Driving an automatic car

Thats boards for ya.

I once said I roll down hills only for others to say they roll up hills…… just 'cause it's boards.

Sidewalk, pavement, footpath.

Which foot would Christy Brown have used?

OP, just be careful of the type of automatic gearbox you get. There are many different types, and some of them are, to put it mildly, shite.

I much prefer the 'traditional' torque converter box, sometimes referred to as a slushbox. Reliable and proven technology.

I would personally shy away from CVT boxes, Ford Powershift, semi-auto boxes (except maybe Honda) and some of the DSG boxes.

A relative of mine bought a Corolla Cross a few weeks ago - his first automatic car. After a few days, he decided to come to Cork - I was in the passenger seat. He felt tired and decided to stop for a coffee in Cashel.

So, left the motorway, up the ramp to the roundabout. Slowed down on the approach to the roundabout and (as he did for the last 40 years), pressed the clutch.

Thank God for seatbelts - otherwise we were straight through the windscreen. Luckily, no car behind us.

He will never, ever do that again.

It's kind of a right-of-passage for experienced manual transmission drivers when they start driving automatics! 😂

I drove automatics for a good few years and I really didn't like the CVT boxes, I don't like torque converter , the best of them that I drove was the DSG which is a twin clutch gearbox but I am quite happy to be back in a manual , can't explain it, love the control of the gears, the driver engagement if non of that matters to you then you will probably be happy in an auto.

The only thing I would say is that if the car you're interested in has a CVT box get a good drive in it before you make any decision, I do not like the way it holds high revs until the speed increases and the revs fall back, it just made the engine scream, hated it.

CVT do have issues too and are a poor man's auto box so best keep in mind, probably one of the most reliable cars with CVT is the Toyota Prius, the gearbox in that is ultra reliable because it has an electric motor to take part of the load it does scream when it's driven hard to get up to speed.

Torque converter, don't like them at all either and are a lot heavier on fuel.

As someone said already about the left foot, this is true, I did this the first day driving my first auto which was a DSG Caddy van, left foot the brake which caused the van to brake really hard, way harder than I needed.

I apologise to the OP for dragging this discussion in a slightly different direction which is not relevant to their question but with quite a few experienced drivers contributing can I ask the following.
What is the option in general of auto stop / start with which all modern cars are equipped. Personally I dislike it ( yes I know it’s supposed to be more economical and environmentally friendly ) but having started out in my driving experience driving older bangers I was never sure that if you let the engine stop that it might not start again.
A more serious concern for me with this technology is the tiny time lag from when you press the accelerator until the car moves ( I drive an automatic VW Golf TDI diesel ) . In a situation where you are making a right turn from a minor road onto a busy main road every second counts ( and no I’m not in a hurry or attempting a dangerous manoeuvre) so you just need to get on with it briskly. Most of my driving is country roads so with my concerns in mind I have actually disconnected the auto stop / start.
What do you think 🤔.

What vehicle is it?

The OP asked this "I'm thinking of changing to an automatic car but never drove one. Is it easy to swap over."

While it might be an easy answer to you there are several factors that come into play that suggest while it might be easy to swap over it might not be so easy to live with given the nature of the different types of automatics and considering he never drove and automatic before.

Like it or not, threads develop, ask boards.ie to give the OP of threads the power to lock topics once their satisfied, other than that I think the worst thing in this thread has to be you taking the Lord's name in vane !

VW Golf TDI .

I can't stand one pedal driving, you have to constantly modulate the accelerator, and more efficient is 0 regen when lifting off the throttle and coasting on energy already consumed, I learned this a long time ago in the prius. One pedal driving is fine if it's optional by the driver other than that it's a curse, I absolutely hated the forced one pedal driving in the BMW i3.

Further down the line eah ? hahaha we'll see ! not exactly a big queue for electric cars.

You’re putting massive pressure on the gearbox anytime it is parked on an incline.

I drive a 3 speed Automatic and it is effortless compared to manual gearbox.

I drove stick shift cars for the last 40 years and enjoyed them .Changed my car 3 months ago to my first ever automatic car and use my right foot only to control speed and braking

There's a place when I rest my left foot and I have never tried to use it once to brake , to be honest it wouldn't feel right.

Why would VW design a place for your left foot if you needed to use it

I found it very easy to move over to automatic but did try to move my gear stick coming up to roundabouts a few times in the first couple of hours but not since the first day