Wife does'nt drive

Idiophreak

GlynD wrote: »

I totally agree with you. I mean put quite simply, a manual box is more difficult to learn so why bother when the automatic option is there. It's also less tiring in urban driving. What is this obsession people (especially guys) have with making the more difficult option the chosen one?

I really don't buy the "manual's more difficult" thing at all. In the scheme of everything you need to learn to drive, using a manual gearbox is such a small part, it's really quite insignificant.

After a little while, you do it completely effortlessly, so it doesn't take your concentration off the road and I have certainly never found changing gear in any way "tiring" - I can't really imagine how any (able bodied) person would.

It does, however, give you access to far more and cheaper cars and makes rental much cheaper and easier. It also helps should you ever be given a company car. Finally, it gives you more control of the car's movement - which is invaluable, particularly in difficult conditions.

I think my point is that it really isn't much more effort at all - and it opens a bunch of doors for you - so it just seems silly not to learn in a manual in the first place.

Steel_2

Actually, the whole manual vs automatic debate is one my husband and I have. I would prefer to learn on an automatic when I do finally go back and complete the process as manual has added a level of stress onto a stressful process that I really don't want, but my husband being a petrol head insists that it has to be a manual and then 'i can drive anything'. However, when I point out that I am instructed to keep both hands on the wheel at all times as it is unsafe to do otherwise, but clearly not unsafe though to take one hand off the wheel to awkwardly change gear he just mutters 'not the point, it's only for a moment' and walks off.

Many accidents happen because of something momentary, and trust me when I say that my gear changes are not momentary.

What he means is he doesn't like automatics and doesn't want to drive one, so I have to fall in with him when I eventually do learn to drive.

I don't think it matters a stuff. Either I learn to drive a vehicle or I don't.

Manual or automatic is just nit-picking.

But then he used to race cars and wants to do so again so this argument is going to go on for years

noodles86

Well today I passed my automatic test first time after spending around £2500 on manual lessons and £750 on auto (this has been over 5 years :eek:) I got sick to death of just not being able to 'do' gears I just thought I would rather do auto, get on the road & think about manual later!

Steel_2

noodles86 wrote: »

Well today I passed my automatic test first time after spending around £2500 on manual lessons and £750 on auto (this has been over 5 years :eek:) I got sick to death of just not being able to 'do' gears I just thought I would rather do auto, get on the road & think about manual later!

Good for you!!:T

GlynD

Steel wrote: »

Actually, the whole manual vs automatic debate is one my husband and I have. I would prefer to learn on an automatic when I do as manual has added a level of stress onto a stressful process that I really don't want, but my husband being a petrol head insists that it has to be a manual and then 'i can drive anything'. However, when I point out that I am instructed to keep both hands on the wheel at all times as it is unsafe to do otherwise, but clearly not unsafe though to take one hand off the wheel to awkwardly change gear he just mutters 'not the point, it's only for a moment' and walks off.

Many accidents happen because of something momentary, and trust me when I say that my gear changes are not momentary.

What he means is he doesn't like automatics and doesn't want to drive one, so I have to fall in with him when I eventually do learn to drive.

I don't think it matters a stuff. Either I learn to drive a vehicle or I don't.

Manual or automatic is just nit-picking.

But then he used to race cars and wants to do so again so this argument is going to go on for years

I don't think a manual gives you any better control of the car. I have driven vehicles with manual, automatic, steptronic and semi automatic (foot kick change) and I didn't find any of them more difficult or less difficult to control. They're all the same once you get used to the methodology. That's why I say there's no difference between learning in a manual or automatic. It takes away from the need to learn the hand-to-brain co-ordination need for gear changing and lets you concentrate on controlling the car.

Idiophreak

Steel wrote: »

However, when I point out that I am instructed to keep both hands on the wheel at all times as it is unsafe to do otherwise, but clearly not unsafe though to take one hand off the wheel to awkwardly change gear he just mutters 'not the point, it's only for a moment' and walks off.

Many accidents happen because of something momentary, and trust me when I say that my gear changes are not momentary.

If you're struggling with gear changing, get him to take you to the local industrial estate for a couple of hours as often as possible. Keep going from standstill up to 3rd gear (20mph?) then back again, over and over. You'll get faster and faster at doing the changes and will never be going too fast. When your husband's driving, have him do the clutch, but let you move the lever - so you can get used to changing to the correct gear at the correct time.

