automatic drive cars

[rickoshea]

As a driver of 45 years and always driven manual gearbox cars my daughter has aquired an automatic citreon car which i am insured to drive my question is, is there a correct way to drive an automatic car ? do you for instance put it in park at traffics lights or traffic queues with handbrake on or off I would be grateful for advice

Thanks in advance

Rick
a very young 72

[SpikeyBush]

Not a 2006 Diesel. I regularly had quarter million on the clocks of old sh@ggers years ago, in patricular the G reg Vauxhall Belmont that was only scrapped because some silly girl didn't look properly and turned into my path, cracking the engine casing and buckling the chassis leg.

[craft1948]

I can drive my Smart Car in either tiptronic or automatic mode. You do need the handbrake to hill start, especially as it's one of those funny cars that the engine stops when you brake to a standstill.

[twix123]

Be considerate to other drivers by not sitting at traffic lights or in a queue of traffic with your foot on the brake pedal, especially at night or in wet weather, use the handbrake or put the car into neutral if safe to do so!

[joko]

well as usual, according to some ABers there is only one way to do things and that is their way...

i have driven an automatic for about 4-5 years - having learnt in a manual and also an auto - and i drive it with both feet because i have very small feet an find it impossible to just use one...(an my instructor never once told me not too...funny that....) and guess what? not once have i ever accidentally hit the brake or gone to change the clutch...or actually done anything that caused a problem....
and even if, in a emergency, and i had to slam on and actually hit both pedals - which one do you think would win?
the brake....the car would stop... it may rev or whatever, but the brake would still work.
i know generally 1 foot is the way its expected but it wont do any harm to use 2


op be aware of creep...the car will not stay stationary when you have stopped and take your foot off the brake like a manual, it will move forward on it own.

[Hopkirk]

The decision whether to put the handbrake on when in a traffic queue or at lights is no different whether you are in a manual or auto.

[kinell]

some vehicles, mine does, have an auto-park button that you can keep set, this puts the hand brake on automatically when you come to a stop in traffic and it immediately kicks off smoothly when the accelerator padal is depressed, it makes driving in traffic especially in london much easier and you dont have to move to neutral you just leave the car in drive position

[Hymie]

Most people are introduced to, or taught to drive an auto using one foot (as was I) – and that is how most drive them.
But there is a lot to be said in favour of using both feet when driving an auto – Honest John, he of the Telegraph motoring columnist is an advocate.
The main advantage of using both feet is that you are less likely to hit the wrong pedal.

My current vehicle is an auto, which I have had for a couple of years now. Being a one footed auto driver, in that time I have on at least two occasions hit the accelerator instead of the brake. I quickly realised my error – with the vehicle accelerating, rather than slowing down. But it is almost certain that when faced with the same scenario, some drivers push down harder on what they think is the brake pedal with the inevitable consequences.

If you are not already ingrained as a one footed auto driver – I would recommend you at least give driving with two feet a go, and see how it feels.