What car did you learn to drive in? Shocked to see what learners are now driving...

jaybee said:
Metro gang yo.

I find it funny how people don't even realize how good they have it these days. Back then, no power steering, manual choke, no air con, only 4 gears, no abs, no airbag. Literal poverty spec.
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And then fast forward to today... learning with electric bloody handbrakes, etc. Not that people have much choice as to what they learn in though, unless learning in own car.
 
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slinxy said:
I learnt to drive in a Citroen C3, a so called super mini....
but (and this maybe in the region where I live), I seen loads of driving schools using mini SUVs to teach people in... The other day I saw a Merc A class being used.
Is this now the norm?
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VW Beetle, 1974 1303...
 
For the majority of my lessons, a 1998 1.4 Peugeot 306. A few were in an older 1.8 diesel Peugeot 205, but I remember not liking the instructor hence the change!

Mum at the time had a 2000 1.4 Astra 1.4, which I practised in and then drove once past. My first car was a 1998 1.4 Astra (first of the Mark 4 cars).

All manuals. I remember the very first time I drove an automatic (a 2002 Nissan Primera), I did not know that you had to put your foot on the brake to move out of Park... A little embarrassing!
 
I learnt to drive in South Africa. I learnt what a clutch was in a 1975-ish Datsun 620 pick-up (in pictured condition) at the age of 14. I was driving this around the off-road go-kart track where I worked, dragging tyres around to smooth the track.
I then learnt "proper" driving in my Mum's 1993-ish Toyota Conquest 1300. No instructors; just lots of front seat time commuting with my Mum and paying attention. Passed 1st time!

1975-datsun-620-pickup-632b345e0f0ff.jpg
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I learnt to drive in a Renault clio.
My first car was a mk 2 (I think) fiesta.
"E" registration

It was basically not Road legal. You could see the road though a hole in the driver's side floor. And the brakes were dangerous.

I only realised when my cousin drove it and said it was so bad. I had just gotten used to the soft brakes!

I've had some right bangers. Peaked at a Honda s2000 that gotten written off in a crash and I'm back to a banger Peugeot 207 57 plate!

Don't think I've ever owned a car less than 10-15 years old!
 
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Nabinium said:
Damn, I remember wanting one ages ago. What happened to it that caused the write off, if you don't mind me asking?
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I was on an A road (dual carriageway) driving to Wales from Peterborough for my job interview to move down here.
It was about 8-9pm, it was dark. Roads were quiet.

I was driving at about 60, slower than I would on a 70 just thinking about the interview. I was about 6 miles from hotel.

Saw these lights get very bright very quick behind me. And I was rear ended on the driver side. That forced me into a bit of a fish tail towards the central reservation.

This road had those cable style central reservations.

The cable went over my bonnet as s2k is so low. Cable scrapped over the bonnet. Broke my windscreen and ripped the roof.
I came to a stop on the other carriageway against the central reservation.

Luckily road was quiet and no one hit me.

There was glass in cockpit but luckily the windscreen didn't cave.
The driver side rear wheel was ripped off. No number plates on my car.

The car that hit me was so far down the carriage way I could barely see it.

I gathered myself, called the police and they got there fast.

Turns out it was a 17 year old driver in his grans citroen c2 who'd just passed his test!

Police said he'd not be driving for a long while. They thought I had rolled the car there was so much damage. But I definitely didn't. That car is built like a tank though and the cockpit was fine.


Scary thing is.. If I had my roof down (it was warm enough) that cable probably would have cut my head off.
That really freaked me out.
 
I learnt to drive in my 1977 Mini Clubman (S Reg), it was on its last legs but only cost £150..

Brakes were non existent, the top engine mount ripped away from the bulkhead, it struggled to do 90 flat out, but it got me around and about at 17/18..

I did my test in it, the examiner came out, looked at it and asked a very pertinent question "Is it safe to drive?".. Maybe that's why the test seemed quite short and I passed, he probably didn't want to spend any more time than he had to, and didn't want me coming back!

Here's a mint example..
571hbNCl.jpg


I had ally arches and spaced the wheels, to a point that I was going down a narrow b-road, 4 up, and one of the wheels fell off as it stripped the extension bolts.. we were able to pick the corner of the car up without a jack, I removed the spacer and got 3 bolts on the wheel and off we went.. there was a 20M gouge in the road for years to remind me every time I went down that road!

Here's AI's representation of mine:
se8eV1tl.png
 
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413x said:
I was on an A road (dual carriageway) driving to Wales from Peterborough for my job interview to move down here.
It was about 8-9pm, it was dark. Roads were quiet.

I was driving at about 60, slower than I would on a 70 just thinking about the interview. I was about 6 miles from hotel.

Saw these lights get very bright very quick behind me. And I was rear ended on the driver side. That forced me into a bit of a fish tail towards the central reservation.

This road had those cable style central reservations.

The cable went over my bonnet as s2k is so low. Cable scrapped over the bonnet. Broke my windscreen and ripped the roof.
I came to a stop on the other carriageway against the central reservation.

Luckily road was quiet and no one hit me.

There was glass in cockpit but luckily the windscreen didn't cave.
The driver side rear wheel was ripped off. No number plates on my car.

The car that hit me was so far down the carriage way I could barely see it.

I gathered myself, called the police and they got there fast.

Turns out it was a 17 year old driver in his grans citroen c2 who'd just passed his test!

Police said he'd not be driving for a long while. They thought I had rolled the car there was so much damage. But I definitely didn't. That car is built like a tank though and the cockpit was fine.


Scary thing is.. If I had my roof down (it was warm enough) that cable probably would have cut my head off.
That really freaked me out.
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Wow, sorry you had to go through that. That sounds really scary, especially the thought of that cable. Was this a straight bit of road on the dual carriageway you were on, or was it on a bend? I'm just trying to figure out how on earth they managed to rear end you on a quiet road.

Even if they were speeding, how did they not even see you?

Either way, that write off makes sense. Such a shame though. I'd be gutted to have something like a Honda s2000 written off, especially in a situation like that.
 
Nabinium said:
Wow, sorry you had to go through that. That sounds really scary, especially the thought of that cable. Was this a straight bit of road on the dual carriageway you were on, or was it on a bend? I'm just trying to figure out how on earth they managed to rear end you on a quiet road.

Even if they were speeding, how did they not even see you?

Either way, that write off makes sense. Such a shame though. I'd be gutted to have something like a Honda s2000 written off, especially in a situation like that.
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All I can assume is there were in their phone and saw me too late. Tried to swerve into the fast lane but couldn't and hit me drivers side.

Crazy stuff. Only plus point it was probably a 30 mph impact as I was going about 60 and I assume he was going 90+
 
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