Which small auto for leaner driver?

MartinPrince

MartinPrince

MartinPrince

Soldato
Joined
14 Aug 2018
Posts
3,708
Hi good folks, my missus has decided she wants to start learning to drive and she's going with an "Automatic Only License". She's had a few lessons and is doing pretty well but she wants to get her own car so she can practice in it.
She's budgeted ~£7K just for the car, what should she be shortlisting for that kind of money?
 
Last edited:
I know the decision is already made. But I really would recommend getting a manual licence, if for no other reason than it gives her more options in the future when renting a car.
 
Hades said:
I know the decision is already made. But I really would recommend getting a manual licence, if for no other reason than it gives her more options in the future when renting a car.
Click to expand...
If you are going to the trouble and expense to get the license, book the tests, do the theory, get the lessons, pay for the lessons, pay for the test, pay for a car, insurance, tax, fuel, the least someone could do is just pass in a manual rather than an auto. It's a small thing in the scale of things but has such a big impact. Just do the manual and stop messin about.
 
Hades said:
I know the decision is already made. But I really would recommend getting a manual licence, if for no other reason than it gives her more options in the future when renting a car.
Click to expand...

whitecrook said:
If you are going to the trouble and expense to get the license, book the tests, do the theory, get the lessons, pay for the lessons, pay for the test, pay for a car, insurance, tax, fuel, the least someone could do is just pass in a manual rather than an auto. It's a small thing in the scale of things but has such a big impact. Just do the manual and stop messin about.
Click to expand...

Absolutely 100% this, unless it's medical. And even if you think "nah we'll only ever rent autos" - there'll be that one time when you're on a canary island or something and both of the island's autos are hired out so you have three manuals to choose from, and that's far too much of a faff.
 
Diddums said:
Absolutely 100% this, unless it's medical. And even if you think "nah we'll only ever rent autos" - there'll be that one time when you're on a canary island or something and both of the island's autos are hired out so you have three manuals to choose from, and that's far too much of a faff.
Click to expand...

Probably depends person to person but if someone passes in a manual but never drives one again chances are they'd struggle if such an eventuality came up.

EDIT: Not to mention in my experience the clutch is often trashed on rentals making it even harder.
 
Last edited:
Rroff said:
Probably depends person to person but if someone passes in a manual but never drives one again chances are they'd struggle if such an eventuality came up.

EDIT: Not to mention in my experience the clutch is often trashed on rentals making it even harder.
Click to expand...
It's like riding a bike. It'll come back.

Doing an auto only licence is still pretty mad. There are a lot of auto cars out there now, but still nowhere near enough to comfortably forfeit learning manual.
 
Regarding the auto vs manual licence argument. My wife passed last year with an auto only licence. She will categorically not ever drive a manual, she does not want to and struggled like mad trying to learn a manual, which wrecked her confidence for years until she got in an auto. I think it's totally fine for someone to do an auto only licence if they want to, especially with the future being largely electric/hybrid cars, even ICE cars being auto only, renting an auto is easy these days, they're hardly a rarity. And in our case, she would never be the one driving a hire car.

In answer to OP's question, there's a huge choice of automatic cars available in that price range. You should probably narrow it down yourself to some extent first as to what kind of car you want the kind of features you want. Plus get some insurance quotes to make sure they are affordable
 
i passed my driving test in 2007, i've never touched a manual transmission since :cry:
i'd definitely be rusty (haha pun), but i think after a few times, i'd get back the clutch control and be relatively okay
 
what auto car is she learning to drive in ? can you get an older version with a similar/familiar box;

otherwise something like a yaris with their cvt box, prioritizing visibility for easier positioning/manouvering as a new driver.

e:I've only driven autos under duress, as rentals in the USA
 
Last edited:
My missus started to learn on a manual and then Covid cancelled all learning. She got back into it after a year we had our first son. She absolutely refused to learn a manual stating if I am going to drive an Automatic why bother. Tbh I couldn't care less as it meant her getting independent.

She learnt to drive in a 2010 Yaris. She did prefer a Yaris herself after passing. I insisted on a Mazda 3 after a bit of research as equivalent Yaris's were over budget for age/mileage. She enjoys the car now. 2.0 NA petrol is a nice to have as a first car.

P.S.- We did check out one 2017 Yaris and I got the appeal for it and why anyone new would like it. But Mazda won later anyway.
 
aaronyuri said:
It's like riding a bike. It'll come back.

Doing an auto only licence is still pretty mad. There are a lot of auto cars out there now, but still nowhere near enough to comfortably forfeit learning manual.
Click to expand...

I think that is going to depend person to person - I'd imagine a lot of people if they just passed on a manual then never drove one again they'd find it quite prohibitive if a few years later they had to vs someone who maybe started driving manuals and migrated to auto later.

Most of my car history, aside from my first car (over 25 years ago) which I only drove a few months after passing, has been automatics with only intermittently driving manuals over the years and it doesn't just drop straight back into place if it has been awhile since the last time I drove a manual and these days I find driving a manual on the public road a pretty hateful experience, especially as when I do it is probably a hire/rental with the inevitable trashed clutch :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom