One of the best car rental driving trips is holding a manual driving license, this makes it legal to drive both an automatic and a manual car. And always remember to make use of a clutch, accelerator and break for a manual car and on the other side of an automatic one which is clutch-less which doesn’t require any knowledge of clutch. Therefore, sometimes its better and easy to drive an automatic transmission vehicle while in city drive.
The most useful impact of holding a manual driving license is that you can use it for both manual and automatic because it makes it easy to drive an automatic car due to less features contained in it. So in case you are planning to have a self-drive trip with in the region it is best to hold a manual driving license than ever before.
Think no more of the clutch pedal
As the name sounds, automatic cars do most of the work by themselves. Although it contains a gear box. But in case of changing them is done by the car itself. Automatic vehicles do not have clutch pedals but are as well as equipped with the brakes and accelerator on the left-hand and right-hand side respectively.
One of the most serious manual drivers often push their left foot behind the right foot during their first days of driving an automatic car forgetting that there is no clutch on this left-hand side. Because of the location of the brake and accelerator, you can use only the right foot when driving an automatic car.
Normalize with the Gearbox of an automatic vehicle.
One of the things you have to know is to identify use of the gearbox indicators (PRND) where every letter indicates a mode of it’s ow.
P: Parking: This shows that the car is in parking. So whenever you are parking you are supposed to leave the car in the parking mode. This gear allows your wheels to remain in a motionless position. Caption make sure that the car in park when starting it and just before turning off the engine.
R: Presents Reserve: The R gear mode helps in reversing/backwards, like in a manual car, reverse gear. It is used for going backwards/reversing.
N-Neutral: The N gear is used when you stop amidst traffic, such as at the traffic lights. It helps not to roll.
D- Drive: This is used when you want to move the automatic car forward, caption always shift the gearstick to D whenever you want to move the car forward.
Be ready for the creep system
After a stop, when you slowly get your foot off the brake pedal while disengaging the handbrake, the automatic car starts moving forward if you are in Drive. And if you are in Reverse, the car will start to slowly move backwards. This is referred to as ‘creeping’. It is useful when getting in or out of a parking space and when you are stuck in traffic among other scenarios.
If you don’t want to move, make sure the gear is in Neutral before removing the foot off the brake or probably use the handbrake.
Be aware of the expectations in different conditions
Learning how to drive an automatic car is quite easier because there is no concentration on gears. Instead, the learner focuses on speed, mirrors, pedestrians and other things. If you have been used to driving manual, here are some of the differences you should expect when you drive an automatic car;
When you are in traffic jam, no need to keep shifting from first and neutral time and again
When parking, the ‘creep’ method might be of great use or sometimes unnecessary
On highways, keeping the car in Drive is the same as keeping it in top gear
When driving in corners and bends and you need to brake, prepare for braking in advance or else the car could go around the corner or bend faster than you intended. This is because automatic cars do not respond that fast like manual vehicles regarding braking.
Do Plan some practice
What to do when you are planning to drive an automatic vehicle for the first time.
When you have never driven an automatic car for your first time, it is better to practice somewhere and be well versed on how to drive it via the road. Always practice on how to drive with your hand off the gearstick and using only the right foot.
Here at 4×4 Car Hire Kampala, we provide a wide/ variety of automatic vehicles in our fleet. We always advise your clients to drive safely whenever there driving an automatic car on the road. Remember hiring an automatic car is a great way to enjoy your trip. Contact us for your preferred vehicle through booking@4x4carhirekampala.com or call the reservations desk via +256-779612466.