Learning to drive is one of the best ways to obtain freedom and independence. Having your own car at your beck and call is essential to allow you to work and socialise wherever and whenever you wish.
But having taken the decision to take manual driving lessons in Stockport how do you know whether this is right for you or should you learn to drive in an automatic car instead? Here’s the lowdown on the differences between manual and automatic cars.
Here’s the Technical Bit
Manual and automatic gearboxes are engineered very differently but they basically both do the same job, which is selecting which gear the car needs to be in at any given time. You can see the difference inside the car’s cockpit – a manual car’s gearstick will show how many gears the car has (anything up to 7, 8 or 9 in the latest cars, but usually between 1 and 6) while an automatic car’s gearstick shows just the letters D (for Drive), R (for Reverse), N (for Neutral) and P (for Park) which are all self-explanatory. Some will also show L, which is used when a low gear is needed or S, for a sportier drive.
When you drive a manual car, you are responsible for selecting the right gear to drive in whereas an automatic car does the work for you. This is why an automatic car has only two pedals – accelerator and brake – but a manual car has three pedals, brake, accelerator and clutch.
It is said that there can be significant differences when it comes to repairing costs, with automatic cars being more expensive to fix than manual cars, depending of course on what the problem is. Cars with manual gearboxes also tend to be slightly more economical when it comes to fuel consumption, mainly because the driver has more control over how the gears are used.
How is Your License Affected?
Here’s the big difference you need to know about. When you learn to drive and pass your driving test in an automatic car you are restricted to driving only automatic cars. But if you pass your test in a manual car you can then drive either a manual or an automatic with no need to take any further qualifications. Learning to drive in a manual car would be the best all-round option as it allows you more choice in which cars you can buy and it avoids you having to pay to take extra lessons. Bear in mind also that automatic cars, while growing slightly in popularity, are still more difficult to track down than those with manual gearboxes. So if your heart is set on a specific model of car, you may be waiting longer to find one with an automatic gearbox and you may have to pay a higher price too.
Find the Right Instructor
If you are absolutely dead set on learning to drive an automatic car, then you need to find a good instructor who has experience of teaching in an automatic car, because the driving techniques between manual and automatic are different. But as mentioned earlier, when you learn to drive in a manual car you learn so much more about how your car works and how to handle different driving scenarios.
It is important also to find an instructor who, like Beverly Slater, offers experienced and knowledgeable instructors who will happily set up a learning structure to suit you because not all learners are able to learn at the same pace. So remember, the choice between automatic and manual is entirely yours.
