I learnt when I realised without my dad I would be stuffed as sometimes in my business a car is essential. My ex managed to convince me to have some lessons (its had been five years since I last had a lesson) and found a great instructor.
So many people my age can't drive or don't bother though as in Manchester a car really is not essential.
So I guess the question is what was your prompt to learn to drive? I have found that my mates that have gone to university in the main put off learning to after they have graduated. Many of my friends still cannot drive despite getting onto 30.
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I think we are same age but I passed when 17 and got first car when 18. I passed because it wanted independance, better job prospects and most importantly I wanted to be cool and hang out with the mates! Well it was cool to wheelspin your wheel trims off and pull handbrake turns then!
Last edited by: nice but dim on Fri 16 Jul 10 at 21:48
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Independence.
16yo. New Yamaha FS1E
17yo. New Yamaha RD350
Soon after MK1 Cortina 1500 I think. Well made up was I (until I crunched it)
Happy days, but give me a Vitesse convertible any day.
Reg's.........M
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A no-brainer for me really. I got into cars aged about 11 when I bought my first car magazine, so I couldn't wait to learn. It's probably easier the earlier you start, although I was always being reprimanded by the instructor for driving 10mph too fast everywhere. Typical young hot shot!
I've thought about taking the bike test, but they've just made it harder from last year, although I think the jury's still out on whether it will stay like it is or be revamped, as apparently even experienced riders can't do the new 'swerve' test safely. I've always envied motorbikes drifting through motorway jams while you're sitting there helpless.
Oh well, I'd probably kill myself on a bike anyway (and my mate tells me it's not much fun in winter) :-)
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An old family friend was killed himself on the bike from no fault of his own somebody pulled out in front of him and the biker was doing under the limit and driving safely. Since then I have always hated bikes.
I am sure he must have known the risk but thought it would never happen to him.
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Couldn't wait. Started to learn on my dad's Volvo 240 as soon as I was 17. Passed fairly quickly and having saved up £250 went looking for a Mini. Had trouble finding one in budget and my Dad said he would help me find something. He talked me into what was actually a very well kept two tone green Wolseley Hornet which cost me £235 ( and most of my 17 year old self esteem ) Only upside was that all my mates had motorbikes so I got to take their girlfriends home.....
Soon got fed up with the jibes about the car and in those first couple or three years got through a beige Mk 1 Escort, a maroon Dolomite, a navy blue Spitfire, a navy blue chrome bumper Midget. Later I aquired a 3.5 litre petrol Land Rover which got mechanically and cosmetically abused. In the meanwhile Dad retired and downsized from the Volvo to a brown Van Den Plas 1300 automatic, a fairly unpleasant thing. but well equipped by the standards of the day.
Then followed a string of company cars punctuated by some silly things like a Westfield until I went self employed. Recently became a wage slave again and am currently driving my 43rd car in this case provided by my new employer. Last time I bothered to work it out, I'd driven well in excess of a million miles in this country and several tens of thousands in other places including most of mainland Europe, Canada, the States and Brazil. Never did pass my bike test but over the years managed to blag the use of many large offroad motorbikes especially in the Greek islands and rural Brazil. Once rode quite a way up the banks of the Amazon on a Honda something with a rucksack on.
Couldn't bear the thought of being without a set of wheels and fully intend if I ever become ancient to have as outrageous a car as possible in my dotage......
I don't enjoy driving as much as I once did but I think that's a function of living in a fairly congested part of the country. When I do get the chance to get into the Scottish borders or north of Perth I still love it. Oddly though, I don't mind tooling around London either, especially at night. it can be a bit like Wacky Races but I take a strange masochistic delight in trying to get through and across the city efficiently despite its restrictions.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Fri 16 Jul 10 at 22:29
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I suppose I never had that, dad was never going to let me drive his nearly new Punto and being a poor college boy I would never be able to afford a car.
My mother suffers from a car phobia too which made the entire process of learning to drive a lot harder. It effects me too because I am very cautious about how far I will go.
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I thought it would be useful to be able to drive so I passed with just a few lessons and no car to practice in.
I had no need to have a car whatsoever so the paperwork stayed unused.
I was 5/10 mins from a major bus station and a major high street , 5 min from the tube, walking distance to work or on the tube and could ride a bike fast.
