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Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 8:26 pm
by fungus
One of my pupils, who is very on the ball, bought himself a 2010 reg VW Golf tdi a few weeks ago. He originally said it had clutch assist, which made me think, "diesel, clutch assist, I can see problems when he gets back in my petrol Fiesta." So I warned him of the possible problems he might encounter. Next lesson he allayed my fears when he said that his car didn't have the system. Today he was telling me about his friend who passed his test a couple of weeks ago, and had learnt in an Audi A1 diesel with clutch assist. :shock: Yes, you've guessed it, the lad couln't drive his own petrol car which he had bought post test because he didn't have the finesse of control to be gentle enough with the clutch.

I don't know what members on here think, but my own feeling is, that using a car with such a system is actually doing your pupils a dis-service because they will not develope good clutch control, hence my use of a petrol car.

Nigel.

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 8:52 pm
by TheInsanity1234
What on earth is clutch assist?

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 9:18 pm
by GTR1400MAN
This (YouTube Video) is what happens when you learn in a diesel and then mummy/daddy buy you a nice economical petrol shopping trolley that can't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 10:01 pm
by ChristianAB
Here we go again...

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 9:10 am
by jont-
ChristianAB wrote:Here we go again...

:lol:

Quite. What about ABS, Hill hold assist, electric handbrakes, synchromesh gearboxes etc etc etc :lol:

Fungus, I'm guessing you're not still running a 1950s car with a crash gearbox to train your pupils....

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 9:23 am
by GTR1400MAN
I would say until a particular bit of tech has a major foothold, probably in the 90+% range, someone shouldn't be taught to rely on any such feature.

They are being taught to drive, not to drive a specific make/brand. Currently we only split licences by manual and automatic but the lines are getting very blurred.

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:01 am
by sussex2
It appears, to me, that they are trying to do hill starts on the flat; something that irked me something rotten when I was teaching ab initio.
The problem lay in that the pupil would attempt this method of starting off irrespective of the slope, including downhill.

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:04 am
by sussex2
TheInsanity1234 wrote:What on earth is clutch assist?


I've no idea but it is generally accepted that diesel cars are much more forgiving at low speed.

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:24 am
by GTR1400MAN
sussex2 wrote:It appears, to me, that they are trying to do hill starts on the flat; something that irked me something rotten when I was teaching ab initio.
The problem lay in that the pupil would attempt this method of starting off irrespective of the slope, including downhill.

Huh? Hill start on the flat. Care to explain further.

I pull away the same whether on the flat or hill. Am I missing a trick?

Re: Doing them a dis-service

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:53 am
by Gareth
GTR1400MAN wrote:I pull away the same whether on the flat or hill. Am I missing a trick?

It's easy for something to get so ingrained that you stop noticing small differences. Generally, to pull away up-hill, the engine speed needs to be raised slightly more before beginning to engage the clutch, although it rather depends on the amount of torque at or just above idle.