What do you drive?

[LadyKaiko]

I'm glad I don't live in Finland. That's way too much shit to go through to get a license. I refuse to learn how to drive a car with manual transmission. I like my automatic car. Lol

[IceIce]

That was the system when I got my license. On January 17th of this year, the whole system changed, now it is a three-part system. Plus the prices went up like crazy. Honestly I think the two part system is very good for Finland. We do have extreme conditions for half a year. And the manual vs automatic transmission debate. It really depends on who is asked and where you live. You live in the States, I'm positive that the majority of cars in USA are with automatic transmission so you think this way. In Finland the majority are manual, and people have no issues whatsoever with having to learn manual, because they know they need to learn it in order to get a license.

If you ask me, I much prefer a manual transmission. I've driven automatic, and I find it is boring!

[SassyChance]

Wow it's interesting to know what other countries' licensing procedures are. They actually make the road slippery for you guys to drive on? I can't even imagine that. Is it very nerve wrecking?

I'm in Florida & honestly the procedure when I got mine (8 years ago) was fairly simple. I received my learners permit at 15, which I couldn't drive without an adult over the age of 21 between certain times of day, which I think was 8pm-5am. Then when I turned 16 I took the written test & a driving test that was behind the DMV. The actual driving test took maybe 15-20 minutes. Supposedly they required a certain number of hours driving with an adult while I had my permit but no one ever asked for that information (my parents kept track of that).

No wonder Florida has such bad drivers. I'm by no means the best driver but leave it up to this state to just give anyone a license. Sheesh.

[IceIce]

Yeah they do. It was actually quite fun. They try to make it as realistic as possible, but in controlled conditions so no one or their car gets hurt. It just might be embarrassing when you do something that is a perfect example of what not to do.

The roads are not straight, they have curves, uphill, downhill etc. One of the first exercises was on the ice road, and I had to drive with a certain speed up a hill, and down and then quickly jump on the break and stop the car as quickly as possible. Now I didn't have ABS, so when I jumped the break, my tires locked, I lost the ability to steer and I drove off the road. It was embarrassing, but luckily there were others who did the exact same thing. I actually thought, before this, that I knew how to drive on snow and ice.

Our weather conditions are extreme udring the winter. It is often a lot below 0 celsius /32 Fahrenheit, and we have a lot of snow, even snowstorms few times during the winter. The biggest main roads (I don't mean high ways with this. On highways they use salt to get rid of the snow and ice.) you can still see the asphalt, but the tire tracks are visible there. There's still snow but you can see where cars drive cause the tire tracks have no snow on them. A scenario: The temperature rises a little, but still below 32F, and it snows. The cars' tires kind of melt the snow that just fell down, it turns into water, then there's the cold night where everything freezes. You get black ice. That is deadly. It's pure ice, you have no touch to the asphalt. Even with studded winter tires you have trouble controlling your car. There's black ice in the city too. You've stopped at a red light, it turns green and you press gas, but your tires just spin and the car stays put because of the ice. Ice is not just a problem with high speeds.

It is an excellent lesson to go to these driving schools' slippery road tests, they really can teach you how to control your car. This black ice is everywhere. In the city, the bigger roads into the city, it's on the highways. Imagine what kind of damage that can do on the highway. Especially if the cars do not keep the safety distance. Even after all this training or so, many people keep too short of a distance to the car in front of them. Too short of a safety distance, people's own reaction rates and black ice, or fog, or a snowstorm do cause a lot of accidents. Or rather the climate conditions do not cause the accidents, people do, but people think they are better drivers than they actually are, and think they can stop the car just like that so they don't keep big safety distances to the car in front of them. And then they crash.

But yes, they do intentionally make the test roads slippery, remind us to keep big safety distances, teach us how to control the car in various conditions. They can only remind us of it, demonstrate the effects to us, but it is the person itself who decides whether or not they take this information and use it.

[TaylorKnows]

The whole testing process is awful. I've failed the permit test twice. I study and then what I study isn't on the test. I don't think that I should have to know what kind of license I need to drive a heavy truck if I'm not going to be driving one. My dad's a mechanic and he has a car waiting for me (a red 1999 convertible). It's so nice and so cool, but I'm just not ready yet. Maybe when I'm 18 and I don't have to worry about the permit. Or if they make the option where you can take it online again.

[Ireth0]

2008 Suzuki Swift+ over here.

[allcarriedaway]

I drive an 06 Ford Escape. It's my first car and I love it. I like small cars since I'm not the best driver, but I also like SUV's for the elevation and roominess, so it's just perfect for me.

[audrelizabethh]

My first car was a 1990 Opel Vectra. I got my licence when I was almost 19, I had graduated high school, and I was going to college in a few months. (We start school the year that we turn 7, and graduate high school the year we turn 19.) It had a manual gear shift. In Finland you can't get a drivers licence if you do not know how to drive a car with manual gear shift. It did not have ABS, or any of these electronic things. After a while the engine's rpm meter, which showed me how much the engine was going in a minute, broke down, so I really had to learn to listen to my car to figure out when to change gears. When we got it my dad fixed the engine completely, and when the car finally broke down last fall, the engine was the only thing that would've lasted. I had this car for 6 years.

When my car died,then I used my boyfriend's 2003 Renault Megane, but he had been planning on selling that, so we'd get rid of two cars, and buy one. We ended up with a 2011 Hyundai i20. It is small enough for us, yet we can still fit two golf bags in the trunk.

We were either going to buy fairly new car, or a 15-year old car or older. If we had bought an old car it would've meant that my dad would have to fix something in it once or twice a year, and my boyfriend didn't feel comfortable in taking my dad's time. Also we decided against a car that was made sometime during 2000-2007 because, they are at that age when they would need bigger work on the engine or some other place, and that would cost a lot. They would also have some electronic stuff in them which would mean my dad couldn't fix the car then because he does not have the equipment for it. So it was either a new car, that would not require any work, or a really old one. We are planning on selling this car in 3 years. We also had a look at how much people ask for the same model now, except 3-4 years older. We were basically trying to figure out how much the cars value would decrease in three years time. That kind of made us choose the car we got.


In Finland you can start driving school when you are 17.5 years old. You can do the driving test plus the written exam only after you have turned 18. High schools don't have driving teaching/programs or anything, driving schools are a business of their own. And we don't have the learner's permit system. It all has to be done in a driving school with a driving instructor. After passing both tests you get your first licence for 2 years, after that you need to complete the second part which is about 3 hours of theory, and 3 hours of driving on a road that is specifically made for this purpose. They either freeze it or pour some kind of oil mixture on it, and then you learn how to drive on an icy/slippery road. The winter conditions in Finland are quite extreme, and most do learn to drive on an icy road before they go do this second phase, but it is still good to learn it again with the driving instructors.

I know this is a super long text, but in addition of answering the topic, I somehow decided to explain the driving school system and all.. I congratulate you if you read this far.

Where I live drivers ed is not in schools either, depends on where in the US you live for that. It's 600 usd for the class so I don't get to drive till I'm 18 which is when we're allowed to just do a driving and written test in order to get our license. And about the manual shift thing- I will be learning that because I might sometimes drive my dad's 1965 mustang, but I'm doing automatic first.

[peachesnoranges]

Wow, some of you have nice cars!

When I'm away at school I walk and take the bus since the bus pass is included in our tuition money. When I'm at home, I drive my parents cars. I can't wait to be done school and have my own car.

[hollaatmegurl]

2000 navy blue Ford Ranger truck.

[SassyChance]

It's smart to simulate actual driving conditions. That way when you're faced them you'll know what to do. I commend anyone that can drive in snow. Living in Florida of course we don't have snow and I'm sure it's not easy.

[Catwoman]

2010 black Nissan Altima

[fmg123]

2011 Chevy Tahoe.
I love it so much, but it's a gas guzzler.
And to be honest, I got it because I use to drive a Cadillac Deville which was super low to the ground and I hated it when I was on the freeway and people that drove trucks and SUV's would tail gate me and it would scare the living crap out of me, like they wanted to run me off the freeway!
And I'm pretty short, so having such a big SUV makes me feel....well......bigger
And it's so funny to see some peoples reaction when I step out of my SUV, cause their like what the heck, she was driving that!?
Plus it's great to lug around lots of people and my pets

[audrelizabethh]

2011 Chevy Tahoe.
I love it so much, but it's a gas guzzler.
And to be honest, I got it because I use to drive a Cadillac Deville which was super low to the ground and I hated it when I was on the freeway and people that drove trucks and SUV's would tail gate me and it would scare the living crap out of me, like they wanted to run me off the freeway!
And I'm pretty short, so having such a big SUV makes me feel....well......bigger
And it's so funny to see some peoples reaction when I step out of my SUV, cause their like what the heck, she was driving that!?
Plus it's great to lug around lots of people and my pets

I'm short and want an SUV too! lol.

[Pinkiegurf24]

My moms 2012 Nissan Altima for right now.
I'm planning on getting a job so that I can save up for a car of my own.
I'm going to put a big chunk down, and my mom is going to put the balance down.
I'm probably going to get an older model Prius or Honda (2008-2009)
I really REALLLLLYYYYY want the 2012 Chevy Cruze, but that's a fantasy

[audrelizabethh]

My moms 2012 Nissan Altima for right now.
I'm planning on getting a job so that I can save up for a car of my own.
I'm going to put a big chunk down, and my mom is going to put the balance down.
I'm probably going to get an older model Prius or Honda (2008-2009)
I really REALLLLLYYYYY want the 2012 Chevy Cruze, but that's a fantasy

I would love a 2012 Jetta TDI as far as cars with good gas mileage go, but that's way out of my price range! Lol. Maybe I'll talk my mom into getting it for herself and then borrow it.

[nothinggold]

'03 Hyundai Sonata. It's been wrecked on every side and is my first car. I've been driving it since I was 17, I'm 21 now, and it's been to hell and back and still runs. I will drive this car until the wheels fall off.
I would love a new car or more a new used car but I just don't see a point in buying one when the car I have is perfectly effective. It's not the prettiest, it's not the newest, but it runs like a scolded dog and I'd rather save my money then spend it on a car payment when I don't need a new car.

[nothinggold]

I also would like to add, I would love to live somewhere with great public transit. My city has buses but working around them and my work schedule would be a nightmare.

[chain]

Currently driving a 2011 Range Rover HSE, LOVE it but dying for a Mercedes! a g63 amg is next

[AlexCaffe]

I drive a subaru impreza wrx sti 2004