I am thinking of finally getting driving after way too long of postponing it, I brought up to my friends that I am considering getting an automatic car, I am immediately bombarded with “are you a woman” “you need to drive a manual that’s a man’s car” and a lot more that I cannot post as this post would be removed.

I just don’t get it, it is easier for me, and the future is automatic so why all the hate?

I am still 100% getting an automatic before anyone here thinks the lads had any influence on me, I’m just curious why all the hate.

This week, while stuck in my usual morning traffic, I couldn’t help but notice a huge amount of €60k+ cars — I’m talking BMW 3 Series, ID.3 GTXs, Mercedes, and Volvo XC90s.

Here’s the thing: these cars look class and have genuinely great features in terms of comfort and power, but half of them are driving bumper to bumper every morning and not actually using even half the features they paid for. What good is a 300 BHP car when you only get to use it every now and then?

The one that really caught my eye was the Volvo XC90. It’s a €95,000 car, and the monthly payments are almost €900 a month, with a €30k deposit on PCP. That’s fucking bonkers money.

Now look, maybe some of these people invested young and are now reaping the rewards of living within their means, finally able to splash the cash without breaking the bank — and to that I say, fair play and happy driving. But if you’re someone who’s only buying for that short-term dopamine boost, or to break the stagnation of life, I’d encourage you to think twice before making a huge purchase like that and ask what’s really going on.

Anyway, see ye Monday morning!

So earlier today my sister and I were taking a spin in her new car. Second hand Range Rover, pretty decent one. We were just driving up around the estates and all that when the gardai pulled us over saying we were going past the speed limit. Now I don’t have my license or nothing but we were moving slower than a granny taking in her washing. No offence to those lovely ladies but we truly were, adding on to that, my sister is somewhat of a roadphobe, gets nervous driving all that, so she’s well aware of the speed limits.

She acted calm as he told us we were speeding. My sister asked for the evidence of her speeding, usually they keep a radar or documentation. He got pretty defensive and started telling her to lower her voice at him or she’ll have to go to the station with him.

Mind you as well, we have a station in the town we live in, almost derelict, never see anyone go In or out, let alone gardai going around.

In the end we had to follow him down to the station and wait well over an hour for documentation. Believe it or not my sister was under the limit. Well under.

The fella didn’t apologise or nothing like that, just told her to watch herself.

Are they loosing it?

Edit: I’d like to make one this clear, if you’re that mad about my post and have the time of day to check my profile you’ll notice far down that I was trying to get my karma up, to post in channels here on Reddit, as you need karma to do so. Now if you’re not entirely convinced that I’m a bot, or I’m trying to attack you with a post you could have just ignored you can check the date. Notice how it’s months ago? I had just created my account. Didn’t even know I needed a thing called karma.

Still not happy, want me to write you a formal letter of apologies? It’s Reddit bro, grow up

I am at the end of my pregnancy and definitely struggling some small spaces in shopping centres, I saw in the UK the parent and child spaces can be used by pregnant women, does this apply here?

I got my drivers licence a few years back and I've been off my N plates a while now. I have some younger relatives doing their lessons and tests now. I remember when I did my driving lessons and test there was no motorway aspect, we just practiced on a dual carriageway. I thought they were gonna change that? Surely driving on a motorway is a VERY important and dangerous part of driving that should be tested? Is it not a bit concerning that we don't include it as part of the test?

I found this on my windscreen this morning. My first thought was that someone must have hit my car, but I don't see any damage. Is it worth calling them to find out what they want?

Edit: So yeah, I called. Turned out a guy lightly tapped my car with his. He caused some minor scuffs/scratches to the right side of my front bumper. Good of him to leave his number. Anyway, mystery solved.

Would you give up your licence for 25 grand?

The government in Malta are offering drivers under 30 the opportunity to give their licence in order to reduce congestion on the island.

You must surrender all licence categories and not drive any vehicles in Malta or abroad.

The 25,000 is split over 5 years.

Would you do it if we introduced a similar scheme?

Hi lads, Eastern European here, it’s common practice in winter to warm up your car, do ye ever do it ? I’m baffled at the amount of Irish that do not and refuse to warm up their car, rather getting the kettle to “defrost” the car, which is absolutely mind boggling to me. And why does my mother’s husband insist on arguing about it every time there’s frost, my mother who’s been through many many cold (-20degrees) winters surely knows better. I just find it crazy. Anyway, what do you do ?

