More drivers than ever are deciding to choose an automatic car over the traditional manual. If you’re still undecided on whether to choose an automatic or manual transmission car, let’s look at the main benefits of driving an automatic car.
Benefits of Driving an Automatic Car
Easy to Drive
With no gears and clutch pedal to worry about, automatic cars are certainly easier to drive. This becomes most apparent while driving in busy towns and cities, where you’d otherwise needing to be constantly changing gear. In a manual car, the constant pressing of the clutch pedal in busy areas really can make your leg ache after a while.
As traffic jams and congestion worsens, it surely makes sense to use a car that helps to reduce stress. An automatic is just what you need. Though automatic cars do have gears and a clutch, the process of changing gears is all done automatically, so all you need to worry about is looking at the road ahead.
Traffic Jams
Staying with traffic jams for a moment, you’re likely to find yourself stuck in them – a lot. In a manual car, you’re constantly needing to raise the clutch to the bite point (not too fast else you’ll stall), edge forward slightly, then depress the clutch back down again. Repeat this process many many times and it gets tedious very quickly.
One of the main benefits of an automatic car, to edge forward you simply take your foot off the foot brake, the car will slowly edge forwards, then simply press the brake when you want to stop. This feature makes dealing with traffic jams much more tolerable and helps to reduce driver fatigue.
Parking is Easier
The same feature that allows you to creep forward in slow moving traffic also works in reverse. When parking your automatic car, you only need to use the foot brake to control your speed. No need for clutch control here!
No Stalling the Engine
You’ve likely seen it before, a driver goes to move off in their car and stalls the engine. It’s stressful and embarrassing because it almost always happens at the worst time. Some people are more prone to stalling than others and so a major benefit of driving automatic cars is that they don’t stall – simple as that!
Safer to Drive
Due to there being no need to change gear in automatic cars, it means you can keep both hands on the steering wheel much more of the time. This allows for greater control of the vehicle. Additionally, as you do not have to be concerned with what gear you’re in and having to change it, your concentration allows you to focus on important things such as observation.
Smoother Ride
The modern automatic gearbox provides fast and seamless gear changes, the benefit of which is a smooth, pleasant ride. More expensive automatic cars are often fitted with dual clutch systems. Dual clutch systems are beneficial as they change gear extremely quickly and improve vehicle performance.
Better Fuel Economy
Many years ago, automatic cars were much heavier and less fuel efficient versions of their manual equivalents. Things have moved on quite significantly for automatics and with improvements in transmission systems, weight reduction and computer management, automatic cars can often outperform their manual equivalent for fuel savings. This is often due to smart economy modes selecting the most fuel efficient gear for your speed.
While better fuel economy isn’t guaranteed in all automatic versions, modern eco-focused vehicles along with an economical driving style will certainly help you save at the pumps.
