Are driving intensive courses any good?

I did have a few lessons when I was 17. I stalled his car on my first hill start and he went mad.

Not just at me, at learners in general. Ranting that he was sick of people stalling his car. ... Yea he's in the wrong job.
 
grudas said:
Honestly after my gfs experience I'll say that finding a good instructor is the hardest bit! Many of them should not be in that job.
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My initial driving instructor was far from hopeless, but he just took ages to teach me anything. I think he was milking for money to be honest... He had a Fiat Stilo, which is so far the worst car I've ever driven.

Luckily my Dads friend who used to be a police driver trainer offered to teach me in the end. Night and day difference, and he taught me some defensive driving techniques and other things you probably shouldn't show a new driver... :D
 
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My driving instructor was a milf who was sleeping with my best mate.

Not a bad instructor either to be fair although I got sidetracked by leaving for uni so never did get round to doing my test.
 
My instructor was ex police and he showed me some 'police techniques' such as how to start up and pull away if your clutch was gone!

Really nice bloke, very patient, talked me down when I failed and got in a strop, got me back behind the wheel with my head in the right place and I passed thanks to him.

Never have used any of his police techniques!
 
grudas said:
pretty much, it'll teach you to pass the test!

that's all they do, box ticking basically.

some of the stuff they teach imo is dangerous, like the push pull steering.
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They all teach push pull. Crossing your hands is dangerous, that's why they teach push pull. You will fail for crossing.
 
koooowweeee said:
They all teach push pull. Crossing your hands is dangerous, that's why they teach push pull. You will fail for crossing.
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Indeed. You have to push / pull to pass the test. I don't know anyone who drives like that though.

First instructor was an angry Scotsman, My second instructor, who just so happens to be my girlfriends uncle was brilliant. Really patient, taught in a way I could understand and always talked me out of my negativity when I didn't think I was doing well.
 
bainbridge said:
My instructor was ex police and he showed me some 'police techniques' such as how to start up and pull away if your clutch was gone!
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I got taught things like using all of the road and using the most direct path when there are no other vehicles around and so on. Chopping off turns into side roads when theres a clear view and you can see there's nobody coming, things like that. Each time followed by "Remember not to do that on your test though". :p

Using the engine as a brake when going downhill instead of the brakes was a good one though. Rev match down a couple of gears and let the engine hold you at a steady speed is safer than rolling round downhill corners in a higher gear with the brakes applied.

Also taught the best lines inside your lane of the road and when its appropriate to use the other side of the road when pressing on, and lots of other things which aren't covered in 'normal' lessons such as accelerating around corners, braking before corners, things not to do which could unbalance the car mid corner etc...
 
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Jamesyboyjim said:
Indeed. You have to push / pull to pass the test. I don't know anyone who drives like that though.

First instructor was an angry Scotsman, My second instructor, who just so happens to be my girlfriends uncle was brilliant. Really patient, taught in a way I could understand and always talked me out of my negativity when I didn't think I was doing well.
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Yeah, everyone I know crosses hands as soon as you pass. Its natural to do it. I even drive with one hand at the top of the wheel and spin it with the palm of my hand. Steering g wheel in the van is very warn now tho haha
 
You shouldn't really do the hand spinning thing. It is easy to loose grip on the wheel and loose control mid corner, quite dangerous. Particularly if PAS fails mid corner (unlikely I know, but something to consider)

I admit to doing it, but only when manoeuvring/parking.

General steering technique wise, I do something between the shuffle and keeping hands on the wheel. Just the 'natural' way of doing it, while making sure I don't end up with my arms at an odd angle. Unless I'm driving fast, in which case I try to keep my hands static unless I'm going to cross arms and run out of arm length. :p
 
I did 2x2hr lessons and then went to do my test.

I was lucky that I had been driving since a teenager in fields, and on private land for years so knew how to park, change gears and manoeuvre a car.

The 2x2hrs basically taught me how to pass my test and how to deal with others on the road.

It would be worthwhile getting L plates and a willing volunteer to do some assisted driving for a little bit to get a feel for it first. But that's just my opinion. I felt much better for having a bit of experience on driving a car before taking my lessons.
 
As above, generally driving around with L plates on is a great way to build up some road experience before taking your test. I used to drive my Dad and my Grandad around all over the place on my L plates for a while. Though my Grandad was more of a backseat driver than a mentor/tutor. :p
 
koooowweeee said:
They all teach push pull. Crossing your hands is dangerous, that's why they teach push pull. You will fail for crossing.
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I know they do, I'm just saying that it is a pointless technique in my opinion :)

I usually drive with one hand on the wheel because I'm literally stuck in traffic 80% of the time so gear lever needs to be in my hand.

any spirited driving and I stick with two.

parking is the palm on the wheel.

but never do I push and pull, very akward and super slow if you have to react to something fast.

this video is quite a good summary -;

 
Acme said:
You shouldn't really do the hand spinning thing. It is easy to loose grip on the wheel and loose control mid corner, quite dangerous. Particularly if PAS fails mid corner (unlikely I know, but something to consider)

I admit to doing it, but only when manoeuvring/parking.

General steering technique wise, I do something between the shuffle and keeping hands on the wheel. Just the 'natural' way of doing it, while making sure I don't end up with my arms at an odd angle. Unless I'm driving fast, in which case I try to keep my hands static unless I'm going to cross arms and run out of arm length. :p
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Yeah your right. I mainly do it when reversing or when turning from a standstill. I can't help it. It was years of driving a forklift in my youth I think. I only do it in my van but never in the car. Not sure why, maybe it's because the steering wheel is big in the van and the power steering is really light.

But yeah, its a very bad habit :-/
 
I would say they are not worth it and for the below reasons. Apologies a little long

Paid out £1000 for the missus to learn, we went with 5 day because I had a few calls with them to go over the details etc of the course and the if you fail aspects etc so all seemed best for the money

The missus went with them and in the week you only get about 18 hours driving time the rest is classroom based.

The downfalls were they dropped her off at the end of the week and she still wasn't quite happy so wanted some more lessons before we booked in for test.

We paid out for more lessons and then when the time come to book the test they wont let you until you go back to them and get assessed as they will not let you go for the test unless they are happy with you(even though they were happy to just shoe her out the door at the end of the week with no information at all or no feedback, only found out as test link did not work)

The next downfall is they promise you corrective lessons free of charge if you fail.

No unfortunately after jumping through the hoops to be ready my partner failed her test. And still 3 months later the corrective lessons can only be got 1 every 3rd week so although they say you can have the lessons for free they make you wait so long you don't actually want them.

Shocking experience.

My opinion is you would be better doing all your theory part yourself which takes up most of an intensive week and then spend your £1000 on actually driving time behind the wheel
 
Iron-man said:
Paid out £1000 for the missus to learn, we went with 5 day because I had a few calls with them to go over the details etc of the course and the if you fail aspects etc so all seemed best for the money

The missus went with them and in the week you only get about 18 hours driving time the rest is classroom based.
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I paid £1000 for 40 hours lessons and I got 39.5 hours of driving. Only the first 30 mins when the instructor drove to an industrial estate did I not drive.
 
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I've never paid much attention to my steering style.. I guess I kind of do both the push/pull and cross over, just whatever feels natural at that point in time. Definitely one for the palm turning though, only do it when parking, just feels weird using both hands when reversing into a bay.
 
Murf said:
I paid £1000 for 40 hours lessons and I got 39.5 hours of driving. Only the first 30 mins when the intrsuctor drove to an industrial estate did I not drive.
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Sounds similar to what I did, except I did get to drive (car park) so he could judge my skills.
 
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