What car did you pass your test in?
Discussion
Failed my first test, in the old man's Mk1 1100L Escort, back in about 1978 - the examiner reckoned I was approaching junctions too fast, but I think he was annoyed because just after the emergency stop, I bounced him off the dashboard 
Remember this is in the days before compulsory seatbelts, and he says turn left at the end of the (quite long) road. He's filling in his paperwork, and looking down, and didn't see the kid run out from between two parked cars...
By the time he looked up, the little bleep had darted back out of sight!
Stuck to bikes for a while after that, if you can call a Suzuki B120P a bike
Passed the second time in a driving instructors 1300 Mk2 Escort, in 1981.
Remember this is in the days before compulsory seatbelts, and he says turn left at the end of the (quite long) road. He's filling in his paperwork, and looking down, and didn't see the kid run out from between two parked cars...
By the time he looked up, the little bleep had darted back out of sight!
Stuck to bikes for a while after that, if you can call a Suzuki B120P a bike
Passed the second time in a driving instructors 1300 Mk2 Escort, in 1981.
Learned in my dad's Sierra estate (no PAS) and my instructor's mk1 1.2 Micra. Passed the test in the Micra, which i recall seemed to be a standard issue driving school vehicle at the time (1992). The Micra was child's play to reverse and manoeuvre after the Sierra.
I was always jealous of a school mate who learned and passed in an MG Maestro 2.0i.
I was always jealous of a school mate who learned and passed in an MG Maestro 2.0i.
Edited by Limpet on Thursday 2nd March 20:16
Learnt the ropes at the gliding club in a Defender 110 pick up and a Daihatsu Fourtrak. I then started my proper, on road lessons in the instructors 206 HDI. I got my first car, also a 206, shortly before my test so drove that a couple of times with my dad before test day. That was way back in 2004. I'm starting to feel old now :P
Edited by High flier on Thursday 2nd March 21:03
First 5 lessons in a Driving-School Mk.2 Fiesta XR2 in white. He got expensive, so a change to a school in the next town and a pea-green 1.2L Nova - which although even more grim than that XR2 did at least have lighter steering on skinny tyres which helped ease things along.
Both were made to look the tinny things they were by my Dad's then newish Lada 1500DL Estate that I practiced in. Old-fashioned looking and as uncool as hell, but once I'd got used to the heavy worm/roller steering found it was a nicer car in almost every way - positive RWD gearbox, a heater and headlights that actually worked well and it didn't shake and vibrate over bumps.
I went-on to buy an older one after I passed and that taught me a few driving lessons itself whilst keeping me safe with it's forgiving nature and clear-warning understeery handling traits. A couple of mates both had late 1.3 Marinas, which didn't treat them so kindly.
Another mate had an 1100 Mk.2 Escort, which he thought was the king of the bunch, but in truth it was a very basic, noisy and gutless sh*tbox, which it's light steering and slick gearbox just couldn't compensate enough for. He soon got fed-up at being blown away by the rest of us.
The one mate uninterested in cars had the best overall first wheels, an immaculate/low miles Chrysler Sunbeam 1.3L - but he couldn't drive for toffee so a bit wasted on him, (he threw it in an icy ditch and killed it after about 6 months.)
Both were made to look the tinny things they were by my Dad's then newish Lada 1500DL Estate that I practiced in. Old-fashioned looking and as uncool as hell, but once I'd got used to the heavy worm/roller steering found it was a nicer car in almost every way - positive RWD gearbox, a heater and headlights that actually worked well and it didn't shake and vibrate over bumps.
I went-on to buy an older one after I passed and that taught me a few driving lessons itself whilst keeping me safe with it's forgiving nature and clear-warning understeery handling traits. A couple of mates both had late 1.3 Marinas, which didn't treat them so kindly.
Another mate had an 1100 Mk.2 Escort, which he thought was the king of the bunch, but in truth it was a very basic, noisy and gutless sh*tbox, which it's light steering and slick gearbox just couldn't compensate enough for. He soon got fed-up at being blown away by the rest of us.
The one mate uninterested in cars had the best overall first wheels, an immaculate/low miles Chrysler Sunbeam 1.3L - but he couldn't drive for toffee so a bit wasted on him, (he threw it in an icy ditch and killed it after about 6 months.)
phil y said:
Perodua Nippa. Horrible car, couldn't move the seat far enough back so my legs would get stuck under the steering wheel.
Came pretty close to maxing it on an overtake once, top speed was 84mph.
I actually got marked down for failing to make sufficient progress on the test, as the mighty 850cc triple with 37 horse power, just wouldn't get going.
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