Inappropriate learners

[Flat4]

Tonight I saw a Mazda RX8 with L plates. Couldn't help but think that has to be one of the most inappropriate cars for a learner. Anyone else seen similar?

 

I am being a tad hypocritical as I did a lot of my learner in an F reg Audi 80 without power steering. Was my first car too but I quickly changed to a Mk2 Mondeo as I loved the Focus my instructor had and the Mondeo was the nearest I could afford...

[Kringle]

Was it with a driving instructor? If so they will be making a genuine loss because of the fuel costs alone!

[Aston Martin]

Probably a 23 year old teaching a 17 year old slag.

[Guest Conan]

Why not? Good road holding, tidy dimensions, and as long as it doesn't exceed 4000rpm it's about as fast as a 1.0 Metro anyway.

[ChinaTom]

My L plates adorned a Renault 18TS (TEW178X) followed by a Fiat 127 1050CL (WEG799T), then formal lessons in a Micra, then test practiced for and taken in a Sierra 2.0iGLS.

 

I was looking for my first car before I passed my test and maybe* might have taken a test drive in a Scimitar from a garage in West Deeping. Then a Renault 18TX (yes, basic spec 2.0) of which I have never seen one since!

 

The above paragraph is irrelevant, but it bought back some great memories.

 

 

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[Flat4]

Wasn't a driving instructor, no.

 

I do believe the first car I ever drove was a 1.4 Ford Escort followed by a red 1.6 Ford Orion which I hated so much I stopped learning for several years after that lol

[Ghosty]

Round my way there used to be an instructor that had a Corsa VXR... can't imagine it was healthy on the car, or that the clutch was a good thing to learn on.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I did a fair amount of my learner driving in my Uncle's V12 XJS. Got me hooked on Jags for life!

[Asimo]

About 1979 my wife's driving school car was a new RS2000 Escort; white, with fish-net headrests.

She did not do well at the driving at all until she changed to BSM and a red Mini.

[The_Equalizer]

My Dad taught me on a Rover P4 when they were just old cars. It was a bit of a beast for a learner. I do remember my Dad yelling at me to "hold it on the clutch" while waiting to pull out of a junction on a steep incline. The handbrake on the thing wasn't the best. 

 

This was 1990 and there was still the wheeze of being added to your parents' insurance with little cost. This basically meant that it was possible to drive fancy cars from a young age. I'm pretty sure insurance companies were clamping down on this sort of thing already. 

[Tickman]

My daughter learned in this.

 

 

Perfectly appropriate.

 

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

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Saw a P38 with L plates on it in Ashford recently.  My other half didn't realise why I was laughing...

[155V6]

My instructors car was a Mk 3 Escort 5 door with tow bar.My uncle was the instructor,he used to cover the L plates up & tow his scramble bike at the weekend.

 

I also drove my Dad's Mini Pickup(with canvas tilt)& Sunbeam Rapier Fastback when I was coming up to my test.

[inconsistant]

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.

[jumpingjehovahs]

There’s a driving instructor near me with a Jag XF for his automatic lessons! There’s also a couple of VW Tiguan’s and BMW X1’s locally too - all strike me as somewhat inappropriate.

 

 

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[timolloyd]

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?

[dave21478]

Why not? Good road holding, tidy dimensions, and as long as it doesn't exceed 4000rpm it's about as fast as a 1.0 Metro anyway.

 

Its all fun and games until the learner stalls it and it wont restart because hot start issue, or they stall it twice in a row and flood the bastard. Pulling the fuel pump relay and cranking till it clears the rotors isnt the ideal thing to be done at a busy junction - especially if its a tricky one that needs a tow-start afterwards.

[Mr A Lawrence]

how can any car be inappropriate?

 

unless its.....

 

A, fucked

2, a 1927 melchester gazelle 16/40 open sports tourer 3speed semi-elliptical  2500cc

iv, is a van

9, V8 LHD.

