How quick do you reckon I could learn to drive?

If you love it to bits, well money is no object really.

Make sure your provisional is still valid/renew it, take a lesson, see how it goes, prove to your dad that you are deffinatly going to do this.

InvG
 
InvaderGIR said:
If you love it to bits, well money is no object really.

Make sure your provisional is still valid/renew it, take a lesson, see how it goes, prove to your dad that you are deffinatly going to do this.

InvG
Click to expand...

If I can't get the insurance much down on that I probably won't bother learning to drive just yet - or maybe will learn to drive and not get a car yet. It's just a lot of money for a second vehicle. And he won't shift on the matter, the only way to get that car is to learn to drive before it sells! :D

I don't think my provisional car entitlement will ever go away now will it, seeing as I've got a full bike license?
 
Ah, fair enough, phone places like Adrian Flux tomorrow, and if you are a student, try Endsleigh.

I'm unsure about it being valid still, I think it stays, but as I say, unsure.

InvG
 
Well, anyone can learn to drive, it took me a couple of hours to master a car and roads are pretty much common sense if you did your theory you'll know anything which isn't gonna hit you in the face. Learning to pass the test, basically, you learn to drive like an inconfident granny. and it depends on how you drive in the first place, I drive completely different and it took me about 6 months of fortnightly lessons and just driving around practising it all in my dads motor to get to the stage where I could control the way i drive.
 
Mohinder i most certainly reckon you can do it. I passed my test 3 months after my first lesson, well just under. Like you i got my bike license first and it helped no end. I believe due to your new found road sense thanks to riding the bike, picking up driving will be a lot easier, you'll find it easier to concentrate on driving due to having less worries about what to do in all situations. Just go for it mate!
 
I think you'll be fine, if you can physically drive a car (gears, indicate, clutch) without problems then you are part of the way there. The rest is road sense, which you have already with your bike, then the others like parking and maneuvers comes with practice. Like you I don't have a car to practice outside lessons, and I managed it. I too had lessons when i was younger and then stopped and the picked it up again last year. It took me a while but i got there, just go for it !
 
Mohinder said:
Ok, I'll lay out the facts clear and simple,

I'm 23 at the end of this month.
I have a full unrestricted bike license and have been riding including a short commute daily for about four months. (since mid april)

I've had, a couple of years ago, well over thirty hours of driving lessons, either one hour a week or two hours a week.

I always found driving never 'clicked' with me, it never really came together and I was very inconsistent in how good I was. I also found it really hard to retain what I learned, I think one lesson a week with no practice outside of that was just not enough for me.

I can drive a car, as in make it go along, I just never hit test standard and was never very confident. I just didn't learn very well.

Now, I've completely fallen in love with a car. I'm utterly head over heels for it, and it's fairly likely that another one like it won't really come up again very soon. It's given me the impetus to learn.

Since I've got my bike, I now have pretty decent road sense (it's a bit dangerous out there) and am very comfortable on the road. This only leaves the learning to drive better bit.

Do you think I could learn to drive in say.. six weeks? Eight weeks? Ten weeks?

I'm seriously thinking of getting insured on my mum's car, phoning to book a test, then driving as much as I can and shoehorning in a good amount of lessons, and just trying my hardest to get up to scratch in time for the test.

Think I could do it? If I booked a test and managed to convince father dearest that I stand a decent chance of passing it, he might let me store this car on the street outside the house, but unless I can convince him of that it's a no. (We've had cars of mine stuck in the garage for ages before :D)
Click to expand...

Hi there

I've passed my driving test a good few years ago and my bike test just two years ago.

Initially when i was learning to drive a car I always felt the course of one or two lessons per week wasn't enough for me. After six or seven lessons I decided to do a residential intensive driving course - one week later I've passed my test and find myself enrolling for the advanced driving course :D

I would have to say this was definatley the best choice I could have made and I've never looked back since. Like everyone one else who's just past their test you start off with a small low powered cheap car (usually) and I was no different.

Since then I've owned a lot of cars some sports cars and some more practical. Funnily enough i've never bought a motor bike though - passed the test with the best intentions of buying a 600cc Yamaha Thundercat when I got the chance of a minted MK1 MR2 - Mister Two won :p

My point is you can probably pass your test within a week or so with proper training and planning. Plus you've got the added advantage of having road sense after riding your bike for four months :D
 
To the OP, I think you can do it in six weeks. I can only really talk from personal experience but the way I see it is this. you actually have to do two basic things to not be a menace on the road and be legal

1) Learn to drive
2) Learn to pass your test

The order you do them in is important I think. The traditional route (which is doing 2 and then 1) of an hour every week with an instructor for six months and then taking a test and then on the roads is, IMO, both slower and results in you being a worse driver on the roads when you get your new license.

Do it the other way around and you will know how to handle yourself, be aware on the road and and just generally savvy before you get your license. To learn to drive there is no substitute for hours behind the wheel. If you can find someone who will sit with you day in day out at the beginning and end of each day then you can learn to drive very quickly. Learning to pass your test can also be quick provided you don't get into bad habits. Professional driving instructors are very good at teaching people how to pass tests. Family and mates generally are not since things have inevitably changed since they did theirs. For example my dad taught me to scale down the gears when comgin to a rest - the when I learned to pass my test I had to go down 4th to 2nd and when my younger brother had his test he was supposed to go from any gear to neutral when coming to a standstill.

When I turned 17 my father got me driving the car with him "instructing" for two or three hours a day every day for five weeks. Then I went to an instructor and said, "I can drive and have a test next week, please tell/show me how to pass". They didn't like it much but once they saw I could drive it was fine (no point turning away money) and they corrected all the bad habits over a couple of lessons that my Dad had 'taught' me and I went on to pass. Six weeks start to finish.

You have the benefit of the bike experience so the learning to drive bit will be much easier for you. Get some hours in and you can do it I reckon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom