reason.
 
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Manual for the test and licence. Saying that I have mainly driven auto's for a few years now, but she'll be limiting her options.
 
Having the same sort of conversation with my daughter who is about to learn. Manual will mean you can drive a wider range of older cars and also hire Vans or get a job that asks you to drive one, older daughter learnt auto and can't apply to jobs that need van driving as they are all manual (talking animal care/dog walking)
It will be a few years before a new driver gets an electric. Auto choices are narrower both in learning and getting that first car.

Eldest just couldn't take to manual so went auto, it was ether that or not drive really so entirely right but she does regret not having the choice now.
 
tom_e said:
Cheap auto for her first car will 9 times out of 10 be a hateful little thing.
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I dunno I sold my niece a perfectly decent 2007 Smart Fortwo automatic for £1000 with 19k miles back in February 2019. She did an automatic test and passed it several months ago. Now she really appreciates it as she can actually drive it.
 
I did manual and it was a struggle. Took me about a year and 3 attempts to pass. Could have probably done auto in a month. Would have saved a bunch of money in lessons. So if you care about money, choose auto.

First few cars were manual, but eventually I got an auto car and was super shocked how much better it is. I would never go back, it's 99999% easier to drive. (ppl here will say it's a skill issue but it doesn't change the fact that auto is easier, not everyone is an elite motors forum driver). I think it makes you a safer driver because your brain doesn't have to think about gears it's better at awareness as a result. If I was prime minister I would ban new manual cars for the reason of making roads safer. So if you care about safety, choose auto.

The future is electric and that's all auto.
I did hire a van to move house once, which was manual, but presumably I could have requested an auto, or just hired removal guys.

The only reason to do manual is because some motors forum boomer pressured you into it.
 
It is a useful skill to have but personally I've not driven manual (on the road) in a long time now and don't miss it.
 
If you can do the manual test its probably better, as others have said, it can rule you out of some jobs as there aren't many automatic work vehicles that aren't fleet cars. If you do a manual test you can drive both. If you just do an automatic test, you can not use a manual car.
 
I still think it's worth it in case she needs to drive a manual one day. I'm another that hasn't driven a manual for 10 Years now
 
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Auto only will rule out most classic cars and interesting stuff, or need to drive a manual in an emergency etc
 
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Grey M@a said:
If you can do the manual test its probably better, as others have said, it can rule you out of some jobs as there aren't many automatic work vehicles that aren't fleet cars. If you do a manual test you can drive both. If you just do an automatic test, you can not use a manual car.
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We only got rid of the last manual van at work relatively recently - when they first brought up changing the work vehicles to automatics a lot of the drivers were against it - we recently had a hire vehicle to cover while one of the work ones was off the road and no one wanted to drive it being it was a manual LOL.
 
My nieces biggest problem was the theory test, took her a few years to pass it. Passed the automatic test within a couple of months of lessons.
 
Rroff said:
We only got rid of the last manual van at work relatively recently - when they first brought up changing the work vehicles to automatics a lot of the drivers were against it - we recently had a hire vehicle to cover while one of the work ones was off the road and no one wanted to drive it being it was a manual LOL.
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That's cool if they are changing quick for the vans etc :) I am guessing that's what I am saying though, if you only had auto test under all your drivers going forward and then you get a manual on site, it can't be driven.

Personal preference going forward these days though can cover for both but if prefer to just concentrate on the driving and not the gears etc go auto.
 
I think we've probably reached a point in time where it's not especially likely to be a massive problem if you have an auto only license.

If she's not particularly worried about driving a manual, then just do that for maximum flexibility but if she's particularly concerned then she's probably better off just learning auto than not learning at all because she's too worried about learning gears.
 
I have an automatic only license, mainly because everyone else in my family has automatic. It's not been a huge issue but does on occasion mean I can't take over from someone in a manual during a long journey.
 
My biggest issue with manual is not changing gears, it’s the clutch pedal at junctions. Driving auto means you can concentrate on the road rather than the clutch. I know it becomes second nature after a while but I still prefer not having one.
 
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