Nicest driving school car in my part of the world is my friends '06 Golf GT Tdi. With heated black leather seats! In a previous post, I was tempted to buy it, but he has decided to pass it on to his wife...now with just over 150k on the clock and still in immaculate condition. It will shortly be replaced by an A3 Tdi Sport.
I passed my test in the early '70s in a Triumph Toledo, and then hankered after a Dolomite Sprint which a lucky friend owned.
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Worst one was a 1.0 3pot Corsa B with no PAS. Why put a learner under so much torture?
By far the best ADI car I had was a Mark 2 Phase 2 clio, prefered it to the MK3 which felt far too heavy with its 1.2 16v engine.
Seen a Honda Civic Type R ADI car near me. Most of them these days are Minis though.
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Worst one was a 1.0 3pot Corsa B with no PAS. Why put a learner under so much torture?
Because anything they drive afterwards will feel easy in comparison. Try doing your HGV 3 (as it then was) in a Bedford MK, then you'll know what heavy steering is!
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good points Harleyman however i put my d series forward for no power steering as the worst truck ever known
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Hehe, the torture was no torque in the engine, I don't know if it was faulty but unless you put the clutch down at the exact right moment it would stall. That said my 1.2 16v B is a little too easy to stall.
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Back in the 1960's and early 70's the Austin/Morris 1100/1300 was a popular choice as a driving school car and being an early FWD, they could be very unforgiving if you got the clutch/throttle balance wrong !
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A year or three back, I watched a TV program about the German autobahns. One segment was about the driving requirements, and it said that, for a full licence, the student has to demonstrate safe driving at 200 km/hr. Maybe that was why a decent Merc was in evidence.
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Triumph Herald.
Fantastic glass area and all four corners clearly visible.
(The speedier version was aptly called a 'Vitesse', showing someone did O Level French)
HJ
Edited by Honestjohn on 30/05/2009 at 14:51
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BSM Maestro 1.3 LX. In those days (1992) BSM were mostly using Metros, but for some reason I ended up having lessons with the branch/area manager, who had the Maestro.
The Maestro felt modern and nimble, because I'd taken my first dozen lessons with my father..... in his Volvo 240 DL.
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My uncle used to instruct using Heralds. He liked the way you could access the gearbox easily from inside the car. The clutch could be changed very quickly without grovelling underneath.
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>> you could access the gearbox easily from inside the car.
Not just that, but the bonnet and front wings swivelled forward in one piece (and could be taken off altogether) giving total access to engine and all ancillaries, front suspension, everything.
Jack Brabham's garage used to sell a 'Brabham Herald' with a Coventry Climax engine and the back suspension restrained by straps to prevent the worst excesses of swing-axle handling on bumpy corners. Quite fancied one of those but I don't think I've ever seen one.
I have good memories of Heralds although I never owned one. As HJ says they had an airy cabin with very good visibility, quite different from today's cars which can feel surprisingly claustrophobic and dark inside. They were willing and the oversteer in my hands was of the entertaining variety and never frightening. However people occasionally got into bad trouble with them.
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I don't understand the cars that instructors choose these days.
All those Corsas, not very easy to drive and visibilty is poor.
If I was an instructor, I would go for a Panda Active 1.1. Very cheap, very easy to drive, good visibilty and small enough for anyone to manoeuvre.
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>Jack Brabham's garage used to sell a 'Brabham Herald' with a Coventry Climax engine and the back suspension restrained by straps to prevent the worst excesses of swing-axle handling on bumpy corners. Quite fancied one of those but I don't think I've ever seen one.<
IIRC they only produced about a dozen. I guess the great man sold more Brabham Vivas later on, when the mods were just a bigger carb and a couple of go-faster stripes.
Meanwhile...
