Learner

[Alpine*]

Good way to start your driving career....




(nice car too, M3 Comp I think)

[fatjoez]

some people are just unbelievable...

[BigBoss168]

What's even more bizarre is that the driver is permitted to drive that car on his/her Ls but not his/her Ps...

[dr.bmw]

safe, easy to drive, good visibility, city-capable car whats wrong with learning to drive in one? wake up guys should it be better if we all learned to drive in shitboxes or worse, 2.5 tonne 4 wheel drives?

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by dr.bmw

safe, easy to drive, good visibility, city-capable car whats wrong with learning to drive in one? wake up guys should it be better if we all learned to drive in shitboxes or worse, 2.5 tonne 4 wheel drives?

I agree. It's definitely a better and safer car to learn in than most cars. The only thing is whether the Learner driver will drive it responsibly.

[Alpine*]

Originally Posted by taipan168

What's even more bizarre is that the driver is permitted to drive that car on his/her Ls but not his/her Ps...

Wow, didn't think about that one, good point. Except in the ACT, where I took the shot earlier today in the pi55ing rain, there are NO engine restrictions for Provisional drivers.

My kids learnt in a XR4 and an Astra SRi coupe, $20 odd k with all the safety gear. There was no way they were going to get either the keys to the 135i or M3.

[sparoz]

Or take it to a skin pan with them, so they know they can't control it.

[WAY]

Originally Posted by dr.bmw

safe, easy to drive, good visibility, city-capable car whats wrong with learning to drive in one? wake up guys should it be better if we all learned to drive in shitboxes or worse, 2.5 tonne 4 wheel drives?

I disagree. I car with such power and violent reaction to throttle input is NOT a good learner car unless said learner has been racing go-karts before he got his/her L's. I think kids should learn to drive on a safe car, but not a fast car. 320i yes, M3 competition no.

[aus135i]

wish i had that for my L's, my stupid Galant almost got me killed from understeer!

[MikeVictor]

Originally Posted by WAY

I disagree. I car with such power and violent reaction to throttle input is NOT a good learner car unless said learner has been racing go-karts before he got his/her L's. I think kids should learn to drive on a safe car, but not a fast car. 320i yes, M3 competition no.

+1

I'm with Way on this.

Hormones + Performance cars are a bad mix.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Originally Posted by BMW86

I agree. It's definitely a better and safer car to learn in than most cars. The only thing is whether the Learner driver will drive it responsibly.

That's the point of being a Learner, they'll have mum or dad in the car next to them, so they shouldn't have the opportunity to drive like a dimwit.

[x5mad]

I agree that it all comes down to how responsible the learner driver is. Unfortunately I don't see that being the case. Also, I often see red p platers driving extremely aggressively, speeding, tailgating, weaving etc etc thinking they are gods gift to driving.

I may be one of the minority responsible learner drivers. My dad would take me out in his v8 BMW 7 series when I was 17. I have only been done for speeding once in 15 years, I was doing 72 in a 60 due to a tailgating Nissan patrol.

[dr.bmw]

learners dont' get busted for speeding often... its the p-platers that get busted and busted up driving performance cars
no issues letting a person learn to drive in a good car, with supervision

[Taymaishu]

Strange nobody has mentioned the supervising driver, either.

My girl is learning on Christine at the moment. She's doing OK, but she's not allowed in it with any sort of traffic around. She's only driven it at about 11pm at night around carparks at the beach. She's good, but even I think she won't be going near trafffic in it for a long time.

If the supervision is right, i'm all for it. If the supervision sucks, then it's not the L-platers fault. I don't believe many L platers jump into a car and go nuts. I was VERY conservative on my L's, and i've turned into a nutcase....

Meh, bit of a moot point; we don't have any idea how well this person is being supervised.

Having said that - my father allowed me to drive his 1965 Mustang Fastback (289 HiPo) a couple of times on my L's. However, that's because he was a damn good supervisor and they were on very quiet streets. That was only after he was confident i could control a car and understand the difference in handling between power/chassis/body-type/age.

[takahashi]

The learner should learn some good attitude and road rules/skills.... not necessary driver skill/or use to a powerful/good driver's car or not.

You don't need to be able to drift or get the best lap time to survive in public.

Yet you should learn to pay attention to specific details on the public road before you get your Ps.

A good teacher is vital. I will not be teaching my kids alone when they are ready to drive. I yet have some bad habbits I can't shake off. I can show them what I know to be safe - but I will just point out to them what other people's mistakes... I normally do when driving... . I will not be able to tell them what myself does wrong ?right? (my wife behind... mumbling ... tail gating, accelerate to violently then cut into people lanes, not able to stay in a long queue....)