Inappropriate learners

[Flat4]

My daughter learned in this.

 

IMG_20171007_105414.jpg

 

Perfectly appropriate.

 

She couldn't do her test in it because it doesn't have headrests though.

 

 

I'm actually struggling to work out what that is...

 

 

In the late 80s my girlfriend at the time took her driving test in her mum's orange Skoda Estelle (black vinyl roof & alloys) and it broke down mid test.

 

 

Does that mean a fail? Technically the driver hasn't, the car has!

 

 

I’ve seen things like X1s being used. I find it annoying tbh. Surely the whole point of the test is to learn in a properly small, basic car? Surely the reverse sensors etc are turned off on these models?

 

 

I had a handful of lessons in a Corsa when I was picking an instructor and deliberately went with the one who had a Focus as it was bigger. I didn't see any point learning to drive in a smaller car when I had an Audi 80 waiting for me when I passed my test.

 

 

You'd need to learn in a size of car that's relevant, an X1 isn't that big really. No point forcing people into a tiny car to learn when nobody's actually buying them.

Exactly this.

[Lord Sterling]

No one knows who is going to drive what after they pass thier test or even if they will drive regularly after they pass thier test.

 

I reckon people should start learning to drive in base-spec Transit/Vivaro sized vans. Seriously. They are usually devoid of sensors/driver aids, but have the just-about-modern stuff like electric windows and power steering. Plus, because of the size, makes you more aware of your surroundings and whats going on around you. N'est pas?

[captain_70s]

My daughter learned in this.

 

IMG_20171007_105414.jpg

 

Perfectly appropriate.

 

She couldn't do her test in it because it doesn't have headrests though.

BSM used a fleet of the long arsed version back in the day so a good choice I'd say! My girlfriend needs to learn to drive but can't afford the lessons, I have a smoll car which is easy to drive and see out of and completely lacking in driver aids and has headrests... Hmmm...

 

I learned to drive in a Proton Savvy which was fine aside from the fact that it broke down all the time.

[PiperCub]

There's numerous Range Rovers and the like with L-plates on round my way. Clearly the little darlings need to learn in an APC............

 

A good many almost brand new Audi's too. 

[Eddie Honda]

I made my licence

 

Professional forger? 

 

As I used to point out every now and then to a former landlord (who was German): He didn't "make" his licence. The licencing authority's manufacturer "made" it. He merely took a test and passed it.

[Eddie Honda]

Getting back to the OP's "inappropriate learners" question (rather than the current "I sat my test in" theme)

 

I did know a young woman who learnt/took her driving test back in 1991/2 in a 1985 Daimler Double Six.

[meggersdog]

Not inappropriate at all.Always makes me smile when I see the ice blue Pug 306 learner car from a Market Deeping driving instructor.Think it's a Y reg and he must have owned it from new.

[Tickman]

 

 

I'm actually struggling to work out what that is...

 

 

Triumph Toledo, bought on here from Cros with no MOT and driven the 500 miles home a few weeks before Chuck turned 17. 

I had previously given her a few car park lessons in  a Morris Minor and she found the Toledo a lot easier to drive.

[Walter White]

I took a driving test in my Dads Austin Ambassador 1.7L. It dwarfed the BSM Metros in the test centre car park.

Not an easy car for manoevering. Bonnet slopes down so couldn't see the corners from the drivers seat, had to learn where they were. Rising window line meant the kerb disappeared early on when reversing around a corner.

Still it had got PAS.

At the time I was learning an instructor in Worksop had a Rover 800 saloon which was unusual but probably not difficult to drive once used to the size.

[Guest Hooli]

 I have a smoll car which is easy to drive and see out of and completely lacking in driver aids and has headrests... Hmmm...

 

 

Exactly what learners should learn in. There is no way to learn an emergency stop with ABS for example.

[barefoot]

When I took my test, back in the year of our Lord - 1980,

I was told the tale of someone who had recently turned up for their test in an E type Jaguar.

Apparently the examiner, had them drive out of the centre, down the road, around the first roundabout & back to the test centre.

"If you are confident enough to turn up for a test in that, you are good enough for a licence!"

Whether it is true or just a nice story, I know not.

[Talbot]

Not so much taking my test in an odd car, as I did mine in a 1985 Micra 1.0 which rattled like a bastard and had 3hp, but more people I've taught to drive.

 

A friend's brother, good few years ago found he could insure a JAG XJV12 for less than a saxo, so did and passed his test in it (was a manual version)

Taught my sister to drive, and she passed in a BX. The driving examiner asked her to drive on when ready, and she replied "just need to wait a moment for the car to rise". (It had a new acc sphere and a sligtly tired pump so took forever to rise..)

Taught Mrs. T to drive, and she took her test in a ZX Diesel, with the chief examiner. I think I was bricking it more than she was as she'd had no professional lessons at all, so the result of her test reflected somewhat on me too! (passed, 1 minor)

[MiniMort]

My grandad learned in a 1959 BMW Isetta 300 and proceeded to purchase a 1950 Land Rover and insert a 3500 V8 engine in it...

