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For no reason other than thinking that an outside opinion on my driving would be a good idea I have booked an IAM review for £35 and I will report back on the content if not the comment(s)! I have a clean licence, 15 year's no-claims, in my late 70s, and would probably pass for a mimser, in some circumstances.
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Mature or otherwise, I doubt there are many here who wouldn't get something useful out of an expert assessment of our driving. Do come back to us with as much as you're comfortable to share.
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I did the whole IAM thing a few years back, cost was less than £100 I think. Mimsing won't win you any medals! But I found it really useful and still use the techniques (mostly) today - especially when driving abroad. I'd recommend to anyone.
Oh, and I live in Wokingham too. Are you doing it with the Thames Valley chapter?
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 10 Mar 15 at 18:07
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I took my taxi drivers test 5 years back, which is basically the full driving test with a couple of extra manoeuvres thrown in and questions about taxiing.
Passed with one minor.
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Zeddo, what was your minor?
Unable to clean up puke?
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>> Zeddo, what was your minor?
>> Unable to clean up puke?
Inability to discharge your fare into a puddle.
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I have just had a call from the assessor. He tells me that he is at my disposal for whatever I want to do. I have explained my situation and he tells me that he is a former police driver and then advanced police driving instructor. We are going to do between an hour and 90 minutes on a route of his choice around Peterborough. I will report back this time next week. I have connections with the Wokingham area but don't live there I am broadly the East of England Group SFAIK £35 seems a fair price for an hour's expertise. I paid more than that for an appraisal with my local driving school 15 years ago.
Last edited by: wokingham on Tue 10 Mar 15 at 18:14
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I get a driver assessment every time Mrs O'Reliant is in the car with me. I need to slow down, not throw it round corners like that and not rev the engine so much, not smoke behind the wheel and turn the radio down.
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I would really like an assessment, although it would fill me with trepidation. I'd hate someone to say I should stop driving.
I may be too old. Someone might think a pacemaker should rule me out. I am beset by petty worries.
I think I'll put it off until a financial windfall has given me a classy snorting monster with clean floors and door pockets and enough time to learn to drive it with reasonable restraint.
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>>I may be too old.
I think you'll know when you're too old to drive safely. Whether or not you have the strength to admit it, even to yourself, is another matter.
p.s. Not "you" as in "you", but "you" as in "one". IYKWIM.
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>> I think you'll know when you're too old to drive safely.
I know I will. And I don't want to kill or maim anyone, so I'll probably admit it. It's other people's opinions I worry about. Don't want anyone else being better safe than sorry on my behalf. Er, IYKWIM.
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I had a driving assessment by an ex-cop driver some years ago when I was working for a council.
I had to join a dual carriageway by a slip road in a naturally aspirated van. I gave it all it had and joined at around 55MPH. He asked me if I could've accelerated any harder. I honestly replied no and was complimented.
He said he suspected I drove with only one hand on the wheel. I replied I suspected he was right! The only criticism.
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The iAM Skills for Life course is very worthwhile. I had lots of bad habits. Still have but disguise them better!
Fortunately my observer, pre IAM test, had a Vrs and a rapid soft top. Hated mimsers. We got alone fine and had fun in the 330 gunning it down country lanes. Completely changed my perception of the IAM, or maybe I just got lucky with my allocated observer.
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My IAM instructor was less than pleased at a lack of adequate progress. Seem like a common theme.
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I never had a problem in the 'making progress' dept. However he was never convinced that my speedo reading was at least 15% slow. Having spoken to various observers at IAM meetings, the consensus was that it was far easier to get people like wot I was to slow down, than to get the mimsers to speed up.
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My experience was similar. Once a mimser always a roadblock. :)
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I had two chums at school who did the IAM test/course? after the driving test. I had the misfortune of going in both their cars. They both drove like rally drivers, proudly showing off their ability to slide round corners, and to take corners on two wheels in their (Fiat Panda and Skoda).
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I dont think the IAM claims to cure idiots or teach drifting.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 12 Mar 15 at 17:12
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Several decades ago it was common to see IAM stickers in rear windows or on boot lids. Can't remember the last time I saw one, though.
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Both these chaps had learned their skills in endless IAM lessons. Maybe it was different back then...
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>> drove like rally drivers, proudly showing off their ability to slide round corners, and to take corners on two wheels in their (Fiat Panda and Skoda).
Skoda Estelles handle very well, but their tails can go out on some bends especially if the driver lifts his/her foot at the wrong (or right) moment.
