Author: Nik Berg
Today’s troubling statistic is brought to you by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Of the 1.8 million driving tests taken in England, Scotland and Wales in 2024 470,000 were automatic-only.
That’s almost half a million new drivers joining the roads with no idea what to do with three pedals and a stick. The boss of the AA’s driving school Emma Bush even told BBC News that driving a manual car was “irrelevant to many.”
“As we head closer to 2030 and the ban on the sale of new combustion cars, more and more learners will want to learn in an electric vehicle as that’s all they will plan to drive,” she added.
New car sales certainly back up this trend, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders confirming that just 22 per cent of new cars sold in the UK in 2024 were delivered with a manual transmission.
Soon, the only cars with H-pattern ‘boxes will come from niche manufacturers who are exempt from emissions rules: Caterhams, Ariels and the like. Rowing your own gears in a new car may be relegated to track days or sunny Sunday drives. While that’s a shame of course, it’s undeniable that moving mass produced cars to more environmentally-friendly powertrains is a must for the future.
But what of the past? To preserve motoring heritage we need new drivers to embrace the old, not leave it to a vanguard of veterans who will become too old (or too expired) before their cars ever are.
Our own Paul Cowland has made the case for automatic classics, and it’s true that some of the increasing number of auto-only test-sitters may be able to keep the hobby alive, but I think they’ll be missing out on a huge part of the appeal of truly analogue automobiles.
A manual transmission provides a unique connection between car and driver. To drive smoothly with a stick, you require a degree of mechanical sympathy and understanding that just isn’t there with an auto. Upshifts must be timed to prevent the engine bogging down, downshifts considered to prevent over-revving. Throw in the art of heel-and-toe and double de-clutching required to smoothly shift on older cars and the level of focus required of the driver is so much higher. The resulting level of satisfaction from executing a perfect rev-matched changed will never be equaled by letting a torque converter or even a robotized paddle shift do the work for you.
Half a million new drivers in the UK will never experience this joy, because if you pass your test in an auto that’s all you can drive without sitting the test again in a manual. New drivers who can’t handle an H-pattern are also seriously restricting their options for buying a first car.
But let’s not conclude this on a negative. The fact is that that almost three-quarters of the driving tests taken in 2024 were still in manual cars, so not everyone is convinced that their driving future is automatic.
If further evidence is needed that enthusiasm for DIY gear selection is not yet dead then The Festival of the Unexceptional proves there’s an eager fan base among Britain’s young drivers for the affordable, uncomplicated, honest modern classic cars that almost exclusively came with manual transmissions.
There’s hope yet, and it lies with the next generation of drivers. Keep shifting kids!
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