Why an automatic suits first-time visitors
Malta’s roads are busy and the island drives on the left. With an automatic you keep both hands free for steering and signalling, which many visitors find less stressful in the first day or two, especially around town and at Malta’s many roundabouts. There is no clutch to balance on a hill start outside your hotel and no gear to hunt for while you are also concentrating on which way to look at a junction.
That extra headroom matters most in the moments that catch first-timers out: joining a fast roundabout, squeezing past an oncoming bus on a village street, or setting off again in stop-start summer traffic. An automatic lets you spend that attention on the road and the road signs instead of the gearbox.
How much does an automatic cost in Malta?
An automatic with Nova Drive is priced the same transparent way as every car we rent: one all-in figure with VAT, the airport fee, collision damage waiver, third-party cover and unlimited mileage already included, and a refundable deposit held on a credit card at pickup. Automatics are the busiest part of the fleet in summer, because most visitors would rather not learn a manual gearbox and left-hand traffic in the same week, so book early for July and August dates. The table below shows every class available with an automatic gearbox and its current from-price per day for an automatic; where a class shows Auto/Man, that class holds both gearboxes and the manual is the cheaper of the two. Free cancellation up to 48 hours before pickup applies to every booking.
| Class | Seats | Bags | Transmission | From (per day, automatic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Car | 4 | 1 | Auto/Man | €6.30 |
| Economy | 5 | 2 | Auto/Man | €7.20 |
| Compact | 5 | 2 | Auto/Man | €14.40 |
| Compact SUV | 5 | 2 | Auto/Man | €18 |
| SUV | 5 | 3 | Auto/Man | €21.60 |
| Large / Saloon | 5 | 3 | Auto/Man | €25.20 |
| 7-Seater | 7 | 3 | Auto/Man | €34.20 |
| Leisure Van (5-seat) | 5 | 3 | Auto/Man | €90 |
City CarAutomatic · from €6.30/day
EconomyAutomatic · from €7.20/day
CompactAutomatic · from €14.40/day
Compact SUVAutomatic · from €18/day
SUVAutomatic · from €21.60/day
Large / SaloonAutomatic · from €25.20/day
7-SeaterAutomatic · from €34.20/day
Leisure Van (5-seat)Automatic · from €90/dayDriving here, made simple
- Town driving can be slow in summer, and an automatic takes the effort out of stop-start traffic.
- Roads are generally short distances apart, so trips are easy to plan.
- Parking can be tight in Valletta and Sliema; a compact automatic helps.
- Hill starts on Malta’s and Gozo’s steeper streets are one less thing to think about.
New to driving on the left? Start here
If you have never driven on the left, the change is smaller than it sounds, but the first hour is the one that counts. The gearstick is to your left in a manual, the pedals stay in the same order, and the mirrors and roundabout give-way rules are the parts that take a moment to rewire. An automatic removes the unfamiliar left-hand gear change entirely, so you have one fewer new thing to manage while your instincts catch up.
A calm plan for the first day helps as much as the car does: collect in Luqa when you are rested rather than after a red-eye, take the first roundabouts gently, and remember that give way is to traffic coming from your right. Our full guide to driving in Malta walks through roundabouts, narrow village cores, parking-bay colours and speed limits in kilometres per hour, and it pairs well with an automatic for a relaxed start. Once you are settled, the same car handles a day trip to Gozo just as easily.