Motoring

“How much are driving lessons?”: learner driver questions answered

Having your own driving licence really can offer a new sense of freedom. You no longer have to hear friends, siblings, or parents refer to themselves as “Your taxi driver”, you don’t have to wait for public transport to most likely not even arrive on time —  it’s all great.

However, first things first, you need to learn to drive. And driving lessons can bring up a lot of questions like:

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How much do you know about the Ford Fiesta?

quiz ford fiesta
The many faces of the Ford Fiesta. The last is back left (Picture Ford)

You may have heard the Ford Fiesta is coming to the end of its long and successful life. Interest in the Fiesta is at an all-time high with internet searches for the model booming.

So to celebrate this great little car’s demise, we thought we’d do a special quiz all about it. See how much information about Britain’s favourite car you’ve picked up.

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Test how much you know about the humble engine

quiz-about-engines
We know roughly what engines look like but how much do we know about them? (Picture iStock)

For as long as we’ve been driving, the internal combustion engine has been our principal source of power. Battery electric motors are slowly replacing them now but even so, the vast majority of us still drive cars with engines in them.

These lumps of metal live under our bonnet, drink petrol or diesel and have cylinders and valves that go about their business of speeding us along. But how much do you actually know about them? Take our fiendish quiz to find out.

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Why you should appeal traffic penalties

appeal traffic penalties
Surely not! If you think you’ve been given a ticket unfairly, there are several ways to appeal (Picture iStock/MachineHeadz)

Parking fines are one of the hazards of modern-day motoring life. And even if you’re perfect at parking, local authorities enforce all sorts of things, from driving in bus lanes, using a vehicle that’s too polluting in clean air zones, to littering from vehicles.

But what happens if you receive a traffic penalty that you don’t agree with? Is it worth protesting? And if so, how do you appeal traffic penalties? We explain all.

How do you appeal traffic penalties?

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Expert advice: why breakdown cover is a smart idea

why breakdown cover
Breaking down usually happens when you least expect it (Picture iStock/Andresr)

You might think you have a relatively new, reliable car and don’t need breakdown cover. You probably won’t be surprised when I reveal we attend thousands of calls every year from drivers who have broken down in relatively new, apparently reliable cars.

Here’s a classic example. It’s been a cold night, you go to start your car in the morning and when you turn the key you just get a click and nothing else. Flat battery.

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Expert advice: electric vehicle terms explained

electric vehicle terms
Electric vehicles need new terminology. We explain some of them (Picture iStock/William Barton)

We’re seeing a seismic shift in motoring with the wholesale switch to electric vehicles (EVs). Not only are some EVs a bit different to look at, there’s a whole new language around them. I thought it would be helpful to explain some of the electric vehicle terms we’ll need to use.

What are kilowatts all about?

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Speed limiters – what new tech means for drivers and driving

speed limiters
Speed limiters used to be controlled from the steering wheel, bottom right button here. In future, they’ll be automatic (Picture iStock/AnyVidStidio)

From the beginning of July 2022, all new cars sold in the UK will have to be fitted with a speed limiter. We investigate what this means for car owners and how it will change driving.

What is a speed limiter?

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Fuel your knowledge: take our petrol quiz

We know how expensive it is but how much else (Picture iStock/DeepBlue4You)

We regularly fill our cars with petrol but how much do we actually know about the golden liquid that keeps them going? If you’re anything like us (when we compiled this quiz), probably not very much! Even so, petrol is a truly global phenomenon with plenty of history. Take our quiz to find out how much you know about it.

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Summer motoring hacks to help your car hang onto its value

summer motoring hacks
Bird poo is acidic and bad for paintwork (Picture iStock/Gorica Poturak)

Many of us think of winter as being the most testing season for cars. But actually summer throws up just as many challenges. Here we look at some of the main ones and offer some handy summer motoring hacks that will help you to preserve your car’s value and ensure safe, comfortable and trouble-free motoring.

How to clean bird poo off

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Air conditioning quiz: will you keep your cool?

Turn up the air con to max for our cunning quiz (Picture iStock/Bernie-Photo)

We take air conditioning for granted now that it’s fitted in even the cheapest cars. But how much do you actually know about it? And will some of our questions about what keeps you cool make you all hot and bothered? Take our air conditioning quiz to find out.

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Drivers warned not to tackle car thieves themselves

tackle car thieves
Hacking into cars’ security systems is often how they’re stolen now (Picture iStock/Humonia)

Security experts are warning car owners that they shouldn’t attempt to track down and retrieve missing cars, or tackle car thieves themselves.

