Ask UK

1235 readers

1 users here now

Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the UK.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

tom

Why do British people have such a dim view of Automatic cars? (self.askuk)

submitted 10 months ago by Oneeightnine to c/askuk

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been driving an automatic since I passed nearly a decade ago. In that time whenever I tell anyone I drive auto, it's usually met with some level of derision. I think that attitude is changing, but I'm still kind of confused by it in the first place.

Why?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Tweak 5 points 9 months ago

A bad auto can be pretty terrible, but a good (or even half decent) auto is better than a manual in almost every way.

These days modern automatics allow you to select any gear in a manual fashion. Aside from the lack of clutch to control at very low speeds (on ice the wheels might just spin instead of gaining traction) it basically makes manuals obsolete.