It's almost impossible to get a modern car up on two wheels except by sliding sideways into a kerb, not recommended of course... I can't even get my car's tyres to squeal or even chirp. This seems to apply to all modern cars, even the ones that look tall and unstable.
Back in the day, when I was Biggles/AC18 in South London, another driver told me disapprovingly that he'd seen me lifting a wheel during vigorous cornering. That was in the faithful Hunter-shape Singer Vogue Estate. A back wheel usually I think, beam back axle and torque, but you can't see when you're wrestling with the wheel, smoking a joint and arguing with a punter over the fare.
No, I wasn't really like that. Honestly. Not usually.
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My exex passed her IAM test before me. God knows how. On my recommendation she bought a Lexus IS petrol, smooth as silk 6 cyl, but needs to be revved. We are still on friendly terms and now and again I get the chance to warm up her motor. She rarely takes it over 3k rpm, but when I do I swear it enjoys a good thrashing. Her IAM observer must have been the opposite of mine.
And lifting a wheel is well nigh impossible unless you are at the point of no return on a public road. Not done it for years.
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>> My exex passed her IAM test before me. God knows how. On my recommendation she
>> bought a Lexus IS petrol, smooth as silk 6 cyl, but needs to be revved.
>> We are still on friendly terms and now and again I get the chance to
>> warm up her motor. She rarely takes it over 3k rpm, but when I do
>> I swear it enjoys a good thrashing. Her IAM observer must have been the opposite
>> of mine.
>> And lifting a wheel is well nigh impossible unless you are at the point of
>> no return on a public road. Not done it for years.
>>
I burst out laughing when I read "warm up her motor"..
Must have a dirty mind.
Apologies for being juvenile..
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Me too.
She was a fast machine,
She kept her motor clean,
She was the best damn' woman I had ever seen.
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>> Me too.
>>
>> She was a fast machine,
>> She kept her motor clean,
>> She was the best damn' woman I had ever seen.
>>
Really AC/DC from WillDeBeest ?
The guy who ran a I want a BMW talk me out of it thread before wandering off on a I want a 150PS D3 Volvo cabriolet ?
Get tae ! As they'd say somewhere up North !!!
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 15 Mar 15 at 04:02
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Never made a secret of it, Gmac. Part of the reason I'd like to stick with Volvo is the quality of the sound system - whether for Beethoven or Black Sabbath. (Or today's discovery via Deezer: Isabelle Boulay. Gorgeous voice; look her up.)
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My advise would be forget the 200kgs heavier 13PS fewer cabriolet.
It's not a Volvo that you know. It's 80% Focus with bits and bobs.
The sound system in your S60 is light years ahead of anything post 2010.
Do what Humph says, spend some money on your S60 then spend the rest on something fast. 4 wheels if you're gay (Westfield) or two wheels if you've grown a pair unless you opt for a Harley Davidson in which case you're back in the gay Westfield camp.
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Sybarites don't drive Westfields. Or ride motorbikes. The noise drowns out Judas Priest on the Dynaudios.
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Yeah right! Like you're a native southern Italian.
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>> Sybarites don't drive Westfields. Or ride motorbikes. The noise drowns out Judas Priest on the
>> Dynaudios.
>>
So ? Did you look at a C70?
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He was in one today allegedly. It's in another thread somewhere. I expect he also took the opportunity to pop to the shops for a pair of grey reptile print slip ons on the way to the garage...
;-))
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Oh dear !
C70 and pension spring to mind. I chased a T5 earlier this week but some oldie had bought it so I'm now after a V6 cab with 280 PS. Given up on Volvo, too limp wristed.
Last edited by: gmac on Sat 28 Mar 15 at 21:00
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What !! That 345bhp V60 limpwristed ?! You're having a Giraffe ! :-)
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Yeah, but, y'know, the cardigans...its a problem, can't be denied.
;-)
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>> What !! That 345bhp V60 limpwristed ?! You're having a Giraffe ! :-)
>>
>>
That's about as much Volvo as a Cosworth was Fiesta,
The Polestar cars are 80% stiffer than R-design cars which are 20% stiffer than a standard car. Standard car is made from Blancmange in comparison.
Last edited by: gmac on Sat 28 Mar 15 at 21:17
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...grey reptile print slip-ons...
Funnily enough we had been shoe shopping, but not for anything you could drive in:
www.owzat-cricket.co.uk/acatalog/2014_Nike_Lunar_Accelerate_cricket_shoes.html
(Sunglasses recommended; they're not subtle - and the ones we didn't buy were even louder. Not for me either; birthday present for Beestling Major, who'll be needing them this summer.)
