Oldest driving school car

[yeager2004]

There are plenty of swanky driving school cars on the road round here, MINIs and Pumas seem a popular choice.

At the other end of the spectrum, I noticed an independent driving school car yesterday that was still using a K11 Micra. Think is was a 52 plate.

Anyone else spotted and old or old ball driving school cars?

[ingenieur]

Probably not in the spirit of the question but I used to have a contract with a couple of local driving schools for maintenance and the reason you don't really see older vehicles in use by driving schools is that they do gargantuan mileages. I've seen a 1 year old MINI with more than 50,000 on the clock before.

Often schools will pool the car as well so not just one instructor with one car but shared by two or more instructors so the car is operating 16 hours a day!

[bloomen]

yeager2004 said:

At the other end of the spectrum, I noticed an independent driving school car yesterday that was still using a K11 Micra. Think is was a 52 plate.

A good choice. Super easy to drive. Lots of visibility. Lasts forever. It might spoil the learners a bit.

When I was in Italy driving schools competed by having the fanciest cars so you'd see BMW Z4s and Boxsters kangarooing around Bologna.

[MrGTI6]

Up until recently I used to frequently see a Mk1 Corsa being used as a driving school car around Tonbridge. Not sure on the year/reg but I'm guessing it was a late nineties model.

[Bobupndown]

Documentary in the 90's 'perpetual motion' about morris minors, a guy was still using a 60's minor. Wonder if its still running?
https://youtu.be/R0bKzvSwFZI

[georgeyboy12345]

ingenieur said:

Probably not in the spirit of the question but I used to have a contract with a couple of local driving schools for maintenance and the reason you don't really see older vehicles in use by driving schools is that they do gargantuan mileages. I've seen a 1 year old MINI with more than 50,000 on the clock before.

Often schools will pool the car as well so not just one instructor with one car but shared by two or more instructors so the car is operating 16 hours a day!

Yeah I remember the 6 month old Renault Clio dCi I learned to drive in had 36,000 on the clock

[NFT]

yeager2004 said:

There are plenty of swanky driving school cars on the road round here, MINIs and Pumas seem a popular choice.

At the other end of the spectrum, I noticed an independent driving school car yesterday that was still using a K11 Micra. Think is was a 52 plate.

Anyone else spotted and old or old ball driving school cars?

Saw a private driving school car banner on a 2001 MK1 Audi TT Quattro 1.8Turbo with a Bam 225 engine parked up with a young female student in not long ago. Old car but turbo quattro, no many started with that lol

[BIRMA]

I think Majorslow on here had until recently that honour. If I remember correctly his 2012 Mini has 192K miles before it fell victim to the dreaded cam chain issue of the N47 BMW engine

Edited by BIRMA on Sunday 19th June 19:29

[Got4wheels]

Funny you should mention this, I saw a 2013 Corsa creeping around Scunny the other day. Thought it was old in comparison, as many I see are replaced every 2/3 years. Up until the first lockdown there was a Mk4 Golf still doing the rounds too.

Michael

[stanglish]

I wonder if they pass the savings onto the learners? Can't really be loads in the way of savings, but there must be enough for people to labor on with an older car? Fair play if they do really.

I remember learning to drive in some slightly bodykitted Fiesta. Maybe Mk4, 5. Clutch was like a trigger. I can imagine enjoying it now but at the time being so fresh it was actually making the whole experience harder. Ended up switching more for the instructor to a dCi Clio and it was so easy. Always stuck with me that some cars like that are almost cheaters - just such torque that flexibility in 3rd meant one less thing to do when driving round town at 20-30.

When I drove my mk7 Fiesta I thought the same. The insane clutch feel (I guess engine mapping) made it an absolute doddle to drive. Sort of interesting hack for any new learner!

[bloomen]

stanglish said:

I wonder if they pass the savings onto the learners? Can't really be loads in the way of savings, but there must be enough for people to labor on with an older car? Fair play if they do really.

Dunno about these troubled times, but driving schools would often get humongous discounts on their cars as dealers hoped the learner would want to stick with the same model.

[Got4wheels]

Bobupndown said:

Documentary in the 90's 'perpetual motion' about morris minors, a guy was still using a 60's minor. Wonder if its still running?
https://youtu.be/R0bKzvSwFZI

Hasn't been taxed since 1992 according to the DVLA

Michael

[Back2theFuji]

This takes me back. I remember as a learner in 1997 how disappointed I was when my instructor turned up in a bashed up six year old Clio (the Nicole...Papa type).

Loved it, passed first time and didn't worry about smashing it up in lessons

[cjs racing.]

I often see an 04 plate MINI around Worksop.

I suppose at that age it owes the instructor nothing, but is always just 1 big (careless learner scrape) bill away from the scrap heap.

[Hippea]

There’s a Y reg Toyota Yaris used round here by a independent instructor. It is the Isle of Wight so relatively modern really….

[Second Best]

There's a 2008/2009 Corsa VXR that's being used round here. I remember speaking to a petrolheady neighbour about it and she said it was mainly used as a Pass Plus-type car, so wasn't as heavily utilised as the more common cars. Would also make sense as the car's dimensions would be known by newer drivers, but the extra power would be handy for motorway tuition (yes I know learners are allowed on motorways but I've not seen one yet!)

There are also a few instructor cars with private plates - not the usual PA55 ONE or FA57 DRV etc, but sometimes odd ones that you don't really clock and I don't know why - there's one round here which has a seemingly irrelevant 53 plate reg (something like LN53MDS). It's on a relatively new Peugeot, so either it means something to the driving school that doesn't match the plate, or it's a one man/woman band with a shonky plate.

Also, and cheating a bit here, some track cars have a few years on them. When I did some track tuition I did my instructional laps in a 1989 Golf GTi. Unsurprisingly, the car had a healthy host of modifications too. Not quite in the spirit of the thread, I know

[sherman]

Saw a 65 plate mk3.5 Focus ST in midlothian (south of Edinburgh) yesterday with a private driving school box on the roof.

[Granadier]

Got4wheels said:

Bobupndown said:

Documentary in the 90's 'perpetual motion' about morris minors, a guy was still using a 60's minor. Wonder if its still running?
https://youtu.be/R0bKzvSwFZI

Hasn't been taxed since 1992 according to the DVLA

Michael

As soon as I saw the title of this thread, that Minor was the first thing I thought of!

I suppose these days there is little point in teaching the average learner to drive in a car with (for example) a manual choke.

[COM31E]

Until recently this (as I recall, 12 plate) Volvo C30 was in use locally to me.

There was always a JRG S40 there before this, but I'm going back over 10 years now. Guess he's a Volvo man.

[Krikkit]

Second Best said:

Also, and cheating a bit here, some track cars have a few years on them. When I did some track tuition I did my instructional laps in a 1989 Golf GTi. Unsurprisingly, the car had a healthy host of modifications too. Not quite in the spirit of the thread, I know

Another rich seam of interesting cars - the race school at Mallory Park have a bunch of Clio 197s (I counted 6 when I was there the other day) plus a couple of other cars.