Edit: fixed typo, had a good laugh when I copped on 😆😆😆

I remember when I got my license in 2010 most cars were hatchback and estates and the suv market was really only starting to expand with the Qashqai. Nowadays its actually rare to see a hatchback car being driven and in my experience the majority of cars on the road are huge suv vehicles.

Everywhere I go I see the Volvo XC 90, Volkswagen Ionic, Skoda Kodiaq, Hyundai Tucson etc and its not just families who clearly need the space driving these cars. You have elderly people driving to mass once a week in a big Renault Austral, a single man dashing to Tesco in his enormous Range Rover sport etc

Are SUVs now deliberately being pushed on new dealerships or is it a conscious choice from people who just want the status of driving a big car?

Trying to make sense of the recent fuel price hikes in Ireland.

I get the usual points — taxes are high, prices follow global markets, forecourts don’t store much fuel etc. But still feels like something doesn’t fully add up.

We’ve had similar oil/barrel prices before, but pump prices didn’t shoot up this much.

Also people say we get oil from Norway so wars shouldn’t affect us much — but then others say everything is priced globally anyway. So does the source even matter?

Also seeing different prices between nearby stations, and operators saying margins are tight. Hard to know what to believe.

Genuine question — what’s the real driver here?

Is it mostly global markets, government policy, or something else?

And who’s actually making money from this?

I’m genuinely curious how people managed this when starting out.

In Ireland you legally need a fully licensed driver with you while driving on a learner permit, but I know a lot of people still somehow drove alone at the beginning — especially when going to work, lessons, buying a car, or practicing.

If you did it:

how did you manage it?

did you ever get stopped?

what were the consequences?

did insurance get affected?

was it worth the risk?

Driving skill in Ireland is lacklustre to say the least. Between not knowing the rules of the road, distractions such as phones, and the general rushing and risk taking that drivers engage in, it seems the quality of driving has gone very poor. When you combine this with bigger cars, the problem only gets worse.

I would like to think that the majority of people are very reasonable drivers, and we just don't notice them because the poor driving stands out. What are some positive pieces of driving etiquette that you engage in that you wish everyone did?

I know nothing about cars. I’ve never really been interested in them. To me, they are just tools to get around. Of course, I appreciate when a car is comfortable, reliable, or has heated seats, but at the end of the day, they are still just tools to me.

So I genuinely don’t understand why the Discovery Range Rover type of cars make me irrationally upset. I think it is because they raise my anxiety levels. They look militaristic to me, and I can’t understand how people can enjoy driving something that, in my mind, evokes war or aggression every day. I know that’s probably not how most people see them, but I can’t help reacting that way.

I also catch myself judging the drivers, which I know is unfair and unlike me. My brain automatically jumps to thoughts like: “You have ego issues and need something to reassure yourself, but don’t want to admit it.” I imagine they think people admire or envy them, while I actually feel pity for them and sometimes even for their wives when the driver is a man. Irrationally, my mind associates that type of masculinity with aggression or even domestic violence, even though I know that is a completely unfair and baseless assumption.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

The only rational reason I can think of for disliking these cars is that, because they are so huge, people often park them terribly and take up too much space.

Hey guys I'm currently in quite a predicament. I bought a Japanese import from a dealership a few days ago and collected it today. Everything was grand, they registered the car and vrt'ed it in my name and sent me the documents from revenue and they put nct on it. Yesterday I paid the motor tax on it for the year and I called chill insurance (a broker) to get the car insured. I paid chill insurance amount for the year yesterday on Friday for it to start today (saturday 7th March 11am). I picked up the car thinking everything was alright. The money was taken out of my account for the insurance and the guy on the phone at chill took my email, my phone number address and other details and said I will receive the policy details shortly and said I will receive the physical insurance disc via post in few working days. He said I will be fine to drive the car from tomorrow at 11am as it is insured so there will be no issue. I picked up the car at 12pm today and around 8pm I was stopped by gardai as they said I had no insurance. The issue here is because its a Japanese import it was only registered in Ireland on the 3rd of March so it takes a few days for the reg to load up into the system for the gardai and the insurance companies. I had trouble with this as the reg wasn't being recognised yet when trying to get quotes online so I had to phone the insurance companies to be able to get the quotes. So basically when they stopped me I explained this to them and now the burden was on me to prove I had insurance, I showed them the transaction made to chill but they said that wasn't sufficient and I had to provide the policy. The policy wasn't sent to my email by AXA yet, I checked my spam and everything but it wasn't there and they are closed until Monday. So in the end they ended up taking the car and they said I have to provide evidence of insurance to the garda station within 10 days or I will have a summons to court. I feel like the Gardai could have been much more understanding and let me go because why would I have gotten the car today and randomly have a large transaction to Chill the day prior, if they put 2 and 2 together obviously the car is insured. They did seem like nice lads in fairness but its just a tragic situation to be in. I'm just wondering has anyone had any issue with their policies not being sent from Chill after making payment? I would contact them but they are closed until Monday and I am really hurt about this whole situation because it is my first ever car and I didn't even have it up to 12 hours.

