Meanwhile, here I am in the UK, just spent 3 months finding a used car for an affordable price with automatic transmission. The UK has 2 stages of full licence, Full and Automatic, full you can drive both manual and automatic, Automatic…well, enough said. I’m Canadian, got my licence in Canada. When I exchanged it for a UK licence I was stuck with an Automatic licence as Canada doesn’t differentiate on their licences and I couldn’t prove that I had tested on a manual transmission car. I also couldn’t be bothered to retake the driving test in a manual car. Tests are still in backlog from the pandemic as well, so it’d be probably a 6 month wait where I am before I could actually take the test.
All this to say, manual transmission is alive and well in the UK.
Wait so you could take your license on either a manual or automatic and the Canadian system gives you the same license? That’s strange.
That’s standard in the US too, except almost no one tests with a manual car. Why make the test harder on yourself? They don’t test how well you understand your own vehicle, just that you can drive it safely on public roads while recognizing signs and performing good driver’s etiquette. Might as well test with an automatic and have less things to focus on during the test.
Once you earn your license, then you can take the time to figure out how to drive a manual with the help of a friend/family member. That is, if you even care to learn. Most Americans don’t drive stick, and many never learn how.
I drive manuals exclusively. It’s a good way to ensure your car never gets stolen in the US. Most people can’t drive them, so you’re almost guaranteed to never lose your car.
I suppose it makes sense in a country where almost nobody drives manual. In my home country (Iceland), you can only get a license if you learn how to drive stick shift. Probably because manual is way more common in Iceland than the US.
