[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Pseud

This thread is giving me goosebumps. If you get the car delivered to your home on a flatbed, will all the checklist stuff be possible.

Although I am not a noob driver but it will be my first AT, so not sure if the first ride should be in a heavy traffic area.

You may consider practising on a friend's AT for a day at least and if possible keep a skilled driver next to you. It takes some getting used to especially not using the left foot to brake instantaneously. And that braking can be quite hard and swift.

Five days of practise of which two were with a driver is what I did when I was preparing my move to AT some years ago. Nothing to be shy about. By then I had well over 3 decades of driving which in my younger days included trucks. Even with that experience it was only by the end of the second day and about 80 kms that I become comfortably proficient with the leg movements of an AT and not accidentally shifting the gear lever! Best of luck with your new car.

[ramkumartv]

A week back I took delivery of my new car. I requested the showroom guy to arrange for a driver to drop us home, even though I am driving for last 10 years and drove the same variant during a long test drive.
If we are not confident on the delivery day due to some reason, say excitement of new car or the person is a new driver or any other reason, the simple thing to do is ask for driver or a friend to help.

[RaviCar]

I am a newbie and when I took my delivery of S cross, Having watched these videos before was too light on the throttle while taking out my car.

Old cars if you want to buy an automatic, are not making a lot of financial sense. I looked for old automatics but couldn't find one which was a great buy. There was a datsun go with a sweet price tag and mostly new... But before I could muster the courage (reading NCAP reviews) it was sold.

Regards,
RaviCAR

[H Karter]

Well, I have got the privilege of driving out three of my Bosses/seniors' cars out of showroom!
Also when I had just taken my riding license, I rode my uncle's Bajaj 4S Champion out of the showroom.
Lastly, it was me who drove my brother's brand new Amaze from showroom in Pune's maddening two wheeler traffic to my home in Navi Mumbai.

But when it came to taking delivery of my new swift, I was super conscious of the exit gate of the showroom. I literally was crawling & stopped for a few moments while making entry into the busy market road ahead. I was really tensed out.

Perhaps it is the excitement and happiness of becoming the owner of the second highest valued possession (after own house) in one's lifetime all of a sudden during the car delivery that plays the culprit.
Purchase of house is a lengthy process comparatively.

No wonder that extreme happiness can give heart attack to a person or heart break of seeing his brand new car crashed!

[pra2seven]

Driving a CVT / At the first time can be daunting but it pays to spend time familiarizing yourself with the controls. The problem is we don't want to look bad in front of the SA who is going to forget us the second we drive off.
Though the comfort level with the gearbox is different for each person I do have few tips on how to judge the dimensions of a new car (learnt this because I drove many different cars while renting from zoomcars)

1. Stand in front of the car (face the car and spread your ams out). You will immediately get a sense of how big the car is. For example a honda city width is exactly the the distance between my palms when streched out fully.
2. Similarly stand at the B pillar and get a spatial awareness of how long the vehicle is behind you and in front of you.
3. Walk from the back end of the car to the front end of the car one foot at a time (that is heel of the front foot should touch the toe of the back foot). See how many steps that is.

Once you do this, your mind will subconsciously make a map of the cars dimensions. And u turns and steep curves will become very easy to judge.

[luvDriving]

My first car was brought home by my friend who was also teaching me driving at that time . I did not have the confidence to drive it home so he brought it home. Even though it was a used car, I did not want to risk scratching it on the very first day.

Skip to 10 years later and I bought my second car. This time also I was nervous taking delivery of a brand new car first time in my life. After all the handover was done I started the car with my wife and daughter with me and off we went. Now I was used to the power of an old car and this one shot right out the gate (erstwhile Pandit Auto). Luckily I pulled back just in time and from then on drove carefully.

So my 2 cents is that start gingerly even if you are a veteran at driving since you may not have the time or space to react and avoid an accident.

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Experience doesn't count for much here, muscle memory trumps your knowledge and you have to be careful.

