Another Festiva driver in the family

[mattswabb]

My daughter turned 16 last spring and showed no interest in driving till last week. Friday she got her temp permit and I'm teaching her to drive. All my cars are manual and she has zero experience driving except video games. We started out in my beater 1985 F150 because it is more difficult to stall. Sunday we went out for 1.5 hours in the festiva (not the BP car). She did fine, only a few misses. She wants my white 89 now. Quite a few hard shifts, she managed to get it into reverse once without the clutch and also turned the key the wrong way when shutting off the car.

matt

[EVOGUN]

Festiva has to be a great beginner car. Its easy to drive and has good road view and is small so its easy to park and judge distances.

Thanks :wink:

[25Horseplay]

When my daughter started driving 3years ago, she refused to drive the Festiva. I ended up buying her a Geo Tracker.

[Tim]

I taught about a dozen people to drive a stick in my Festiva.

In the process the car was abused in more ways than I thought possible.

Amazingly enough, the car never complained (except for when someone tried to start off in 3rd) and still drives fine!

[mattswabb]

Tim - in response to your post the other day where your buddy put it in 1st at 35 with the clutch in, I can tell you that if it would have been 25mph and he dumped the clutch the tranny would be ok. She did that once yesterday.

[packrat427]

Festiva a VERY Forgiving car

[Safety Guy]

Many years ago a friend of a friend got a used '89 Golf base model. Dark blue, like I like.

I began teaching her to drive a stick in that Golf, but the shifter was notchy and the clutch was heavy. So we switched to my '89L.

Went much better. She actually scared me a few times but she was a cutie. I never got to drive the Golf much for some reason.

IMO, Festivas are a nice easy MTX learning car if they're in good shape.

Karl

[Tim]

Tim - in response to your post the other day where your buddy put it in 1st at 35 with the clutch in, I can tell you that if it would have been 25mph and he dumped the clutch the tranny would be ok. She did that once yesterday.

Thanks! At least I know my car wasn't harmed!

I bet the car bucked like a wild bull though....

[SimonTuffGuy]

When my daughter started driving 3years ago, she refused to drive the Festiva. I ended up buying her a Geo Tracker.

That's great... One death trap to another... j/k

I learned to drive manual on my dads 89LX, good enough until I got my license and got to take it out by myself to really learn what I was doing.