Learner driver car

joolsveer

What car is best for learning to drive in?

My guess would be a small car with good visibility, light controls and steering, reliable, petrol engined, small turning circle, good driver seat adjustment, easy to judge front and rear.

I'm probably describing something like a Micra or a Yaris. Anyone got any suggestions?

I did my test in a Golf diesel but I don't think it was the best for the role.

Gary ITR

I like the VW Polo, good car and shouldn't let you down

joolsveer

One problem I had when driving a Corsa was that the pedals were offset to the left giving me a cramp in the hip. Do any other cars suffer from pedal issues.

I suppose the car should be a manual rather than an automatic?

Stark

I found the Ford Fiesta and the Volkswagen Polo were both very easy to drive.

I drove a Micra for a bit, absolutely despised it. Gearbox kept jamming, brakes were ****, handling was ****, the car was **** in general. I hope it's in a lower circle of hell somewhere right now.

joolsveer

I have owned Fiat, VW, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot and Renault over the years and was not happy with reliability and servicing. Is there a single marque where the product and the main dealers are good?

Car Mad

i learned to drive me parents 1.9tdi toledo.best thing ever learning to drive in a high powered car.(means ull be able to handle one in future)

bazz26

joolsveer wrote:

I have owned Fiat, VW, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot and Renault over the years and was not happy with reliability and servicing. Is there a single marque where the product and the main dealers are good?

I'm on my 3rd Toyota and cannot fault the cars. They are very reliable, have a good warranty, aftersales service, and their resale value is very good. I find them to be very good to deal with especially if there is a problem. I would also put Mazda, Honda, Ford and Skoda into that company.

joolsveer

Car Mad wrote:

i learned to drive me parents 1.9tdi toledo.best thing ever learning to drive in a high powered car.(means ull be able to handle one in future)

What I was after really was the type of car to buy to use in a driving school business so I don't think high power would be a consideration. Durability and an ability to tolerate botched gear changes would be important though.

maidhc

bazz26 wrote:

I'm on my 3rd Toyota and cannot fault the cars. They are very reliable, have a good warranty, aftersales service, and their resale value is very good. I find them to be very good to deal with especially if there is a problem. I would also put Mazda, Honda, Ford and Skoda into that company.

The service you will get from a ford main dealer is very very poor compared to a toyota one, from my experience anyway.

I'd say a Yaris is an ideal car for a driving instructor. 1.0, fine view, and in the old ones the tester couldn't see the speedo!

A diesel would be a disaster, they are far too easy to stall.

Car Mad

u cud buy a mini iv seen tons of them around other ideas r colt,corsa,yaris,gtez

joolsveer

Car Mad wrote:

u cud buy a mini iv seen tons of them around other ideas r colt,corsa,yaris,gtez

I don't think I would go for a Corsa as I have had bad experiences with Opel. I don't know the gtez.

knifey_spoonie

Well i got my lessons in a new yaris, it was great, big mirrors, light steering, easy gear change...........but ill give you my final opinion when i do my test in one in 2 weeks

joolsveer

What is an average cost for driving lessons in the greater Dublin area? Do lessons generally last a full hour?

Stark

Around €35 is the average cost. Lessons generally last a full hour.

Irish Salfordia

joolsveer wrote:

What I was after really was the type of car to buy to use in a driving school business so I don't think high power would be a consideration. Durability and an ability to tolerate botched gear changes would be important though.

I have ben using the skoda fabia 1.9 straight diesel as a driving school car for three years now. After overcoming my knowledge of old skoda's, this has been the best driving school car i have had. After 75,000 miles, had replacement clutch at 60,000 (previous car was mazda 121/old type ford fiesta, and in 2 years and 50,000 had 3 clutches), but other than that a service every 10,000 miles and the odd wiper blade and tyre.

Very robust and reliable. Difficult to stall, easy to drive, great turning lock, big mirrors and good all round vision. I can't fault it and will probably go for same again in 2007

Royale with Cheese

Only started driving in the past few months. First car I drove was the instructor's Micra, the new model. After I finished lessons I started driving my mom's Focus, also the new model. After driving the Focus twice I realised how awful the Micra was to drive. Don't go near one.

colm_mcm

I would say a Yaris is probably the easiest car to learn to drive in. gear change is very easy, no push-down or pull-up jobbies for reverse. the clutch is light and gradual and all models (bar the hugely unpopular E model ) have very light power steering, There's a high driving position. Controls are logically placed too. which is a help!

downsides are that the driving instructor can't see what speed you're doing. and they're quite expensive.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

The Toyota Aygo/Peugeot 106/Citreon C1 are a nice small 1 litre car which would be lightish on the insurance.

(they're all practically the same car, built in the same factory, same components)

gyppo

I'd go along with the toyota. As Colm said, the Yaris might be a bit expensive.

I'd keep an eye out for one of the last model Starlets - nice easy clutch, precise gearchange, good driving position, and a nippy 1.3l engine.

colm_mcm

sean_keevey wrote:

The Toyota Aygo/Peugeot 106/Citreon C1 are a nice small 1 litre car which would be lightish on the insurance.

(they're all practically the same car, built in the same factory, same components)

Aygo only available from late 2005, so still a bit too much to be spending on a first car IMHO.

matrim

I've been learning to drive over the last couple of months and have been learning in a renault clio petrol and renault megan deisel.

The megan is a lovely car to drive. I've driven a few different cars aswell both petrol and deisel. I find deisel alot easier to drive. The only time I stall in the deisel is the occasionaly hill start. In the petrols, I can stall on normal starts.

delos

gyppo wrote:

I'd keep an eye out for one of the last model Starlets - nice easy clutch, precise gearchange, good driving position, and a nippy 1.3l engine.

Spot on! I learned to drive in a Starlet and it was only when I switched to a Cordoba (bad, bad move!)that I fully appreciated what a joy to drive the Starlet was

CyberGhost

I have Honda Civic 93, and I absolutely loved it as a learning car, i passed my driving license about 2 weeks ago with it too

It has a very good visibility, I like the not very sensitive clutch, and it eats very little gas.

After getting used to Civic, driving BMW 5 Series was really really hard, and visibility was aweful comprared to the little Honda.