u/Own_Cartographer5750

It's been a month since my used care purchase and I went for first re-fuel and to check my tyre pressure.

It's all first, since nobody has shown me how to do all that 🙈 slightly terrified but it all went without major embarrassment 😁😇

Maybe beyond trying to do the first tyre, which took me a minute and I let too much pressure out before I figured right way of connecting (oops)... thinking- well you better get it right now, since you messed up to begin with 😆

So the tyres turned out to be all about 5PSI under, so good thing I've checked. To be honest I did notice a bit of a difference when driving after. Felt a bit crispier.

However the spare tyre was SHOCKINGLY low. 18PSI instead of 60 😱

So the question is... Should I be concerned something is wrong with it? (No visible signs of damage) or is it just because it's just been there in the boot, forgotten about for ages?

Sacrificed my lay in to go practice hill starts, as Sunday morning was supposed to be quietest.

Got up 6AM, out by 7AM... planned route through A roads and bypass to get some more practice on higher speeds and 5th gear (only just noticed my car actually does tell me when it wants me to gear up on display 😅). Routed my ride to another town where I know there are some up hill residential streets to practice on in peace...

Plan was ace... but in reality.... where did all these people came from so early!!?!

Not only did I get to practice uphill starts but also meeting situations in tight uphill residential streets with other cars up my bumper! No pressure then.. 🙌😅 Good news is I managed the start, stop, wave in & out up-hill situation, but God did I sweat 🙈

Bad news is it was so busy the hill handbrake and clutch control practice ended there, as I didn't know any other nearby quiet areas where I could do it 😞

Unintended practice of changing lanes on high speed roads in traffic included in the practice package too, since I needed right turns.

Do people ever sleep in! 😅🙈🫣

I really hoped for nice & easy, but got myself into "Well, you're a licenced driver now. Deal with it!" 😆

My brain is fried 🤯🫣 I feel as exhausted as I was after driving lessons when I first started learning! 🙈

On a positive side a week and 5 rides after car purchase I'm starting to feel more comfortable with control, moving off and speeding up at more decent pace.. generally feeling it. Still struggling not to stall it in reverse up slope.. but hope dies last. One day I'll get there!

Hello 👋

Any tips please 😭

My neighbours must be having a good laugh 😅.

And the one who i share driveway with must be praying for his X6 and on the edge of his seat 🙈

I got a little simple 1.2l car as my first car. Ups & downs learning to drive it (2nd day, 2nd drive), just driving familiar routes, first time shopping car park done (manouvers feel much easier without any reference points, than in car i was learning in) but for the love of god, I do struggle park it up my drive 😭

It's just a tiny little slope up. I wouldn't even classify it as up hill. Just a little slope. But when I try to reverse in slowly I stall like at least twice, or I make a lot of noise with gas to move it up backwards 😭

Things like that didn't even need gas in my instructors car, so I'm just completely lost and embarrassed 🙈🙈🙈

I also stalled on 3 point turn in reverse and also couldn't figure out why it died on me... wasn't even a hill...

Buying a first car is turning out to be more challenging than passing the driving test!

I wish listing's on autotrader and aa were properly updated, as all calls turn into "oh that was sold quite a while ago"...

Where did you find your first car? Any tips?

I'm obviously looking for used, cheap and cheerful for the first year, not to cry too much if I scratch it :D

Four weeks until my driving test... 😱😬

Last lessons felt good but today's lesson honestly felt the best so far. I found myself thinking, "Jeez... Look at me! I'm actually a driver!!!" 😁

The whole lesson was so smooth. Manoeuvres nailed with no effort. Driving felt easy and natural, and I was really just enjoying driving. I misunderstood directions and missed one turn so couldn't practice emergency stop in planned location... until... I think I relaxed just a little too much towards the very end/ last 10min stretch and karma came to find me...