[quicksilver]

I passed my test in a Mk1 Fiesta. Nothing unusual about that you might think, except this was 2003 in a 1978 car that was older than me. It was by far the oldest car in the test centre car park and I was really hoping the examiner would ask me where the rear foglight switch was so I could tell him it didn't have one as it was too old. My friends all had modern shit and couldn't understand how I could drive the Fiesta as (shock horror) it had no power steering and that had to make it undriveable. My instructor had a Fiat Bravo 1.9TD, pretty powerful for a learner car, but I honestly preferred the Fiesta.

 

I do find it strange that so many driving schools have such small low-powered cars so you could learn in a 1-litre Corsa, then go out and buy a 3-litre Mercedes and probably kill yourself. The German Fahrschule have the right idea, using things like Golf GTIs and BMW 328s to get learners used to handling actual power.

 

ETA: I did once see an Alfa GTV with L plates. What a great car to learh in!

[John F]

Professional forger? 

 

As I used to point out every now and then to a former landlord (who was German): He didn't "make" his licence. The licencing authority's manufacturer "made" it. He merely took a test and passed it.

 

Don't put you so on, it was just a promiser   </literal_german>

[sierraman]

I learned in a 106 1.5 diesel NA.

[Flat4]

Exactly what learners should learn in. There is no way to learn an emergency stop with ABS for example.

I set off the ABS on the Focus quite a few times! Lol You kind of need to know how to emergency stop with that tho since so many cars have it.

[Junkman]

LOL  the joys of literal translation of   the more germanic Gemanic languages and some of the Slavic languages into  English

 

LOL at least I am able to translate at all, LOL LOL

[Guest Hooli]

I set off the ABS on the Focus quite a few times! Lol You kind of need to know how to emergency stop with that tho since so many cars have it.

 

Emergency stop with ABS is as simple as 'panic & slam your foot hard down'. So you don't learn anything about controlling your braking force to avoid lockup, which is my point. Maybe if you'd learnt to stop properly you wouldn't trigger the ABS as much? For starters you should squeeze the brakes & allow the weight to transfer forwards to load up the front tyres before applying the full braking force. Even with ABS this results in a more stable and shorter stop.

[RayMK]

I've had three driving tests, all passed first time, one with an inappropriate/embarrassing vehicle, one with a vehicle which was mocked and the final one where the primary learning phase was in a clapped out Reliant Regal 3-25. 

 

Test No.1.  1967, Mönchengladbach, Germany.  I bought a brand new Peugeot moped from a dealer just across the border in Roermond. Being a cock-sure teenager, I registered/insured it as though I was a German civilian and rode it for a few weeks without needing* a formal test.  This came to an abrupt end when the Military Police stopped me for overly exuberant riding and discovered my German documents - which were not admissible for a British Armed Forces dependant (Dad in the RAF).  I was duly cautioned and told to sit the formal BFG driving test which included a theory test, then a driving test in the aforementioned city.  Unlike UK motorcycle tests, the BFG test pass was judged by an examiner following in a Military Police Land Rover.  Theory test. No problem. Driving test: Hills, headwind and tramlines sum it up. I passed, but it was acutely embarrassing because I had to pedal assist on one of the hills and at most other times I could not reach the built up area speed limit of 50kph.

 

Test No.2  1972, Aylesbury.  The BFG test was not recognised by the UK and I had to sit another one. My machine was a CZ175. It was mocked and ridiculed by others at the test venue who were all set to pass on a Honda 50 or similar, then rush out to buy a 650cc bike.  The rules were different back then. I passed but did not rush anywhere.

 

Test No.3  !975, Aylesbury.  Despite having passed my motorcycle test to allow the carriage of my newly acquired wife, she objected to the lack of a heater.  The CZ was part exchanged for a 2nd hand Reliant Regal 3-25. I learnt how to drive a car* during the journey from the dealers at Leighton Buzzard to my home in Aylesbury. During the rush hour.  With a gearbox gate which included a 2nd gear position which was often a neutral and a clutch so fierce that it was like an ON/OFF switch. I narrowly escaped death and/or collision.  The Reliant caught fire on the way to work in early 1975 and I bought a brand new Citroen 2cv6 - they had newly re-entered the UK market and man-maths made it possible financially.  Snag: Had not got a car licence. Realising that I may possibly have some non-preferred driving habits from being self-taught in a Reliant three wheeler, I had three lessons in a Triumph Toledo and duly passed the test during the 4 weeks delivery period for the 2cv6.  I liked the Toledo.  It did not train me for the peculiarities of 2cv driving (gearstick where?) and handling (roll angles).  

[Junkman]

Don't put you so on, it was just a promiser   </literal_german>

 

English for runaways?

Let me in silence.

 

I look me now the sun undergo on.

