Thread: This is going to be Interesting!

I'm teaching 2 grandkids to drive at the moment, because their mother is too panicky to be an instructor.
My advice is to be very cool and laid-back. Give them targets before you start. Then give them plenty of time to achieve them.
Find a deserted place and let them practice the basics.
They will take a long time to learn how to change manually without bunnyhopping.
They also take a long time to adjust their reactions to speed, so start slowly and don't rush them. I made them spend a whole hour just changing between first, second and reverse.
Get some cones, set them out in an empty space and get them to practice turning, weaving and backing.
Remember, they learn by making mistakes. Mistakes are normal.
Have a cool beer ready for yourself when you get home.

I gave my girls their first lessons on basic car control (changing gears, steering and parking, hill starts for clutch control), then alternated between private and professional lessons. So about 3 to 4 hours. The instructor commented that they must have had a lead foot teaching them! So bad habits can be formed fast.

My eldest only bunnyhopped when mum took her for a lesson. After 10 minutes my daughter called the lesson off, as mum couldn't stop laughing at the bunny hopping.

taught all my kids to drive (plus a few ring ins) in 4x4 on the beach in low range, just steering for a start and progressing up from there when they could reach the pedels. They all drove fair by the time they were about 12.
cheers
blaze

Originally Posted by jonesfam

We have purchased a Hyundai Getz to teach the kids to drive in. It is a tiny little manual so I/we can teach them to drive a manual car.
Our eldest (16) went off on Thursday disappearing for most of the day, came home & said "Dad, I need $210.00"?
So I had to ask what for? My Learners License.
I didn't even know he was going for it. They have a mob come up here called Indigenous Driver Licencing Unit which help the kids & others to get their licenses.

So, after work the lessons begin. It is 20 years since I half taught my daughter to drive before giving up & getting her professional lessons while at boarding school.

Wilfred has some intellectual disabilities but is a lovely boy & loves to try hard & please you.

So, at the moment I'm not sure if I should get drunk before or after the driving lesson?
Or, maybe, delegate to SWMBO?
Jonesfam

Taught my son with a manual Getz!! boy it had a Hair trigger like throttle and was difficult for him to get co ordinated with the clutch as indeed did I ...but once he did he could drive any manual !!!
No need to get drunk we all had to learn and it takes you back to the old days!!!

My 16yo has migrated from mum's pulsar to my D3, doesn't like mums car any more.

Me and a couple of mates bought an old escort when we were about 15 and taught each other to drive🤣🤣(or how not to drive )

My two boys have been driving tractors since about 6
Now they just get in the old 110 and hoon around the farm
I’ve had to tell em to stop doing donuts and power slides out in the back paddock I case they roll it and we’ll be stuck
The oldest (12) no problems gear changes hi to low range when it gets boggy
The 8 year old still needs to be told when to change gears but he’s had the clutch sussed since he first got on the tractor
Both had a chance to steer since toddlers
Best way to learn the younger the better

Wilfred has had 4 lessons so far & he is doing OK.
The first couple of days we got out on the Roadhouse forecourt, after hours, and just had him sitting still going through gears & so on for ages, car running as we need the A/C.
The next couple of days he has been driving around the forecourt in first gear getting the hang of steering & braking. The Getz will putter along in first with no throttle.
Last thing yesterday I was trying to get him to get the clutch take up & gentle acceleration thing right. He did it well 2 out of 10 times & my neck is not to whiplashed.

The main problems is he keeps looking at his feet! So, I guess a lot more practice is needed before we hit the actual road.
I am also very proud of myself, haven't lost my cool & have stayed relaxed even when headed for the bowsers at all of 3kph.

Yes, the Getz has a very touchy accelerator.

Jonesfam

Hello from Sherwood.

I taught both my kids to drive although the lessons concluded with a couple of professional lessons leading up to the formal test. The sacrificial clutch and gearbox were in my old Laser which survived well enough to run for several more years.

I found that it was easier to get the logic of using the clutch across a bit more readily if you spend a little time explaining - not mansplaining - how the clutch actually works. Especially the notion that the pressure plate and flywheel that are rotating at a couple of thousand rpm are trying to grab a stationary disc with up to a ton of resistance and bring it up to the same speed. With that on board the idea of not letting it out too quickly or too slowly seemed to be taken up quite easily.

Cheers,

Neil