This is an extremely valid point. Forget going from low powered cars to more powerful ones. I have been driving a Polo GT TSI for 3 years now. Just last month, I was at the showroom/service centre for my yearly service and thought I'll check out the new Polo with the 1.0 TSI.
The thing with the new model is that its creep mode is actually quite fast, compared to the old one. My car creeps at max 6 kmph, and the new one did 10 kmph when I was exiting the showroom parking.
I almost nicked the wall, in a car which is basically unchanged in ~7 years (considering the TSI), which I have been driving for 3 years, at a location I have frequented multiple times in 3 years and with 10 years of driving experience behind me.
It was all down to muscle memory, with me being used to a certain throttle input at that location. Thankfully, I caught the speed in time and managed to take it out on the road without drama. But it could have gone either ways, had I not been able to arrest the speed.

[SLK]

The showroom rules normally prohibit starting the car inside the premises, but many customers insist on trying out all the features even try shifting the gears and listening to the engine.

I had gone to a Skoda showroom and one such customer came in and the the young 20ish year old insisted on starting the 1.8TSI and revving it. Within 10 secs, we had trouble breathing and we told the salesman to stop this, he very softly requested but the customer was hell bent on completing his test!

The showroom guys did not have the guts to take a firm position, with the risk of hurting the 20 year old's ego and losing the sale. Soon after suffocating us, the customer was gone in another 60 seconds and I had a headache that lasted many hours breathing in from a cold engine, indoors!.

Somehow the less someone has driven the more confident they are, possibly the best place to say, 'ignorance is bliss'.

[Adam]

Its always better to learn and understand the controls before you start driving an unfamiliar car. Also even if he is quite experienced in MT cars need to be extra cautious while driving an AT, the creep speed does vary between cars.
Also better to be light on the foot and get familiar with the car's pedal positions , acceleration, torque etc. Especially if you are coming from a Petrol/Diesel car to an EV there is quite a big difference in the torque delivery, drive with a light foot until you get confident with it.

[eyeman]

Newbies and new cars don't mix at all. I am almost hundred percent sure that these accidents were caused by newbie drivers. An experienced person is very unlikely to do this however unfamiliar the car may be. Newbies should practice and become experienced before ever attempting to handle a new car, let alone take delivery.

[turbowhistle]

Being a BHPian makes life difficult for me in this case, all of my friends and family know my obsession with cars and without second thoughts, I am the designated driver for the PDI and Showroom deliveries. I have lost count of how many deliveries I have done in last 7-8 years. I remember picking up a friend's relatives Polo as well all alone from the showroom.

I wouldn't consider myself pro-driver but thanks to driving whatever car I can get my hands on has it's benefits. I rarely get nervous while driving a new car even in tight spots and thanks to various rentals here, I am getting well versed in automatics as well. The easiest thing to keep in mind is to get comfortable before starting, it's 10 times harder to find a seat adjustment or steering/mirror adjustment while you are on the move. Whenever I am in a new car, I get all the adjustments done along with navigation setup and then only get started on the road. Helps immensely!

The only time I got scared while driving a new car was taking out our Mini Cooper on Autobahns here, I had to ask my wife to stop talking for a bit and let me concentrate on the car's powerband!

[chetancm7]

When i purchased my new car in 2011, I had requested my dad to drive it home and back again in 2014, i had requested the showroom to arrange a driver to get our polo back home. The only time I drove a new vehicle was when I bought my Classic 350, I didn't know how to ride a bike then and with great difficulty I took the delivery all alone with my wife tailing me in Active. It was a memorable experience.

[crdi]

Got this as a whatsapp forward. Looks like a new Altroz crashed in front of a Kerala temple. It must have been there for the new car ritual.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by crdi

Got this as a whatsapp forward. Looks like a new Altroz crashed in front of a Kerala temple. It must have been there for the new car ritual.

Yes it was. Looks like it was a new driver who accidentally pressed the A-pedal for braking.





Does Altroz come with AT yet? If yes, this may be a case of someone driving the AT for the first time, accidentally pressing the A-pedal for braking.

[Futhead]

Another incident took place at Tata showroom with two floors located at Alkapuri X road,Hyderabad/LB Nagar.
Felt sorry for the injured. Car keys are being handed over to owner on the first floor and owner’s new car excitement made him start the engine and move forward. This dealership is located near by my home and they’ve got abundant space in the ground floor & at the showroom entrance to handover a car. They shouldn’t have done that. I think all multistoried dealerships should make this as a norm to handover keys to owner either for trial or delivery at ground floor only.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2JiiGA...ature=youtu.be