i'm in a fairly typical street in the uk
let's take a look at what people are
driving
here is a ford fiesta
and that is
a manual
let's take a look at this mini across
the street
and i did look both ways although the
camera didn't
before across the road that is
and that is also a manual i'm not going
to look at this fiesta because i just
looked at that one
so
don't need to look at two fiestas let's
go and have a look at this citron ds3
instead
is that a manual or an automatic
also a manual
now there is a mercedes c-class down
there
i believe that is automatic because it's
the e model which means it's going to be
hybrid i'm going to have a quick run
just to confirm
yes
c350e
so that
is going to be
an automatic but this is a much more
expensive car
and it's also still fairly young
being five years old yeah five do your
mass richard
all petrol and diesel cars need gears
some change gear automatically for you
and in others you have to change gear
manually yourself
all early cars were manual and the
automatic gearbox didn't start to become
widely available until the 1930s and 40s
or at least widely available in certain
parts of the world
but that's 80 years ago
why is the manual still so popular today
and in some markets such as america the
automatic has been the norm for some
time now in fact in some states you can
actually pass your driving test in an
automatic and be allowed to drive a
manual
i can only guess this can be allowed
because there's so few manuals that it's
not a major safety concern
but in the uk
most small cheap cars are manual
so if people in the uk could pass in an
automatic and then drive a manual we
would have somewhere between five
hundred thousand and seven hundred
thousand new drivers each year passing
in automatics with no manual experience
taking to the road for the first time in
their manual
and in a country that has a population
of only around 67 million
that's a lot of drivers who don't know
how to control their car
that could be quite chaotic
in the uk the manual gearbox is in
decline in 2010 20 of new cars sold were
automatic and back then
that was considered a lot
by 2018 43 of new cars sold were
automatic
but now
nearly 60 percent of new cars sold in
the uk
are automatic
so although new drivers are still opting
to pass their driving test in a manual
over 90 of driving tests are manual the
automatic is becoming the norm
so why has it taken so long for the
automatic to start to take off in the uk
well it's quite simple traditional
automatics with torque converters were
big heavy and inefficient
that does not bode well with asian and
european cars in the uk we primarily use
asian cars and european cars
however in america
their cars are already big heavy and
inefficient they have big 5.7 litre v8
which they call a 350 cubic inch with
loads of torque so having a less
efficient gearbox doesn't make as much
of a difference and gasoline as they
call it over there is much cheaper so
having the convenience of an automatic
makes more sense because the negatives
aren't as noticeable however if you were
to put a traditional automatic in say
something like a
1.1 liter ford fiesta
from the 1980s it's gonna drive like
you've left the handbrake on
but in the early naughties or 2000s
something started to change it was out
with the traditional torque converter
planetary gear automatic and in with the
robotized manual
yes
automatics were no longer really
automatics they were actually a manual
but with a robot changing gear for you
so that got rid of the disadvantage of
the automatic being less efficient
and bigger and heavier they're almost
the same size and same weight the only
disadvantage was the price normally it
added around 1 000 to 1 500 pounds to
the list price of a car and they worked
well in small cars with small engines as
well therefore
opting to have the extra convenience of
the car changing gear for you was no
longer such a problem well it was
actually convenient
and then the automatic started to become
popular
and japanese manufacturers started to
use something called a cvt which stands
for continuously variable transmission
they work well with big engine cars and
low powered small engine cars the only
trouble is is how they sound many people
don't like the fact that it actually
sounds like your engine is staying at
constant velocity whenever you put your
foot hard on the gas it kind of goes
and in fact in one of my videos i made a
mistake of calling it a constant
velocity transmission just because i was
so used to hearing that constant
velocity of the engine
they work well they are efficient if you
drive gently
don't worry about it but if you want to
put your foot down
they're not very nice
so the reason why it's taken so long for
automatics to become popular in the uk
is simply because the technology to make
a lightweight low-powered car which is
most of the cars in the uk
automatic yet still drive in a decent
way has only become widely available
recently does that mean you shouldn't
bother learning manual you should just
learn automatic because all cars are
going to be automatic soon well the
manual is going to be here for a bit
longer than you may think they're going
to be sold up until 2030
minimum when the petrol and diesel band
comes in and that band essentially
bans manual however that may be delayed
you never know but let's say
the ban happens in 2030 then those cars
are still going to be on the road for 10
to 20 years after that
so the manual car will still be popular
for quite a while yet
getting a manual license does give you
the freedom to drive whatever car you
want however of course
learning automatic
is easier but is there another advantage
to driving a manual or is it all just
about the money it's not just about the
money
it's about the experience
if you're brought up around manuals
learn to drive a manual
subsequently got good at driving a
manual
and live somewhere where you're not
constantly in nose to tail
bumper-to-bumper traffic
you actually have access to some
relatively quiet roads with a half
decent speed limit
you may also
enjoy driving a manual
it's not guaranteed of course not
everyone does it's not everyone's cup of
tea
but there are plenty who do
and as a result
with great british country roads
the manual has stayed strong for years
even though realistically
the economy
and how much people earn in this country
means that automatics aren't really out
of the question
it is a bit of a choice
now i could be driving down this road in
an automatic
but i know from experience i won't be
having as much fun there is a sense of
joy from the achievement of achieving
the perfect gear change
the downshift rev match
the heel and toe rev match
under breaking
and kissing the red line
although you can do that in an automatic
as well
of course
drive responsibly and that's part of
what makes driving a manual so special
i didn't break the speed limit there
but i enjoyed myself
a very powerful automatic will shoot you
up to
very high speeds very quickly without
you doing much at all
which leads you
wanting to enjoy the speed
as opposed to the involvement
so therefore
driving a manual enthusiastically
allows you to have fun
whilst being safe
because there's something else
to enjoy
of course manuals aren't for everyone
some people just prefer automatics i
know both some people like auto some
people like manual a lot of people like
manual for the same reasons i do and
many people like automatic because well
it's easier and they're not really
enthusiastic about driving they just
want to get from a to b
whoever you are doesn't matter enjoy
your car well i hope this video helps
you understand why manuals are still so
popular in the uk
if you think it does
please give the video a thumbs up and
check out conningwood and confused in
the description
if you're a learner driver and want to
insure yourself on a friend or family
member's car you can do so with
conningwood without affecting the
owner's policy
and via the link at the moment there's
up to 35 off and a 20 pound amazon gift
card
also check out confused.com because with
confused.com you can fill out one quote
form and get many quotes back to see
who's cheapest
also you can change the car on that
quote as many times as you like i like
doing that to compare how much it costs
to ensure
different cars
using the links doesn't cost you
anything but it does support the channel
so thank you very much that is
appreciated
at the moment i'm doing some theory
questions on facebook and instagram
they're both conquer driving and
subscribe if you want to get my future
videos
and until the next one
cheerio