In today's DT
tinyurl.com/77xcsz
At least one person will be buying a new car soon - well as soon as the cheque from the MB driver's Ins Co arrives.
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Chrysler Neon £10,000? More like £,1000 surely. I favour no automatic only licences, this just allows numpty's behind the wheel (with the exception for disabled drivers of course). You should have a full manual licence for any geared car.
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The Mercedes driver should have learnt left-foot braking: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=15
And it's just as well the Chysler was there or the Mer would crashed through the front wall of the house.
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Love this quote: "but you never get the full money back form the insurance"
Not if you're expecting £10'000. :)
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"I will have to get a new car, My chrysler Neon is pretty much written off -------"
Every cloud has a silver Lining
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May be they have now resolved their earlier disputes about parking .......
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I have read what HJ says on this subject and I understand it. However, as an occasional user of automatic gearbox cars I find it easier to stick what I normally do. I have two feet, I use the left for the clutch and the right to accelerate and brake. If there is no clutch I just use the right foot as normal and keep my left foot away from the pedals. For me the key word is 'normal'; I find it hard to change the driving habits of 50 years and start left-foot braking than to drive the way I usually do. Automatic = no clutch = don't use left foot.
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I find it hard to change the driving habits of 50 years and start left-foot braking than to drive the way I usually do. Automatic = no clutch = don't use left foot.
And therein lies the danger. :(
When you are driving a manual, if you accidentally stab the accelerator instead of the brake while manoeuvring, your left will be covering the clutch, so you can quickly release the drive. On an automatic, you have two choices: either leave your left foot lying idle, or use it to cover the brake and train yourself to use it.
I take the point about it being hard to relearn, particularly for an older person. But to my mind that's a reason not to drive an automatic if you don't want to take whatever time is required to drive it safely.
BTW, no offence intended in that last sentence. There's plenty of things we all avoid learning, and nothing wrong with deciding that one of them is not going to be for me, provided we accept that there's some things we can't do.
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I always take HJ seriously, but I've never managed to be convinced by this left-foot braking stuff.When you are driving a manual if you accidentally stab the accelerator instead of the
brake while manoeuvring your left will be covering the clutch so you can quickly release the drive. >>
Firstly, so what? You are on the move by then, and releasing the clutch isn't going to stop you. Secondly, I always found it extremely difficult to operate a clutch when reversing or manoeuvring in a tight space, because you are not sitting normally.
Anyway, the woman in the story must have kept hard at it, mustn't she? I mean, what speed do you have to be going at to mount another car?
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I'm surprised that such speed can be attained to mount a car. I don't understand why folks don't wait and feel the slight 'creep' in the right direction after changing gear before hitting the accelerator.
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I've never seen the attraction of left-foot braking unless you're driving a go kart. I wonder if any stats are kept on the number of accidents caused by it?
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>>Especially when it has just been cold started and may be running at high enough revs to engage drive without touching the pedals.
Drive is only engaged when you move the gear selector, something that should only be done with your foot on the brake. I assume you mean the engine is running fast enough to move the car without touching the pedals when the gear is engaged which can't happen with the footbrake on.
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I didn't think the fast idle on modern cars would be enough to send one hurtling forward with enough speed to climb on top of another car.
Reminds me of the Sunbeam up the road from me many years back, the lady driver of which used to pull the choke all the way out so it was revving at about 3 grand, then dump it in drive (ouch!) That didn't hurtle forward tho, it just span the back wheels half a turn.
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I couldn't understand driving an auto with two feet - until I tried a new X-type Jag.
There is no way I could get the thing over the small ramp into my yard under any sort of control unless I used a bit of throttle and brake at the same time.
Edited by ifithelps on 18/01/2009 at 17:42
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If you only ever drive an automatic, then left-foot braking makes perfect sense - though as HJ says if you don't like it, don't.
But if you drive both automatics and manuals - and SWMBO has always had manuals even when I've had automatics - then I wouldn't recommend it. As someone rightly said above, we all have ocasional lapses in concentration, and starting fron rest is a particular time when you may have other things on your mind, having just come from some other activity.
All the automatics I've had have not allowed you to engage Drive or Reverse without your foot being firmly on the brake. I hope that's universal. Mercedes have this safeguard - presumably on all their models: so if this driver accelerated suddenly she must have already been in Drive, and thus it could equally have happened in a manual.
Edited by Avant on 18/01/2009 at 18:49
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