Tell us your driving secret - it's safe with us

[biggbn]

LBT123456 said:

I recently enjoyed driving around Norway in a cayman and many times during the journey I pulled over to let cars overtake . I felt much better afterwards.

I was secretly happy when I "lost the tyre lottery" and received Pirellis rather than Ps4s when my car arrived.

A few years ago I had a Golf gti which I bought a set of winter tyres on 16" steel wheels. After the first winter, I never took the winter wheels off as I much preferred the ride and the look of steels..

I've never used lunch control, even though I've owned cars that had it.

I sometimes change gear at 2.5k and rarely hit the red line.

I've never used lunch control either, I'm well over 20 stone

[HappyMidget]

biggbn said:

I've never used lunch control either, I'm well over 20 stone

My lunch control is spectacular, I weigh 8 stone

[Sporky]

Making "vroom" noises when accelerating, and "screeeee" noises round corners makes it feel like you're going faster than you are.

This makes driving more fun and more economical at the same time.

[24lemons]

Thought I’d risk not stopping at South Mimms services but then sharted in the Hatfield tunnel.

[LBT123456]

biggbn said:

I've never used lunch control either, I'm well over 20 stone

That's probably why i could never find the button! oops! :-)

[off_again]

s1962a said:

I can never get a good comfortable position in the MSport seats in my 3 series, even though they are electric and have lumbar. The seats in the Cayenne though, utter bliss. Not sure what Porsche know that BMW don't, or maybe it's just me and my personal preference.

I agree - had a 2011 Cayenne and now have a 2021 Macan - very similar seats. Absolutely love them. So comfortable and can go hours without suffering any issues. Not the sports ones, but the 14 way ones I think. Prefer the BMW / AMG thigh support, but other than that, havent had better seats.

There, said it - Porsche seats are awesome.

[Earl of Petrol]

parabolica said:

I honestly believe in todays world there is not a single crap car to drive. Even the most basic, slow, built to a budget white goods appliance will cover all the basics to a perfectly acceptable level and it’s only car snobs who will decry otherwise.

Think you are right, and it’s been the case for some time. I can remember looking at new small, basic cars in the early 90’s. They all did the job.

[Little Pete]

DickyC said:

I brake left footed in automatics.

It's not a secret. You tell everyone.

I also do this.

When I drive my wife’s Honda CRV I use the low down torque and try to get the best mpg possible.

I drive my Courier van like I’ve stolen it.

Some years ago I went to look at a Citroen C4 diesel for my wife and had been driving it for a good 10 minutes before I realised it was a petrol model that had been advertised incorrectly.

[FiF]

My secret is that for any journey where there is a specific arrival time required to figure out a safety margin to deal with any normal amount of delays then add an extra ten minutes or so. Takes away all the stress. Clearly there are times when something happens that is outside any reasonable expectation but that's life.

Hate it when have one of those passengers who can never be ready on time.

[donkmeister]

FiF said:

My secret is that for any journey where there is a specific arrival time required to figure out a safety margin to deal with any normal amount of delays then add an extra ten minutes or so. Takes away all the stress. Clearly there are times when something happens that is outside any reasonable expectation but that's life.

Hate it when have one of those passengers who can never be ready on time.

Where that's a concern I have been known to tell my passenger the time we are leaving, and not tell them the time we need to arrive.

It's not infallible but as they already know they are late (instead of lateness being a future problem) it seems to be more effective at curtailing the faffing. Otherwise I think they just assume they can use up any contingency because this will be the one day that the M25 will be magically clear.

[UTH]

I have no idea what people mean when they say how good an engine is.
On the latest Grand Tour Clarkson says the RS4 he’s in has one of the three best engines ever made.
I don’t have a clue what makes one engine so much better than another. Let alone how you have a favourite.

[Slow]

UTH said:

I have no idea what people mean when they say how good an engine is.
On the latest Grand Tour Clarkson says the RS4 he’s in has one of the three best engines ever made.
I don’t have a clue what makes one engine so much better than another. Let alone how you have a favourite.

Noise/power delivery/responsiveness

[Baldchap]

FiF said:

Hate it when have one of those passengers who can never be ready on time.

There's a whole group of people out there who think 'leave at half past' means 'piss about starting to get ready at half past'.

[LeeM135i]

I’ve gone from cheap slow shed type bangers to very fast and powerful 600bhp+ sports coupes and really miss being able to thrash the life out of an underpowered car……. Fast cars aren’t as much fun as I thought they would be on the road.

[FiF]

Baldchap said:

FiF said:

Hate it when have one of those passengers who can never be ready on time.

There's a whole group of people out there who think 'leave at half past' means 'piss about starting to get ready at half past'.

For some years I had a colleague who interpreted the departure time to drive to a client meeting as the time to rock up to his desk bleary eyed from yesterday evening session and start preparing for the meeting. Glad to get rid.

[LunarOne]

HappyMidget said:

biggbn said:

I've never used lunch control either, I'm well over 20 stone

My lunch control is spectacular, I weigh 8 stone

Are you sure? Eight stone is a fair bit for a midget!

[anonymous-user]

On the motorway, if I’m in L1, and need to move into L2, and someone in L2 is just sitting awkwardly on my shoulder with nothing in L3 I’ve started just indicating and moving into L2 whether they like it or not. They either brake and drop back in L2 or have a hissy fit and reluctantly move into the clear L3. I’m bored of being considerate as the favour is never returned.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 17th September 15:02

[Sofa]

LuS1fer said:

hammo19 said:

I've never used cruise control and switch off the stop/start as soon as I get in the car.

Same plus I deactivate the dangerous "lane assist" as soon as I start the car because you don't need to use indicators if no-one has any use for your signal.

Never usually bother to switch off stop-start unless its in a car with an egregiously poor implementation, but I do always switch off lane keeping.

Used to feel like a bit of a knob for doing so, but on Monday going along the M4 the remnants of old markings from some roadworks (probably exacerbated by the low sun directly ahead) led to the lane assist on my hire car trying to yank me out of the outside lane and into the car I was overtaking. Feel a bit more justified after that, as it could genuinely have caused an accident if I wasn't paying attention.

My driving secret is that I will have absolutely no qualms undertaking someone if there's a lane of separation between us. Makes for a much more relaxed journey on most 'smart' motorways where everyone is bunched in L3/4 and L1 is devoid of life.

[5s Alive]

Mac. said:

I’m bored of being considerate as the favour is never returned.

Edited by Mac. on Saturday 17th September 15:02

You're not the only one. It's pretty damned obvious when the car on the inside is gaining on the vehicle in front and takes hardly any effort to move over in anticipation yet few seem to do this. However there are occasions when you meet like minded souls and the traffic just flows. It's automotive ballet.

[Flanders.]

I'm currently overseas and my hire car is a very basic Fiat 500 with the smallest engine fitted.

It's a fantastic car which I would love to have at home.