Hi... I passed my test last week, first time, and bought a Puma yesterday.
Slight twist is... technically I've been learning for 21 years! I'm 38 now. It's a long story but basically I had some lessons at 17 but ran out of money, had a long time when I was either too poor or too busy, then a long time working in London when driving just wasn't a priority... plus my wife is a year older than me and we've been together since we were pretty young so she passed at 17 and I was 16, and she's chauffeured me around ever since. I've been insured on her car for the past ten years or so but only drove very occasionally as, despite being together over two decades and having four kids - driving together was a recipe for divorce
Anyway after finally getting my act together and taking plenty of lessons (probably a lot more than normal, I only tend to fight battles I know I can win), I passed last week. I'd debated lots of different cars and nearly pulled the trigger on an MX5, and even toyed with the (obviously ridiculous) idea of an RX8 (my pockets are deep enough for the maintenance costs, but I'm not ready for that much car just yet) and so I went for a Puma in the end, a red 1.7. It's a bit different to the Peugeot 207 1.2 I've been learning in! And a lot more fun than my wife's Zafira 2.2, which I've driven a few times in the last couple of months. I wonder whether I'm still a bit out of my depth, but I'm old enough to know not to go into boy-racer mode (well, almost ) I always thought it' d be a stepping stone to a different car... but seeing how much fun it is to drive, I think I'll be keeping it for a while!
My only real niggle at the moment is the seating position. I have quite short legs so need to sit pretty close, but I can't easily see the top of the speedo. I guess I'll just have to play with it to get it the best I can. or learn to know the equivalent kph markings or needle angle for 70. It's a shame the wheel isn't adjustable. Other than that, I can't fault it!
Slight twist is... technically I've been learning for 21 years! I'm 38 now. It's a long story but basically I had some lessons at 17 but ran out of money, had a long time when I was either too poor or too busy, then a long time working in London when driving just wasn't a priority... plus my wife is a year older than me and we've been together since we were pretty young so she passed at 17 and I was 16, and she's chauffeured me around ever since. I've been insured on her car for the past ten years or so but only drove very occasionally as, despite being together over two decades and having four kids - driving together was a recipe for divorce
Anyway after finally getting my act together and taking plenty of lessons (probably a lot more than normal, I only tend to fight battles I know I can win), I passed last week. I'd debated lots of different cars and nearly pulled the trigger on an MX5, and even toyed with the (obviously ridiculous) idea of an RX8 (my pockets are deep enough for the maintenance costs, but I'm not ready for that much car just yet) and so I went for a Puma in the end, a red 1.7. It's a bit different to the Peugeot 207 1.2 I've been learning in! And a lot more fun than my wife's Zafira 2.2, which I've driven a few times in the last couple of months. I wonder whether I'm still a bit out of my depth, but I'm old enough to know not to go into boy-racer mode (well, almost
) I always thought it' d be a stepping stone to a different car... but seeing how much fun it is to drive, I think I'll be keeping it for a while!My only real niggle at the moment is the seating position. I have quite short legs so need to sit pretty close, but I can't easily see the top of the speedo. I guess I'll just have to play with it to get it the best I can. or learn to know the equivalent kph markings or needle angle for 70. It's a shame the wheel isn't adjustable. Other than that, I can't fault it!
