Stupid things non petrolheads say... Vol 2

[PixelpeepS3]

my sister...

"i want to buy another car this one is too slow"

to be fair its a 1.6 Focus so not the quickest car in the world - i was quite impressed that she seemed to be going all petrol head on me.

that was, until i went out in the car with her a week later...

the revs didn't go above 1500rpm before she changed gear....(1st-5th)

"Laura, let the revs get a little higher before you change gear, you'll get more speed out of the car!!"

ohhhhh no she said, the engine makes a right old noise and it's not good for it..

--slaps forehead--

[CanAm]

PixelpeepS3 said:

my sister...

"i want to buy another car this one is too slow"

to be fair its a 1.6 Focus so not the quickest car in the world - i was quite impressed that she seemed to be going all petrol head on me.

that was, until i went out in the car with her a week later...

the revs didn't go above 1500rpm before she changed gear....(1st-5th)

"Laura, let the revs get a little higher before you change gear, you'll get more speed out of the car!!"

ohhhhh no she said, the engine makes a right old noise and it's not good for it..

--slaps forehead--

Did she learn to drive in a diesel by any chance?

[CanAm]

Strudul said:

Only milk and juice come in 2 litres.

There's no replacement for displacement.

Or, "The only thing that beats cubic inches is cubic feet!"

[Utterpiffle]

CanAm said:

id she learn to drive in a diesel by any chance?

I guess this is a common thing now, when instructors use diesel cars to teach. Dipsy office girl upstairs passed her driving test 2 weeks ago. She learned in a fiesta diesel, then bought a 1 litre Yaris. She couldn't pull away in it, stalled every time. Had no concept of pressing the accelerator until the clutch was out. That's how I was taught, she said.

She's since pranged it twice in car parks, and phoned me in panic asking whether the car was safe to drive after a hub cap fell off.

Edited by Utterpiffle on Monday 17th July 12:19

[MorganP104]

Blown2CV said:

so what you are saying is you pulled a girl and then got in your car. So what the fk does that have to do with what i said??

Up until she saw both our cars (his = poo brown MkI Astra, mine = bright red XR3i), the girl was showing an equal amount of interest in both me and my mate (hence my comment she was hedging her bets).

As soon as she clapped eyes on my highly polished Dagenham dustbin, she made a beeline for the fake Recaro on the passenger side.

I'm pretty sure that if the cars had been reversed (me with the crappy Astra, him with the shiny XR3i), my mate would have ended up with the girl.

Capisce?

[CanAm]

Utterpiffle said:

I guess this is a common thing now, when instructors use diesel cars to teach. Dipsy office girl upstairs passed her driving test 2 weeks ago. She learnt in a fiesta diesel, then bought a 1 litre Yaris. She couldn't pull away in it, stalled every time. Had no concept of pressing the accelerator until the clutch was out. That's how I was taught, she said.

This is also a common thing now, apparently. There was a link on PH a while ago to a Forum called The Student Room. It was full of youngsters complaining that they just couldn't drive petrol-engined cars.

[codenamecueball]

CanAm said:

This is also a common thing now, apparently. There was a link on PH a while ago to a Forum called The Student Room. It was full of youngsters complaining that they just couldn't drive petrol-engined cars.

I began to learn in a in a diesel, then a petrol, then another petrol, then finally a diesel that I passed in. Definitely took me all of about twenty seconds to get used to the clutch and revs on the petrol car I bought 2 days later.

[Integroo]

CanAm said:

Utterpiffle said:

I guess this is a common thing now, when instructors use diesel cars to teach. Dipsy office girl upstairs passed her driving test 2 weeks ago. She learnt in a fiesta diesel, then bought a 1 litre Yaris. She couldn't pull away in it, stalled every time. Had no concept of pressing the accelerator until the clutch was out. That's how I was taught, she said.

This is also a common thing now, apparently. There was a link on PH a while ago to a Forum called The Student Room. It was full of youngsters complaining that they just couldn't drive petrol-engined cars.

I learned four years ago. I was taught to do manoeuvres without using the accelerator. When I started practising in my parents petrol Punto, I stalled a lot. Though it doesn't take too long to get the hang of things ...

[Jonno02]

CanAm said:

This is also a common thing now, apparently. There was a link on PH a while ago to a Forum called The Student Room. It was full of youngsters complaining that they just couldn't drive petrol-engined cars.

I was on that forum many years ago and was categorically told by about 10 users that I was a total liar that my car could move using only the clutch. IIRC the consensus was "Only supercars with around 500bhp can move off using only the clutch." a 1.4 Corsa C was making 600bhp, who knew?

