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Driving lessons

I never did get comfortable with my instructor's car (a Nissan Almera with super-light steering, rubbery gearbox and spongy brake pedal). Ended up finishing my lessons and passing in my own car, which he was absolutely fine with.

Anything else I've driven since I've gotten reasonably comfortable with quite quickly, whether LHD or RHD, manual or auto, old or new. But I really did not get on with that Almera one bit...
 
JRS said:
I never did get comfortable with my instructor's car (a Nissan Almera with super-light steering, rubbery gearbox and spongy brake pedal). Ended up finishing my lessons and passing in my own car, which he was absolutely fine with.

Anything else I've driven since I've gotten reasonably comfortable with quite quickly, whether LHD or RHD, manual or auto, old or new. But I really did not get on with that Almera one bit...
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Haha I had a similar experience. Because I was a car enthusiast I didn't even think this through, I was just excited for my instructor to get a Corsa D and ditch the Corsa C I had been learning in. He responded with "it comes the day before your test" in a sheepish way.

I found the Corsa D was partly responsible for me getting through like I did. It was a lot more forgiving in near-stall situations. I never got on with the Corsa C at the experience level I had.

Later on my gf at the time (her dad was a Vauxhall mechanic) was persuaded into getting a Corsa SRi+ 1.8. Had a lot of fun driving that! :cool:
 
I had about 24 one hour lessons all in I think back in 1998 between Jan and June (when I passed), but was pretty comfortable after about 15 or 16.

What do lessons cost nowadays? I paid £13 per hour if I remember correct, assume they are vastly north of this now.
 
2004typer said:
I had about 24 one hour lessons all in I think back in 1998 between Jan and June (when I passed), but was pretty comfortable after about 15 or 16.

What do lessons cost nowadays? I paid £13 per hour if I remember correct, assume they are vastly north of this now.
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I remember having to pay by cheque for mine around 2000 ish - I can't remember for sure now but I seem to remember it was £8-9/h.
 
I think I had about 10 x 2 hour lessons, failed, then I think I had another 4 x 2 hour lessons, failed again, then had about 10 x 1.5 hour lessons until 3rd and passed. The reason why I had more lessons after the 2nd fail compared to the 1st fail was because I left a big gap before booking the 3rd test.

I actually still have my old pass certificate and driving lesson log book somewhere which detailed all my booked lesson times. :D
 
LeeUK said:
I think I had about 10 x 2 hour lessons, failed, then I think I had another 4 x 2 hour lessons, failed again, then had about 10 x 1.5 hour lessons until 3rd and passed. The reason why I had more lessons after the 2nd fail compared to the 1st fail was because I left a big gap before booking the 3rd test.

I actually still have my old pass certificate and driving lesson log book somewhere which detailed all my booked lesson times. :D
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Thanks, I’m hoping I pick it up pretty quick but time will tell. Lesson tomorrow…hopefully it’ll be a good one!
 
DeeM said:
Thanks, I’m hoping I pick it up pretty quick but time will tell. Lesson tomorrow…hopefully it’ll be a good one!
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The best way is to throw loads of money at it and have loads of lessons close together. I was having like 2 x 2 hour lessons in a week. The typical 1 hour per week scenario is no good and will actually take you longer to pass as you will forget things inbetween lessons.
 
LeeUK said:
The best way is to throw loads of money at it and have loads of lessons close together. I was having like 2 x 2 hour lessons in a week. The typical 1 hour per week scenario is no good and will actually take you longer to pass as you will forget things inbetween lessons.
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I’m doing 2 1 hour lessons a week at the moment but hoping to up that if I can. So much to take in!
 
LeeUK said:
The best way is to throw loads of money at it and have loads of lessons close together. I was having like 2 x 2 hour lessons in a week. The typical 1 hour per week scenario is no good and will actually take you longer to pass as you will forget things inbetween lessons.
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100%

DeeM said:
I’m doing 2 1 hour lessons a week at the moment but hoping to up that if I can. So much to take in!
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Why hoping? Just get it booked in? If your instructor can't help you find the slots you need to pass, bin them off.
 
Rroff said:
I remember having to pay by cheque for mine around 2000 ish - I can't remember for sure now but I seem to remember it was £8-9/h.
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Wow that was cheap, sure I was paying around £16-17 back in 2001/2001 your instructor was probably earning minimum wage after paying for fuel and vehicle costs etc.
 
Did an intensive course which cost £930 quid.. pass theory first time then had 4 x 5 hour lessons then 3 day break.. then a 2 hour lesson then on test day had 1 hour lesson before my test and 40 min test.. passed first time with 1 minor was also on a very hot day and my back was sweating like hell :)
 
I had 14 lessons before passing my test first time. I then proceeded to not drive for about 5 years as I went to Uni. When I then got my first car it took me a little time to get comfortable again driving.
 
I did a 28 hour intensive course at the back end of 2017 came in at £832 including the practical test fee, spread it over a week.
Failed my first test as I didn't do my best head on a swivel impression so they thought I wasn't checking my mirrors, had my next test 3 months later after no extra lessons and passed with 1 minor IIRC.

I was pretty comfortable as soon as I got in the car and adjusted to the fact it's a bit bigger and slower than a motorbike.
 
If I remember correctly, I had ~20 lessons, and did the pass plus within a couple of days of passing to get a bit of motorway experience. Had been cycling on the road daily since I was ~12, so was familiar with the highway code etc, so it was really just learning the car control and a few of the more obscure rules which don't really apply to bikes. I do remember about a week or so after passing my test going on a 4 hour round trip motorway journey and it being slightly intimidating :p

tom_e said:
The problem isn't even really your speed it's your L plates.
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Absolutely this. If I have to use my other half's car with L plates on, I notice even more ***** sat on my bumper than usual!
 
Westie said:
Did an intensive course which cost £930 quid.. pass theory first time then had 4 x 5 hour lessons then 3 day break.. then a 2 hour lesson then on test day had 1 hour lesson before my test and 40 min test.. passed first time with 1 minor was also on a very hot day and my back was sweating like hell :)
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Wow that’s amazing! Well done you!
 
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