Driving Woes

Had drove 2 times in my van and the first one was a bit of a disaster (actually the 2nd one also). I drove slowly during the first time as i'm worried of making any errors for the new vehicle.

1) I had to get used to the signal stick which is on the left hand side. I frequently activated the windscreen wiper instead of the signal. That's the difference between continental cars and japanese cars. My ex-lorry is a Nissan Cabstar.

2) I had to get used to the position of the accelerator. The accelerator was placed too near beside the brake pedal in my opinion (not in my mum's opinion though, coz my parents are driving continental cars as well). The first time i stepped the brakes, i accidentally stepped on the accelerator as well and once i heard the revving sound, i immediately removed the pressure and examined the positions.

3) I had to either be barefeet or wearing socks when handling the foot brakes, accelerator and clutch pedal. If i wore shoes or slippers, i would step on both pedals if i'm not careful. Maybe coz my feet is too big (size 10.5).

4) The engine is so smooth and noiseless that i wasn't too aware of the clutch biting point. When the engine is about to stall, i wouldn't feel anything much except when it's really about to stall (when i'll hear a bit of noise but no jerking of any sorts). My lorry jerked like it's bouncing when the engine is about to stall and i knew right away the biting point of the clutch.

5) The side mirrors are slightly too small for me. I know that lorry mirrors are much bigger than most vehicles but i would feel safer if the mirrors are larger.

6) I'm still getting used to driving vehicles with bonnets. I prefer a full frontal view.

7) My van doesn't have power steering but my lorry got. It's probably coz my van isn't a long vehicle and doesn't really need power steering. That means i have to be careful for u-turning on narrow roads.

8) Driving a long vehicle for almost a year made my turning radius extremely sharp and i have to adjust my turning radius.

9) Parking is a problem as i always turned to look behind when i'm parking my lorry. Although the van has 2 rear windows, the view is limited and i am not too confident if i use the 2 side mirrors solely for parking.

10) It's so new, gleaming in the polish that i'm worried when driving. I didn't care too much about my lorry in the past and i always drove up super narrow hdb carparks like i'm driving a mini car.

I would definitely recommend any first time driver to buy a second-hand car, the older the better. That would definitely remove the phobia of getting into minor accidents like mounting curbs, parking accidents, scratching the car against the wall of a narrow hdb carpark, etc.

I feel like i'm a first-time driver once again. More driving familiarisation required!

Perks of a new car: Neighbours who wanna check out the new van on the block, having a remote audio control (only realized it today), having a cd player that can play MP3 songs also.

Perks of passengers of my van: Shelter + air-con! Haha...