A total waste of hard earned funds to buy a car
One year later I was then OK to hire a car. With all myaccumulated experience in a driving school HA Viva I hired a Vauxhall 101 estate from Heathrow central area. From four on the floor to some somewhere on the column I just about managed to creep through the tunnel and after about 75 miles of sweaty progress I got the 101 back in one piece. Thank goodness traffic was lighter and more forgiving in that era.
I learned to drive ( to a much better standard) because I wanted to tour Cyprus ( our next holiday destination) and public transport and UN check points and UN zones were a big problem. 800 miles in an old Morris Oxford up and down the Troodos mountains transformed my skills.
It was some years later I bought my first car a 18 month old 1600E.
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>>my dads Volvo 240
Perversely, as a kid, my favourite cars were ones with big bumpers, and the 240 was the daddy.
>>When I do get the chance to get into the Scottish borders or north of Perth I still love it
Don't, you've got me dreaming again!
Great post Humph, must have been a great experience driving in places like Brazil.
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The correct question would be, "Why on earth would you NOT learn to drive"?
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I didn't learn. When it came to it I just could. Of course I had been a close observer and allowed a bit of hands-on now and again as a nipper.
I say 'I just could.' It's true in a way, and long before I had a licence of any description I could drive better than some people who had licences.
But for several years I was a bit frightening, sometimes dangerous, rather noticeable and often pulled and scolded by the old bill. It actually takes a few years for sanity to take in a practical manner and put all that stress and all those near-misses to proper use at last. I'm a pussy cat these days however much I may snarl and yelp.
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Last time I was in Bayswater I saw an older man in a PT Cruiser doing at least 70 down Queensway. I now know who that was :).
I think you had an old Escort at the time though!
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Pressure was put on me by a brother and I got a few lessons years before leaving university. But to me the cost vs advantage was in favour of not spending the money I didn't have on lessons.
Twelve months before leaving Uni I did learn to drive because I'd need to have a licence. I didn't plan on getting a car immediately as I could get to work etc without one. I did get a car (a £1000 Fiesta C plate) and maybe I should have held out.... ended up getting a company car.
Still have one and do not intend opting out. But worked out on Friday that at current monthly costs I could have a 5-Series BMW 2.0d for the same practically as an Audi A4....
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 16 Jul 10 at 23:40
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I learned because I was fascinated by the idea of mechanised movement.
Started on agricultural tractors at about 11-years-old, I just loved being able to drag things across fields, the noise, the smells, everything about it.
On the road at 16 with a Raleigh moped, primary drive was a fanbelt, chain drive to the back wheel.
Then an FS1E, but was always more interested in four wheels.
Passed the driving test not long after my 17th birthday and bought my first car, a Triumph Herald.
I was working weekends at a proper garage, which gave me the chance to mess around with and drive different cars, but it also meant keeping the Herald on the road was easy.
I had ready access to spares, tools and expertise.
Driving was the great joy to me, rather than the vehicle itself.
So I would rather do 100 miles in a Ford than 10 miles in a Ferrari, because it meant I was behind the wheel longer.
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To ensure that if my computer system showed any signs of problems I would be as far away as possible from you attempting to put it right....:-)
So I would rather do 100 miles in a Ford than 10 miles in a Ferrari, because it meant I was behind the wheel longer.>>
Only because the Ferrari was (much) faster.......
Last edited by: Stuartli on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 00:05
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I learnt to drive because id been dreaming about having my license since I knew you needed one to drive a car. One of my first words was car and I continued the obession to current day.
I started lessons on my 17th birthday back in '97 and passed 3 months later with ease.
Id been driving cars since I was 12 although mainly in remote areas of France with my dad on hand, so I knew how to make a car go and stop long before my chain-smoking cornish lady instructor started teaching me. She was good though and taught me a good portion of the advanced test skills as I was way past learning what the key does - my first ever official lesson started with a serious hill start :-) no bunny hopping for me!
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Why? Never really thought about it; I just had to. Cars were my passion ever since I could remember; nothing to do with transport or expediency.
Dad owned the village garage and Mum was a petrol head too. I spent my pocket money on car magazines and collected toy die-casts to the point of obsession. It was a rare car that passed that I couldn't name, date and put an engine size to.
When Mum's ancient Morris 8 convertible arrived I sat in the driving seat on a pile of cushions going "Vroom vroom" or something until Dad taught me the basics and I was able to move it up and down the drive. It was the year the Mini was launched, Mum had decided that was going to be her next car, and the Morris 8's days were numbered.