Rest assured, that, in any case, in the event of an emergency, your hand will be back on the wheel from the gear stick quicker than you can imagine - either in time to turn as needed, or just to hold the thing steady as you brake. Changing gear is perfectly safe.

(you're right, though, that if your hands are free, they should be on the steering wheel...not resting on the gear stick, in your crotch or dangling out of the window )

green1970

Having driven one of the newer automatic cars (Golf GT), I must say they're lovely and easy to drive, especially in stop/start conditions in traffic and around town. I can see us being like the Americans in a few years with far more of us driving them. Having said that, gears are just a mind over matter thing and once you crack them, it's just an automatic pilot thing even if it seems to take a lot of your concentration in the early lessons.

If I was learning now, I'd get my test passed in a manual but then buy an automatic anyway. If I was really struggling with the gears, I would just pass in an automatic just to get my driving test done and then battle with hubby for a joint auto car. Once you've got your first test out of the way and you can actually 'drive' (i.e. everything else comes automatically) it may be easier to then learn again in a manual and just learn that one thing - it won't seem so daunting then.

Take him for a test drive in a nippy automatic and watch him change his mind.

jazabelle

heartbreak_star wrote: »

And with regards to all the girls who have queried my feminist comment, the term has sadly evolved from "person who believes in equal rights for women" to "bra-burning hypocritical man hating pain-in-the-backside"

It has not evolved at all. It still means equality between sexes. Of course people have individual views of what equality means and some may believe positions of power should be held by a woman, and others may take other hardline views - but it still does not change what feminism means.

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Incidentally, I hope all your feminists go halves on dates, buy men drinks, and don't expect them to drive you everywhere? Or is that just "chivalry" (hypocrisy)?

Yes. I usually buy the first round. I always drive myself.

I think it's sad people hold such a strange view of feminism, to the point of complaining about it and misrepresenting it, yet if you asked - do you believe in equality, most people will say yes.

I actually remember a male geography teacher in my first year of secondary school suddenly stop a lesson half way through and say completely out of nowhere, "Do you believe men and woman should be equal?" We all answered yes. He then said, "That makes you all feminists. Please never forget that."

I don't remember his name, or why he suddenly brought this up in a geography lesson - but I have always remembered it.

snowleopard61

Steel wrote: »

Having a car is not the be all and end all. Life doesn't just stop or is unlivable because God forbid you have to use what's on the end of your ankles for what they were intended or mingle with others on public transport.

In fact I think if there were less people with cars they'd be more people able to afford to pay off their debts quicker, instead of using and maintaining expensive tin cans because they perceive they wouldn't be free or independent if they didn't have it. I have people at work tell me I should have a little car so I can get to the shops. I get to the shops once a week, if that, using the bus that goes straight there in 20 minutes and stops at the end of my road. And I zoom past the cars stuck in the line of traffic going into town because there is a bus lane.

Right now the £300 or so I would use in petrol plus the life-time costs of having a car I'd pay every month to get to work, shopping etc etc, actually gets spent on improving our house, overpaying our mortgage and pensions, and generally enjoying our hobbies.

Steel, I just wanted to let you know that I have never read anything on this forum that has made me want to cheer quite so much as this.:T

Mojisola

Steel wrote: »

If I did (and I don't and he isn't) there are ways of getting there that don't require a car.

And having been in a situation where I got to an emergency by train faster than someone who set out closer by car because they got stuck in a five mile tailback after a motorway accident, I think if there was an emergency I'd get wherever I had to go fine.

That's not a fair comparison - if there had been a signal failure or any other problem on the railway, it could have been you stuck for hours.

Having a car is not the be all and end all. Life doesn't just stop or is unlivable because God forbid you have to use what's on the end of your ankles for what they were intended or mingle with others on public transport.

If you are fit and healthy and live in an area with good public transport, what you're saying is true.

We don't have a supermarket a short bus ride away, couldn't get to the GPs by public transport and the hospital would be an hour or more by bus.

If you live in a city with good transport links, it can be cheaper to use the bus and train and either hire a car or use taxis when you need to. It's worth doing the sums.