I'm throwing this out to parents and driving instructors

We just finished the EXCELLENT  Street Survival school put on in our region by the Boston BMW club.  Great experience and I cannot believe that there isn't more demand for this type of school.  Well I was going through the parents guide booklet and it advises parents to not have kids start off with a manual transmission. They feel it is  one more distraction.  I started both my kids off on manuals, and both could drive manuals before they took drivers ed.

The one "bad" part of it was when my daughter took the driving part of the school she put her left foot on the brake.  I had to explain that she was naturally looking for the clutch.  The instructors were happy that she was learning to drive stick.

So, what is the consensus?  Keep kids in an auto for the first year?  My kids don't have an option, we don't have a car that is not a stick.  My son has 30 plus hours so far, Maine wants 70 hours before the drivers test.  He jumps between four cars with sticks and does great.  I think that having to drive stick will keep them off of their phones and possibly not have them eat in the car.  In my opinion it is the better way to go.  However, I am not a driving instructor.

What say you?

I think it is better to learn with a manual trans so you know what the car is doing. But if your kids are only going to be driving new cars, thete are so many nannys that it probably doesn't matter as  as when I grew up. 

If you can drive manual it isn't a distraction. If you can't, it is a huge focus suck and is a distraction.

I wouldn't recommend adding manual after just getting you license. If you're already proficient, then it probably doesn't matter.

I taught both of mine, though the daughter I think learned on an AT first.  She now prefers a MT. 

Her comfort level with a MT wasn't there when she was learning, and that was my guide. 

Manuals do introduce additional effort, but it forces you to think ahead, focus on what the car is doing, etc. which I think is useful and encourages better driving.

I learned on manual. Yes, I too believe it encourages better focus on driving.

Remember, there was a time when manuals were"normal" and automatics were a new fangled luxury.

Manuals all the way. 

My daughter was an awful driver. She learned in an automatic, and I was constantly scared she was going to hit a mailbox or lamppost. She drifted aimlessly all over the road. 

I put her in a manual. She fought me tooth and nail. Hated it. 

But within a very short time, she became an excellent driver.  Almost immediately. 

She is a very smart young lady. I am convinced the auto was boring her, and she was thinking about her upcoming test, boys, her hairdo, ANYTHING but the road. 

The manual gave her more driving specific things to focus on. It forced her to think about the shifter position, both feet, engine sounds, etc. The manual forced her to be focused on her driving. 

I think the only thing automatics accomplish for young drivers is that they enable them to be distracted drivers. 

BTW, she thanks me now. Loves driving a stick. 

Gearheadotaku said:

I learned on manual. Yes, I too believe it encourages better focus on driving.

Remember, there was a time when manuals were"normal" and automatics were a new fangled luxury.

Manuals are still "normal" in other countries. 

I made my daughter learn on a manual.  She did the Street Survival course with it (cost me a clutch but it was a great experience for her).  She wasn't really happy about it at first but when the time came to get her a different car, she wanted a manual.  It is a matter of personal pride for me that she can drive a manual but her husband can't.

I think that they should only teach automatics.  Why?  Google "thieves can't steal manual shift cars"

BTW, I am a switch hitter - I drive mostly manual shift but when I drive an automatic I brake with my left foot - faster action than having to switch pedals, but don't forget which foot you are using (I never have).

I've always said that learning in a manual should be mandatory. Unless you can drive a manual, you don't now how to drive.

Neither of my kids own automatic vehicles and never have.

Yes, for liability reasons everybody has to give out these types of blanket 'safety' recommendations to get the point through to the lowest common denominator of people who lack any type of common sense.

Honestly, there are merits to both.  Inexperienced drivers are much more limited in the amount of road information they can process and how quickly/efficiently they can process it. Learning to drive with an automatic allows an inexperienced teen to pay closer attention to the road more often. Learning to drive with a manual makes an inexperienced teen pay closer attention to what the car is doing more often.

Nobody with 5, or ,10, or 20 hours of total lifetime driving experience is going to be able to shift a manual transmission without thinking about it (the way we can) and thus will inherently be more limited in the difficulty of situations they can handle appropriately at this early stage in their driving career. However, they'll also typically end up being more conscientious drivers.

