RobH1
Well-Known Member
Six month wait for test- 20 attempts, 10 years?
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The UK Driving Test
- Thread starter Black Hole
- Start date
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Sounds a bit lenient, but I'd vote for it!
It strikes me people would put in a lot more training and practice before their test if there was a penalty for failing.
It strikes me people would put in a lot more training and practice before their test if there was a penalty for failing.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I saw a learner Tesla the other day, and the daughter next door to me is only learning automatic on the basis that all cars will be electric (automatic) in the near future so why learn manual?
That's OK if the furthest you want to take it is 150 miles or so...
That's OK if the furthest you want to take it is 150 miles or so...
RobH1
Well-Known Member
A neighbour has a new Jaguar i-pace and wanted to travel from Cumbria to Southampton. Decided to travel by train due to range anxiety!
prpr
Well-Known Member
Doesn't that involve not-getting-there-at-all-anxiety? And being-stranded-in-the-middle-of-nowhere anxiety? Especially on a Sunday, especially in the North?
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
I'm near Southampton and going to Keswick with my daughter next year. Going to be a nightmare drive - Friday both ways, estimating about 8 hours. But trying to use public transport (even sans luggage) world be worse.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Could have been cheaper to hire a proper car, especially if it involved more than one person.
I don't see many!
That's probably the future, whether electric or sustainable fuels, they're likely to be automatic. I recently got an auto after only having manuals before, and I hate it. Can't wait to get rid and back to driving properly (and get an older car without all the assistants).
For people learning now though, the 5-10 year old small cars that are easiest to get and insure are most likely going to be manual so I think it's a bit early to go for an auto licence.
Asked my two about their tests in the past few years - one got asked to explain how to check over tyres (while standing outside the car), the other was asked to show how to check the brake fluid.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Did you do an emergency stop?
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
Do you make a habit of looking inside cars to see what type of shifter they have?
They haven't put 'Automatic' labels on the outside for decades, but they do tend to label hybrids and they are (I think) mostly automatic.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
There are plenty of small autos around. Yes, not as many as manual cars, but not hard to find.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
What did you get? As with most things there are good, bad and ugly.
Ford never seem to have got the hang of a decent auto other than the BW type (their latest is commonly nicknamed the "Powershit"). We had a Fiesta and an Escort many years ago - the Fiesta was awful, the Escort liveable, but I never went back to Ford again (except the Mustang, but that was a US import with the BW type transmission).
prpr
Well-Known Member
I've only driven autos in the USA/Canada. It's the lack of engine braking from being able to select a gear that I hate. As an example, I was driving down the Sonora pass in CA (about 9k feet high) and was constantly on the brakes. I was concerned by the building hot smell, and even more when I could see faint wisps outside the window, so decided to stop for 20 minutes about half way down to let things cool down (it was very cold outside as it was early June and lots of snow still around (which had prevented going over the Tioga pass)). The thought of further damage/losing the brakes was not terribly appealing and proceeded down the second half slower than the first. I don't know how likely this is but didn't want to find out.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I'm talking about the range of cars I've had access to over many years. Ignoring my drives in Canada, I think the number of autos count 2.
OK auto fanboy. Automatics are simply not driver's cars, so if you don't take pleasure in the skill of driving you'll never understand.
I see cars in front all the time, apparently braking without reason, and I can only think they're autos and lifting the foot has not produced sufficient slowing. I think you'll hate electrics too – too much "engine braking" due to KERS (unless you turn it off).
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
That's unusual. Most autos have some way to increase engine braking though how varies. You might need the handbook - which if it was a hire car probably wasn't present anyway ...
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
A commonly held belief, which is why I'm curious about af's choice.
Most autos and EVs are set up by default to give similar engine braking to a manual. (EVs often have settings or controls to increase or decrease it per driver's desire.)
Bear in mind that few people work down the gears these days (I think it's actually been deprecated in some advice), so much of the time manual drivers have no engine braking at all.
RobH1
Well-Known Member
He travelled first class to London and changed there, no problem he said.
RobH1
Well-Known Member
I'll wave to you from the bridge at Jct 40 on the M6, while you sit for an hour or so!