why did nobody tell me that driving hurts?

[mickycapri]

just done 5 hours of driving instruction and now i feel like i've slipped a disk
on the god side though, my instructor told me that i'll probably pass after 20 hours of instruction and plenty of practice taking vicky to college and back

[STEVE SB]

What are you learning in?
I can drive the capri for 14 hrs no problem, 1 1/2 hours in the audi and i feel like i have done a maraton.
some cars are more comfortable than others.

[Bug]

Like all new drivers under instruction, I bet it's just nervous tension!
You can always tell a new driver cos they sit like they've just had a poker up the khyber!
When you get more confident you'll relax and be more comfortable.

[rich_jc]

I did 650 miles in a focus the other day, I felt a little sore, but not too bad. Our old Audi used to hurt, very uncomfortable seats.

Rich

[andrewg1323]

The Audis gone Rich? What you got now?

[mickycapri]

learning in the instructors corsa, tried to do 70 on the dual carriage way... just wasn't happening very well if at all lol foot was nearly through the floor

[nigecapri]

probably pass after 20 hours of instruction

What he really means by this is that he wants you to pay his wages for twenty hours before he's prepared to let you use his car for your test.
Learn the theory stuff from the book like your life depends on it (it might do one day) signs & stopping distances etc. and get your practice for the price of fuel rather than his wages. You will need lessons but not necessarily 20. How much do they cost these days??



p.s. If you're an absolute crap driver then just pay the man

[mk3spitfire]

i passed last year, and i was paying 19 quid an hour. most people i know were paying between 18-25 an hour. then you have to make sure that you're paying for a full hour, and not getting fobbed off with 45 minutes because of your intrsuctors 'travel time' or something. a test is 57 quid i think, plus at least 2 hours of paying for your instructors car. an hour to practice before the test, and i think the test was roughly 40 minutes or something. so thats roughly over 100 quid a test, not cheap if you fail and have to do it again. the theory was a piece of piss, more common sense and concentration than anything else. i think i only dropped about 5 marks from 70 or something.

cant say i ever hurt doing my lessons. i'd appreciate the stretch of my legs when i got out, but then i only done 2 hour stints, as quite frankly i got bored after about an hour. i started learning in a 2.0 turbo diesel pug308 or something i think, felt like a rocket ship to a learner driver like me, but too powerful to learn in properly. then he traded it in for a new 1.1 punto, and it was horrific. the most gutless thing ive ever had the pleasure of being on the same continent as. i eventually changed instructors as i failed a couple of times, and passed in a new astra, which was pretty nice.

[capri_sam]

I learnt to drive in a Missan Micra. THAT was painful. Firstly for my ego, secondly because I'm 6'1" and fairly broad, it was like trying to fit inside a Little Tyke... I ended up buying a 1.7 n/a diesel corsa. Was a brilliant little car. Slow as hell but quite torquey for a new driver in 1st-3rd. Could fit in everything that I took up to uni and back three times a year, could fit enough camping gear for a week for in the boot with three on the back seats, and would get 800 miles out of a tank (I think it had been tuned for economy at some point in the past) at 17 year old motorway driving speeds (as fast as it would go- 95!), never let me down once and was very cheap and easy to maintain.

Couldn't afford to keep two cars though so common sense left me completely and I sold it and kept my 18mpg monster 3.0s.

[Paul.Yeomans]

i learned in a astra,

my knee used to shake a bit when i first started and when i 1st went on a fast road, i could hardley control the car.

i did find i used to be a bit sore, but i think that just because normally when ur in the passenger seat your feet are flat and you arms are just resting on your lap etc.

learn your theory and get its passed asap,

when you do go for your test, i did all the oil checks and eye sight things as quick as i could and set off straight away, as all the people taking tests were on a hill, and if i go to the top first where it was flat, everyone else would have to do a hill start after 30 seconds of driving.

Paul.

[NewbieFord]

I learnt in a 2010 polo diesal and i remember the amount of times i would pull up at my grans, take the capri out and follow her up the lane until my instructor left, then coming back again coz i had always fettled with something before she picked me up for a lesson, drove her mad to see me drive behind with one arm on the steering wheel and laid back lol! so much more comfortable than being bolt upright though, i feel sick in a car if i drive like the way i had to for my driving test, plus anything taller than my capri makes feel really nauscaiuos

[Ghia15]

I learnt in a diesel fiesta, fairly comfortable but felt so cheap and nasty I thought i was going to break the controls every time i used them.

I used to love going for practice with my mum in the capri, just get the millage in and use the instructor for the fine tuning and teaching the manouvers and highway code.

20 hours sounds about the average for learners but everyone is different.

Good luck

[seatofmepants]

i always smile when i see learner drivers tootling along in the town at 15mph...with a look of terror on their face.

their always arched forward in their seat, eyes wide like a scared deer and if you look close enough you can just see the steering wheels leather tearing as they perform a japanese death grip on it.

add to that a driving instructor that keeps flicking from boredom to terror and randomly grabbing the steering wheel whenever he feels like it and youve got a funny funny scene

i only laugh because when i was learning i know i looked exactly the same

[nigecapri]

When I was having lessons the instructor reached over to move the steering wheel just as I moved it - I wondered what the hell he was up to as I was sat in the driver's seat and steering the car quite adequately, especially as the old Talbot Sunbeam's wheel was very light compared to my Dad's old S type Jag
I had no idea that some people didn't have a clue how to steer a car and needed the instructor to help them. It still bewilders me when I see it (quite often - test route in Cov is on my round) there should be a mandatory offroad track for learners to practice operating the car before they're let loose on the roads