Learning to drive at 40: Which car to pick & how to go about it?

I have never driven cars before this and the only driving experience and mileage is from a driving school.

BHPian landmaster18 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am asking the following question of behalf of a friend - he specifically requested me to put it here. The reasoning provided to me was that he is sensitive about being judged for the lack of driving experience, and for learning how to drive only at the age of 40. He further wanted to be in some kind of a safe space where he would get sound and mature advise without any fear of being ridiculed.

Will therefore request you to please answer this, keeping these sensitivities in mind.

I am 40 years old, male and have learnt how to drive only now for various reasons including financial ones. Previous financial status played a major part in not owning a car and also not trying out to drive. Now I am in a fairly better financial condition and would want to drive cars for the sake of my family - want to give them a safe experience. I have never driven cars before this and the only driving experience and mileage is from the driving school.

My questions are as follows:

• What should be my first car? I live in New Delhi. Should it be a small car like the Hyundai i10 or a slightly bigger car like the Hyundai Venue or the Mahindra 3XO? I am looking to buy a car soon - preferably one with an automatic gear shifter.
• Should I also buy a car with ADAS? Will it help me since I have never driven in city traffic.
• What kind of special safety precautions should I exercise and be mindful of?
• Should I practice a bit more in driving schools before I bought my own car?

Grateful for any advice in this regard. Thanks once again and best wishes!

Here's what BHPian Engine_Roars had to say on the matter:

First & Foremost, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of here. In fact, your friend should be appreciated for wanting to improve & to put in efforts to learn a new skill which is way outside of his comfort zone.

Couple of things, that I can think of:

1. Buy a car, keeping in mind at least next 10 years of usage. If he wish to travel to see our beautiful country, hatchback might not be a good option however if he only needs the car for city travel, a hatchback is a good option.

2. I personally do not like too much of technology in my vehicles, I trust my skills more however this is very personal and if ADAS makes him feel safer, no harm in using it.

3. In INDIA, you should always assume that everyone else on the road is an idiot and is on the road just to come under your wheels. You have to drive that defensive & I can't emphasize this enough.

Here's what BHPian It'sMagic had to say on the matter:

I just want to tell your friend that he is not alone. I personally know people who learned to drive in their forties and they seem to be driving fine. I have also seen older people learning to drive in nearby driving school vehicles many times. So, I would recommend him to drive without worrying too much about others.

Coming back to his questions, does anyone close to him own a vehicle? If yes, I suggest he practices driving that vehicle along with learning through a driving school. I would recommend purchasing a new car (it can be new or pre-owned) once he gains some confidence driving at the driving school. Also, I suggest selecting a driving school where a lot of time is spent on actual driving rather than classroom training.

I would recommend purchasing a small car as it would be easier for him to learn as well as drive. Also, he shouldn't worry about features like ADAS & others at this point in time.

Happy Driving!

Here's what BHPian Aish_4761 had to say on the matter:

Rightly said by everyone bout no need of being insecure, I am happy that the person waited to become stable financially before investing in a depreciating asset, especially in the NCR where it depreciates even faster!

And here I see my generation folks buying phones of a particular brand unnecessarily on EMI! Where have we come!

In my opinion, going with a premium and safe hatch like the Altroz or Fronx makes more sense for both city and occasional highway drives, a plus would be factory fitted CNG to somewhat save the environment and running cost.

Here I would weigh Fronx over Altroz because of the following:

1. Wheel arch cladding, hides small brush-ups well, bound to happen to a new driver

2. Parts and labour should be on the economic side

3. Considerably low tradeoff on safety viz. The rival

4. Maruti resale and reliability

Rest, their choice would definitely suit them better!

Here's what BHPian Guna had to say on the matter:

1. Buy a small car with good visibility, a car where he can see the bonnet will be really helpful (Punch?)

2. ADAS is going to confuse new drivers but features like front parking sensors, 360 degree camera, blind spot monitoring can be helpful

3. I don't know if everything can be listed here but following all traffic rules and adopting 'defensive driving' style will help.

4. Depends on his confidence level. I started driving a new car after 10 hours of training but my car accumulated dents and scratches in no time

Here's what BHPian am1m had to say on the matter:

There is absolutely no cause to worry about judgement, but on the contrary, the person needs to be applauded for learning something new and being sensible enough to seek advice! So kudos to him!

While all encouragement is due, the reality is that learning to drive later means it will take some more time for it to become 'muscle memory'. Like any physical skill, the earlier you learn, the better. But all that that means is the person will need to spend more time practicing and going about it more methodically.

If one is willing to take the trouble of buying one car, using it to gain experience, and then selling it and buying the car that will be used for longer, then there is absolutely nothing like learning to drive on a pre-owned small car with a manual transmission. It's more forgiving when you need to reverse and when parking, you'll develop skill and judgement that won't be compensated for by more power and an automatic transmission on a more powerful car, and finally it'll hurt less when those inevitable bumps and scrapes happen, like we all experienced when learning to drive.

But that's not always possible, so if the person is absolutely sure of the usage, only automatic for the rest of his life, then I guess it makes sense to go with a small, reliable brand, with a reliable auto transmission. Since again, bumps and scrapes are going to happen, it'll certainly hurt more because it's your own car, but remember, it's just a vehicle it can be fixed, don't let those discourage or distract from driving more and more often in all sorts of conditions.

Either way, spending as long as possible practicing on the driving school vehicles is always going to be a big help.

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