Coming to traffic light controlled junction of 40mph road, so already started reducing speed, which helped the situation for sure, I moved into the right lane for my turn with no one ahead going in the same direction. All the cars ahead were going straight and stopping in longer queue at lights ahead, no indicators, everything looked clear (including the car I will mention).

Then, at the very last second, a car in the middle lane suddenly started moving into mine 😳😱 I literally looked at cars in that lane a split second before with nothing indicative of this intention. The moment I took my eyes off them, they made the move.

I genuinely thought we were about to crash, so I slammed on the brakes. Instructor went for the break too, so no doubt quick break reaction was needed. Thankfully, it was all fine!

Generally he was happy that I reacted quickly, and agrees the other car made a very badly timed move, but said I just braked too hard (yup ABS kicked in).

Looking back, I think the panic just took over because I've never had a close call like that before. In my head, a collision felt inevitable. 🙈

I guess that's another lesson learned. Never relax, expect unexpected and stay fully focused until the engine is off... As you just never know when...

Not sure if it was as bad as I envisioned in my brain. Probably I could have gone easier on the break, as instructor said. Because I was like "Oh Sh*t" and obviously panicked, the tunnel vision kicked in, so it's quite hard to look back at the situation and clearly analyse it/ recall every bit of it. Half problem is that there was nothing behind me, so even if I overreacted at this time it didn't affect anyone else thankfully. If someone was close to me, then there is a chance I'd get rear ended.

Each experience brings something new to think about. I'm hoping the level of reaction required just develops more with experience? Hopefully through no collision experience though! 😳

One thing I am positive about is my recovery today.

In the past when something unexpected came along, or I made mistake, it just made me pile up mistakes after that in a matter of minutes. I was generally super anxious.

I'm actually so proud and chuffed I was able to shake this off, move on and talk through it like an adult without need to stop and calm down 🫠😉

Hello,

We're looking for a flat at the moment. Went for a viewing. Location is ok, size of property is ok etc. Previous tenants were there for several years, so couldn't be all too bad I think. We're told the property will be fully repainted and flooring changed before next tenancy (defo need it).

What red flagged it however was the visible water leak signs along the corner of the ceiling and side wall, likely from flat above. Agent said that happened quite some time ago and been resolved, however if so- wouldn't they fix up the wall & paint it after resolving issue?

I'm thinking at best not giving a crap about the state of the wall (couldn't possibly be this tenant's fault/liability as coming from above) and leaving for current tenant to live with, at worst- there could be an ongoing issue?

Am I right to be weary or overreacting?

Hello, I was just thinking...

So when emerging we give way to traffic on the main road. Does that mean if I'm emerging from side road onto 2 lane bypass, I must wait for both lanes to be clear even if left hand lane is free? (E.g. Just in case they switch lanes?).

So far I’ve done 36hrs (22 hours with this instructor, plus another 14 with previous one). I genuinely thought things were progressing quite well, especially considering how anxious I was when I first started learning. Which took a lot to get over. I’d actually started enjoying driving — having fun, feeling more relaxed. Feeling like "Holy shit, I drive now!"

Then...

Instructor got a brand new car... Today was my third lesson in it and I’m still really struggling with the clutch! I stalled four times today at junctions, was close to stall another 2 times... which completely threw me off, anxiety came rushing back and I started making even more stupid mistakes too. Overall, I feel like I drove really badly, with no confidence and got in my head again... I thought by 35hrs I'd be much better, so am super upset with myself :/

I have to press gas pedal much more to move off than the previous ones - fair enough. But for the life of me, I’m just not feeling the bite point quite properly, even wearing thin-soled shoes.

It’s the fourth car I’ve learned in. And oddly enough stalling was not on my list of issues until now ;( The first was a Mercedes, the second was just temporary while my instructor’s car was being fixed — funnily enough that older VW was actually my absolute favourite of all and I think VW will be the one I shoot for once I eventually get there — and the last two have been Peugeots.

I think next lesson I'll just ask to go back to basics, ask to go to some side road and practice moving off and hill starts without pressure of traffic?