Why your kids should learn to drive a manual car

It’s often a point of pride to some drivers that they can operate a car with a manual gearbox, but do they really need that skill in the 21st Century?

And do their kids need that skill?

After all, the vast majority of the cars on Australia’s roads today are self-shifting models of one kind or another, and there will be fewer manual cars on the road with the passage of time.

So the old argument that you might need to know how to operate a manual vehicle in an emergency no longer holds water. Not really.

Sure, a quick check of carsales.com.au listings reveals that 13 per cent of the cars listed for sale do have a manual transmission, and that might be enough to tip the argument in the favour of parents hoping and expecting their kids will learn to drive a ‘stick-shift’ car.

But when was the last time you had to rush someone to hospital for an emergency? Was it in the pre-mobile phone era?

If someone you know hacks off their left foot out in the bush, it’s probably a more productive use of your time to call for an ambulance and provide first aid until the paramedics arrive – as opposed to grappling with an unfamiliar transmission in a vehicle you’ve never driven before while your friend quietly bleeds out from an arterial wound.

The ‘in an emergency’ rationale has been largely overtaken by nationwide mobile phone coverage.

So, are there any other practical reasons why your child – or anyone, for that matter – should consider learning to drive in a manual?

The difference in current advertised price between an automatic Hyundai i30 N Line and a manual variant of the same car is more than $2700 on the road.

That’s a significant saving up front for a new-car buyer, who may be on a meagre pay packet or simply struggling to pay the bills.

Further downmarket, the premium for an automatic transmission option may be more within your reach. Taking the Kia Stonic, for example, only about a grand separates the entry-level Stonic S manual from its automatic counterpart.

For that sort of difference you would really have to want a manual, when the additional cost for an auto might be a matter of a few extra weeks of saving, or a little more money to pay off the loan.

There’s another financial consideration where the manual transmission holds a trump card: fuel costs.

Sticking with our example of the Kia Stonic, in entry-level manual trim it’s slightly more economical to run than the automatic version.

Applying the official urban fuel consumption figures to even just a short commute over the course of the year (5000km), and basing the calculation on $1.80 per litre of petrol, the manual Stonic would cost over $100 less than the auto for fuel cost.

That would be $774 for the auto versus $666 for the manual to run the Stonic for 12 months. It’s not much difference however, relative to the inconvenience of driving a manual car in traffic.

Assuming you travel even further (up to 12,500km a year), the manual’s saving increases to nearly $300 per annum – $1935 for the auto, versus $1665 for the manual. Obviously the differences will vary with the driving environment.

Some argue that a manual transmission provides more ‘control’ than a decent automatic transmission in extreme driving situations.

In hard-core four-wheel driving the engine braking available in a vehicle with a manual transmission is certainly a help. But the counterargument to that is automatics provide smoother power delivery for when you’re stuck in mud.

Also, they’re much faster to change up a cog if and when you’re running out of speed, revs and traction at the same time – on a muddy uphill slope, for instance.

So there are pros and cons for manuals in off-roading, but a driver who knows what they’re doing will generally have the upper hand in a vehicle with an automatic transmission.

A lot of drivers who get out on a racetrack at weekends worry out loud that automatics will change up a gear right around the apex of a corner, when you may want to be able to nullify understeer with an explosive burst of torque to the rear wheels.

But automatics will allow you to hold a gear, so this problem is overstated, if not actually moot.

It’s the same if you want some engine braking for a slide into a corner, rally-style. Set up the auto transmission for a lower gear as you nose into the corner and you’ll get engine braking. A dab of the brake pedal can help there too. Simples.

If you can double-declutch in anticipation of an overtaking manoeuvre, you’ll be past the slower car in a flash, but likely no quicker than a car with an automatic transmission kicking down.

Using a manual ’box to assist with power delivery to balance handling in an emergency is very rare these days.

Maybe it was something you might have done in the 1970s: slip back to second, provoke some trailing-throttle oversteer to swerve around a car on your side of the road, and then reapply power to load up the rear wheels and correct the slide on the other side of the oncoming car.

Maybe… if you had the alertness of a pigeon, the reflexes of a cat and the actual experience and skill required to correct slides. That goes way beyond the basics of knowing how to downshift from fourth to second.

If there’s one particular way in which a manual transmission does beat the automatic hands-down, it’s the enjoyment to be had from feeling ‘at one’ with the car.

There’s a real sense of satisfaction when you co-ordinate your left foot with your right and your left hand to execute the perfect shift – the lever neatly and smoothly snicking into gear, or being rushed through at the redline for optimal performance.

You won’t always experience that thrill, not if the gearshift is clunky and rubbery and baulks at any attempt to swag cogs swiftly. But when everything goes right, it can be exhilarating.

And there’s good reason to be proud of those moments. It takes skill and determination to learn the art. A practised driver can improve on the shortcomings of a single-clutch automated manual gearbox if they’ve done the hard yards in a conventional manual first.

But as for conveying this to your kids? Grab them while they’re young and keen. If you leave it too long, they’ll probably tell you that manual cars are yesterday’s technology and unfashionable, both of which are true.

Create an opportunity where they can drive safety and legally under supervision.

You could make this an adventure and a bit of fun for them, rather than forming part of the drudgery that comes with racking up 120 hours (in Victoria) as a learner driver.

You may find that they don’t ultimately have the aptitude to handle driving a manual car, in which case, accept that and let them stick with automatics.

But who knows, the child who becomes adept at driving a car with a manual transmission could be the next Peter Brock.

Encourage your kids to learn driving in a manual car

• Find a safe place that’s well away from other traffic – and legal
• Concentrate at first on starting in first gear; changing gears on the move is the easy part
• Don’t spend more than half an hour in the car for each session
• Keep it light-hearted and fun, don’t be an oppressive parent
• If your child is not enjoying the experience, let them choose whether to persevere; don’t force the issue