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Motorcyclists like wearing leather trousers don't they? Never seen anyone driving a Westfield in those, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence...
;-)
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>> Motorcyclists like wearing leather trousers don't they? Never seen anyone driving a Westfield in those,
>> but I'm sure it's just a coincidence...
>>
>> ;-)
>>
You drive a Mercedes don't you ? Google search of Mercedes lederhosen turned up:
starobserver.com.au.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2w985c0.bild_-670x376-1.jpg
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I've been toying with this idea for some time, really since our eldest was having driving lessons so I kept getting feedback on current best practice, and was aware of her watching me driving and asking questions like "Why do you do that?".
Now offspring No.3 is due to start this year, so I'm still thinking.
i suspect I would either make a point of driving "properly" just for the test, and then lapse back, or drive normally, be picked up on a few points, and then ignore the report.
I suppose the real value is in being told about the more serious shortcomings that one is unaware of, but do matter. Holding the wheel in an unorthodox way, or letting it spin through one's fingers in that satisfying way, or doing lazy heel-of-the-hand manoeuvres, probably aren't really the bad points that matter?
Still thinking - I'd value some feedback on actual comments and serious things pointed out.
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I'm sure I have lots of bad habits, who wouldn't with around 1.5 million miles under their belt since passing their test?
However, I'm in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp. Clean licence and never had or caused an accident or even a parking bump despite regularly "making progress". Certainly never even got close to putting the wrong fuel in any vehicle either. Best to leave things alone I think !
;-)
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Clean licence.I also have plenty of bad habits. I like to make a move on don't believe in Mimsers as A.C would say.
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Clean licence here too. At the moment. Had points for speeding but they go away eventually!
Even if I hadn't learnt anything from the Skills for Life course, and I did, the cost of it, £140, was more than recouped by lower insurance premiums from the IAM s own dedicated insurer.
Old age and a rural postcode help as well.
About time I got that V8...
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In the course of my revision I have learned that slowing the car by gear changing is not considered correct. Stay in the gear you are in until you get to your junction/turning/roundabout and then either stop, if needed, or change down into the appropriate gear to move away without stopping.
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>> In the course of my revision I have learned ..........
>>
Isn't that what everyone does ?
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Surprisingly not. My F-in-L is one who takes the sequential route - while complaining loudly about the 'dire' driving of those around him. (He was also surprised when I told him that his first Mondeo, after a long - and lucrative for his local Ford dealer - line of Sierras, was front wheel drive.)
The DSG in the Golf GTI I tested also went down through the gears. I suppose that's the S in DSG.
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I try very hard not to touch the brakes at all unless in stop start traffic, in manuals I also try to shift gears when possible without using the clutch, I try to avoid running over cats eyes ( bad luck you see. ) and of course it's essential to complete parallel parking in no more than three moves ( measure of manhood that one ) and on the mirrors naturally.
All these things are very important you know. Fairly useless I guess, but they have to be done.
;-)
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>> it's essential to complete parallel parking in no more than three moves
I consider it a fail if I don't do it in one (unless the gap's less than six inches longer than my car).
;>)
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Ones are indeed very satisfying BT, twos are still pretty cool, but anything over a three is shameful.
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>> I try to avoid running over cats eyes ( bad luck you see. )
>>
It is if they are still attached to the cat, cat's don't like 265/40 x 19 on their heeds.
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>> In the course of my revision I have learned that slowing the car by gear
>> changing is not considered correct. Stay in the gear you are in until you get
>> to your junction/turning/roundabout and then either stop, if needed, or change down into the appropriate
>> gear to move away without stopping.
>>
That depends on your car to a certain extent. My C max's gearing is such that it struggles if you are in too high a gear, and you definitely need to change down in those circumstances, or you won't be able to pull away again.
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I think you've got the wrong end of the (gear)stick, HJD. Yes, you need to select a lower gear to pull away after slowing for a hazard, but you don't do it until you know which one you need. So slow for the roundabout in, say, fifth, then take second or third if it's clear to go, or stop if necessary and select first to move off.
Some (mostly) older drivers, or those taught bad habits by parents - presumably still thinking in terms of fade-prone drum brakes - still change down gear by gear 'to save the brakes'; laborious and counterproductive with modern machinery.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Sat 14 Mar 15 at 12:41
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Probably is, but you get to blip the throttle on the down changes which is also an essential feature of real man driving.
;-)
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...blip the throttle on the down changes...
The GTI did that too, by itself. And made parpy noises through the exhaust. Put me right off the DSG; a manual would be OK, though.