 

its not really about what you learn in its about what you learn in it.

[panhard65]

There was a driving school near me that was still using a Morris Minor, I haven't seen it for a couple of years though

[Pillock]

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.

 

Reverse sensors get left on, same as if you were learning in the 70s and your instructor had a passenger wing mirror you were better off.

[AMC Rebel]

My mate was taught by his angry father in a Series 2 Landrover diesel.  He's a pretty accomplished driver - went on to do his (as it was then) HGV1.

 

When his Dad died we discovered quite a stash of diesel - seems his Dad (Lorry driver for the latter part of his life) had been "acquiring" it from the tanks of his various charges.  This explained his propensity to spend apparently silly amounts of time converting any non-diesel vehicle he had to diesel, including my mate's J4 - a conversion that, whilst close to the factory version was always in a state of continuous development - like when using the engine and gearbox mounts from the original pez engine caused the fan to graze the radiator a bit.

[AMC Rebel]

Saw a P38 with L plates on it in Ashford recently.  My other half didn't realise why I was laughing...

 

Well there is a section on maintenance in the test now isn't there?

[HMC]

Re the RX8 - will be good to learn clutch control in, even more so if the compressions are down and the engine is warmed up; they'll stall it it traffic once but probably only the once.

[SiC]

Its all fun and games until the learner stalls it and it wont restart because hot start issue, or they stall it twice in a row and flood the bastard. Pulling the fuel pump relay and cranking till it clears the rotors isnt the ideal thing to be done at a busy junction - especially if its a tricky one that needs a tow-start afterwards.

Flooding is only a problem when the engine is cold. Hot start is only a problem when the engine is fucked already. You don't need to pull the fuse either, you put the accelerator to the floor for the same effect.

 

I wouldn't like to learn in one though. Extremely heavy clutch and lack of torque low end makes it easy to stall. Also visibility out the back is rather shit.

[SiC]

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.

My colleague who's a few years older than me, laughed at me when I said I was considering buying a Dolomite/Toledo. His instructor had one and learnt to drive in it. Didn't rate it.

[Simonsays]

I learnt to drive (and passed my test) in my dad's Nissan Sunny estate A120XFT.

 

It gave me a whole new level of respect for the old man when I started teaching my own lad the finer points of clutch control. I've never felt more out of control of a situation...

[xkjagnz]

I took all my lessons in a Micra, come the day of the test another learner wrote it off and the instructor turned up in a 3litre Capri. I passed

[dave21478]

Flooding is only a problem when the engine is cold. Hot start is only a problem when the engine is fucked already. You don't need to pull the fuse either, you put the accelerator to the floor for the same effect.

 

I wouldn't like to learn in one though. Extremely heavy clutch and lack of torque low end makes it easy to stall. Also visibility out the back is rather shit.

 

Switch one off and restart a few times in short succession when hot and you will find they flood very easily when hot too.

 

The RAC procedure for dealing with these is to remove the fuel pump relay or fuse and crank it till clear and if it still wont go they summon a second patrol (because they dont trust a customer to not fuck it up) and do a tow-start.

I think it was one of the breakdown guys on here I saw had a fly-lead with a switch in it that they used to bypass the fuse and feather the fuel pump off and on while trying to get them to re-start.

[Steve79]

Learnt to drive in and passed my test in '97 in the instructors k-reg Mazda 323f. Had PAS, ABS the lot. Passed first time!

[New POD]

I "taught" my mate to drive in a 2.0 Capri ghia.

When i say taught i mean encouraged him to drive to the only Mcds in the area only 10 miles away during lunch break in the upper sixth.

We may have hit 1000 mph on the Coast road back from Southport. A road that some 33 years later has speed limits of 30, 40 and 50 but at the time was NSL.

Legalised joy riding. it was his dad's company car and his parents were on holiday.

He may have also practiced hand brake turns down the beach car park.