Car theft is on the up. New Home Office figures reveal that last year 101,198 cars were stolen in England and Wales. And police are struggling to tackle the blight which is seeing nearly 300 often high-end cars go missing every day. But why can turning Sherlock Holmes be so dangerous for drivers?

Who steals cars now?

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Jubilee quiz: test your knowledge of the Queen’s 70-year reign in motoring

Parades have hardly changed but much else has over the past 70 years (Picture iStock/Carnegie42)

You might have noticed that there’s a jubilee to celebrate this year. It’s now seven decades since the Queen came to the throne. A lot’s happened and cars in particular are almost unrecognisable compared to what they looked like in 1952.

Our cunning Jubilee quiz has 10 motoring teasers taking in knowledge from the last 70 years as well as some Royal-specific questions. You might not know all the answers but hopefully you’ll have fun guessing.

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Prepare for road closures – 8 million Brits are planning a Jubilee street party

It looks like there’s going to be a lot of dancing in the street during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend.

According to our research1, one in seven Brits (that’s around eight million of us) are planning a street party over the Jubilee four-day weekend.

But what does this mean for anyone hitting the road?

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How parking on someone else’s drive is legal and other strange laws

Parked on someone else’s drive? It’s not an instant offence (Picture iStock/Alphotographic)

Imagine waking up and finding someone else’s car dumped on your drive. It might sound strange but it happens. And astonishingly there’s no simple fix because one of Britain’s strange laws means it’s not immediately illegal.

You read that right. The 1991 Road Traffic Act handed over parking enforcement to local authorities. They can fine drivers for parking on public roads. But a drive is private land and the council has no jurisdiction over that.

The land owner isn’t allowed to remove the rogue car either as that could make them responsible for damaging someone else’s property.

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How we pay for our roads will have to change but to what?

pay for our roads
Government needs to come up with a new way of raising money from drivers (Picture iStock/George Clerk)

The model for how we pay for our roads has been broken by the uptake of zero emissions electric vehicles. From 2030, the sale of brand-new internal combustion engine cars will be banned in the UK. That means the government has to start working out how to replace the money it makes from petrol and diesel cars.

Why does tax need to change?

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Are you a pothole crisis pro? Take our quiz to find out

Road repairs required but how much do you really know about potholes (Picture iStock/Lubo Ivanko)

Every year a survey of the nation’s roads reveals a depressing picture of the country’s pothole crisis. The latest ALARM survey highlights that £17m was paid to drivers in England and Wales after their cars suffered damage from potholes.

But aside from running the gauntlet of them every time you take to the road, how much do you actually know about potholes? Take our quiz to find out. We hope you learn something about potholes in the process.

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Expert advice: simple car checks before the bank holiday

cheap car checks
You really don’t want your bank holiday to end up like this (Picture iStock/Jimdoberman)

Before you hit the road for a bank holiday getaway, make sure you download the Green Flag app.

This bank holiday, thousands of drivers will be hitting the road, and we’ll be here to help 24/7 if any breakdowns try to ruin your journey.

But, with a few quick and easy checks, you can help prevent a breakdown from happening. So, before you set off, give these a read (and give your vehicle a bit of TLC).

Check your tyres

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Expert advice: your E10 questions answered

e10 questions
Any questions about new E10 petrol? Our expert answers them (Picture iStock/Sturti)

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the new E10 petrol so I thought it would be useful to answer some of them.

E10 has been the cheapest petrol on garage forecourts since September 2021 when it replaced E5 as the forecourt standard. It gets its name because the bioethanol content was doubled to 10 per cent. Bioethanol is an alcohol-based fuel that is made from plant bi-products. The government chose to do this because it believes it’s a simple way to reduce the CO2 emissions from petrol cars.

Read on and I’ll answer some of the most popular questions about E10 petrol.

Will E10 damage my engine?

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Revealed: the best and worst motorway services in the UK

motorway services
Do you have a favourite motorway services? A review of user ratings reveals the best (Picture iStock/Gas Station)

At some point this year, you will have to pull into a motorway services. But the kind of experience you have – supreme or shoddy – will depend on which services you use. A new survey has revealed that there’s a huge difference between the best and worst.

Car dealership Brindley Group carried out the study. It looked at user reviews on TripAdvisor, Google and MotorwayServicesOnline for all 100 of the UK’s services on our 29 motorways. Researchers then collated review marks to award an average score out of five for each site.

What is the UK’s best services?

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