[CanAm]

Jonno02 said:

CanAm said:

This is also a common thing now, apparently. There was a link on PH a while ago to a Forum called The Student Room. It was full of youngsters complaining that they just couldn't drive petrol-engined cars.

I was on that forum many years ago and was categorically told by about 10 users that I was a total liar that my car could move using only the clutch. IIRC the consensus was "Only supercars with around 500bhp can move off using only the clutch." a 1.4 Corsa C was making 600bhp, who knew?

These days the majority seem to be taught in small cars with slow revving diesel engines using nice heavy flywheels so moving off without touching "the gas", as they insist on calling it, seems to be the norm.

[DickyC]

CanAm said:

These days the majority seem to be taught in small cars with slow revving diesel engines using nice heavy flywheels so moving off without touching "the gas", as they insist on calling it, seems to be the norm.

I delivered a Subaru WRX to a lad in his twenties who did that. He insisted there was something wrong with it. Since passing his test he'd driven diesel vans. Mind you, normally in those circumstances I fear for my life. Not that time.

[Oliverrun]

CanAm said:

These days the majority seem to be taught in small cars with slow revving diesel engines using nice heavy flywheels so moving off without touching "the gas", as they insist on calling it, seems to be the norm.

Would be interesting to see how they'd cope with something like a Carrera GT...light flywheel, fast revving, counterintuitive anti-stall system...

[IanCress]

My petrol engine Kuga adds a few revs as soon as you start to lift the clutch, so it's very easy to move away without touching the throttle. This is done electronically, using a clutch sensor which detects when you're lifting the clutch.

My petrol Honda Civic does no such thing, and if you try and pull away with no throttle you will likely stall.

All cars are different and drivers need to be able to adapt.

[PixelpeepS3]

the i3 has so much regeneration off throttle that it will just sit there, in drive, going no where lol

[IanCress]

PixelpeepS3 said:

the i3 has so much regeneration off throttle that it will just sit there, in drive, going no where lol

I hope that's a joke

[Alex_225]

IanCress said:

My petrol engine Kuga adds a few revs as soon as you start to lift the clutch, so it's very easy to move away without touching the throttle. This is done electronically, using a clutch sensor which detects when you're lifting the clutch.

That's interesting, so it almost makes a modern car like that 'un-stallable'. My last daily car that was a petrol/manual was a Megane 225 and that was not forgiving with the clutch. Either get it right or it over revved or stalled. I liked it because you had to really learn how to drive it right. Same as blipping the throttle on down changes yet I'm aware cars like the 370Z do that for you too!

[Flibble]

Alex_225 said:

That's interesting, so it almost makes a modern car like that 'un-stallable'. My last daily car that was a petrol/manual was a Megane 225 and that was not forgiving with the clutch. Either get it right or it over revved or stalled. I liked it because you had to really learn how to drive it right. Same as blipping the throttle on down changes yet I'm aware cars like the 370Z do that for you too!

My GT86 is like that; I've never stalled a car so often, because it has no rev assistance and a light flywheel. I could get auto-blips mapped in, but I'm used to doing it myself now. Still stall it about once a week even now.

[forzaminardi]

Having learnt to drive in a Mk1 Micra, then used my mum's Toyota Starlet for a year or so, I was most impressed when I found mum's new Mk1 Punto would pull away with no throttle if you lightly lifted the clutch. I wasn't sure why that should impress me, and I'm not sure why it would now, but evidently I'm not alone.

[meehaja]

I'm going to nominate myself...

My interest in cars developed late, so at 17, when I passed my test, I had no real idea about cars and driving (except what I'd learnt in lessons). My first car was a mk2 1.1 fiesta popular plus. It had a 4 speed box. The fear knob showed 1st as straight up, 2nd straight down, 3rd up and right and 4th down and right (can you see where this is going?)

My stupid thing a non petrol head said was "I think my car is broken", strangely this prophecy came true about 2 weeks later when the poor clutch gave up. Who'd have thought setting off in 3rd, taking it to 50mph then going for fourth to about 70 Then putting it back in third would break it!

I'm my defense I was just following the markings on the gear knob!

[Ransoman]

My Dad, yesterday I was fitting some decat manifolds to my Alfa GT v6:

Dad "I take it you are doing this to make it louder?"
Me: "That's one of the reasons yes"
Dad "It's already too loud, why would you wan't to make it any louder, it's just a normal saloon car"
Me: "...."