I have many years of driving experience, but have only ever driven cars with manual gearboxes. The car I am now planning to buy is an automatic. How difficult will it be to learn how to drive it? What do I need to know? SS
The good news is that your driving is about to get easier, not more difficult.
You will know what to do – and what not to do – within a few minutes, and the automatic process will quickly become your natural reflex. Because you have to get used to doing less, not more.
If your knowledge of automatics is literally zero, the person selling you the vehicle will explain the process to get you started more quickly and clearly while sitting in the car than by trying to turn this article into a step-by-step instruction manual! In abstract words, it is convoluted; in hands-on actions, it is simple.
You have to be in P for Park and have your foot on the brake pedal to start, and then decide whether you want to go forwards or backwards and select the gear position accordingly by pressing a release button on the gear knob.
P for Park, R for Reverse, N for Neutral and D for Drive are the self-explanatory options.
The handbrake works in the same way as a manual gearbox. You have just two pedals – the accelerator to go or go faster; and the brake pedal to go slower or stop, just like a manual. There is no clutch pedal, so your left foot is redundant, throughout.
Beyond that, you never need to change gear; the automatic gearbox will make the changes for you as you speed up or slow down, per your speed and load, uphill or downhill, and how hard you press the accelerator.
There are provisions for “over-riding” the gearbox’s decisions under special circumstances, with a “restrictor” setting (2 and/or L), which can keep it in a lower gear when you want engine-braking going down a steep hill or consistently high revs when climbing very steeply or crossing very deep water.
There is also a “kick-down” mechanism on the accelerator pedal if you want a change-down surge of power needing higher revs than the gearbox would normally opt for.
Automatics do more than simply save you the physical trouble of pressing the clutch and stick-shifting a manual box (which is no small matter when you motor in places with many speed bumps, stop-start traffic jams and rural roads with severe obstacles).
They make reversing easier because you can easily twist around in your seat (your left foot can follow your hips), and close-quarters manoeuvres in either direction can be more precisely controlled without clutch-slipping.
Similarly, when edging forward in stop-start traffic or picking your way along a rough track riddled with ruts, rocks and wallows.
Negotiating just one-speed bump on a highway routinely involves six gear changes. Longer-distance cruises involve between 20 and 100 bumps – hundreds of gear changes! Not your problem anymore. Brake, cross the bump, accelerate. The automatic gearbox does the rest.
Some automatics have an “overdrive” button at the base of the gear knob. The default position should be “on”, allowing the gearbox to choose the highest gear when warranted.
Only turn it off as a “restrictor” for engine braking when going downhill at higher speeds. 4WD automatics often have a manual shift to engage 4WD and low range. Just like a manual, so no need for conversion therapy there.