I could handle the Mini, with the long gearstick and the starter button on the floor, but Mum had decided the future of motoring was the Hillman Imp. We discovered Tockwith airfield and when Mum wasn't tied up with work I used to plead with her to go and hammer the little Imp up and down the main runway. Dad and the chap who was to become my stepfather founded the Cat's Eye Motor Club and a crowd of enthusiasts would go on little rallies and hold gymkhanas in farmers' fields. There was a lot of flags, twine, bamboo canes and hay bales used to mark out courses; fastest car to do a slalom, turn round in a limited space and stop astride a marker; that sort of thing. Kids were allowed a go at the end of the day. After some tuition and exasperated shouting from Dad I could handbrake turn the Imp and do a "J" turn quite proficiently. I remember following my future stepbrother in a Mk1 Zodiac round a field behind the Chequers Inn in Bishop Thornton in the Imp, hanging the tail out too far and collecting a dozen canes and associated flags in the rear bumper. I was quite chuffed that I'd held onto the slide and not spun, but Dad thought the Imp should have been much quicker round the course than the big Zodiac.
At boarding school, having no sporting pretensions, I seemed to be the only person able to start the cricket pitch roller so I was made groundsman and I had the use of a prehistoric tractor to push the screens around with. I tried to transfer my drifting skills to the tractor but it just went up onto one wheel at the back; bad idea.
When it came to taking lessons on the roads around Durham, remembering driving up the airfield runway, I gravitated towards the centre of the road, much to my chain-smoking instructor's alarm.
'scuse the insomniac ramble.
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As soon as I was old enough to get my provisional, it was applied for and I started lessons more or less the day it arrived on the door mat
When i was 18 I got my 1st car but I had already drive various other vehicals (my girlfreinds, dads van (toyota Hiace)) and never looked back
I failed my 1st test becasue I hesitated at a roundabout, I still hate roundabouts to this day
Passed Second time and I was so excited i wanted to jump in the seat
Last edited by: Redviper on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 09:01
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It was just something you did. It was just another part of growing up. You couldn't get recreational drugs in my youth, so we got our kicks by learning to drive instead.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 09:14
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Why did you learn to drive?
you might as well ask why did you learn to walk? Just part of evolution and natural selection!
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Completly different though. As I said in my first post so many younger people now don't bother learning to drive, at least in the big cities.
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Same as L. When I was 3 I wanted a trike, when I was 6 I wanted a bike, when I was 11 I wanted a racing bike, when I was 16 I wanted a motorbike (no chance! parents wouldn't even consider it), when I was 17 I wanted a car. Well at least I could have lessons.
JH
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Why? Because HMG paid for 20 lessons with BSM. Couldn't turn down an offer like that.
Biggles
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I learned to drive so that I could continue riding a 125cc motorbike on L plates indefinitely. At the time (1985) you could only have group D on your licence for 2 years and you either had to pass your bike test within that time or revert back to a moped for 1 year before applying for group D again. I ended up taking my motorbike test a few months later though and passed that too.
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These days parents appear to provide their offspring with a free taxi service, so there's less incentive for the offspring to learn to drive. My parents never owned a car.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 16:13
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Because I loved cars from childhood. I learnt to drive as soon as I was legally allowed to drive.
It was not out of necessity but just because I wanted to drive.
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In the late 60s I was 17 and desperate to learn to drive. With BSM's help I passed 6 weeks later when wearing my school uniform.
Fast forward 35 or so years - the two offspring, one of each gender, when around 17/18 had very little enthusiasm to learn. Some may find it hard to believe but SWMBO and I forced them to learn just as you'd force a kid to their maths homework.
5 years later one has a car which is essential for getting to work and the other just finds it handy. They still won't drive on motorways and will take a train for any journey over maybe 20 miles. As for driving into central London - no chance - it's bus, train, or tube.
Mad, mad mad - but is it SWMBO and I or is it them ?
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London is the only place in the country I know off where you can still have a reasonable quality of life without a car.
I got rid of mine when I was living there when I realised it wasn't being used from one week to the next.
