h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was pootling through Hove this afternoon when I spotted a rather strange car for a learner driver.

They weren't going around in a Nissan Micra, or a Ford Fiesta like every other driving school in the land. Oh no, they were in an Audi A4 1.9TDi

I've driven one of these beasts. LHG had (and possibly still does have) one of these Audis as her company car. The thing compared to your average small car is like a barge, it's enormous. It also and goes off like rocket - 120mph is a piece of piss, and I would have gone much faster if I hadn't run out of road.

So my question is: what is that driving school thinking of in sticking a 17 year old novice in charge of such a large and powerful, not to mention expensive, car

was it a driving school or a 17 year old with strange parents who will willing to put him/her on there car insurance.

No it was a real driving school, with the big plastic sign on the roof and everything.

Gosh, I quite fancy that driving school!

Some instructors specialise in big cars, as a sort of marketting thingy. It brings in the would be boy racers, and those who don't want to be seen in a mini metro. I expect it's more expensive.

Yes, but you'd be paying for the car though. The OTR for an Audi is around £20,000 for the basic model, the same price for say a Micra is about £8,000.

If the car lasts three years - which is about as long as a driving school car lives - then that's £4,000 per year of that's got to be included in the lesson prices.

All very strange

definietly strange letting learners straight into a car like mine - as you say GD - it knows how to go and it also have brakes that are a lot sharper than most.

Its very different driving small cars and cars with small engines and driving bigger and or more powerful cars. In some ways I think its a good idea to be able to give people an experience of both while learning and they have an instructor with them. That way when they are in different cars later on they have a vague idea of what to expect.

and yes - I do still have the A4

Looks smaller than what I learned on - a 1977 Ford Thunderbird. When I finally went to driving school the car was a 1986 Ford Tempo, which I think might be about the same as the Audi (just a guess as the liklihood of finding a pic of them side by side is slim).

i learned in an 1972 buick lesabre, a pig in the shape of a mastodon. but it's no use comparing car sizes between europe and the US... a PT cruiser is a big car here, after a few months in the states they started to look small.

... and it looks really silly in both lands

I learned to drive in two vehicles - a Ford Escort and a VW 3.5 ton van

Anyhoo... "So my question is: what is that driving school thinking of in sticking a 17 year old novice in charge of such a large and powerful, not to mention expensive, car"
Any driving school in Texas would be wise to teach people to drive in that kind of car. After all, it's about half the size and half the power of anything they'll be driving as soon as they pass their test

half the size, but not half the power. americans look at the displacement of european/japanese engines and make the mistake that since they're less than 5 liters they're kiddie cars. WRONG! an A4 is a BEAST!

Lucker learner thats all I can say.

My mate has just bought a Scooby Impreza and I am trying to get him to let me have a go. Trouble is he wont let me cause I have only just passed my test .

Now here is an interesting case of differential marketing.

The Imprezza in the UK is sold mainly in the saloon version, and sold as something of a muscle car on the back of its performance in the World Rally Championship.

However in Canada it is the estate and an extended hatch-back version that are pushed, and are sold as a solid and dependable car for all conditions to the newly retired who want to get out and about a bit

Really?

Doubt many pensioners would want to drive my mates one however he has the WRX STI model and it moves...

I think that kind of think happens often, GD. Isn't a Ford Escort something of a sporty, racy car over there? Over here it's more often a stripped down economy car at the lower end of the new car market. (Or it was. It would be if they still made it. Been replaced by the Focus, I think.)

The Escort was a small family car, but they also made a souped up version - the XR3i, beloved car of boy racers and Essex man

But not as beloved as either the "RS Turbo" or "Cosworth" editions. They being more fantasy till recently. You can pick up an rs in relative nick for about 750 quid now.