Get to Know Your Car

An important part of driving a car, regardless of whether you are an advanced driver or not, is understanding its design. You don’t need expert knowledge but a basic understanding of the car and its driver aids can prove a possible lifesaver!

Try and take note of the following when getting into a car:

Whether it’s front, rear or four-wheel drive

A front-wheel car will understeer if pushed too hard round a corner (we don’t suggest you do this to find out!), rendering steering useless and resulting in the car only being able to travel straight ahead until it regains traction. The best way to deal with this is to move your feet away from the foot controls and anticipate gaining traction. Some suggest that you should declutch (put the clutch fully down) to brake the drive from the engine to the wheels. However, we suggest that you avoid this, as not declutching will mean engine braking will help scrub off speed and you will gain traction quicker. Also Traction Control will not be effective if you declutch. If circumstances permit, steer in the direction of the skid to allow the tyres to regain grip. Once this happens, steer the vehicle back on course.

With a rear-wheel drive car you will encounter oversteer when the car has exceeded its grip. Here you will feel the back of the car slide out. To counteract this ease off the accelerator and carefully steer into the skid i.e. if the back end of the car starts to skid left, steer left. A four-wheel drive car, although generally more stable on corners can understeer and oversteer depending on the situation.

If it’s equipped with ABS

ABS means Anti-lock Braking System and prevents your wheels locking up under heavy braking and allows you to keep a degree of steering control. Knowing this is essential if you need to do an emergency stop. If your car is fitted with ABS you will need to apply the brakes as firmly as you can – the ABS computer will brake and release the wheels many times a second to avoid you skidding – allowing you to remain in control of the steering. If you do not have ABS you can’t do this (although many people still do as panic can take over). Without ABS you must be prepared to gauge how much grip you have under heavy braking and be ready to ease off the pedal the moment your car starts to skid and then quickly reapply in a pumping action if required. This is know as Cadence Braking.

If it is equipped with Traction Control/ESP

The job of these systems is to reduce traction to wheels losing grip due to wheel spin or slight loss of directional stability. Although you do not have to do anything if these kick in (shown often by a light flashing for a split second on the dashboard), if they do it’s probably an indication you are driving too fast for the road conditions. If your car is fitted with these make sure they are not switched off – you will be able to see an illuminated sign on your dash similar to a “slippery road” traffic sign if they are!

Approximate engine size and power

f you are driving a small hire car and are used to driving a powerful car normally, be extra careful when planning an overtake manoeuvre!

Operation of all instruments

Make sure you don’t get caught out at a roundabout with those indicators and make sure you know where the horn is! It will take a matter of seconds to find this out should you jump into an unfamiliar car.

Learn more about vehicle safety features here.

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