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My Dad was a Commercial Traveller back in the 50s and 60s so we always had a car, unlike many of our neighbours... I suppose I just wanted to move on from the limitations of a cycle and was learing to drive of Southport Sands back in the early 70s way before my 17th birthday... found I liked it and never stopped... Quite a few of my friends were early drivers as well, either motorbikes (which never appealed in those days) or farmers' kids and so had access to all sorts of machinary... I often wondered how Dad persuaded his company to include a 17 yr old learner on their policy!!
Bought some horrendous cars over the years though, not particulary the models themselves, but the state of them!!
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There's a hell of a lot of women who can't won't drive and why not?, at least when they have kids the ease and practcality of using the car for the school run or shopping is there.
Me it's a bit awkward been a mechanic without a license but i did work with one, freedom is nice.
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I first drove on public roads when i was thirteen years old and was car mad and therefore couldn't wait to pass my driving test upon reaching 17. I had 6 lessons including a 'tester' and then passed the test first time.
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You don't need a car in most parts of Manchester and especialy from next year when the Metrolink is expanded it will easily rival London for public transport. Most of Manchester have a local light rail station with frequent modern trams. If I worked 9-5 and didn't need a car for my job when I got there there is no way I would have a car now.
Over £200 a month is just too much for something which would be nothing more than a luxery. At the moment it is an essential luxery.
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Necessity.
Started off as something else to have on my CV at 17 with my Dad teaching me. He died six weeks before my test. Rural Northumberland is not a place to be with no car.
I drive less now than at any other time. I was a 50k miler a year for a few years. I now have a car and motorbike in the garage which have only covered 5000 miles between them in the last twelve months. Thank goodness for the Nürburgring on my doorstep else I might never take them out.
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I learned to drive because I got embarrassed at constantly cadging lifts off other people, and because I felt restricted in my freedom of action. I'm also fascinated by engineering in general - and auto engineering is the best!
TBH I have never really got the hang of driving. My only saving grace is that I know my limitations and put safety uppermost.
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I am pretty much the same. I went on the motorway the other day and got to upto 70 and elements confused me a bit. I need a lot more work before I can go on the motorway alone. I got upto 70 and had no problem with the speed and I did over take a few trucks but there are little things I am scared off
1) All the marking when joining can be a bit confusing.
2) I hate changing from 5th into 4th I always fear I will go into 2nd by accident.
On the plus side my little 1.1 Panda did not struggle one bit and I managed to get upto speed easily. At 70mph its as quiet and comfortable as anything. It really is remarkable for such a small car. On the downside over taking wasn't the easiest thing to do I felt like I needed a little bit more power but then I would have been breaking the speed limit no doubt.
Still I did actually enjoy it despite it all being new. From October I will need to go on the motorway a lot more.
The other thing which confuses me is major round abouts again in October I shall have to practice.
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That sounds positive Sheikha. You should strive for a fluid driving style, going your own way but fitting in with others.
For example, it isn't really the markings that matter when you are joining a motorway down a slip road. The markings will say that traffic already on the motorway has precedence. But the task in hand is to match speed with that traffic and slip into a space in it. Usually someone will cooperate, but not if they think you're going to get in the way and hold them up. Boldness is your friend. Remain vigilant however in case you meet a real idiot.
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Rattle, I think it's time you questioned whether you're really compatible with cars at all!
;-)
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Rattle, if you are confused by major roundabouts, go out at 5am on a sunday morning (night off the juice) and go round and round and round them. There will be no traffic and you'll soon get the hang of it.
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A genius with computer electronics but little mechanical sympathy... I'd have said thats quite common these days... I've always prided myself in being able to drive any new vehicle (to me) smoothly... so far so good... but this Meriva's taxing me!
A little tip for you Rattle, and one i told my eldest daughter and she found useful... I think that you'll find that you gear lever is sprung so it always ends up in the middle if you knock it into neutral... you will then find if you push the lever forward it will be in 3rd and backward in 4th... so if you are in 5th and want to change down to 4th knock it into neutral and then pull it backwards, don't force it... and hey presto, 4th!
The other thing is not to be heavy handed with the gear changes... when Fi was learning she was always struggling to get the gearchange smooth and was quite rough with them... I took her out one day and showed her that it was possible to change gear with one finger (!)... be gentle and smooth, easy gear changes will then come naturally... the days of notchy gearboxes have (in the main) long gone... and RELAX!
Last edited by: hobby on Tue 20 Jul 10 at 09:34
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I did manage to change witthout any problems my fear is changing into wrong gear at 30mph isn't a problem, doing at 70mph could easily risk something going into the back of me.
