Indeed it does… my son loves his automatic.
Maybe older but I do enjoy driving, it’s a real passion of mine, and always has been. An automatic for me is not driving, it’s sitting in the armchair at home watching one of these ‘driving’ games. No fun at all, that’s me though while it may suit others down to the ground! 
We (wife and I) are playing with idea of changing to a SUV type vehicle, I’m leaning toward an Automatic, although previously in the thread you may notice about not changing cars again.
No, I totally agree with you. When the world was normal and I used to work at the office, I’d drive home and sometimes I’d wonder how I got home - I think my brain went into autopilot. That’s dangerous
Well, if you intend to do some travel after retirement then you can’t go wrong with an SUV
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Just this afternoon I went out for a drive, my way of relaxing believe it or not. That was a 25-mile drive on motorway, dual carriageways and finally country lanes and very enjoyable it was too. That I believe also keeps driving skills up to date and prevents the ‘old grey matter’ from deteriorating, as far as driving goes anyway.
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I try to avoid the motorway Baz!
I prefer the back roads. Much more scenic!
The roads here are hectic though
The only problem with doing Minx that is the speed limits on all other roads, except the dual carriageways, is 60mph. I like to do around 70mph as the car I drive is a diesel and needs a good, fast run with hard acceleration to keep the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) clear. Diesels driven just in towns can have lots of problems with this as they never get a good run, always dawdling around in towns.
If I want scenic driving there is plenty of that also but it doesn’t much appeal to me as it’s the actual driving I go for, not the scenery!
Funny you should say that Baz, I hardly ever go above 60. My car batteries ( yes, there are two - who knew) packed up with the first lockdown. I don’t have diesel though, it’s petrol. The last diesel I had was noisy.
But, you’re right, I do need to drive the motorway more often and give her a good run. I usually do the six hour drive to the seaside to visit my mom but I haven’t done that in the longest time. I’m just afraid of drivers who don’t follow the rules of the road!
I’m off to Lichfield in the morning, 195 miles, I’d say roughly 150 either motorway or dual carriageway. Which to me on a journey of that length is ideal.
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Personally I reckon that driving fast as well as doing the car good, it also keeps the reactions honed and in good order. There will always be drivers who don’t follow the rules of the road, there are many here in the UK, if that was a worry here you would never drive. The secret is to practice defensive driving, anticipating what these so-called ‘drivers’ are going to do and then avoiding the situation. That may sound difficult but it’s how I was taught to ride / drive from the age of 16 by my father, he was an ex-services driver, motorcyclist and car driver so fortunately I had a very good grounding in riding motorcycles and driving cars.
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Sounds like a good run for your car - enjoy it!
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Trust me Baz, driving in SA is defensive driving! We have a menace on our roads known as minibus taxis! They are a law unto themselves!
Well that’s good then, you have the skills to avoid ‘idiot drivers’. If you ever drove in London there it’s simply ‘cut and thrust’ just to get anywhere, hesitation doesn’t pay. With that though everyone is driving the same way so if you happen to be someone who drives very slowly and cautiously you are actually an accident waiting to happen. Ask anyone who’s driven in London, they will probably say the same.
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I think it’s the same anywhere Baz. Slow drivers are the pits
Yes, you are probably right in that it’s everywhere. All good practice though to assess
correctly what they are going to do next and avoid being involved!
Yes, absolutely! Driving is a skill that requires practice to keep it at its peak Baz!
Let’s hope we can both get plenty of driving in then, just to ensure
we keep our driving skills at their highest.
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@Minx And they usually have a someone riding shot gun, and brandishing a
Magnum 45 at other drivers too Minxy ??
That was in Cape Town, but l believe JBurg was much worse ??
Donkeyman! 
@Donkeyman well, it really isn’t so extreme! Unless there’s a territorial war going on - then it guns blazing Wild West type of scenes