What type of cars are best to learn in?

Dravokivich

starlit wrote: »

A small car 1 Litre is ideal to learn in. Yaris, Opel Corsas and Nissan Micra are good ones to learn in. Volkswagen golf or polo be good too. Ford Fiestas aren't too bad either. There's one from the Kia range that's good as well. I'd avoid a Peugeot they aren't as reliable as Toyota brand of cars.

I found a smaller car easier to learn in. Make sure they can see their blind-spots I learnt in one car an opel corsa and was not great for that as I am short and was cramped and not comfortable when driving. Not easy to adjust seat for my height preferred a Yaris for that. I found a Kia and Toyota Yaris much better and easier to handle and has a good boot as well for shopping. You get great use out of it for basic driving and just get you from A to B and is reliable and affordable.

I would say look at second hand cars from €5000 to €11000 depending how old you be willing to buy for both your wife to drive and the kids to learn. Good to invest in a car that might be 3-5 years old and only have to get NCT done every two years its when its every year might not be worth investing in even if servicing annually. A 10 year old car or more be more expensive to run its better spend more on the car itself even at second hand that you get more years out of than more than 10 years old though nothing wrong with them just expenses of running and insuring them will go up yearly.

Automatic cars aren't too bad but more expensive its more ideal to learn a manual and pass test in a manual and then drive an automatic.
Petrol is more sustainable than diesel depending where they drive when shopping and the kids learning to drive.

Best of luck and well wear!!

The age of the car doesn't always mean higher insurance. I've only had a licence a little over a year and bigger, older, were cheaper to insure than, smaller and newer.

loyatemu

the number of automatics on the road is going to rocket in the next few years - every hybrid and eCar is an auto. Learning on an auto would have been a problem 10 years ago but I don't think it will be a major hindrance to anyone learning to drive today.

fearrchair

loyatemu wrote:

the number of automatics on the road is going to rocket in the next few years - every hybrid and eCar is an auto. Learning on an auto would have been a problem 10 years ago but I don't think it will be a major hindrance to anyone learning to drive today.

That's probably true alright. It may make it easier to pass in an automatic but would a person be at a disadvantage for practice if they had no access to an auto, guess theres an instructors car, and more frequent practice. Or one could buy a auto car etc and get a full driver insured.

Agent Smith

RobAMerc wrote: »

I never mentioned doing the test, I was talking about learning to drive. No reason someone couldnt start in an auto - learn the basics and then leave the manual to when they are with the instructor ( having learned to drive properly first ) - try the test in a manual then if its something they want to do.
Far too much time is spent wondering which gear they should be in, looking for and thinking about the clutch and less time about road positioning, awareness, and observation when learning in a manual.

I recently passed my test and I think this is terrible advice. I can only Imagine going from driving an Automatic to a manual would be like learning all over again.


anyway, It's important to remeber that it's quite likely one of the kids will ding the car in someway, (wall, Kerb, another car)

I'd advise picking up a nice car for the wife, (Get her flowers too, she'll love that) and looking at a cheap car for the kids to learn in, where the chances of them wrecking your wifes car are void.

adunis

I learned to drive in a Guy big J4.
My kids all learned to drive in a 35 year old range rover,
One passed her driving test 1st go at 17
2nd one now races hotrods very successfully at 15
3rd one isn't really interested but then she's only 12.
My point is the vehicle doesn't matter a toss if you learn to operate it properly,learning to drive is a totally different thing to operating said yoke.
Unfortunately many people in this country seem to have bypassed that last bit.