FAILED 9minor marks - 1 serious fault

Yes, I *really* don't understand this. 

The usual explanation most drivers give when quizzed about their dislike of automatic is that they don't have so much control over the gears.  Well, that's true to a degree, but auto transmission doesn't completely remove your ability to control what's going on.   If you accelerate a little harder than usual you can force the transmission into changing up later, plus of course you have kick-down and manual low-gear lockout as well. 

The other reason is that automatic transmission was (and to a degree, still is) a rather expensive option here.  It's Catch-22 I suppose:  Automatic might have become more common if it had been cheaper, but the price wasn't going to drop drastically unless and until it sold in greater numbers. 

Oh and my other personal fav is reversing around a corner.. which can be a sharp corner or a wide sweeping one... lucky me I did not have to do it!  I just had the others!

Hmmm... They must have changed the test in that respect at some point.  Back in the early 1980s there were certain maneuvers which were always in the test:  Three-point turn, reverse around a corner, and emergency stop to name three.

The parking/handbrake issue is one which has always bugged me as well.  It's completely unnecessary, based on ludicrous "what ifs," and is just making the maneuvers far more complex than is necessary.  Driving a stick, you're already having to steer, signal, and select gears at lights or some other intersection.  Forcing the use of the parking brake is adding one more thing at a time when you're already quite occupied.

Hmmm... They must have changed the test in that respect at some point.  Back in the early 1980s there were certain maneuvers which were always in the test:  Three-point turn, reverse around a corner, and emergency stop to name three.

The way it works now is that you'll be tested on ... I forget ... 3 out of 4 ... 2 out of 3 ...? ... maneuvers. But you don't know which ones until you're actually taking the test, so you have to be proficient at all of them.

3 out of 4... and it's totally random and up to the examiner and the route you take... there are over 100 testing routes in Plymouth for example. 

Is it always a left-side reverse now, or do they sometimes still do a right-hand maneuver as well?

Left hand reverse.... since a right handed one is much easier I guess..

I have never been told  to use the handbrake at a junction, only at stoplights.....another thing to ask my instructor, lol!

It depends on how long you will be stopped.  If you can reasonably pull out in a few seconds then you don't need it... if you have to wait due to traffic then you do. 

I have never been told  to use the handbrake at a junction, only at stoplights.....another thing to ask my instructor, lol!

My instructor told me if I'm going to be stopped for more than 3 seconds, I needed to use the handbrake. So, if I'm at a junction with a lot of traffic and it doesn't look like I'm going to have the opportunity to move in the next three seconds, she expects me to use the handbrake.

What probably makes that even worse is that the brake was quite likely not binding anyway.  On a lot of brake mechanisms as you pull up the handle the light will come on long before the brake actually starts to have any effect.  If the car hadn't been fitted with a brake warning light, the examiner would quite possibly have never even noticed that the brake lever was up a notch

Haha that's what my GP said when I told him the story (he's more like a friend), I was like, 'Gee, thanks for making me feel SOOO much better!'  It definately did not affect the way the car drove, or yeah I would have noticed.  I was so upset though, it's a bitter pill to swallow failing on the last thing or a technicality.

Pittpanther - yeah take it from me, if you tend to do that in lessons, take extra care in making sure you don't do it on your test

Good luck hun

-Sari

  The usual explanation most drivers give when quizzed about their dislike of automatic is that they don't have so much control over the gears. 

LOL...after our Christmastime drive excursion, I wonder how many of these drivers, upon being quizzed further, would really know/understand about the 'gears control' they have with a manual...heehee.  As I discussed earlier, you obtain a good grasp of this when you have to drive in baaaad weather and/or on steep gradients, but most of the places I've been here you wouldn't have cause to regularly apply these driving techniques the way you do in some parts of the US.  And you're right, the automatic doesn't totally take away control of the gears either.

I love driving manuals actually -- have even raced a wee bit in one before (and won)...  They are great for some road conditions -- not so great for others.  It was a skill I forced myself to learn in the States, but only after I'd already learned to drive with an automatic.  The car being the other way 'round here (driver side/passenger side) and shifting with the left hand is just awkward (so far) for me, and that on top of having to learn to drive differently, narrow roads, etc.  That's why I want to start out with an automatic here.

this whole thing with the hand break is bullocks.  I was at a stop light last night and as I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw the car behind me rolling forward.  He was looking off to the side, not paying attention.  Of course he stopped when his front bumper, hit my back bumper!  His excuse was that his hand break didn't engage.  Why wasn't his foot on the break?  At least in NA, no one depends 100% on the hand break like here.  It seems like it is the fail safe for everything, engage the hand break!  Fortunately, no damage to our car, but what an annoyance!

I haven't started my lessons yet and I know, I'll have to adapt!!

I just want my license then I will go back to my usual american bad habits such as not using the handbrake! I don't see the point either, I don't take my foot off the brake unless i'm parking and getting out, just not used to it. If i don't pass next time, I am just taking a break for a while like Sari.


I know I can pass - I proved that last time, I just need to be superwoman of the driving world on that day

Aww I'm sorry! You wanting to cuss would be justified, I'm sure you are very upset and like you said feeling a little less confident in your abilities.

Don't stress it though, most people don't pass their first time in the US and the UK.  My boyfriend took it TONS of times...he finally passed last year and got his car but it took him a long time and alot of studying and driving lessons.  I think people who take it and pass the first time are lucky...because I'm guessing a higher percentage don't their first time around.

Anyway, good luck!

Third time was charm for me.  One year, 3 tests, two instructors and about £600 (lessons et al) all told and I got my license!

First time I failed because my instructor told me something that was not true.  He said reversing into a space you had to do it in one go - you couldn't straighten up - really impossible to do it the way he said.....

Second time - erred on the side of caution and didn't take a right turn thinking the car coming into the junction was going to go through on the yellow...stopped on the pedestrian crossing with the stereo-typical old lady crossing (that had to walk around the car!)!

Third time was charm.  My new instructor yelled at me about 30 minutes before the test and ended up pissing me off....if you know me at all - that works for me......"£$£"^%$ him, I'm gonna pass to prove that $@£*$£@ wrong!"  Worked a treat.

Done and dusted now....

Update?