Letter from the Editor: Are manual car drivers automatically on the way out?

How many people do you know who still drive a manual car?

It was a hot subject of discussion among friends recently, when we realised my husband is one of a rare breed of drivers at risk of extinction.

He’s one of the very few people we know who still drives a manual. Admittedly it’s a company car so he doesn’t really have a choice, but almost no-one else in his office would even know how to drive it.

According to drive.com, only just over three per cent of new passenger cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles sold last year in Australia had manual transmissions.

Many car makers have just decided it’s not worth the effort of making manuals and have thrown the clutch in the garbage.

Unsurprisingly, that means fewer young people are learning to drive a manual. In NSW in 2022, 231,000 driving tests were carried out in automatics, while only 29,000 were in manuals.

One expert told the ABC that driving a manual is like “tapping your head and rubbing the belly at the same time. Some people just can’t do it”.

For many of my generation, the family car was usually a manual – they were cheaper to buy than a “flashy” automatic and cheaper to run.

My husband and I learned to drive in a manual, and like most country kids we knew our way around a car long before we were old enough to get a licence.

My first car was a sporty red Torana, with “three on the tree” and no sync into first. Translation: the gear lever – three speeds and reverse – was located on the steering column and you had to come to a complete stop before you could change down to first gear.

It was challenging, but I learnt to master hill starts and double clutching to keep up the revs, much to my father’s delight.

In fact, when we bought a new car a couple of years ago, it was the first car I’ve ever owned (in quite a long driving career) that wasn’t a manual.

As much as I love the automatic when driving in city traffic, I do enjoy getting behind the wheel of a manual and the feeling of controlling the car, rather than the car controlling you. It also depends on the road – Macquarie Pass in a manual is superb.

When No 1 favourite son was learning to drive we fortunately had a manual and an automatic, so at the beginning of his (very long) 120 hours on L plates we’d head out in the automatic so he could just get used to being on the road.

Once he was a bit more familiar with the rules and vagaries of other drivers, he shifted to the manual. Yes, it was more difficult to learn but as parents who both learned to drive on manuals we felt it was a critical life skill to master.

At least if he was in the hypothetical emergency and the only car available to drive was a manual, he’d be the hero of the hour.

He now drives an automatic but unlike many of his peers, he can still manage a manual.

For a long time I believed everyone should be taught how to drive a manual. In an ideal world it’s a great skill to have, but times and generations have changed.

However, I still believe operating a manual car gives drivers an edge over their automatic peers.

Driving a manual requires more concentration and awareness of what’s going on around you. Overtaking or changing lanes involves blinkers, clutch, accelerator and often brake, all at about the same time, so you have to be confident in your timing – you can’t just rely on putting your foot down.

At the risk of being howled down, I reckon it’s all too easy to become a lazy driver behind the wheel of an automatic. (Just don’t get me started on those cars that ding at you when the gap in front is too small, tug against the steering wheel when you are threatening to leave your lane, or practically scream STOP YOU IDIOT if you’re coming up too quickly on another car. But that’s for another column).

At the end of the day, regardless of whether you drive a manual or an auto, having a licence is a privilege. Operating what has the potential to be a lethal weapon demands a driver be safe, responsible and alert. Now that should be automatic.