Any recommendations for a 1st car ?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Any recommendations for a 1st car ?

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#3105500 18-Jul-2023 12:45

johno1234:

Not sure why you would subject a learner to a manual transmission these days. It is stressful enough learning to drivewithout having to worry about clutches and hill starts.And the restricted driver test is much harder than the test was for us back in the day.

All mine learned on automatic. My eldest subsequently needed to learn manual (was a requirement for apprentice training) so we borrowed a manual and he spent a few days learning and practicing it in his spare time. Easy.

Most people will never need to know how to drive a manual.

unless going to the uk or Europe most rentals are manual

thermonuclear

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#3105510 18-Jul-2023 13:22

I'm in agreement with Johno, an auto is the way to go these days, having the skill to drive a manual is a bit like being able to set the clock on the VCR in 2023. Nice to have but unlikely to ever be put to the test in normal circumstances.

I worked at a supermarket for over five years, and we had quite a number of teen-aged part-time staff. By far and away the most popular car they were driving was the Suzuki Swift if that's any gauge for you.

If it were my kid I think I would opt for a VW Golf though.

alasta

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#3105532 18-Jul-2023 14:21

I learned to drive in a manual in the late 90s and drove them regularly for the subsequent 15 years, but I haven't driven one at all in the last ten years. I think if I really had to drive one now then I probably could, but there would be a few swear words coming from the driver's seat.

robjg63

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#3105535 18-Jul-2023 14:30

Jaxson:
johno1234: Not sure why you would subject a learner to a manual transmission these days. It is stressful enough learning to drive

This is fully the conversation we are having for our children as well.

At times it’s genuinely difficult trying to find a manual car these days and as we move towards electric cars, it’s just a skill that will be niche or obsolete moving forwards.

Kinda akin to touch typing?

Or learning Morse Code?

Go with something that gets a good safety rating (and hope you never have to test that too hard) and something common and reliable enough.

Its probably going to be Japanese and an auto.

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Mehrts

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#3105536 18-Jul-2023 14:37

I agree with taking a staggered approach to learning how to drive for a first-timer.

Begin with an auto so they can focus on applying road rules & understanding the traffic flows and not getting caught up on vehicle operation. Then move onto a manual so that they can learn the more advanced vehicle handling skillset.

By driving a manual you have to pay much more attention to what's going on around you and react accordingly, and that's really not a bad thing. Autos are too easy to become distracted since you've always got one hand free which is tempting to grab that phone/pie/other distraction.

If you live out in the absolute wops, then learning to competently operate a manual vehicle first before doing any licence stuff is beneficial too A hilly paddock or private road would be ideal. Learn the car first, then apply the road rules.

michaelmurfy

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#3105538 18-Jul-2023 14:41

I never actually got to learn how to drive in a Manual. Never wished I did and now drive a Tesla so going forward don't think I'll ever drive a manual.

@Mark You know how things are going! You could seriously get away with teaching them in a Leaf which you can pick up for quite cheap now too. I personally don't think there is a need to learn Manual anymore given they're also getting more difficult to find these days too. Cheap leafs can be had for less than $10k now.

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mattwnz

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#3105540 18-Jul-2023 14:48

You want something very safe and perhaps dual use, but also reliable. A RAV4 could be good, but quite big.

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martyyn

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#3105585 18-Jul-2023 14:55

I've taught a number of kids over the last 20 years, not only mine, and all have learned in a manual for the simple reason it teaches you how to handle a car properly.

You can always pick an auto-only driver simply by the speed they go into corners. They go in too fast, cut the corner, understeer and then hit the brakes mid-corner to correct.

The idea you'll never need to drive a manual is far from true if you want to go overseas. The vast majority I've either rented or had to drive were all manual. Absolutely everything on our last trip (SUV and Ute's included) was manual.

For a car to learn in, at a reasonable "first car price", you can't go wrong with a mid-late 2000's Ford Focus.