The idea about roundabouts is a good one. I know all the rules of the motroways and rounabouts but the problem with driving is knowledge and experience are completly different things.
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>> I did manage to change witthout any problems my fear is changing into wrong gear
>> at 30mph isn't a problem, doing at 70mph could easily risk something going into the
>> back of me.
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1. Have you tried my suggestion... if it is weighted to 3rd/4th then you shouldn't have a problem...
and, more importantly,
2. Why on earth are you changing down from 5th to 4th at 70? It must be a real wimp of an engine if you really need to do that... even my daughters 60bhp 1.4 Polo engine didn't need that!
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Rattle:
You may or may not want to hear my advice but:
I do understand your fear about Roundabouts I hate them personally but if you think about them logically and just be aware of other people racing round or trying to cut you up you will be fine, there is no avoiding them.
My Biggest bug bear about roundabouts is three things
1) People racing round them like its a race track so you don’t have time to do your manoeuvre
2) people not indicating
3) if your going straight ahead in the left lane, there is usually someone who tries to overtake and push in, in the right lane.
As for motorways there is nothing more easy, as you just have to match your speed with everyone else, and you all go in the same direction. again just watch out for idiots (Mr Audi Q7 who seems to think that its ok to come stonking up the right hand side lane (inside??) on the M180 Sunday Evening whilst I’m trying negotiate a young lady who deemed it fit to pull out into the middle lane for no reason at 50mph)
Other than that, its easy peasy,
Last edited by: Redviper on Tue 20 Jul 10 at 12:27
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Ref Gear Changes
My Driving instructor taught me, to cup my hand on the left hand side of the gear stick when changing up a gear, (except from 1st to Second where your hand would be on the right to prevent you from selecting 4th) and cup your hand to the right of the stick when changing down (except from 5th to 4th to allow a smooth transition into 4th), that you way if you feel where the stick goes in the gaiter you will never ever get it wrong.
He also taught me the art of being relaxed when doing it, and gear changes with your little finger, that way mistakes are rare.
And do you know what? He was right.
Last edited by: Redviper on Tue 20 Jul 10 at 12:41
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I probably wasn't doing 70 but I had to over take a lorry, I probably would have been fine in 5th but the little FIAT engines like to rev so I thought it would be safer to go into 4th.
Isn't their average speed cameras down the M180? My dad has to go down there a lot and has often clocked people doing over 100mph in front of the cameras.
At the moment do I avoid the big roundabouts but I realise I can't keep doing that.
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>> Isn't their average speed cameras down the M180?
I didnt think so but whether there is or not, it didnt seem to bother Mr Audi Q7
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>> >> Isn't their average speed cameras down the M180?
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>> I didnt think so but whether there is or not, it didnt seem to bother
>> Mr Audi Q7
>>
Here's a map of speed cameras. www.speedcameramap.co.uk/
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Freedom, enhanced opportunities with the opposite sex, and growing up loving cars, I wanted to get behind the wheel of one ASAP. I was 17 years, 2 months and 28 days old when I passed.
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>> Here's a map of speed cameras. www.speedcameramap.co.uk/
>>
a very usefull tool
No Camera's on the M180 - I thought there wasn’t, as I didn’t think I was that unobservant.
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Dad was a petrolhead, it was expected of me.
Not that I needed any persuading with the freedom it gave and the massively improved chances of pulling.
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I've been desperately trying to remember why I learnt to drive and I can't. It was just something that I did. You turned seventeen, you learnt to drive.
My mum learnt to drive when she was young but never drove once when I was a kid. She always talked about taking a couple or refresher lessons but never got round to it. Sadly, she passed away in 1993 so never got the chance to get back behind the wheel.
My step-son passed his test and ran a car for a couple of years but now lives and works in Manchester and, as Sheikh Ratollah says, has no need for a car. My step-daughter also lives and works in Manchester and could, if she's honest, survive without a car but I'm glad that she has one as I don't like the idea of her walking to or from work in the dark. I'm also glad as she's very often the designated driver when we all go out for a meal when she comes home to visit :-)
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Well, I have been driving about 55 years now and still get a thrill every time I sit in my car and turn that ignition key. I treat driving as an art form and hope, as a result, I am a better driver for it - but we all think that, don't we?
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Why did you learn to drive? - nice but dim
