Manual or Automatic gearbox?

Although at 3 or 4 years old I drove the manual farm truck for the father to feed out hay in the paddock, and nearly dropped him off when I powered up to go over a dip so it wouldn't stall, I learnt to drive in a auto. No issues swapping to manual when I needed to. Also have an auto ute, a manual ute and a manual car now. All 3 kids leant in auto. 2 son's use the manual vehicles a swell. Actually don't recall a conversation in regards them doing so. As far as I know they just got in them and drove. Daughter is less confident with a manual but can now drive one if needed. Personally I feel learner drivers learning in an auto have multiple less things to think about and can focus on the driving more easily. It is so easy to change to a manual vehicle once they are confident drivers I seriously don't see why it is an arguable issue.

So learn how to drive on quiet roads before venturing into traffic. You don't really want to be learning the basics in rush hour.

Absolutely manual driving lessons are available, however at many of the smaller centers (Whangarei for example). The example driving school I checked into only offers manual lessons in the customers vehicle (i.e. their fleet in that city is auto only).

https://www.aa.co.nz/drivers/learn-to-drive-the-aa-way/driving-lessons/

Re if it is a good idea, if it is a skill the child want's to have, then leaning it from the start would ideal.

Most people would learn in their parent's car's, and if they are both auto's wouldn't be able to learn manual, unless they go out and buy a car just to learn in. That said, some people have company cars that don't allow learner drivers, so have to buy a car for their child to learn in anyway, in which case you can choose. Learning to drive manual solely in driving instructions car's isn't going to work. Takes too much time to get slick at it.

Re if driving manual is a valuable skill, consider:
- NZ is moving towards being almost all auto. The vast majority of used imports from japan are auto, and many new vehicles don't offer a manual option here. In general the cars offered in manual fit one of the following: - Cheap with manual offered only in base trim (i.e. suzuki swift), Sporty/Performance, Utes & Vans.
- Manual vehicles are now quite rare in NZ rental fleets. Very easy to ensure an auto rental vehicle in NZ.
- Manual vehicles are getting pretty rare for company fleets & loan vehicles these days. A significant chunk of the population now can't drive a manual, so it is easier for companies just to get auto gearboxes on everything to avoid the chore of dealing with allocation of a mixed auto / manual fleet.
- Big exception to the above this would be Fleets that are heavy in Utes / Vans / Trucks / Buses. For example trades fleets, but partially for the older vehicles in those fleets.
- If the child has ambition to Work in trade's, be a professional driver (courier / truck etc), or work in the auto industry (mechanic / sales etc.), being able to drive manual will be very useful.
- Rental cars in the USA are exclusively auto.
- Rental cars in Europe are mostly manual, but it is possible to get auto's, but normally only for higher tares.
- Note that Europe as a whole is swinging to auto's. The ban of non plug cars in 2030 for the uk, and band of non pure electric cars in 2035 for the UK will mean manuals will die out their too. Plug in hybrids are generally automatic, and pure electric cars are generally single speed, direct drive.
- Manual vehicles are more common in cheaper models in poorer countries (Philippines etc), but general westerners don't drive cars as tourists in such locations.

Work out how likely your child is to be driving in the older utes & vans or will be in a work environment requiring them to drive customers cars, if they have any ambition to own an exotic or sport's car, if they will be renting cheaper cars in Europe in the next decade, and if they are the kind of person that will likely end up driving friends cars etc.

Went through the above with my partner about 10 years ago. Ultimately decided there was little chance of her driving overseas (I normally do that), or her driving vehicle other than her own and she had no ambition of owning a performance car so we decided there was little point in her learning to drive a manual car.

In addition to the above I should note that I quite enjoyed driving manual cars in my youth, But find modern auto's to be a better fit to what I do now. (big city, lots of traffic, very steep driveway).

I don't think that knowing how to drive a manual car adds anything in terms of safety compared to having good tuition in an auto. It does add a skill gate though, leading to possible overconfidence.

No mention of Tiptronic/auto clutch boxes.

Not sure how they fit in if somebody has an auto only license, but guessing that as you can leave them in full auto mode, they are covered?.

My car has 7 speed dual clutch box, with paddles behind the steering wheel, but to be honest, I just stick it in drive and let the computer do the job. Works suprisingly well; driving through some twisty hilly roads, I experimented with charging gears myself as I am pretty used working the gearbox on my bike, but found just leaving the car in sports mode and concentrated on the road ahead while the car did a decent job of engine braking and giving acceleration out of corners.

I agree with s_nz. very little reason to learn with a manual these days, but once you know how to drive, then adding ability to drive a manual or other types of vehicle is easy if you ever need to, as once you are experienced then your are already dealing with the main task at hand of driving safely.

Funny thing is that old school cars & bikes with manual chokes also trip up new drivers badly.

I am already getting used to things like auto lights on, auto wipers, adaptive cruise, steering wheel controls and auto park etc, so even though still far away from self-driving car, still find it bit disconcerting to get in an old company van or rental car and have to fiddle with stuff when driving. Going to be funny in the future when you get a generation of people used to the car mostly driving itself. Will still be old timers on here complaining about too many computers are bad, and talking up cars from the early 2000s :-)

Hi all
many thanks for your very thorough replies. Much to think on. I appreciate you all stopping by :)
Mrs rob

so true.
i actually recommend auto's these days. 6-10 speed autos are far better than the old 3-4 speeds we used to have. all our new work utes we got auto's.
nissan has finally seen the light and now have auto's available in their single cabs.

i just don't recommend learning to drive in an auto.
its just means we need better ways of teaching driving.

typically your proficient enough with using manual gearbox well before you get to that stage.

also learning a manual later is not as easy as it looks.
i've had multiple young fellas through work who couldn't drive a manual and even after several years of driving manuals they are really poor at it.

they have been taught to ignore what the car is doing which makes for a lot of unsafe bad habits.

Same with hire fleets now too. I was disgusted when I last rented a furniture truck. When I booked it, I asked to be given a manual, only to be informed all the trucks in the fleet were now autos.

It was one of the most horrible things I've ever driven. It constantly hunted up and down between 4th and 5th gear, could never seem to select the correct ratio on a hill, and would change down the moment you accelerated, when I would rather it stayed in the gear it was already in. Bloody hopeless. No place for an auto there. Even heavy trucks are moving toward automated manuals now, which I understand are much more refined and operate quite differently to the standard slush box in the 6 ton box truck, however the concept is taking a long time to be widely accepted among Kiwi truckies, many of whom still opt for the manual Roadranger. For good reason if you ask me.