[Flat4]

Emergency stop with ABS is as simple as 'panic & slam your foot hard down'. So you don't learn anything about controlling your braking force to avoid lockup, which is my point. Maybe if you'd learnt to stop properly you wouldn't trigger the ABS as much? For starters you should squeeze the brakes & allow the weight to transfer forwards to load up the front tyres before applying the full braking force. Even with ABS this results in a more stable and shorter stop.

I learned that when my instructor did my PassPlus with me in the Audi, and when I bought my first Legacy. I take the fuse out for the ABS when it's snowing or icy as it's easier to stop safely without it firing off unnecessarily.

[Pillock]

A local instructor had an early Mk5 Escort until very recently, last saw it a couple of years ago. It was a 1991 or 1992 so he was teaching in it when it was 24 years old.

[John F]

Junkman, on 23 Jul 2018 - 8:37 PM, said:

English for runaways?

Let me in silence.

 

I look me now the sun undergo on.

 

Is everything good, calm you

 

NB Ausreißer wären "rippers / tearers out"... die Sprachen sind doch wohl verwandt, aber manchmal muss man sich wundern...

[somewhatfoolish]

It did not train me for the peculiarities of 2cv driving (gearstick where?) and handling (roll angles).

2CVs as compulsory learner vehicles would teach conservation of momentum. Conduite pied au plancher.

[Junkman]

Since my first car was a big bloody Buick, I never mastered 2CV overtaking ahead plannage.

Neither did I ever get accustomed to 2CV turning space requirements, since even a Routemaster has a smaller turning radius.

[vulgalour]

I learned in many vehicles - Mk2 Polo, Volvo 740, Volvo 240, Corsa B, Mk6 Ford Fiesta, Ford Sierra, Reliant Rialto, to name a few - over a long period of time because I was terminally skint for years and lessons were bloody expensive and none of my peers could put a learner on their insurance because it was bloody expensive and they too were terminally skint.  So when I finally passed (in the Mk6 Fiesta, which had more buttons than a car really needs and indicators you couldn't manually cancel) the very first drive I had was in a Lexus LS400 with all the family on board through the middle of Sheffield. Which was... mildly terrifying.

 

Anyway, the least suitable of all the vehicles I had driving lessons in was French.  A Mk2 Renault Megane diesel.  The seats were its only redeeming feature.  It's the only car I've driven where the accelerator pedal sends a telegram to the engine.  The clutch also seemed to be speaking to the gearbox in Dutch, which would be fine if the gearbox didn't only understand Finnish.  What I mean to say is the only thing it taught me was how to be frustrated with a modern car.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

I learned* initially in a field when I helped an uncle change the gearbox on his Viva..... we had* to test it, so I got lessons. Spent the rest of the week power* sliding around the field and tearing it about with my siblings and cousins screaming in the back...... probably have all parents imprisoned for that now.

 

Dads Cortina was used for a few lessons - nothing to report really...... 

 

Test taken via RAF in a clapped out old Landy - loved it and then once test passed given the usual long distance drive and told to get to a point within a certain time...... map reading and self sufficiency etc... then onto the skidpad in a Metro, Escort estate, Transit and finally a Scammel..... Loved every mental minute of it.

 

Inappropriate learner vehicle - there's an M3 in use near me here and a Q5 RS - have to admit, I'd have loved to have a chance to learn in one of them. Although over here they use poles to mark out parking spots for learners on private practice areas - so I wouldn't want to see them trying to park one of them for the first time!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

All 4 of my daughters were taught by the same bloke, I was about to say a young lad called Abdul, until I realised my oldest is 31 so he's been doing for at least 14 years! Anyway he always has something a bit nicer than a Fiesta or summat, BMW 1 and 3 Series, Scirocco, A3 etc.

He doesn't have any signage apart from a little magnetic roof L pyramid and it's his only car, he is always fully booked and for our youngest a couple of years ago we booked her in a year in advance, luckily all mine have passed within a couple of months- he's not cheap!

 

 

About 20 years ago I knew a taxi driver who was also a driving instructor , he used the same car for both, complete with dual controls! What super vehicle could possibly excel at both these roles? I hear you ask.

Obviously a Proton.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just remembered a story by Eoin Young the F1 journalist , he came to the UK as part of Jack Brabham's team in the 60's and had to take a British test. For some reason he had access to a Works Big Healey, so naturally decided to take it in this- he failed.

 

Another driving lesson anecdote which is often brought up in my family to show what an arsehole I am, involves me taking daughter no2 out to practise in her L reg Corsa. She was heading backwards towards her mums Discovery on the drive, stop ( I barely whispered) she panicked so I grabbed the handbrake.

Now I'm a bit heavey handed I must admit and you do exert more force with your right hand , so it wasn't that surprising that the linkage tore out of the floor and the cable snapped. The Corsa rolled into the Disco, guess who had to buy the rear light,cable and linkage ?