Interesting what you say. Yes, probably easier to drive than a manual, for the elderly. Ours is a 2 litre engine in what is a mid range family car. So yes, if you put your foot down hard there will be a tendency to change down, but you might do that anyway in an modestly powered car. With a larger engine this becomes less likely, as I have discovered over the last 2 weeks. The syndrome where one overtakes and the car takes on the sound of a 100cc motorbike doesnt seem to apply.
It sounds like your technique is a tad wrong. To get the car to drop down a gear, using the accelerator alone, you need to momentarily lift your right foot (on the accelerator pedal) and then quickly press it to the floor - this should be a quick 'jab' rather then a steady 'push'. When you hear the engine revs increase, lift your right foot to match the amount of acceleration you need. However the car will shift up again once the road speed matches the minimum speed for that higher gear - this does not happen with cars with 'sports mode' automatic transmissions where a flick of the gear lever changes gears up and down.
The point I am trying to make here is that in most cases there is no need to drop down a gear when accelerating unless one is stuck behind a milk float or a tractor or something. But you might need to do that anyway in a manual transmission car. I am quite happy with the automatic and the way I drive it, thankyou. It accelerates quite nicely without any cause for alarm or anything else. In fact it is almost imperceptable. And no need for fannying around with the foot pedal.
When I opened this thread I envisaged some posts that took the Filipino angle on this but to my surprise there have been none. I just read this article on the choice between the two in the Philippines, on the decline of the 3 pedal car. http://www.autoindustriya.com/editors-note/is-the-manual-gearbox-dead.html My wifes friends husband is a mechanic and he left me with the impression that automatics are prevalent in the Philippines. But he did say that the problem is that they dont know how to fix them over there. ( A sweeping statement, I know, but one he thought was generally true).
In the Philippines, if you're driving in the metro/cities, it's best to have automatic cars. It can get tiring both physically and mentally having to shift gears , considering the traffic. And it's not like you can drive to a 100 without encountering another traffic or speed bumps. But if you live in the rural/provinces, then having a manual car is a much 'smoother' and efficient travel. Especially if you have a sports car.
There seems to be no doubt, now that I have been driving an automatic for a few months it seems much easier than a manual, especially in town. However, I borrowed a manual a couple of weeks ago and nearly drove into the back of someone as I had "forgotten" how to drive a manual. Meantime, Mrs Ash is progressing lessons in an automatic.
I have hired a car in the Phils twice and I simply would not hire a manual, primary reason being added complexity for those of us who rarely if ever drive on the right, when you are in Manila driving for the first time getting to grips with a gear stick on the wrong side just felt like one complexity too far, so I got an auto. In the UK during the first decade of this century I had a manual sports car and an automatic Honda Accord, the Accord was the coupe model lovely car. These two. So choosing an automatic in the Phils was a no brainer as I am very comfortable with the autobox and for all the rest of the reasons knightstrike mentions. I also drove well out of town too, we went down to Laguna one time and the roads become a lot more pleasurable to drive on down there. These roads in Laguna for example :- She can't drive but loves getting her picture taken.
My Missus is learning at the moment had about 6 two hour lessons Im waiting for the instructor to give me the green light to take her out in my old fiesta Its a manual I dont mind automatics but certainly dont want her to be limited on the good side to add her to my insurance as a learner was only £12 and they say it will be the same when she passes
Time has gone by. Our latest automatic has been a Nissan Juke. It developed problems with the automatic transmission. It never failed or anything but seemed to be slipping. However Nissan fixed it at no cost to ourselves. It is a bit heavy on the juice. Mrs Ash is the main driver. But we are looking at a Mercedes A Class next and I notice the majority of those cars are sold as automatics in the U.K. Probably about 60 or 70% of them. I have found automatics quite nice to drive. Well the ones we have had. My own car is a manual transmission and of course I have to switch over as I switch cars. I have got used to that now. But Mrs Ash can still only drive automatics as she took her test in one.
I've never had a problem with the auto transmission on my Accords, I've had 3 Honda Accords over the years the second and third were automatic, the most recent one was a really cheap second hand car I bought in 2016 for £400, this is its 5th year, no issues at last MOT in Nov it just runs, the one thing one is supposed to watch with my current model is the automatic transmission which can suffer some problems around 95,000 to 100,000 miles if the transmission fluid is not changed properly, mine is at 103,000 miles now. I'm probably going to just keep running it for as long as nothing major needs done I like automatics and when this one dies I want to get a nice 2009 or 2010 Accord model they are much closer to my red one in the picture above in terms of comfort and trim. I don't see me ever buying a new car again it will always be second hand from now on. There are a lot of new style CVT boxes in modern cars now, I've never tried one but I am interested they should be more efficient than standard auto boxes and potentially more efficient overall than a human changing gears.
Made in the factory in Sunderland, some of my old school friends work in Nissan, on the production line the jukes nickname is the junk
Apart from the automatic transmission which Nissan sorted, it’s been a good buy for us. The rear windscreen shattered a few weeks ago when it was icey and right now we are having to wait for a replacement and have been quoted 4 to 6 weeks! Presumably a Brexit related thing? Mrs Ash likes the Juke.
My old woman bought a new CR-V 2 years back, she grew up in Canada so is a bit of a petrol head,I have a pic of her somewhere trying to climb into a dodge ram 3500.
My sister was test driving a new vehicle from Vauxhall, it was spacious,safe to drive and pollen filter kept you free from outside disease. Maybe It was the new Astra Zeneca?
Just been and bought an A Class Mercedes for Mrs Ash. Automatic gearbox. Hopefully it will prove to be a good runner. The gear change is pretty good. We had a lot of trouble finding a car. The automatic gearbox requirement narrows down options considerably. Then there is Mrs Ash’s specific colour requirements. And then being a short Filipina, driving position, reaching the peddles and closing the tailgate are all major considerations. So SUVs have been be ruled out. She eventually settled on an A Class Merc. We tried to find a B Class Merc but with very little luck. She had been banging on about an A Class for a long time and it’s our 10 year wedding anniversary this month.
I jus received the provisional licence application for my wife. I dread her driving as she has no clue about where she is or where she is going, direction blindness... I don't think a satnav will be the answer
My wife got her provisional licence 3 years ago..and i bought her a nice fiesta runabout. Since then she has never sat in the driving seat though. I added her to my main insurance policy as a learner..and the premium came down £40. A year.
