New car before test

The Young Wan

I'm a named driver on my Mam's car (1.3L Clio). She's going to trade it in in a few weeks for a Corsa or Yaris. My Dad has told me these are somewhat easier cars to drive, but I don't feel so sure.

I haven't passed my test yet, and I've refrained from doing it in Dublin because I won't know the roads well and I won't be as used to the car. If she does change soon, I won't have a lot of time to get used to the car.

Do you think this could have an impact on my test?

endacl

Nah. They all drive similarly. Take it out a few times and you'll be grand.

The Young Wan

endacl wrote: »

Nah. They all drive similarly. Take it out a few times and you'll be grand.

The thing is, I don't live at home anymore so it's not as easy to hop into the car.

dennyk

Driving shouldn't be too big of an issue, but you will want to practice beforehand to get used to the throttle, brake, clutch, and gears, otherwise you will be sloppy on the test and likely get marked for it. Even driving an automatic, it takes me a few hours to get fully comfortable with a new car's controls, just because of muscle memory (your brain knows to push just so on the brake pedal to stop this fast, etc...). Luckily it doesn't take all that long to retrain your brain on a new vehicle.

One other thing: make sure you learn how to operate all of the secondary controls (climate control, demister, lights, etc.) on the new car, as some may be different and you'll be quizzed on a random set of controls on your test day.

NYCKILDARE

You should be fine, I got into an instructors car on the morning of my test that I'd never been in before or any car like it and I had no problems at all in it