Advanced Driving Courses

[srothman]

Can anyone recommend a driving course I can have a look into, both for myself and the missus to attend, in the GP area.

I had a chat to my insurer the other day, and was asked if I've attended any sort of training, and this got me thinking about it a bit.

I had a look, and the ones that pop up most are the VW and BMW ones. Has anyone been on any of these recently? Your thoughts?

I'm looking specifically at the defensive driving type courses.

 

[R13...]

A google search turns up,
http://www.advanced-driving.co.za/courses.html

 

[rodga]

what car do you and your wife drive?

 

[srothman]

Thanks. A bit out of the way for us, being in Pretoria. I updated the post with this information.

 

[srothman]

what car do you and your wife drive?

VW Polo and Mazda 3. Hence the reason I am considering the VW at the moment, but wanted to know if any of the other might be better.

 

[Ecco]

I heard of quite a few people who have gone for Mercedes or BMW or Audi advanced driving. Most of them did it with the intention of just having fun, rather then learning something.

Some of the guys had the course thrown in when they bought the car. The others paid for it. Seemed quite expensive.

Look out for a VW one, since you drive that car.

 

[rodga]

http://www.vw.co.za/en/volkswagen_world/volkswagen_drivingacademy.html/

 

[Jladan]

I've done a defensive driving course thru BMW many moons ago. It was OK, learned a bit and moved on with my life. Then last year lucky old me got given an Audi 4 rings driving experience. Got to tear around Kyalami in a RS5 for almost a full day. Learned more in that single day than most of my driving career combined. Plus had a blast. The package I was on was the most expensive due to the car, the other guys on the course got the same theory training and same track time, just different cars and different trainers.

My insurer however doesn't give a toss about what advanced driving courses I've done saying it's irrelevant

 

[srothman]

Not paying for my insurance makes that point moot. Both me and my wife spend a lot of time on the road, figured it couldn't hurt to take a closer look at this. I'll have a chat tot he VW guys and also have a look at the Audi stuff.

 

[wizdumb]

did the vw one last year - a lot cheaper than mini, bmw or merc ones. although you only got to drive the golf gti, and it seemed like with the other makes (excl mini that i didn't see)that you get drive a fuller range of cars

was damn at kyalami, and lots of fun and yes you can get some sort of discount through some car insurance companies.

i'm not sure i learned anything new, but the skid pad was awesome, and driving close to 200km/h was thrill.
they do this exhibit about stopping distances from like 60km/h, 100km/h and 120km/h which is a real eye opener

 

[lived666]

My daughter totaled a car while she was a noob driver so sent her to the VW one, same one wiz did at Kyalami.

She recently totaled another car, at least she walked out of both ok.

I suppose time for the BMW one?

 

[srothman]

...or a bicycle for your daughter

 

[SauRoNZA]

I've done the Audi High Performance driving course which is a little bit more pumped up than the normal Advanced driving course but covers a lot of the same stuff.

They were brilliant and definitely something every drive should do before they are let out on the road.

Much better than that K53 *** that doesn't teach you anything at all.

*****

I went for the Audi courses even though I drive a VW because they seemed to shaft you on time. VW offered only half-day courses for the same money as Audi.

If it's all about safety for you then any of them will do the job really. 4WD/RWD/FWD doesn't really matter if you are just going there to up skill your general driving ability and safety manoeuvres.

 

[GarethC]

I did one of the Audi advanced driving courses a few years ago. Had an absolute blast, they used to travel down to Cape Town and PE too, which made it convenient. They were managed by the Four-Rings Academy.

Unfortuntaley for some unknown reason 'Four Rings Promotions' and Audi have fallen apart, you'll see if you check out their website, so at the moment there isn't an Audi driving course at the moment I see 4rings have recently revamped their website.

 

[Lukcydog]

Hi,

I did the BMW Defensive Advanced Driving Course, the BMW High Performance Course as well as the VW Advanced Driving Course.

To me personally, the High Performance course was a bit of a disappointment as its more for track driving but my expectations were skewed. The defensive driving courses were very good, but if you drive a front wheel driven car then don't do a BMW course as the handling of emergency situations are different.

For example:
during the VW course they created a situation where you are driving on a wet road around a bend and the rear of the vehicle loses traction, ie. you start sliding. In the VW the course of action was to counter steer and floor the petrol pedal and let the front wheels pull you out of the skid. Try that with a BMW and your in for some more sliding.

To me, seeing the benefit of the safety features like ABS and traction control during the courses are the best. I think women can benefit the most because they are more risk averse than men (we like testing the ABS and corner hard blah blah blah).

So that's my look on it.

 

[j4ck455]

Necro Alert

Is there a "preferred" Advanced Driving Course that is generally recommended by insurance companies/underwriters?

The VW course at Kyalami seems quite good from some of the posts I've found in several threads.

Is there a really good reason to look at other Advanced Driving Courses?

 

[froot]

Is there a "preferred" Advanced Driving Course that is generally recommended by insurance companies/underwriters?

The VW course at Kyalami seems quite good from some of the posts I've found in several threads.

Is there a really good reason to look at other Advanced Driving Courses?

What a thread necro

You can do anyone, really.
BMW, Merc, Audi/VW. Porsche...

 

[j4ck455]

What a thread necro

You can do anyone, really.
BMW, Merc, Audi/VW. Porsche...

VW @ Kyalami is good in terms of proximity, are any of the other courses based in Johannesburg/Midrand/Centurion/Pretoria?

There are Gerotek courses (Pretoria) but I haven't seen any posts about those courses, it would be good to get some feedback on the Gerotek courses.

http://www.armscordi.com/SubSites/Gerotek1/Gerotek04_landing.asp

This is only a 2 year old necro, nothing in comparison to threads from 2006

 

[ItherNiT]

+1 for vw one.

I did it in grade 12, was allot of fun! They have a cop at the end of the day that gives allot of good tips for hijack prevention!

Not to mention you get muck around in a GTI

 

[Pho3nix]

Someone told me a while back.

BMW if you drive a rear wheel drive.
VW and Audi for Front Wheel.

Open to correction.