Automatic cars and young learner drivers

Would have been my intuitive reaction too....but I'm looking at that again. As for maintenance, I'd agree with that and, in that regard , I hope to be of help to them in the future. Unfortunately it's become ever more difficult to do anything on cars these days...and I'm well skilled in DIY .
 
NotMyRealName said:
Unfortunately it's become ever more difficult to do anything on cars these days...and I'm well skilled in DIY
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Yes very true.

My first car a 1980 Ford Fiesta which I owned from new until 2000, never went into a garage for repairs everything was DIY from a Haynes manual.

Fast forward, today's cars are generally to complicated to attempt much more than oil changes and brake pad replacement.

However in the last 6 months I had 2 car repair issues.

First the heater blower only operated on speed 4.
Quick internet search showed location and removal procedure for replacement of a faulty resistor. YouTube video showed the whole procedure. Part bought from Amazon for £13 and repaired in 1 hour.

Second was the radio touchscreen stopped working.
Quick internet search showed procedure for replacement of the screen digitiser.
Again YouTube video showing the full repair process. Part bought from AliExpress for $11 and repaired in 2 hours.

Yes the cars are too complex but thank god for the internet.
 
NotMyRealName said:
That's great info for me , thanks
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This is a great starting point for me. Thanks so much for your input. Was the car you bought more than 10 years old? I haven't had an individual car policy ...ever. I had a succession of commercial policies. I ran a prospective quote search on Aviva and for a 2013 ford fiesta zetec , 1.2 , 60hp and with 3 points they had €485 for me. That's do-able and then add in the lessons etc. €575 I'd say a pretty good deal . No available lessons in Dublin with auto car, however they have some in other provincial locations, I notice.
Anyway, I'm leaning back towards the manual...particularly as most, if not all cars, have hill hold assistance.

Thanks @ shweeney
 
We have 2 EV’s, ourselves. and daughter is waiting for learner permitt to arrive, and then She will start driving lessons via Axa - Irish School of motoring in an automatic car. They provide 12 lessons for €495, but automatic is only available in a handful of locations. One is near us.

Once she finishes those, she can get “up to” €400 off, Insurance in her own name, with Axa.

We have decided it will be an EV for her, as she can charge at home for free (to her !).

Have priced up several EV’s for her, and the insurance pricing depends on the class of car, so Nissan Leaf models vary up to €2,500 for insurance without the driving course completed(so before discount) but some other EV’s are cheaper, still checking out options. A VW E up, for example is €1,500, before completing course, but its outside her budget.

Automatic cars are now easily available globally wether it be for car hire on holidays etc, so i don’t consider this an obstacle at all, also, all new models have automatic options, including used models, so i think its correct to say, things have changed considerably.
 
I personally think this is not a good idea. I think it’s going to take most learners more practice to become proficient enough at driving a manual to pass the test
 
Thanks for that. Interesting. 495 for lessons only, I take it. But will she get her supervised practice in one of the EV's ? So how much to get her on that policy? And then presume she'll use the driving school auto for the test, or can you do the test in an EV ?
 
She can do the test in her car of she wants.

What i was thinking of doing is to get her through the lessons as step 1), then, she buys an EV, and while on a learner permitt, any accompanied driver with a full licence can drive it free of charge, only while she is on a learner permitt, she can practice away in her EV, accompanied of course, then sit the test it it, when she is ready.

It is a safety thing for leaner driver permitt to enable any full licence driver take over if they get stressed etc.

While getting lessons, i was going to take her into quiet car parks etc, off main roads for practice in my car.

I called Axa and got all this info, they were very helpful:

 
Yeah, OK , I see your reasoning there. EV may be in our future, but not for us yet.
 
NotMyRealName said:
Yeah, OK , I see your reasoning there. EV may be in our future, but not for us yet.
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The Axa deal applies to all cars, so check it out, Aviva also have a similar deal for learner drivers, but it excludes automatic cars, and yes, we are well setup for EV’s, i’d never go back, we also have solar pv, so we generate more than our annual electricity needs, for both house and EV car needs, so its a total no brainer, to have her in an EV.
 
