Should you still learn to drive in a manual car?
Cars with manual gearboxes are declining in popularity, but does that mean it’s no longer worth learning to drive in one? So let’s take a closer look…
With the backlog created by the coronavirus pandemic clearing, the number of people taking their driving test was almost back to normal last year. The majority of tests were taken in cars with manual gearboxes, but the latest statistics show a sharp increase in how many learners opt to take their test in a car with an automatic gearbox instead.
Nineteen percent (324,000) of driving tests taken in the year from April 2022 to March 2023 were in automatic cars, compared with 13% (200,000) in 2019-2020. That’s a threefold increase in the popularity of automatic tests compared with a decade ago when they accounted for only 6% (96,000) of tests taken.
Why are more learners shunning manuals?
Most of younger drivers don’t see the point in learning to drive a manual car when they’re unlikely to need to do so in the future. The adverts they see for newer cars are for hybrids and EVs (electric vehicles), so that’s what they aspire to owning and driving Automatic cars.
Only 24% of the new mainstream cars on sale were available with a manual gearbox, and the split between auto and manual new car sales has switched drastically. In 2019, the number of manual and automatic gearbox models registered was fairly even at 49% autos and 51% manuals, but last year 71% of new cars registered had an automatic gearbox and only 29% were manuals.
UK new car registrations*
| Year of regisration | Auto gearbox cars | Manual gearbox cars |
| 2023 | 73.1% | 28.7% |
| 2022 | 67.3% | 32.7% |
| 2021 | 62.3% | 32.7% |
| 2020 | 56.1% | 43.9% |
| 2019 | 49.1% | 50.9% |
Another reason for the switch is time. With early lessons often being spent practising clutch control, learning with an automatic gearbox sidesteps this issue and means drivers could be on the road after fewer lessons.
Among qualified motorists, older drivers generally believe it’s worth following the automatic test with one for a manual licence, just in case it’s necessary to drive a manual car occasionally. Contrastingly, the vast majority of younger drivers take no further lessons once they’ve earned an automatic-only licence.