This is why, while I don't believe teaching on a manual is inherently any better or worse than teaching on an automatic when done appropriately, I am also of the inclination that a blended approach (when available) is probably (slightly) better overall than either alone. Push the boundaries of their situational comfort level while driving the automatic, and hone their skills while driving the manual.  Then again, I may be biased, as that was pretty much how I was taught, and always felt it to have been highly effective compared to how most of my friends at the time learned...And that's how I'd like to teach my daughters, if possible.

Of course, every person is different, and is generally best served to have what they're learning tailored at least somewhat to how they learn.  For instance, this might not work well with somebody who would have trouble transitioning from one to the other frequently, even though that was not an issue for me.

I came at this from a slightly different angle of the same direction.

My parents only owned (and still do) only manual transmission cars.  I was behind on some, goals, so they weren't giving me "behind the wheel"... but I took the class in school, so I had to get the "behind the wheel" school part done by a certain time, iirc.  So, I ended up doing that through a private company.  My first time behind the wheel of that car was the first time I'd been behind the wheel of any car... and straight out onto the roads.  I forget how long I had with them, but the whole time I was driving that auto-school car my brain felt like something was "off".  My state changed things that year, and I took my driving test through the school at the end of my practice period, without either myself or my parents knowing it was coming.

"Hey Mom, Dad, I've got my license!"
A: "So what?  You still can't driver our cars."

Once I got to driving stick daily for three months, it finally "clicked" about what had bothered me about autos... I was so used to engine braking that I expected all cars to react that way, and to have that kind of precision over a cars' acceleration... which autos generally lack.

I've ridden with a number of other people that I can tell have only driven auto, because they're "on/off" the gas pedal soo much.

So, this is another vote for "start with manual", and have to drive it daily for at least 3months.  Not only will it give you "more to think about", it'll also make your control inputs more refined, imho.

Taught my wife to drive in her 20's (she prioritized education over a car financially).

Started her out in a parking lot in an automatic, then did a few sessions in my miata (stick).  She did well with the stick, but had anxiety about traffic, so we reverted to the automatic so she could focus better.

She still does parking lot sessions (about 10 years later) and I am 100% sure she could drive on the road, but she isnt comfortable to take that step. Plus sessions have ceased temporarily as a big baby bump kinda gets in the way of getting in a miata. 

I had one daughter that took to a 3 pedal car immediately, and another who never got comfortable with it.  The three pedal girl has always been more outgoing and insistent on her own way, the other is very capable, but less confident.  They are 28 and 24, and both have excellent driving records.

So, I dunno.  I guess it depends.

My left foot brake story: I right foot brake road racing, left foot brake stock car.  I would inevitably come home from a road race, and next time in the stock car, I would dip the clutch the first time into turn one in anger.  Once always seemed to be enough to retrain me...

I knew how a clutch worked from driving the lawn mower since I was nine, but never had to shift. While I had my permit, all the driving was in big-mid '70s Fords, so all automatics. "My" car (all the cars were titled in my parents' names) was a 4-speed Fairmont, so I got stick training in the truck soon after getting my license. 

From a "paying attention" standpoint, I had a State Trooper (my dad) stream-of-consciousness-drill-sargenting in my ear the whole time he was in the car with me, so I learned to pay attention to *everything*, while under the pressure of getting yelled at, and being expected to answer "what if" questions at the same time. It wasn't fun, but I think it made me more able to anticipate what traffic is gonna do, and how to pro-actively react. 

The first time I ever drove a manual shift car I simply drove, with no instruction at all.

The first time my son ever drove a manual shift car was at the $2016 Challenge. We drove down the street, got back and he drove the Autocross course, then the drag strip. 

That was also his first time on an Autocross course. And his first time on a drag strip. 

Kids are pretty adept. 

I learned to drive in a manual trans f250 starting around age 11. No way that would fly in todays age lol. Trying to find a cheap enough manual trans car so I can start teaching my young ones as they become (legally) old enough to drive.