A great way to start them off is to get down to your local go kart track and have a hoon around for half an hour. Brilliant fun and they are learning without even knowing it.

gbwelly

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#3105601 18-Jul-2023 15:48

I'm not quite sure why automatic drivers expend the energy online trying to convince people who prefer manuals that they are wrong, I guess it's up there with metric vs imperial.

My only advice regarding the model of car -get one with the indicator stalk on the right hand side of the column. The introduction of a euro assembled car into my household has resulted in a lot of unplanned windscreen wiper action and has taken me about 12 months to develop the different muscle memory per car to be able to swap back and forth without having to consciously remember. Don't inflict this on your children.

jonathan18

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#3105665 18-Jul-2023 16:09

michaelmurfy:
I never actually got to learn how to drive in a Manual. Never wished I did and now drive a Tesla so going forward don't think I'll ever drive a manual.

@Mark You know how things are going! You could seriously get away with teaching them in a Leaf which you can pick up for quite cheap now too. I personally don't think there is a need to learn Manual anymore given they're also getting more difficult to find these days too. Cheap leafs can be had for less than $10k now.

I’m in exactly the same boat - never learnt to drive a manual, never once had a need to drive a manual, and both our cars are EVs so not an issue now (and the chance of it being so is ever-decreasing).

Our eldest kid turns 16 later this year and we were sounding out only last weekend about his interest in learning to drive - agreed that my wife’s Leaf will be a perfect car for this, especially given there’s no chance he’ll be driving my Tesla for quite some time!

If knowing how to drive a manual proves to be a necessary skillset later on then that’s something that can be tackled when needed; agree wholeheartedly with the many posts above that taking this out of the equation when learning to drive is a positive not a negative.

jonathan18

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#3105667 18-Jul-2023 16:13

gbwelly:
I'm not quite sure why automatic drivers expend the energy online trying to convince people who prefer manuals that they are wrong, I guess it's up there with metric vs imperial.

That’s not what’s happening here - it’s about whether it’s necessary (or even best practice) to teach a kid to drive in a manual car; in 2023, for a huge majority of those learning to drive I’d posit it’s just not necessary for them to do so in a manual car, and could well make the process unnecessarily difficult.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3105684 18-Jul-2023 17:28

Ge0rge: Besides, if you can drive a manual, you can just jump in and go in an auto. Doesn't work the other way.

I wouldn't say that. On more than one occasion while driving in carparks, I've smashed the brake on an automatic trying to press the clutch.

I once had to drive DoC staff from the domestic terminal to the helipad. I made sure I warned them what might happen, since we had two endangered birds in the back. Luckily, I didn't stop suddenly, and they made it to their destination unharmed.

tdgeek

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#3105703 18-Jul-2023 18:33

Mark:

God help us all, but my boys are coming to the age where they will soon be learning to drive!

Being old fashioned I want them to learn in a manual (no way they are learning in my Tesla!)

Any recommendations for car models that are good to learn in, don't provide to many options for being a dumbass but will still keep them safe if they are dumb ? (teenage boys + cars there will always be dumbery, just need to limit it).

My first car was a 1964 EH Holden, manual. Bought from my oldest friends Car shark, I mean dealer!

The issue (and I haven't read the rest of the thread) is its about a sensible purchase, or its about keeping up with their peers. Get a manual get skilled, tick that box

I imagine these days though that peer pressure is huge

Johnk

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#3105735 18-Jul-2023 20:38

I am in the same boat, my boy just got his learners.

I am teaching him in my Sportage (Auto) so he can learn the basics like mentioned earlier, get used to actually being on the road an operating a vehicle, turning safely, stopping safely, position on road safely.

As soon as he is confidant we both want to get him a manual as his first car. so watching the recommendations in here.

Also mentioned above, trade vehicles are still commonly manual and will be for a few more years, he is thinking about a trade so will likely need the ability to drive a manual.

When my Daughter comes along to learn to drive in a few years, I truly don't think she will have the need or want to learn manual at all.

Obraik

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#3105797 18-Jul-2023 21:18

I never learnt how to drive a manual and have never had the need to drive one since I started driving. Now I also drive an EV and I don't think I'll ever have the need to as the manual transmission properly dies with the ICE platform

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