Corsa 1.0 without power steering? Goodness, they do make the youngsters suffer these days. ;-)
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HUGE discounts, my dad's an instructor and has recently bought a new Corsa diesel when he knew the new fiesta was coming out i think he's missing out on an extra 12mpg or so which with the miles he covers would be paid in about a month for the extra outlay on the comfortable, practical non-annoying indicatored fiesta...(my mum has his old fiesta mk6 and i actually want that with it's 90k miles on it more then his shiny Corsa and he's confused as to why.)
Nicest i've seen was a 1st lotus driving school elise :)
Edited by Pizza man on 01/06/2009 at 04:48
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Not just that but the bonnet and front wings swivelled forward in one piece (and could be taken off altogether) giving total access to engine and all ancillaries front suspension everything.
The Herald was probably one of the last mainstream designs to use a separate chassis as opposed to a monocoque construcion, hence the ability to peel away most of the bodywork. It was also easy to turn it into a convertible as the body was not structurally integral as is the case in a monocoque design. Wouldn't fancy crashing one though............
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My Herald was crashed 3 times. Twice, at low speed, into something in front (neither of these accidents by me) and once hit from the nearside rear quarter by a bus, which span it through 90 degrees and left it sitting on the pavement (my fault).
Tougher than you would think.
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hit from the nearside rear quarter by a bus, which span it through 90 degrees
Something almost identical happened to me in the Marylebone Rd dc, in a hired Herald. I was a bit early on the green, still coming up to the lights as they changed, and a Triumph 2000 coming from the left crossed well into the red. I saw it coming and tried to accelerate out of the way but it caught the rear wing just behind the wheel. We spun 180 degrees - the road was wet I think - but didn't hit anything and apart from the dent in the wing the car was unaffected.
The driver of the Triumph knew it was mainly his fault and said he had 'just come in off the M1'. The hire company, when I called, simply asked laconically if I needed another car. I said I didn't, and that was that.
Edited by Lud on 30/05/2009 at 22:08
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Triumph Herald. Fantastic glass area and all four corners clearly visible.
seconded, the convertible was even better
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I learnt in a Nova 1500 TD - I always remember it being a little quicker than other friends who were learning in Micras and Fiestas. (Petrol)
Guy here uses an Audi A3, and a few others have Focus's (Foci ?)
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I learnt in a Nova 1500 TD
Learned to drive in a 1.0 litre C reg Metro (1985).
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I never had a paid for lesson when I learned to drive in late '61/early'62. My dad had 3 (or it might have been 4) Triumph Heralds one after the other and he was on his first when the time came for me to get a licence. We just used to go for a drive at night when he got home from work and the Herald almost seemed to drive itself. After about 6 weeks my dad reckoned that I was ready for my test and I duly passed first time so for me the Herald wins the accolade every time.
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i was driving through basildon as you do a few years back and somebody was being taught to drive in a harold, the weird thing was the back seat passenger kept leaning forward and with a great crunching of gears kept changing them for the driver,i nearly shouted out of the window to the driver its the pedal on the left but didnt fancy some ryhming slang up me doobery so kept stum
it all happened as you passed the ford tractor plant for anyone who knew the area
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blimey bellboy, that takes me back ..i was working in basildon (laindon) bout 25 yeas ago
not far from the tractor plant ..you couldnt miss it ,it had one of those large water towers on stilts with the ford logo on the side, i couldnt wait to get back to the midlands where people are people, and as a result i've never been able to watch east enders
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thats the one zookeeper forgot about the tower
my uncle worked there or the car plant? not sure if there was a car plant but he worked for ford and got an anglia at preferential terms ,he had it that long it was like triggers brush as only the roof was original in the end
he worked the night shift and used to tell the story he and a gang never worked but played cards all night hemmed in by crates so were never seen between clock ins
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I see AA and BSM are now using Focus Titaniums which has to be about as good a car as you'll find in a driving school.
Interesting choice of model, and I think some are metallics.
They must be trying to make their cars harder to spot at sale time.
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They must be trying to make their cars harder to spot at sale time.
How easy to hide dual control?
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very easy
ive been fooled if the pedals have been taken off but the linkages are still there,you dont often realise till your passenger feet hits them
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