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Never felt the need to practise real man driving.
Real women just drive.
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If I slow down too much in 5th the car balks at it, so necessary to change down. My previous car wasn't like that, just a feature of this one.
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>> If I slow down too much in 5th the car balks at it, so necessary
>> to change down. My previous car wasn't like that, just a feature of this one.
>>
Diesel is it?
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>>
>> Diesel is it?
>>
No, petrol.
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>> >>
>> >> Diesel is it?
>> >>
>> No, petrol.
>>
Hmm surprising, I thought it would be a diesel doing that.
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hjd: when you drive so slowly in fifth gear that the car 'balks', which I take to mean juddering and making a slightly untoward noise, you are damaging the engine, a little more each time. Especially if you use heavy throttle to try to keep your speed up when you are going say uphill or trying to accelerate uphill after being balked by other traffic.And of course it's a bit unpleasant for the driver.
It is good practice to change down before, not after, this happens. In hilly or trafficky country drivers of cars with manual transmissions should (if that's the word) cultivate a fluid driving style with frequent gear changes and light throttle. It's cheaper on fuel and the car lasts longer.
Forgive me for lecturing you on the bleeding obvious. I mean well. And if all that sounds too busy and persecuting, the right auto might solve all the problems.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 14 Mar 15 at 19:14
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I don't drive that slowly in 5th by choice, but on the odd occasion I can be in too high a gear. That's why I need to change down, not just brake and then change at the last moment which is suggested here as the only technique. It's definitely a feature of this car, since it never happened in any of my previous ones. I'm going to take it to a good indy for a service before the MOT and see if they can sort it out.
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>> It's definitely a feature of this car, since it never happened in any of my previous ones. I'm going to take it to a good indy for a service before the MOT and see if they can sort it out.
Your car has a higher top gear than your last car hjd, and you haven't adapted your driving style to suit it.
I repeat: cultivate a fluid driving style and learn to change gear often, before you need to, not after. No one suggested you should brake before changing gear. It isn't diffficult unless you have a problem about changing gear. If you have, try to get an automatic transmission car more suited to your driving style (or lack of it).
There's nothing a garage however good can do to teach you to drive properly. It's your responsibility.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sun 15 Mar 15 at 00:21
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I have adapted my driving style to suit the car, but I do feel the gearing is a problem. Top gear isn't really a problem day to day, it's more the lack of grunt at the bottom. Whenever the car has been driven by anyone else, including a mechanic friend who runs a garage, they always comment on the same thing.
I don't generally have problems changing gear, except 5 down to 3. 3 to 1 or 4 to 2 are fine, just occasionally 5 to 3 .
I am considering an auto next time though, mainly because of left knee problems.
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Also, from my original message, you will see that I do change down without braking - it's the braking without changing down I can't do properly.
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>> Also, from my original message, you will see that I do change down without braking
>> - it's the braking without changing down I can't do properly.
>>
Don't take everything here as absolute. There are at least fifty shades of everything. If you are approaching a roundabout at warp speed in fifth it may work if you brake a bit, then change down to fourth, slow to decision speed for a stop or go, then stop or select second or maybe third and go.
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No one suggested you should brake before changing gear.
Well, I did.
}:---)
I'm trying to take my mind back three years to the last time I drove a manual with a motorway-only top gear. Leaving the motorway, or slowing for that big roundabout near Petersfield on the A3, I think I probably still just dipped the clutch as the revs sank towards 1,000 until I'd finished braking and knew what gear I needed next.
Perhaps we should all pile over to HJD's and try her car for ourselves. Short of that I'm curious just how high that C-max fifth is, and the speed range - road and engine - that causes the balking. Or we could just leave her in peace and go back to making fun of Bromp; we missed the bifocal Aviators off the style list.
};---)
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>> I don't drive that slowly in 5th by choice, but on the odd occasion I
>> can be in too high a gear.
So you need to adapt to the car. "I can be in too high a gear" says it all.
My car has a crazy high sixth gear, unusable below 60 mph, so guess what, I only use it above 60.
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>> unusable below 60 mph, so guess what, I only use it above 60.
Listen to the matelot. He often makes sense.
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Having been brought up on cars where not all cylinders could be relied upon to fire at all times, where not all brakes could be trusted to function in harmony, where having synchromesh remaining on more than two gears was a bonus, where having tread on all tyres simultaneously was only an occasional event and often being able to see your feet when opening the boot, it does rather make one more tolerant of the minor disabilities of most modern cars.
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>> Having been brought up on cars where not all ........
