Driving Theory Test

bowlhead99

mrecuk wrote: »

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.

How does it know when you want to go backwards? How does it know when you want to start in a higher gear in snowy or slippery conditions? How does it know to hold a lower ratio when descending steep hills? (highway code rule 160: "Select a lower gear before you reach a long downhill slope. This will help to control your speed")

Answer, the driver is supposed to know and provide input.

Iceweasel

mrecuk wrote: »

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.

Not totally true - even in D I can still have a great degree of control over when the autobox changes up or down.

For example a gentle ease off the accelerator gives a different response from a sudden quick lift off.

But getting back to your original question I agree that there are no separate / different manual or automatic theory tests.

lister

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.

As you can drive semi-automatics on an automatic licence and you can simulate block changes in a sequential box, yes they do apply.

Even driving a fully automatic box it is surely important to have some concept of what is going on to have maximum control over the car (and more so on modern DSGs in fully auto mode because in some regards you want to treat them a bit like a manual for maximum mechanical sympathy).

fuzzyduck22

mrecuk wrote: »

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.

Sorry, it's not me who set the test:rotfl:

It's mostly to do with rules of the road, adequate studying will ensure a pass. Good luck :j

panika

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.

Everything, what OP's partner needs to know about gears is in Highway Code (which is the same for all drivers). She should be ok, if she reads the HC book before her test.