Hi All, Don't what it's like in UK but here in Australia it's getting to stage where if you drive a manual or can drive manual you are looked upon as a freak of days gone past.The vast majority have become either lazy or simply never learnt the connection of car to driver. Over the journey I have had a mix of auto and man. Man is good for peak city traffic but fun is manual. Currents cars, Focus MK2 2.0 TDCI 6speed man. Toyota Landcruiser Prado 4.0 V6 auto. Most fun ( wish I's kept it,,SAAB 9000 Carlson 5 speed man, mild mods) Manuals are now viewed as millennial anti theft device over here. 

Hello John and welcome to the Ford Owners Club.

I've no official info, but I would say we still have more manuals than autos here in the UK. However there is a definite move towards auto by many, not least as it is no fun changing up and down a 6 speed manual. Its all about emissions and saving the planet (not sure who for) so I guess auto will win the day in the short term (before we all become electric) as 8 and even 9 speed are now common.

I took a trip to Aus, just over 4 years ago now and my hire car was a Ford Kuga, almost the same as the one I had back home. Should have been easy to drive, after all it was the same car ? Apart from the fact the indicator and wiper switches were on the opposite side !!!  I've never made so many turns with clean windows as with that car 🤣

How did Australia end up keeping the indicator switch on the other side? We had those in the uk in the past but were forced to change when the manufacturers just put them on the other side. 

I think manual is still much more common in uk.   In the past automatics were less economical than manual which was an issue  as fuel is expensive here.   Modern automatics not using a torque converter has made the fuel economy better and I think that has helped sell more of them. Also cities become more clogged with traffic where driving a manual becomes more laborious.  I still prefer manual but I might not be of that view if I lived or drove to work in a more clogged driving enviroment

 

1 hour ago, isetta said:

How did Australia end up keeping the indicator switch on the other side? We had those in the uk in the past but were forced to change when the manufacturers just put them on the other side. 

Japanese cars have their switches the other way round and if Australia is the same as New Zealand then a lot of second hand cars are imported from Japan because of its strict MOT equivalent regulations which makes it not economical to keep cars very long, unless things have changed recently.

It's the same in some Caribbean islands, they are overrun with second hand Japanese imports with the switches the other way round.   

Japanese cars in England had them the other way round in the 70s and changed later than the other manufacturers. It’s like one day some manufacturers in the 70s altered it in the uk and then later on the Japanese caved in on the cars they made for uk market. I assume mainland Europe had the indicator switch on the left and it was part of a drive to make the uk the same as mainland Europe. It’s a long road as we still have miles and not km. 

Is it just me, or do any other drivers of a certain age feel the change of indicator stalk position spoiled swift overtaking moves to some extent? You used to be able to simultaneously downshift with your left hand while flicking the indicator stalk with the fingers of your right.

 

12 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Is it just me, or do any other drivers of a certain age feel the change of indicator stalk position spoiled swift overtaking moves to some extent?

Me too. My first car also had the Handbrake on the right hand side, bolted to the inner sill and that was great for quick getaways, you could put it in gear and release the Handbrake at the same time.

I hadn’t thought of that Eric but I see the logic.  But once we have all moved to automatics or electric cars we won’t need to downshift.   If you got a left hand drive car you could shift with right hand whilst using left for indicators. But then again overtaking in the uk in a left hand drive car has more serious drawbacks like not being able to see adequately, and car park barriers are a bit annoying also .

1 hour ago, isetta said:

car park barriers are a bit annoying

They're fine if you drive in/out backwards.

I'll admit, I think most of my cars have had the direction indicator stalk on the left. I used to have a Fiat Regatta at one point, and that had two stalks on the left - one for lights and one for the indicators.

1 hour ago, isetta said:

But once we have all moved to automatics or electric cars we won’t need to downshift.  

I keep seeing intriguing articles about the possibility of multiple gear ratios on EVs (the odd one already has 2 - some versions of the Porsche Taycan I think - but not controllable by the driver). 

On conventional autos, on the odd occasion when I drive one, I often seem to find the transmission has different ideas to myself on the appropriate gear, so still shift manually quite frequently. Pretty easy with the now almost universal paddles, but you still can't use the shift and indicator simultaneously (at least not with my fingers!😀) as the down paddle is usually on the left. 

Happy New Year to all from Down Under.Had a few warm days to test the aircon in Focus. New years eve 38 Celsius followed by 37 Celsius on Jan 1st. Fortunately cooled off today, only 33 Celsius. Focus aircon works a treat thank god .. Does do my head in at times jumping from my two vehicles. Landcruiser V6 Prado 5 sp auto,indicator stalk on right of steering wheel. Jump into Focus, 2.0 6 sp manual indicator on left of steering wheel.Did some minor trim work couple of days ago. Matt black plastidip upper and lower grill, foglight surroumnds and rear bumper plastic strip. Sick off black/grey fade out in Aussie sun due to UV breakdown. Overall pretty pleased with result

On 1/2/2022 at 6:36 PM, 2.0 TDCI AUS said:

Happy New Year to all from Down Under.Had a few warm days to test the aircon in Focus. New years eve 38 Celsius followed by 37 Celsius on Jan 1st. Fortunately cooled off today, only 33 Celsius. Focus aircon works a treat thank god .. Does do my head in at times jumping from my two vehicles. Landcruiser V6 Prado 5 sp auto,indicator stalk on right of steering wheel. Jump into Focus, 2.0 6 sp manual indicator on left of steering wheel.Did some minor trim work couple of days ago. Matt black plastidip upper and lower grill, foglight surroumnds and rear bumper plastic strip. Sick off black/grey fade out in Aussie sun due to UV breakdown. Overall pretty pleased with result

Same to you!Get some Car Pro ‘Perl’,fantastic stuff on rubber components,plastic etc…They have some really good products.Manufactured in S.Korea.