what the point of two separate license for manual & auto?

[vrooom]

As seeing there is many car being sold as auto now in many form (tradtional, pdk, CVT, whatever it is). Even most top end peformace car are auto only.

So what the point of having manual OR auto license ?

[dtmpower]

Having to operate a clutch ( 3 pedals )

[TA14]

It isn't. It's either manual and auto or auto.

[SWoll]

Thank christ for that, I've been driving an auto for the last few years and was worried my license might not be valid.

[Superhoop]

Hmm, good question.....

with an obvious answer - One requires the use of three pedals and a gear lever, the other is basically point and squirt so two different skill requirements

Yep, I understand the confusion now - Or not as the case may be!!

[kambites]

I think the rationale is that driving a manual car is significantly harder than driving an automatic, so someone who's only ever driven an auto shouldn't be allowed to just jump in a manual and drive it. Ultimately it will get to the point where so many cars are automatic that only classic car enthusiasts bother to get a manual licence.

[SWoll]

kambites said:

I think the rationale is that driving a manual car is significantly harder than driving an automatic, so someone who's only ever driven an auto shouldn't be allowed to just jump in a manual and drive it. Ultimately it will get to the point where so many cars are automatic that only classic car enthusiasts bother to get a manual licence.

I've been thinking the same thing. My kids are 12 and 9, I wonder if they will ever need to be able to drive a manual once they are old enough?

[dtmpower]

kambites said:

Ultimately it will get to the point where so many cars are automatic that only classic car enthusiasts bother to get a manual licence.

Do you not think everyone will be driving an 'automatic' , learning in an 'automatic'. If automatics were at say 99% saturation, the DVLA might not even bother to make a distinction any longer, if you still persisted with a manual you'd be very low risk.

[alangla]

dtmpower said:

kambites said:

Ultimately it will get to the point where so many cars are automatic that only classic car enthusiasts bother to get a manual licence.

Do you not think everyone will be driving an 'automatic' , learning in an 'automatic'. If automatics were at say 99% saturation, the DVLA might not even bother to make a distinction any longer, if you still persisted with a manual you'd be very low risk.

It's kind of gone that way in the bus industry, pretty much all the buses and a big %age of the training vehicles have auto boxes, so the drivers have auto-only licences. It's only really specialist 3rd party training groups that own vehicles for training drivers on manual boxes & a decreasing number of coach companies that operate manual buses AFAIK. HGVs will be next I reckon.

[JimbobVFR]

So does anyone know if the proportion of Driving School cars in manual or Auto is changing? Or indeed if the no of people taking Auto tests is increasing.

[98elise]

dtmpower said:

kambites said:

Ultimately it will get to the point where so many cars are automatic that only classic car enthusiasts bother to get a manual licence.

Do you not think everyone will be driving an 'automatic' , learning in an 'automatic'. If automatics were at say 99% saturation, the DVLA might not even bother to make a distinction any longer, if you still persisted with a manual you'd be very low risk.

Thats a good point. If the vast majority of cars were auto, then having a different licence would be no more relevant than having a different licences for 4x4 or High Performance cars etc.

How does the US deal with auto vs manual?

For the avoidance of confusion for anyone not in the UK, manual/auto refers to the clutch operation, not gear selection.

[kambites]

JimbobVFR said:

So does anyone know if the proportion of Driving School cars in manual or Auto is changing? Or indeed if the no of people taking Auto tests is increasing.

Interesting question.

I think at present you'd be mad to do an auto-only test without good reason but with the proportion of automatic cars on the road increasing rapidly, I think there will be a step change at some point where people no-longer consider it worth learning to operate a clutch.