>>
And makes you a better driver. Knowing a cars foibles and limitations is sadly lacking in many drivers brought up on modern cars.
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>> Knowing a cars foibles and limitations is sadly lacking in many drivers brought up on modern cars.
Most people these days haven't a clue how cars work. Modern drivers see the thing as white goods that simply ought to work. When a 'foible or limitation' shows up they don't know what it means and are surprised and indignant. A bit like hjd with her high top gear.
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Mind you, I'm pretty much the same with computers. I use them but haven't the foggiest how they work. Might as well be some form of witchcraft as far as I'm concerned. However, when they don't work I inevitably blame them, their manufacturers, the spotty person who performed the original spell castings, anyone but me...
I curse them, hit them and shout at them, usually to no avail. Then my son gets bored with the noise, comes in, presses a seemingly random sequence of keys and they start working again.
Might be a slight amount of operator error I suppose...
;-)
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>> Mind you, I'm pretty much the same with computers. ........
Most of us here have some knowledge of a cars oily bits and how to operate it. We also have IT, legal, medical, pilots, cyclists, trainspotters, shoe salesmen, and even an ex submariner, and a whole host of other fields of knowledge. It probably helps if we stayed in our boxes but it must cause amusement when we stray into little known areas. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 15 Mar 15 at 13:17
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Nothing wrong with dipping the clutch a little early under braking to keep the revs from dropping too low. No need to select an intermediate gear, though.
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Just easier to drive automatics. One pedal to go faster, one other to go slower.
And cruise control to carry on as you are.
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In vintage times, many motorists would do anything to avoid gear changing, slipping the clutch was common.
I'd probably earn a demerit for my habit of knocking the gear change into neutral as I come to a halt but I try to minimise the time time spent with the clutch pressed to avoid unnecessary wear and tear on thrust washers and thrust bearings/carbons. The three wheeler will slow to 12 in top anyway, and if you retard the ignition, will pull away as long as you only apply a little throttle.
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>> minimise the time time spent with the clutch pressed to avoid unnecessary wear and tear on thrust washers and thrust bearings/carbons. The three wheeler will slow to 12 in top anyway, and if you retard the ignition, will pull away as long as you only apply a little throttle.
Yes, your car has controls Sp, and you know what you're doing. Would that all cars had and everyone did...
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>> The three wheeler will slow to 12 in top anyway, and if you retard
>> the ignition, will pull away as long as you only apply a little throttle.
>>
I was amusing myself the other day in the Triumph by seeing how little braking or gear changing I could manage. In 3rd gear it will pull from walking speed, and overdrive 3rd is half way to 4th so good for town or rural lanes.
So I can drive locally almost indefinitely simply flipping the overdrive button.
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Snipquote!!!
>> I was amusing myself the other day in the Triumph by seeing how little braking
>> or gear changing I could manage. In 3rd gear it will pull from walking speed,
>> and overdrive 3rd is half way to 4th so good for town or rural lanes.
>> So I can drive locally almost indefinitely simply flipping the overdrive button.
>>
My Riley 9 Monaco could start in top (4th) gear with the ignition retarded enough but it could not pull the skin off a rice pudding. As it was a crash box, I am sure some owners did...
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 30 Mar 15 at 00:57
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My Riley 9 Monaco could start in top (4th) gear with the ignition retarded enough but it could not pull the skin off a rice pudding. As it was a crash box, I am sure some owners did...
Yup, some vintage motorists would do anything to avoid gear changing. A flexible engine that could go down to a walking pace in top gear was always prized.
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Bit more to it than just the brakes; modern gearboxes are childishly simple to swap cogs when the vehicle is at a standstill, try it in an old Series Land-Rover or suchlike and you risk being stuck in top or third.
Same with old constant-mesh gearboxes (often wrongly referred to as crash boxes) on lorries.
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"I get a driver assessment every time Mrs O'Reliant is in the car with me"
:-)
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>> "I get a driver assessment every time Mrs O'Reliant is in the car with me"
>>
>> :-)
>>
Lucky you if you avoid it at other times :-)
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Back from a 90 minute drive in the area of, and through, Peterborough, with my IAM assessor. Quite a tricky route on roads I was not familiar with. Very useful, fair comments and helpful debrief. On 1 to 4 assessment of 16 aspects of my driving I got 4 1s and 12 2s, 1 is Excellent and 2 is Competent, so not too dire. The examiner did say that he thought it should be a 5 point scale with Good as a possibility between Excellent and Competent. A very good value at £35 and food for thought!
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Mature Driver Assessment - WillDeBeest
