Walking back from the match on Saturday I spotted (in the small amount of time that I wasn't shuffling along staring at the ground saying ....."Bleedin' rubbish again...") a learner in a driving school......Vauxhall Corsa VXR. This struck me as probably the strangest car I had ever seen for teaching new drivers in....?

I am sure the pupil will be slightly dissapointed when they pass their test and find the 10yr old Ford Ka they can actually afford is not quite the same sort of machine !

Just wondered really, if anyone either teaches or has learnt in or spotted any other "different" driving school cars....?

Not quite in the league of a Vxr I learnt in a brand new Fiesta Zetec S just over two years ago. This was very nice to drive and although you can't drive the car to the real limits it was very smooth and a nice drive. At the time most of my friends were learning in clios and the small Mazda cars.

Believe Sharkrider uses a vRS as he is a driving instructor. That would be interesting :yes:

Have seen all sorts of cars being used, inc, a BMW 3 series convertible, i think i'm right in saying you can use anycar you like apart from a Mini Convertible.

Morris Minor: http://www.classicdrivingschool.biz/

I've seen a red Monte Carlo as a learner car, looked pretty funky.

local instructor has a hawkeye impreza in blue with gold wheels, strikes me as a slightly genius way to attract young learners

Aye. Sharkrider on here uses a MK2 Fabia vRS. Just for automatic students obviously.

There's a Golf+ that gets used round by me, now moved onto an offroad Scout style VW of some sort I think (maybe a Polo Dune?).

local instructor has a hawkeye impreza in blue with gold wheels, strikes me as a slightly genius way to attract young learners

Could be quite good for them too - learning in something with some power rather than a 1.4TDi (or whatever) then having no experience of power as they graduate into something better later.

I have a Roomster, which is a little unusual for tuition.

Not too many miles from here is an instructor with a Mk1 Fabia vRS special edition (it's on the register here).

You can use any vehicle for tuition, but there are vehicles which are not acceptable for test due to visibility issues.

yes I use the mark II vRS for my driving school...

dunno about the VXR or Imprezza, I would suggest they are lookalikes (vauxhall do the VXR kit on all corsa models) .... the mark II vRS is (I think) group 29 insurance, and ALL the specialist insurance companies I called wouldnt touch me as its too high insurance group EXCEPT the one I'm was already with, which increased my premium by £60 over the punto sporting I had before...

so I doubt cars like the VXR with its much higher insurance group will be used as a driving school car... I dont think they would get insurance. I remember my friend in sheffield (uses a merc A-class) looked at a golf GT with the TSI engine, and his insurance company wouldnt do it... I was worried I wouldnt get the vRS insured! Thanyou Allianz

My mate bought a corsa, they do sport kits, but no vxr kit, exhaust it in the wrong place on other models.

No exciting cars round here, I learnt in a focus which was lovely. One thing that hacks me off though, they all go and practise 3 point turns on estates with the most frequent bus service. Every 5 min a bus goes past, so they know they'll hold one up at some point but instead of going a extra street in they do it on the bus route. Bit of a off topic rant sorry!

Matt

My Brother learnt to drive in London and specifically searched for an instructor with a RWD car to learn(as he earns far too much money and decided to order a brand new porsche as his first car, with 18months later has more than a few dinks in it)

He ended up having lessons with two different instructors because he couldn't find any rwd instructor cars.

but he still learnt in a Mini Cooper S and booked £2100 worths of driving tutition with Porsche once he passed his test before he took the car!

Oh actually now you say that, there is several BMW 1 series round here, if they count as "different" lol

Matt

yes I use the mark II vRS for my driving school...

dunno about the VXR or Imprezza, I would suggest they are lookalikes (vauxhall do the VXR kit on all corsa models) .... the mark II vRS is (I think) group 29 insurance, and ALL the specialist insurance companies I called wouldnt touch me as its too high insurance group EXCEPT the one I'm was already with, which increased my premium by £60 over the punto sporting I had before...

so I doubt cars like the VXR with its much higher insurance group will be used as a driving school car... I dont think they would get insurance. I remember my friend in sheffield (uses a merc A-class) looked at a golf GT with the TSI engine, and his insurance company wouldnt do it... I was worried I wouldnt get the vRS insured! Thanyou Allianz

It was a VXR (I am a bit of an anorak about these things..) hence my original post, as it struck me it was such a strange choice for a Driving Instructor to choose...

Interesting to know that learning in a DSG car only gets you an auto license? Is that right?

It was a VXR (I am a bit of an anorak about these things..) hence my original post, as it struck me it was such a strange choice for a Driving Instructor to choose...

was it definatley a driving school? and not just someones pearant? duel controls ect? as I said, I'd be suprised... would love to know what insurance company he uses... there are only about 10 in the whole country that do instructor insurance, and all the ones I called except for mine, wouldn't insure the vRS and thats a lower insurance group than the VXR!

But hey, i could be wrong, maybe hes with "instructor cover plus" like me and underwritten by allianz.... they were even ok with the remap on the fiat! so maybe they will insure anything, and don't have limits like the others (one quoted a max insurance group of 25) ... never asked mine what they go up to !

the insurance is cheap anyway, he'd only have to charge an exra few quid an hour to make up for the loss in fuel economy.... like I said, a friend of mine uses a 2 litre petrol merc A-Class as his instructor car, to be honest, if you are going to spend all that time in the car, you may as well have a nice one , I don't know why more people don't!

Interesting to know that learning in a DSG car only gets you an auto license? Is that right?

yes jason, auto only liscence... but hell, its the way forward

was it definatley a driving school? and not just someones pearant? duel controls ect? as I said, I'd be suprised... would love to know what insurance company he uses... there are only about 10 in the whole country that do instructor insurance, and all the ones I called except for mine, wouldn't insure the vRS and thats a lower insurance group than the VXR!

But hey, i could be wrong, maybe hes with "instructor cover plus" like me and underwritten by allianz.... they were even ok with the remap on the fiat! so maybe they will insure anything, and don't have limits like the others (one quoted a max insurance group of 25) ... never asked mine what they go up to !

the insurance is cheap anyway, he'd only have to charge an exra few quid an hour to make up for the loss in fuel economy.... like I said, a friend of mine uses a 2 litre petrol merc A-Class as his instructor car, to be honest, if you are going to spend all that time in the car, you may as well have a nice one , I don't know why more people don't!

Yes..with a roof sign, although I am not sure if there was livery on the car. (it was that nice vRS type of blue)

I will check if he is on the same route at the next game....!!

Up here we have a 58/59 plate (cant remember which) Civic Type R as a learner car.

yes jason, auto only liscence... but hell, its the way forward

Aye - I like the principle of DSG, just not sure how available it would be to the average "just passed test" young driver, that's all. Surely they'd be forced to look at older regular auto cars?

I've seen a few times around Middlesbrough a Mk1 Fabia vRS as a driving school car.

I learned to drive and passed my test in a Subaru Justy, back in 96/97.

Edited 4 October, 201114 yr by Jim H

Just saw a scirocco blocking up the bus route lol

Funny you should mention

Theres a mk2 fabia vRS around Cardiff teaching, and I did wonder how it would work with the DSG, now I have my answer

We have a Renaultsport Twingo 133 Gordini round our way.