a "practice car"?

[Neonred 3,668]

Your kids knew more about driving at 12 than my wife. She also had to learn to drive in a Vermont winter... road curves, car doesn't and that is where they put the fire hydrant. It happens. There are trees everywhere. She had two very distinct problems when learning. One was maintaining speed, she simply couldn't get it. She would gradually creep up in speed until I said something and then slow way down. The other problem was continually drifting out of her lane, usually to the right. Drift out to the right, hit the snow pile on the edge of the road and it sucks you right off the edge...good bye mailbox! Sometimes it would happen faster than I could correct her for it. Almost all two lane roads, no shoulders to speak of...I am just glad she didn't hit bike riders, joggers, etc. She was afraid of that and gave them wide berth, thank you God. I guess she didn't worry so much about mail boxes.

Oh yes, I forgot about winter driving. It has been a very long time but I did grow up and learn to drive in upstate NY, not far from Vermont. I so much wanted to transfer to UVM until I visit in January one year. I remember it was so cold my feet went numb. I ended up transferring to the University of South Carolina instead.

[clueless_in_usa 8]

Practice cars make sense in states where you are charged a higher premium if you are a new driver, and such premium is multiplied based on the value of your car. If I were to add a new licensed driver to my policy, my insurance premium would probably double. It is cheaper to have her get her own insurance with a cheaper car and add her as an authorized driver on my policy (no effect on my insurance premium).

Besides, by having a practice car you can drop coverage that you would never skip on a more expensive car, thus reducing the total expense. A practice car does not have to be unsafe, or a piece of $hit for that matter.

[Martyshk 137]

I know I may not be right, but once she's here, we're going to get a brand new car.

She'll be here during spring-summer, so she'll learn how to drive in normal conditions (she's taking lessons back in Ukraine at the moment - on a stick shift too).

Once winter rolls around - I'll have to teach her, I guess. It's a whole different story. But we don't get a lot of snow, and streets are plowed very fast.

I know a new car is not a good choice, I do. But she wanted a MINI for so long, that it's not even a question for me. She's giving up everything to come here and live with me, sh~t, I can splurge on a car. Plus, with my credit I can get really really low interest rates on a new car too.

All in all, we'll see once she's here. For now, I'm just praying for the visa to go through - will worry about the car later!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Oh yes, I forgot about winter driving. It has been a very long time but I did grow up and learn to drive in upstate NY, not far from Vermont. I so much wanted to transfer to UVM until I visit in January one year. I remember it was so cold my feet went numb. I ended up transferring to the University of South Carolina instead.

Chicken!

My wife is a student at St. Micheal's, not far from UVM and one of our very good friends is the head of the Russian department at UVM.

Right now. Alla's car is buried in snow in Burlignton. She abandoned it there at a friends house on Saturday during a heavy snowstorm. I picked her up on my way back from taking our son and his friends to the ski slopes and we will pick it up tomorrow. LOL She drives in the winter...to a point, but hit enough mailboxes, etc. to now be cautious. Besides, now she has a new sports car, she graduated from the demo-derby and doesn't want to bash up the new car.

[Martyshk 137]

Chicken!

My wife is a student at St. Micheal's, not far from UVM and one of our very good friends is the head of the Russian department at UVM.

Right now. Alla's car is buried in snow in Burlignton. She abandoned it there at a friends house on Saturday during a heavy snowstorm. I picked her up on my way back from taking our son and his friends to the ski slopes and we will pick it up tomorrow. LOL She drives in the winter...to a point, but hit enough mailboxes, etc. to now be cautious. Besides, now she has a new sports car, she graduated from the demo-derby and doesn't want to bash up the new car.

So when the winter hits, I can bug you for driving tips so I can teach her, right? right? right? right? :-D

Because we're not going to have a 4x4 and it's going to suuuuuuuck. Plus, Philly is more about freezing rain than snow, so it sucks no matter what car we have. It's the only thing I'm sorta afraid off.

But if she scratches her mini or my Rabbit - she's paying for it, coz I don't give a #######. I got my car dinged during the last snow storm, freaking people flying down the hill and onto my driveway....grrrr

[Nasturtium 500]

You make a good point Steve. So often in this forum the men tend to think about their fiancees or wives as if they are children. They're not, and they were doing perfectly fine before we came along. It's harder for anyone to learn that's never been part of a "car culture," but they can manage.

Irina will do fine, she probably won't put a scratch on the car. But if she does, imho you'll want her to be protected.

I say use whichever car she wants to learn on. Both sound good to me (minus the airbags.. I always pull my fuse for that thing so it won't kill me as I always have to sit too close to it and basically am in that danger zone). I learned to drive on a stick. I subsequently also then learned an automatic after I drove. Before automatics, everyone learned on stick I prefer stick though, so I am biased (and an American oddity).

If anyone is teaching via stick and needs a tip, the trick that worked for me was to take it out onto a flat surface and then shift into first but not let off the clutch. Slowly, I eased out the clutch and gave the car gas until I learned the "feel" of just where the clutch is about to release and the gear engage. I practiced learning this point and the slow release a couple of times and once I knew how to keep the car alive and the points and positions of the pedals, I never killed the car again. Also somewhat helpful was my dad accidentally shifting the car into third (instead of the obvious first gear) and setting me in there and telling me to start the car and take off. I tried and tried and eventually, got it to start and go. Suddenly, when without shifting we were going 30mph, my dad realized what he had done. I tell you though, that also taught me a lot by accident. I learned that day that first is a piece of cake compared to third!

[slim 1,533]

I prefer stick though, so I am biased (and an American oddity).

Most of the American women I know prefer stick too... just not when they're driving!