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Schnitzel with noodles - what made you smile today?


amateurstuntman

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Had a hell of a weekend. Good and bad. Great company, my ex has newfound feelings for me, I'm dating a wonderful crazy little woman that makes me laugh, met a cute Hungarian girl which seems to turn out to become a great friend and all this helps to boost my self value and confidence.

 

I feel so fekin lucky, I'm afraid to jinx it!

 

* screams of happyness and terror *

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met a cute Hungarian girl which seems to turn out to become a great friend

 

I was surprised but there are some very interesting Hungarian people out there, they always seem to be the more whacky and accepting of the people I know, though all the ones I know are my age so perhaps it is a 'being young and in Edinburgh' thing :P.

 

As for my weekend, orgy, goodnight y' all.

 

'FireKnife'

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Found a franchise that, whilst having a higher initial cost, has much lower ongoing costs, which include all the advertising etc and actual, contractural reductions in fees if/when pupil numbers drop. 

 

Works out to be, once over 50% of my pupils are coming from recomendations/referrals etc, to be almost literally half the cost of AA/BSM etc.

 

Plus I can 'work' 30 hours a week and still earn as much as I do currently (once qualified), and if i need moar money, just work moar.

 

My local area has colleges, high schools and 6th forms abound, and a few large towns, so I'll likely (god willing) not be short of pupils... ever.

 

 

Biggest question running through my mind is: WHAT CAR?!

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There are two schools of thought.

 

The tiny, easy to drive, easy to see out of, safe, predictable, cheap car that will be easiest to drive and will be useful for you outside of work and might get you a bit of attention (vinyl graphics etc.).

 

VW Polo, VW Up!, Toyota Aygo etc.

 

Or in preparation for Stunt's Britain, the V8, non-synchromesh estate car with no power steering, bad tracking, an iffy clutch and bald tyres in which you will be tested in the rain.

 

Your choice.

 

 

Also, well done.

Next step, house.

 

And, if teaching squaddies how to drive trucks is any indication, a duodenal ulcer.

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Car will be provided by the franchise.

 

To be honest, I'm in two minds: In the next town over is a ford dealer and a peugeot/vauxhall (and isuzu) dealer.

 

Now, Ford fiesta is a prime choice for driving instructor car (in fact my old driving instructor now uses them, having moved from Corsas to clios and now fezzas), but the 'current' fiesta is now eight years old, retail wise (which means the design and engines etc are closer to 10 years old).

 

The new Pug 208 is apparently very good, and my first car was a pug 205, but that doesn't inspire me to make other people drive them...

 

HOWEVER! in all the reviews of small cars (not city cars, those are different and tiny), the new Mazda 2 is apparently bloody brilliant. The previous model was a platform share with a ford fiesta, but the new one is all new. MX5 gearbox (somehow, quite how they've taken a longitudinal 'box and made it for transversly is witchcraft) and genuinely clever stuff with the engines. Mazda are by far and away the most innovative manufacturer out there at the moment, including merc and the like. Their new G-vectoring thing (still in prototyping) uses telemetry from steering input, throttle position etc etc to advance or retard the timing so that the power delivery through corners etc is smoother and makes a better ride, both in comfort, grip (and speed but shush that's just a happy coincidence).

 

So, my first choice will be a mazda 2 or fiesta, I think, however the nearest mazda dealer is in York, which, being 21 miles away, is about 20 miles further away than the ford garage.

 

 

Stunt: I wish that was an option. However bald tyres would make the car unelligable for the actual test proper, and you can't actually buy a car without a synchromesh these days.

 

Move up north and we'll make one. Guy at work is part of the hillman avengers club, they've got loads of room for fun engines.

 

EDIT: also, Up!s (and Citigos, and Miis) actually have more internal room than the Polo. they're also a much nicer drive.

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Found a franchise that, whilst having a higher initial cost, has much lower ongoing costs, which include all the advertising etc and actual, contractural reductions in fees if/when pupil numbers drop.

 

Works out to be, once over 50% of my pupils are coming from recomendations/referrals etc, to be almost literally half the cost of AA/BSM etc.

 

Plus I can 'work' 30 hours a week and still earn as much as I do currently (once qualified), and if i need moar money, just work moar.

 

My local area has colleges, high schools and 6th forms abound, and a few large towns, so I'll likely (god willing) not be short of pupils... ever.

 

 

Biggest question running through my mind is: WHAT CAR?!

Drivers Ed?

 

How about a Prius.

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Reliant Robin.

 

/THREAD

 

My 226 should be coming in today for me to have a play with (very limited as my mum has cats and one would have a heart attack if I use any gas).

 

Also big bonus coming in on Friday which some will be going into a pushbike for commuting, saves me a ton on buses and taxis and shod help me get fitter without the agony that running is on my ankle.

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Can't fault your thinking I will admit! And at least it won't look any worse when someone has a knock in it!

 

Actually it of interest how often is it that you actually get a knock from a student? What's the procedure after? Car off the road till its fixed no matter what or does it vary? I've always wondered but never known a driving instructor to ask!

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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One thing to take into account is that whenever student knocks in YOUR car, it's YOUR insurance that takes the hit. So you might want to consider the insurance premiums (at minimum/no bonuses) as well.

 

Sure the Volvo would be a Tanbk, but better check if you'll have to learn to lay golden eggs to pay the insurance premiums before you get fixated on one.

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Can't fault your thinking I will admit! And at least it won't look any worse when someone has a knock in it!

 

Actually it of interest how often is it that you actually get a knock from a student? What's the procedure after? Car off the road till its fixed no matter what or does it vary? I've always wondered but never known a driving instructor to ask!

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Spoke to my own instructer when I started seriously considering it. He's never had a student crash/knock another car. (dual controls)

 

 

Learning to drive in a tiny Micra somehow qualifies you to drive a transit van.

 

A driving school car which was a larger size estate or similar would actually make sense.

 

Problems with that is that instructors cars will be abused even worse than a rental. unsmooth, jerky inputs, stalling, riding the clutch, stamping on the brakes, everything. Ergo, a cheaper car is better as it's less of an investment to lose if you crash/damage/destroy it. Sadly big cars aren't cheap.

 

This is partly why I'm leaning away from C1/Aygo/Up!/Twingo etc etc. A Fiesta is a 'normal' sized car.

 

The other thing to think about is the dual-control conversion.

 

Can they do it to any car? How much does it cost? Can they only do it to a new car before delivery or add it to an older car?

 

Can be done to most cars, the main company (He-Man, i know!) have a list of all the cars they can fit it to. can be fitted to older cars but not sure of the cost - won't affect me anyway as the franchise provides the car pre-converted.

 

But do you need dual controls?? I had a driving lesson in a AA run Focus just before my test, I didn't notice that had dual controls.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You don't need dual controls, and IIRC, when I learnt the instructor only used them once or twice. It's just like everything - dual controls make it measureably safer to teach someone to drive. if they're not slowing down fast enough, I will be able to force that. If they're in the wrong gear or about to stall or need to do an emergency stop, I will be able to force the clutch down. 

 

that coupled with my enormous gorilla arms means I will never be 'passenger' in the car, I'll always be able to take control.

 

 

You don't *need* them, as such, but it seems common for all the "professional" driving school cars to have them.

 

For very new students, the instructors sometimes work the clutch to let the student focus on the steering etc.

 

Really? I'll never do that for one of my (future) pupils. Driving a car is, at it's heart, multi-tasking turned up to 11. If you can't operate the clutch whilst steering then you need to drive an automatic. 

 

and by drive an automatic, i mean give up.

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