Blog · 7 July 2020
Should I Choose Automatic Driving Lessons?
Wondering whether to choose automatic or manual driving lessons? Here's what to expect and how to decide.
What to expect on your first automatic driving lesson
Your first automatic driving lesson starts much like a manual one. We check your provisional licence and eyesight (reading a number plate from 20 metres), discuss the learning process and theory test, talk about safety on the road — and then off we go for a practice.
That's where the differences begin: generally, you'll be driving around sooner in an automatic.
The real difference between automatic and manual lessons
Of the five main skills you cover when learning to drive — awareness, anticipation, planning, judgement and control — the only one directly affected by choosing automatic is control. But it has a big knock-on effect on all the others.
Learning to control an automatic is easier than a manual. With no gear changes or clutch control, you can focus on the other four skills, making them easier to grasp too.
Take approaching a roundabout: you should be assessing the traffic, anticipating and judging its movement, then planning your entry. That's tricky at the best of times — and much easier when you're not also worrying about what gear you'll need, when to change, and whether you'll get the move-off right. (Our roundabouts tutorial covers this in depth.)
That's the main advantage of automatic lessons: they let you focus on being safe and aware of your surroundings rather than gears and clutch control.
Why might you prefer automatic lessons?
Learners choose automatic for all sorts of reasons — each person's choice is their own. Common ones we hear:
- Struggled with gears and clutch control in manual lessons
- Want to learn faster
- Automatic cars are increasingly the norm
- Electric cars — the future of driving — are all automatic
- Outside Europe, automatics have long been standard
Are automatic lessons becoming more popular?
Yes — rapidly. Manual still leads in the UK, but automatics now account for a large and growing share of new cars sold, and with every new electric vehicle being automatic, the trend only points one way. Learning automatic is setting yourself up for the future of driving.
One thing to know: pass in an automatic and you're licensed for automatics only. Pass in a manual and you can drive both.
Interested? We can book you a trial lesson in our Mercedes A-Class hybrid to give it a go. Head to our automatic lessons page or get in touch.
