[s-cars] Teen car

Bares, Vittorio Vittorio.Bares at nuance.com
Tue Dec 8 07:41:39 PST 2009


I'm just finishing up teaching twins how to drive (have a 19yr old also)
- one has her license, the other will be testing before xmass.

They learned on a manual transmission car. Their own comments indicate
to me that they appreciate the attention required to operate a manual
(their comparison is the drivers ed automatic they drove).

Yes, gear selection, proper clutching and focusing on smooth driving is
complex for them at first. However, my daughter became accustomed to it
fairly quickly, she was double clutch downshifting by the time she
tested.

My point is that there is a learning curve - however it is not a
sufficient reason to eliminate manual for teens.

I did use our only automatic vehicle, an crew cab F250 diesel (not
optimal due to its size) to get them started in figuring out how to use
the brake and gas, how far to turn the wheel, etc..that only took a
couple of trips before we got into the manual cars.

When you are in a vehicle - you should be accustomed to and practice
dealing with many inputs, filtering the inputs and applying the proper
outputs to the vehicle based on the situation you're in. Clearly
throwing too much at anyone is not a good idea, but progressively adding
components allows the student to feel confident they can make good
decisions when lots of stuff is going on around them.

IMO I think automatics make people mentally lazy while in their vehicles
and are generally not a positive addition to the overall safety on the
road.

Vittorio -

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Peter Schulz
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 10:25 AM
To: Brian Armstead
Cc: erikaddy at yahoo.com; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Teen car

Brian:

I can't support your opinion - cutting in front of the Escalade was
probably one of many poor decisions along with texting or talking on the
cell phone, turning their stereo or subwoofer up to 11, drinking a
supersized soda, forgetting to wear seatbelt, blah blah.

Your scenario tells me something about the driver, namely they are
really not ready to drive alone.

Teaching a new driver how to drive a manual transmissioned car will re
enforce from day one that there is more to driving then turning the key,
turning on the radio and putting the car into drive.

I support teen and new driver clinics for my local ACNA chapter, and we
re enforce the importance of not driving while distracted by having the
student hold a water bottle in one hand while navigating a slalom.  It
tends to be an eye opener for the driver.

-Peter






On Dec 8, 2009, at 9:28 AM, Brian Armstead wrote:

> Regarding teen cars, they need a certain amount of power to be able to

> get out of trouble. Merging onto a highway in a slow car when everyone

> is busting 80 mph is no treat for a young driver. That being said,
folks 
> are pretty dumb to buy high performance cars for young drivers.
> 
> Taka, I disagree with the manual for teen concept, though I agree it 
> would 'help' to keep them occupied.  Young drivers have enough to
focus 
> on besides wondering if they've chosen the right gear to accelerate
out 
> of the way of the Escalade they wrongly pulled into the path of...
> 
> Brian
> 
> Taka Mizutani wrote:
>> I'll second that one- the FWD 850 non-turbo or the S70 is a pretty
solid car
>> that is too slow to get yourself in trouble but very safe.
>> 
>> I would actually advocate getting a teen a manual transmission car-
it's
>> much harder to talk on your cellphone or do other stupid things if
you have
>> to worry about shifting gears as well.
>> 
>> Taka
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 11:56 PM, erikaddy at yahoo.com
<erikaddy at yahoo.com>wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> Don't have this problem (yet), but if my daughter needed a cheep
car, I
>>> would be looking for a naturally aspirated Volvo 850/70 series.
>>> 
>>> Erik Addy
>>> Sent from a mobile device.
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-Peter Schulz
Chelmsford Ma, USA
http://www.naaclub.org/

1995.5 S6 Avant Emerald/Ecru
1995.5 S6 Avant Silver/Platinum
1991 90Q 20v Q Red
1991 90Q 20v Indigo
1991 CQ silver  (eS2 recipient) 



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