im a leftie and i can not drive an automatic car

I don't get it. The auto is on the left and you are left-handed.
I've been driving an auto for the last 5 months and I love it (although nervous for a while) Much easier than changing gears and with more traffic have to use gears more often.
Didn't give my left foot a thought. What I love is the fact the car
never rolls backwards. Just take your foot off the brake and the car 'sits' until you press the gas.

I'm not left handed bytfibd I am still looking for the handbrake on my new car. No handbrake as it has an "electric" break which is just a flip switch on right hand side of dashboard. No doubt I will train my brain to stop searching for tge handbrake on l.h.s.

I’ve had automatics for years now and wouldn’t go back to manual. What took me a few days to get used to was a sports car with the hand brake on the right - between the seat and the door. Practice makes perfect?

I had to learn to drive in an automatic - could never get on with gears, it’s not a good idea to take your eye off the road whilst you check which gear the lever should be in!! Anyway, for me, it was learn in an automatic, or not drive at all, and as my job really meant that driving was preferable, that’s what I ended up doing.
As it turns out, hybrid cars and electric cars are automatic transmission, so only being able to drive automatics is not the problem it might once have been in this country, thank goodness.

I drove an automatic car hire for thousands of miles in New Zealand and with the bendy roads, up and down hills, I was glad it was automatic else I would have been changing gear every few minutes. It was the first time I had driven an automatic and I was very nervous but soon got used to it. Back home we have an automatic hybrid. We also have an old sports car which I love changing gear on.

I suppose, too, never having driven a manual, I’ve never had the problem of what to do with the left leg. Perhaps it could be more of an issue if you have been used to manual, though saying that, my DH drove a manual for years, but loves automatics and wouldn’t choose a manual drive now, and has never had a problem with what to do with the left leg! For a while, he was looking for the gear stick! I suppose the advantage is that if you can drive both manual & automatic, you have the best of both worlds - I can never drive a manual.

Can’t remember last time I drove a manual car - love automatics!

In our last automatic, DH had a habit of resting his left hand on the shift lever which I found a but unnerving, but then he bought this hybrid which only has buttons, so no levers to distract him!

Practice makes perfect. If you really can't get the hang of it maybe a couple of lessons from a professional driving instructor would help. I am right handed but have had no problems adapting to automatic. I would have difficulty going back to manual now.

Petunia, I'm wondering if you are not in the UK and therefore have the steering wheel on the left in the car. I've never actually driven an automatic but I assumed you just put it into 'Drive'. I could be wrong, of course.

Picked up on this thread as I remember reading it last year when thinking about changing my car and thinking I’d never be able to drive an automatic, having been driving a manual for over 50 years and being left handed. Car then developed an intermittent computer fault, and replacing the part, compared to it’s value, wasn’t worthwhile. Looked around and wanted to try a hybrid. Tried a test drive with car salesman +DH in back seat (!), so was extremely nervous about it. Salesman just said “keep your hand on the wheel” which was the best advice. Now have had a petrol hybrid automatic for 6 weeks and absolutely love it! So easy to drive. I wish I’d gone for it ages ago. Both DH and DDs have had automatics for years couldn’t believe I’d kept manual for so long. As a child, my parents tried to make me do everything right hand, DDad always saying I was “cack handed”! Still use cutlery righted handed, iron and use scissors, but everything else, left side dominates!

I'm also a leftie, and although I can drive an automatic, much prefer to stay with a stick-shift. My late Dad had an automatic, and on the rare occasions on which I drove it, I found it helped if I took my left shoe off, which actually reminded me that my left foot was redundant, and made it easier to use my right foot for both brake and accelerator. This helps get over that potentially dangerous moment when your left foot instinctively thinks it's pressing the clutch, when in fact that pedal is the brake! Yes, I'll stick to my good old stick shift, thanks.

DH is a leftie and he drives an automatic. I have never heard him say its a problem quite the reverse. I have to say though he goes right handed at times on some things - LH for golf LH for cricket and a bit of both for tennis. He must be amphibious.

Older Brits tend to drive automatics with the right foot only as they were mostly trained on manual gearbox cars with a clutch. The left foot has nothing to do. Americans tend to drive two footed, the left for the brake and the right for the accelerator because automatics have been prevalent there for many years. I found moving to an automatic needed a short period of self-training but I wouldn't now revert to a manual.

Before last year, I had only drive manual cars. Then I stopped driving because our cars were getting bigger and gearsticks had disappeared. Last year I had to drive, and after a couple of trial runs, wondered why I ever worried about automatics. My DiL has just found the same with their first automatic.she loves it. Stick with it and it will all come together.

Just swapped to an automatic. Ive never driven one before. I love it! Ive had no issues at all. Im a leftie. Passed my test when a teenager.