Stupid mistakes you've made in an unfamiliar car

[Matt UK]

Bit of a daft one this and not to be repeated!

Minding my own business in traffic in my new (used) car and notice buttons 1 2 3 on the door.. hmm I've not explored these, I wonder what happens if I...

Ahhhhhhh!! The seat squab is moving forwards and upwards! The steering wheel is coming towards me! The pedals are coming up towards me! The bolsters are doing odd things to my lower back! The door mirrors are moving to give me a perfect view of the road!

The whirring motors stop and mercifully the car has stopped trying to eat me, but I'm now fully cramped up behind the wheel. In panic I hit button 2..

Ahhhhhhhhh! The seat squab is now moving backwards and downwards to their further settings! The steering wheel is disappearing out of reach! The pedals are doing likewise beyond my outstretched toes! The bolsters are doing odd things again and the door mirrors are moving to give me a perfect view of the sky!

I know this is my mistake, but seriously, who the fk owned the car before me, Little and Large?!?!?

I ended up pulling into a petrol garage and spent the next 10mins getting refitted.

Lesson learnt.

[carreauchompeur]

I can entirely imagine that situation, hilarious!

My only experience like this is with a 7.5T truck I was driving from Bristol-Bexhill and back every day. Quite a change from the Transits I'd been driving up until then!

Bored on a dual carriageway on the way back, I noticed a small pedal/switch on the floor and pressed it. Truck immediately started losing power and slowing down so I pulled onto the hard shoulder, switched it off and back on and it was fine.

So that's what a retard-er does!

[andy-xr]

Couldnt find reverse in a Mk1 Mondeo first time I drove one. Spent a while going through the gearbox. It's not as if it's in an usual place really

Couldnt find the MPG readout changer button on a Peugeot for ages, til I was sat in traffic and knocked the end of the wiper stalk by accident. And in the same car the rear fogs caught me out for about 5 minutes til I worked out how to turn them off, they were on from the previous owner and was driving me mad. Best one ever was not being able to find the fuel filler in a rented van. That was embarrassing sat at the pump at the local BP garage

[mrmr96]

1. The usual indicating with wipers in a Jap car.
2. The usual grabbing the door handle instead of gear lever in a LHDer
3. First time ever in an auto, as a loaner car whilst mine (manual) was serviced. Grabbed the keys from the man nonchalantly, got in. Couldn't start it or select a gear - I had no idea what to do. Sheepishly called the man back to get him to show me!

[TheTurbonator]

Matt UK said:

Bit of a daft one this and not to be repeated!

Minding my own business in traffic in my new (used) car and notice buttons 1 2 3 on the door.. hmm I've not explored these, I wonder what happens if I...

Ahhhhhhh!! The seat squab is moving forwards and upwards! The steering wheel is coming towards me! The pedals are coming up towards me! The bolsters are doing odd things to my lower back! The door mirrors are moving to give me a perfect view of the road!

The whirring motors stop and mercifully the car has stopped trying to eat me, but I'm now fully cramped up behind the wheel. In panic I hit button 2..

Ahhhhhhhhh! The seat squab is now moving backwards and downwards to their further settings! The steering wheel is disappearing out of reach! The pedals are doing likewise beyond my outstretched toes! The bolsters are doing odd things again and the door mirrors are moving to give me a perfect view of the sky!

I know this is my mistake, but seriously, who the fk owned the car before me, Little and Large?!?!?

I ended up pulling into a petrol garage and spent the next 10mins getting refitted.

Lesson learnt.

[Gilhooligan]

When I used my sisters Clio I tried to flash someone to let them out and water was sprayed at the windscreen.

[Baryonyx]

Using the Astras at work, and accidentally flashing the high beam when pulling on the stalk to put the indicator on. A perfect 'if it ain't broke, down fix it' invention!

[Geekman]

Tried to sneak out of my parents house late at night, which involved moving their car as it was in front of mine. Managed to set the alarm off, then tried to start it whilst in gear, then stalled it and finished by reversing it partially into the hedge

[mrmr96]

andy-xr said:

Couldnt find reverse in a Mk1 Mondeo first time I drove one. Spent a while going through the gearbox. It's not as if it's in an usual place really

Couldnt find the MPG readout changer button on a Peugeot for ages, til I was sat in traffic and knocked the end of the wiper stalk by accident. And in the same car the rear fogs caught me out for about 5 minutes til I worked out how to turn them off, they were on from the previous owner and was driving me mad. Best one ever was not being able to find the fuel filler in a rented van. That was embarrassing sat at the pump at the local BP garage

Reminds me of the Pug 306, which has a fake fuel filler on the other side!

