What car did you learn to drive in?

[Nanook]

I'm not sure how much anyone really learns when they start driving a car, especially anything post-1980. You really start to pick up more when you learn to drive a truck. My first truck was a 20-tonne '70s Kenworth with an 11-speed Road Ranger crash gearbox...

I have to agree. The FJ40 I learnt in was a non synchronous box so it took some getting used to. My uncle taught me to drive his Scania at 16 which was a steep learning curve. That taught me more than any car would.

I still love my manuals but my current Jeep has a ZF 8 speed auto and it is so much easier to control on sand than my previous 6 speed manual Wrangler.

 

[Nanook]

Inspired by a post from @Gargravarr and the response from @neongas, I started to wonder - What car did you learn to drive in?

Before my mother's nerves gave up (a long story) I started to learn to drive in our 1972 (?) Volkwsagen Type 3 Station wagon. Something like this (although without those fancy wheels) -


Red 1972 Volkswagen Squareback by Steven Maginnis, on Flickr

I think it was advanced and had a semi-automatic choke, you pulled it out when first driving but no need to manually push it back in. Manual, of course, I think 4 speed.

Now over to you!

One of the worst road accidents I've ever seen involved one of these. It wrapped around a telegraph pole, the driver cut in half by the steering wheel, front passenger's body so twisted so he was facing the back. The young girl in the back seat was the lucky one. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown out the rear window and was caught on a barbwire fence. A part from a few cuts, she ripped her jeans on the fence.

 

[Gargravarr]

One of the worst road accidents I've ever seen involved one of these. It wrapped around a telegraph pole, the driver cut in half by the steering wheel, front passenger's body so twisted so he was facing the back. The young girl in the back seat was the lucky one. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown out the rear window and was caught on a barbwire fence. A part from a few cuts, she ripped her jeans on the fence.

I've heard a few people complain that the old VWs were terribly unsafe, but I always give them sort shrift and tell them they've no business blaming the car for their terrible driving. In fact, the best car maintenance manual ever written, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot (which BTW is a real delight to read, even if you don't own a car) says something along the lines of "everybody would be a lot safer if they drove as if they were strapped to the front of their car like an Aztec sacrifice".

 

[Nanook]

I've heard a few people complain that the old VWs were terribly unsafe, but I always give them sort shrift and tell them they've no business blaming the car for their terrible driving. In fact, the best car maintenance manual ever written, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot (which BTW is a real delight to read, even if you don't own a car) says something along the lines of "everybody would be a lot safer if they drove as if they were strapped to the front of their car like an Aztec sacrifice".

Any car is unsafe at the speed they were going. They passed me in a 100 zone like I was standing still. I didn't even see it happen. A few hundred meters down the road, there was a huge cloud of dust and it had come sudden stop when he lost control and hit a pole.

 

[Gargravarr]

Any car is unsafe at the speed they were going. They passed me in a 100 zone like I was standing still. I didn't even see it happen. A few hundred meters down the road, there was a huge cloud of dust and it had come sudden stop when he lost control and hit a pole.

That reminds me of one New Year's Eve in Perth when I was overtaken at speed on Roe St by a 4WD towing a boat. Next thing I knew there was an almighty bang from ahead and a huge shower of sparks as he lost it and took out a high voltage power pole while attempting to turn left. He completely fried himself and his passengers, along with the occupants of another car that was nearby. Just a few seconds and I could have been in the middle of it.