Brit wanted to know why Americans drive automatics while the rest of the world drives manuals and Americans responded

This Brit wanted to know why Americans drive automatics instead of manuals, and Americans quickly gave him an answer.

It’s a car question that has divided the world for years.

Or to be more precise, it’s divided Americans from pretty much everyone else.

When one Brit took to Reddit to ask why manuals aren’t so popular across the pond, Americans didn’t hesitate to give him an explanation.

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Why do Americans drive automatics instead of manuals? A Brit went investigating

Like most questions worth asking, this query was posted onto Reddit, into the ‘Explain Like I’m Five’ section.

Admittedly, we’ve seen five-year-olds driving around in Lamborghinis, so perhaps we should give them more credit.

At any rate, Reddit user Harmless_Overdose was curious about why automatic cars were the preferred option in the US.

“Most people here and in Europe drive manual cars, largely because they’re generally cheaper and give the driver more control over the car in many ways,” he wrote.

“They are not hard to learn how to drive either; you could easily learn it in a day or two.

“The general impression I get from the media (since I have not been back to America since learning to drive) is that most Americans drive automatics and have never learned how to drive a manual. Is there any particular reason(s) for this?”

Americans came in with answers at the ready.

“There simply is much longer distances to drive in the US, compared to Europe,” one person offered.

“So the impact of the higher fuel consumption of ATs doesn’t strike that hard. Manual transmission is said to be more economical in city traffic.”

“Availability, especially for someone who is looking at used dealerships/Craigslist, 90 percent of the cars are automatic,” another offered.

“It’s less fun but more convenient. I would not drive an automatic for fun. Heck, I raced sportbikes, and a lot of fun is shifting gears after corners,” a third American wrote.

“But for driving to work and back every day, mindless stuff like that, don’t bother me. Just gimme an automatic.”

This car debate isn’t going away any time soon

In the world of cars, few things cause quite the divide that the automatic vs manual debate does.

People are fairly entrenched in their way of driving, and often find the other side baffling.

Making the switch from automatic to manual is no doubt tough, particularly with regard to the stick shift.

Driving a stick shift is a more difficult skill to master – as this UK-based driving instructor can attest.

But if you needed a reason to switch to manual, there’s always the chance that it could lessen the chances of your car being stolen.

That’s certainly what happened in Maryland when these thieves could get a manual Porsche 718 started up.

A similar incident occurred over in New Jersey with a 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo – now that’s what we call a non-starter.

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