[Meths]

I got a toyota avensis hire car with integrated sat-nav.

All is quiet, making my way home with local radio station set to a low volume to hear traffic news.



Then, 5 minutes later trying to join the motorway, music suddenly stops and the craziest, angriest woman ever from inside the dashboard shouts "YOU ARE SPEEDING".

I jumped out my skin just as I was merging and nearly crashed. I continued along the slip-road until it ran out, kicking up dust and stones on the hard shoulder, where I stopped to phone the hire company to ask how to shut the woman up.

I also decided I was going to be lazy and run over the foamy cone (used to secure the staff parking at work) with the front bumper of the car (do it all the time), the collision warning system decided otherwise and attempted to launch me through the windscreen as punishment for doing such a stupid thing.

Stupid toyota avensis.

Edited by Meths on Saturday 2nd March 18:19

[JimmyTheHand]

Soft touch indicators on new BMWs - it took a while to retrain reactions to handle them properly (mostly)

forgetting speed limiter was on trying to join motorway (wouldn't go above 50 in any gear)

Matt UK said:

I know this is my mistake, but seriously, who the fk owned the car before me, Little and Large?!?!?

more likely the krankies (or other married couple where one is tall and the other short)

mrmr96 said:

1. The usual indicating with wipers in a Jap car.

I recall doing that in one car - only issue was it was same side as the car I just got shot of :s

[y2blade]

After years of "Volvo" gearshift pattern then switching to Audi, I caught myself trying to "reverse" out of the garage in sixth once or twice in the first week of S4 ownership

[Slobberchops]

Cruised into the office car park in my new car, cool as you like. Pressed the clutch pedal down as we came to a halt, only my new car is an auto and we managed an abrupt emergency stop.

Looked a bit sheepish for a while.

[tickious]

Being a new Dad I now drive the family estate and the wife has a micra. Swapping caught me out a few times. Brakes are a lot keener in the micra so nearly put us all through the window. Also the bonnets a lot shorter, so jumped back in mine car and confidently drove into a metal post in a carpark with an audience.

[Mastodon2]

Driving a Prius out of the work car park with the handbrake on. "What's that smell? Why is that thing beeping at me? Oh."

[markmullen]

With my job you've got to look confident in the controls of any car in front of a customer so usually I manage.

I did once deliver a 928 GTS to a customer in Belgium. As I left for the ferry my first stop was to fuel the car. As an aside my own 928 was LHD..... I fuelled up, went in the shop, paid, came back out and saw the queue waiting for the pump so jumped quickly into the car.



And found I didn't have a steering wheel in front of me.


I had to get out, walk around it in front of the bemused queue and get back in the drivers side.

[Dunclane]

After 2 weeks of driving an automatic courtesy car I jumped back into my manual, pulled up at a junction and completely forgot to put the clutch down!

[Dr Jekyll]

Gaz. said:

I have been at a petrol station trying to get a filler cap open but cannot remember what car it was (no handbook either).

I've been in this situation in an Audi TT.

[JREwing]

Gaz. said:

First time I drove an automatic: A friends Vauxhall Carlton at a very busy petrol station, he's asked me to move it off the pumps and fill the tyres while he pays, so off I go at little more than walking pace across the forecourt. I look in the mirror to see him running behind me shouting that he had forgotten his wallet so I put both feet in, forgetting there is no clutch pedal and the Carlton stands on its nose, my mate runs into the back of it, faceplants into the rear screen and winded by the boot spoiler. Apologise? I couldn't breath for laughing.

That's brilliant. I love it.

I've had issues trying to open boots and petrol filler caps. Also when Japanese cars used to have indicator and wiper stalks on the opposite side to most western cars. Nothing major

[davepoth]

Also pulled the gearknob off of a Renault Scenic trying to find reverse. That was a truly hateful vehicle.