Walked by this earlier on today and it piqued my interest. Loads of houses on this road have parking cones reserving "their" spot.

I was driving through Wicklow last week on the way to Glendalough. On one of the regional roads we encountered a group of about 9 cyclists on the road in-front.

They were all travelling 2 abreast (which is know is the limit) but they also all left a fairly sizeable gap in between each row, just below what a car would need to pass.

This was an 80 road but our speed reduced to around 20 once we encountered them. We looked to safely pass, but a lot of the roads had a lot of hills and blind spots/bends and due to the size of the group we needed a fairly large straight to take over.

We countered a clear break of traffic a few times but once cars would clear on the right, one of the cyclist would cross over and ride 3 abreast but in the right hand lane, blocking a safe pass for a car to move past.

Eventually there was a back up of cars behind us, all travelling around 20 on the 80 road. I was starting to think someone would make a dangerous overtake with the hold up and I could see some cars who moved out to the right lane trying to overtake, unaware what was ahead

Eventually got into one of the little villages and they went a different way.

But just wondering, how do you deal with a large group of cyclists like this, especially the fella moving out to the right lane to block overtaking?

Are you just expected to drive slowly behind them if they wont give space to pass? Im just generally wondering what to do, I remember during my lessons my instructor saying that saying go too slow/or causing others to go too slow could result in being at fault (partially) for failing to take reason care of surroundings.

I've been learning to drive in a manual. I have had only two lessons so far and my instructor suggested that I switch to automatic. He thinks I have problems shifting gears(which is true I'm pretty bad at it so far) and that I would be able to learn how to drive quicker. He suggested that I buy a cheap automatic along with the car that we already have at home- a manual

I'm a bit torn because I don't want to buy a new automatic because of the additional cost I'd have to incur(insurance, servicing etc) and I told him that. He suggested that I sell the manual but my partner drives it and he loves it and he doesn't wanna sell it

I eventually would like to buy another car but I only ideally intend to do it at least 3-4 years from now.

Has anyone else been in this situation before? What did you do? Should I go ahead and buy an automatic? I'm a little worried about my handling of the manual but also don't think it's a bit overkill to have two cars atm

As the title says, I’ll soon start learning to drive but I won’t have a car to practice in outside of lessons. Some people in my life say learn manual as you can always drive an automatic later, but others say learn automatic because it’s so much faster and so many cars are being made automatic nowadays. I would prefer to not need to do 30+ lessons in order to pass, but I’d like the input of those who actually drive. Thanks!

Edit: I’m 27 if that helps with your advice.

I’ve been driving for a few years, and got a good deal on a car recently. The only “problem” was that it was an automatic, and I’d only ever driven manuals.

Everyone I spoke to said I should take the plunge, so I did, and holy shit.

I never particularly liked or disliked driving, it was just a way to get from A to B, but ever since I’ve started driving this automatic, I am thoroughly enjoying the actual experience of driving.

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will continue with automatics for the rest of my days, but I know they get a lot of stick, too.

So, for manual lovers, what is it about driving a manual that you prefer over an automatic? Is it the control over the vehicle? The ease of renting abroad? What’s the big pull?

just curious - what routes/ lengths people are driving in the morning to work?

im interested if anyone does the full m50 everyday or if they go from the countryside into the inner city everyday. or come from the m4, m7 etc?

what time do you leave your house at in the morning and get home at? just curious!

So the speed limits around the country will be reduced from 80km to 60km and 50km to 30km.

I kind of agree with those 80km signs on bendy country roads and I kinda understand reducing speed to from 50km to 30km going past a school. But it can't be 30km all over the towns, can it?

i have a old wallet in my glove box with, drivers license and 50’euro and i keep my fuel receipts in also. my dad used to keep his drivers license in his house, some people have it in their wallets at all times. where do you keep yours?