About
Drive RJM is owned and run by Rowan McCann.
Rowan is a dedicated and passionate driving instructor based in Worcester, where he offers manual driving lessons tailored to suit the individual needs of each pupil. With a commitment to excellence, Rowan focuses on helping his students achieve their driving goals swiftly and safely. His approach is particularly beneficial for nervous and unconfident drivers, as he recognises that everyone learns at different paces. Each lesson is designed to be both productive and enjoyable, ensuring that students feel at ease and confident behind the wheel.
Having transitioned from a successful eight-year career in used car sales, Rowan brings a wealth of experience and a genuine love for cars to his role as a driving instructor. His enthusiasm, combined with his calm and friendly demeanour, makes him an ideal instructor for learners of all ages. Rowan’s dedication to road safety and his personalised teaching methods ensure that students not only pass their tests but also acquire essential life skills.
Outside of work, Rowan enjoys sharing quality time with his wife, two children, dog, and chickens. He enjoys long walks with his dog, watching Formula 1 and the occasional track day in his 1992 MX5 turbo or Audi TTRS. This blend of professional dedication and personal interests makes Rowan a relatable and approachable instructor, committed to providing a friendly, patient, and professional driving experience. Rowan McCann is truly a perfect choice for anyone seeking comprehensive and enjoyable driving instruction in Worcester.
Rowan does still sell a small number of cars alongside driving instruction. To see what is currently available or to discuss sourcing a vehicle please visit www.orchardhousecars.co.uk
What car will you learn in with Rowan?
Rowan has a Seat Leon with a 1.5 petrol engine and a manual gearbox.
The car was carefully chosen for several reasons. Firstly, it’s easy to drive with excellent all-around visibility. Secondly, it’s spacious but not overly large. Thirdly, it features modern amenities like air conditioning for comfort and front and rear parking sensors to aid in manoeuvring. Additionally, it has an electric handbrake to make hill starts easier, cruise control for speed management, dual controls, airbags, and a dashcam for enhanced safety. Finally, it’s reasonably simplistic without lots of distracting and intrusive driver aids, buttons, and controls.
Why Manual not Automatic?
The short answer - Flexibility for your future. With a manual licence, you can drive both manual and automatic cars.
The longer answer - While it might be slightly quicker and easier to learn to drive an automatic car, This is a skill to last you for the rest of your life. Do you want to take the short term gain and risk the long term pain, ending up regretting it? Rowan is a big believer that anyone who has struggled to drive a manual car has simply not had good instruction. consider these scenarios:
Your car goes into a garage for work - they only have manual courtesy cars
You need to borrow a family or friend’s car in an emergency - but it’s a manual
You want to hire a van to move house - most vans are manual
The above is absolutely nothing against automatic transmissions, the majority of the (many) cars Rowan has had over the years have been automatic. This is purely about the flexibility and options it gives you for the rest of your life.
One final point if you’re still not convinced…
There are currently 478,000 cars advertised on Autotrader
278,000 of them are Automatic (58%)
200,000 of them are Manual (42%)
But most people have a reasonably modest budget for their first car, let’s say £5,000. Now there are 72,000 cars to choose from.
14,000 of them are Automatic (19%)
58,000 of them are Manual (81%)
Being a new driver (and probably reasonably young) insurance is a very important factor. So let’s limit that search to no more than a 1.4l engine. Now there’s 32,000 cars to choose from.
3,000 of them are Automatic (9%)
29,000 of them are Manual (91%)
Yes, 3,000 may sound like a lot to choose from, but that’s nationally, reduce that to less than 30 or 40 miles from where you live, factor in your desired make, fuel type, maximum mileage, colour, features etc and you’re down to a handful to choose from.
By limiting yourself to an automatic car, you’re significantly limiting your options when buying a car. From Rowan’s years of experience selling cars, by far the most sought after cars are small automatics and they typically sell for a high price premium over a comparable manual car. They’re typically less reliable, use more fuel and cost more to tax each year. This is set to change with more and more new cars being sold as automatic and so over the next 5 to 10 years the proportion of automatic vehicles available will increase.
(The above figures were last updated in May 2025)