ADUK Archive

Ok any car is good enough for any level, but....

When I joined my local IAM group the first lot of questions involved, what car do you have? What's the engine? Does it have a bit go in it?

My current car is a Vauxhall corsa 1.3 cdti, for me right now this is perfect. Cheap to run and allows more money to save. And yes it is quick enough as well, just needs a bit more planning for over takes and I know when I can or can't make it.

So my thought is, are cars with more umph preferred to advanced driving groups? Is this correct to think this?

Paul wrote:what car do you have? What's the engine? Does it have a bit go in it?

Questions like these are attempts to find common ground, probably from car or driving enthusiasts. Not everyone interested in advanced driving falls into either category. Probably, not even many.

Paul wrote:So my thought is, are cars with more umph preferred to advanced driving groups? Is this correct to think this?

Not really, it's about the driving, not the car. Having said that, to demonstrate you are an advanced driver you are generally expected to drive up to the speed limit where you can do so safely and smoothly; but I once had an associate who came in a Land Rover which he did not like to push over 60, and he had no problem passing his advanced test.

You mention overtaking. The road safety organisations IAM and RospaADAR do not expect you to plan an overtake unless you can reasonably expect to complete it safely within the speed limit. As a result overtaking anything faster than a bicycle or tractor does not form a significant part of preparing for an advanced test.

I think it is worth mentioning that as a person spends more time thinking about driving, about how to drive well, and about gaining satisfaction from driving well, their views about what makes a car pleasurable to drive, or what attributes they prefer a car to have, may change.

That's an interesting thought gareth, experience and years driving I for one would write a list very different to what it would of been 10 years ago.

I think cars that are higher performance (250+ bhp is now considered high performance), maybe better for those that are following the Police style of driving and have a bias towards quicker driving. However, for advanced driving in general, any car is fine.