Driving Theory Test

mrecuk

My friend is learning to drive in an automatic. They're worried about taking their theory test in case it has questions about manual driving (gears and stuff) which they struggle with hence they're learning in an automatic. My question is, will their theory test be exactly the same as a manual theory test or will it cut out questions to do with driving a manual car (I.e changing through the gears to save fuel etc)?

fozziebeartoo

I wonder about that too.

fuzzyduck22

It's the same test

mrecuk

fuzzyduck22 wrote: »

It's the same test

Really? Seems strange that they would give the same test considering some questions aren't relevant if you're learning in an automatic. For example, why would someone who's learning to drive automatic need to know about being in the right gear to save fuel. An automatic does it for you. Seems odd.

panika

There is nothing about, gears, clutch in theory test. Not even in Highway Code. It is all the same.

mrecuk

panika wrote: »

There is nothing about, gears, clutch in theory test. Not even in Highway Code. It is all the same.

That's good to know. However I have seen the odd question about skipping gears to save fuel etc which wouldn't apply to an automatic driver.

WellKnownSid

mrecuk wrote: »

An automatic does it for you.

No it doesn't, 'D' does not stand for 'do it all for me', there are usually other settings...

Iceweasel

mrecuk wrote: »

That's good to know. However I have seen the odd question about skipping gears to save fuel etc which wouldn't apply to an automatic driver.

Why not?

Some of us drive automatic cars because they have more gears and we can have more control over them than in the equivalent manual box car.

mrecuk

WellKnownSid wrote: »

No it doesn't, 'D' does not stand for 'do it all for me', there are usually other settings...

I'm not following what you mean by that? Putting an automatic in D does mean it'll do everything for you. All you have to do is accelerate, steer and brake. There are other settings such as semi-automatic where you can select the gear you want but it still essentially does it all for you.

missbiggles1

You don't have to state whether you're applying for a manual or automatic licence when you apply for your theory test.

I passed mine and then took my automatic test - the theory test pass was still valid a couple of years later when I took my manual test.

mrecuk

Iceweasel wrote: »

Why not?

Some of us drive automatic cars because they have more gears and we can have more control over them than in the equivalent manual box car.

Yes but if you have the car in D then the automatic gear box is selecting whether or not to skip a gear not the driver so it's kind of an irrelevant question for an automatic driver as it wouldn't be the driver skipping gears to save fuel.