I have 2 at home both novice drivers who passed last year. I waited to change my car which is a manual until they both passed their tests. I think it’s limiting to take the test on a manual car. While there are more EV’s on the road and automatics are my preferred driving experience I think you never know how things may pan out. For example work wise not all company cars are automatic who knows what job may take their fancy down the road I would not like my kids to miss out on an opportunity where a job requires a a licence not limited to automatics.

There are 2 different factors here choosing to drive an EV or an automatic car is different from being limited to only driving an EV or an automatic car. That’s my take on it. In terms of insurance we did the Aviva thing with lessons. When my daughter went to take out our own policy they were not great price wise Axa gave her a 1 year discount for her time as a named driver with Aviva. It was not too expensive to have them both as named drivers on my policy with Aviva maybe 300 euro more for both with learner permits. Now it’s only an extra 80/90 to keep them on as named novice drivers.

That said mine are over 25 so maybe less difficult to insure. I have another younger one to go and have just changed my car decided to get another manual. Personally view this as the last part of their education and something I would like to get over the line for them. Guess everybody has different view on this and I can totally see the shift towards automatics but who knows what career will interest them and I would encourage them to not limit themselves.
 
My two in recent years learned on a stick shift but I think the need for that has passed, I would recommend automatic. All our family cars going forward will be automatics, the technology in the cars is so much better now a days.

I think learning in an automatic will be a much easier experience and allow the learner to concentrate on situational awareness of other road users and the safety of their driving rather than wondering if they should gear up or down and try to coordinate, hands, feet and eyes to successfully do that.
 
 
Amazing how some people here know that we'll be in driverless cars, or automatics etc. in the next 10-20 years.

I wonder if those same people could tell me what the winning numbers will be, for next week's Euromillions?

Also, what are "drivers" who don't know how to drive a vehicle with a gear stick going to do, if they are faced with needing to operate a vehicle with a gear stick, before robots take over the world and very kindly drive us everywhere that we want to go ?
 
Passing the spot in town where driving instructors wait to pick up their students, about 7 cars, three were automatic. So it seems to be more common now.
I remember the stress and panic learning, cutting out at traffic lights and junctions, crunching the gears and changing to soon. I think removing that they can focus on awareness more. Try not to rely on the reversing camera, awful shock when you go back to a car without one.
There's nothing stopping someone initially getting an automatic license and going back for a manual if they really need it.
I wonder are the initial pass rates available for manual Vs automatic.
 
Interesting topic, thank your for raising it. I wonder if the driving test appointment is the same whether you turn up with automatic or manual? I think someone mentioned that not all driving testers are able to do both types of car.
 
Just had two sit lessons and get their driving licences one year after the other- both automatic. Our cars are both automatic and they both did their lessons and then tests while in leaving cert year so we felt automatic was enough without adding to the pressure of the year. Did consider the manual route, if they weren't also doing the leaving cert I think we would have pushed for that, but having said that, they really needed additional practice outside the lessons, so without a manual car this would have been very difficult or expensive. Oldest is now driving her own car, automatic, first years insurance 1300 which isnt too bad ( AA). They're both on the road and driving now, have that bit of independence, once they have a good level of confidence it should hopefully be easier for them to do the manual test if they ever need to.
 
Why would they be faced with needing to drive a manual? Easily avoided, get with the times, even forget about driverless cars if you are that worried about them evs don't have gears either, why anyone would push a youngster to learn in a manual to acquire that life skill is beyond me. Presume wood chopping, milk churning and others will also be on the agenda?
 

car is 7 years old. I've been a name driver on my other half's policy since I got rid of my own car many years ago - I had to get proof of this for the new policy in my own name (which was a PITA as I switch every year and they wanted 5 years of proof).

Combination of being middle-aged and the manual car being small and boring probably contributed to the low premium. I was getting quotes for our main family car this week and one quote actually went below the minimum policy price, so I could add on extras for free. I think the name driver having their own car brings down the quote, but again, being 45-60 is probably the sweet spot for car insurance.
 
Why bother teaching the youngster maths, sure everyone has a calculator in their pocket these days.
 
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