Any pointers on going from driving a car to driving a pickup

[Kenjo]

You guys could give me some basic ,what you would say are obvious changes in driving style when driving pickups when coming from driving a car.simple things like wider turning distances & cornering?

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[3stagevtec]

This was discussed quite a few times before.. but basically you will be moving to a vehicle with a higher center of gravity and you can't beat physics.. handling and cornering speed will be compromised. Also the effects of the reduced weight in the rear is what catches more newcomers off guard and gets them in trouble. A pickup can become pretty tail happy, especially on a wet road.

Start driving with extra care / caution and get to know your vehicle capabilities. They are not dangerous vehicles, but they do have some drawbacks, especially when compared to a car.

As for turning circle, that depends alot on the vehicle's wheelbase. Long wheelbase trucks like the Navara have a turning circle similar to the moon. Others like the Ranger is abit more nimble..

[Kenjo]

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=311294&hilit=handling+pickups+technique&start=30

ok just found something.i was searching on my mobile phone so i guess i didnt search properly.thanks

[*Phoenix*]

Find somethign to spend all that money you gonna be saving on fuel on... LOL

[Smeed]

take yuh timeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

seriously

[droppa]

^^agreed

braking distance is far more than that of a car,
get to know your vehicles capabilities, what you can or cant do or not do with it,
and

TAKE YUH FCUKIN TIME, ESP IN WET ROADS!!!!!

[PariaMan]

Reversing

1. Reverse as least amount as possible.
2. Reverse park as much as possible so that when you are leavin you are facing forward.
3. Do not be ashamed to come out and look before you park (this will also give the turbo some chance to cool down as a side benefit)

[civic minded]

install a reverse camera and sensors - they will assist you to know what is directly behind your truck which you may not be able to see.
I had a near miss that prompt me to install the camera where i nearly run over a 10 year old boy who was tying his show lace behind my truck while I backing out of a car park - the mother stop me in time. That scared me half to death.

[lighthammer]

^^ all very good points, and very relevant.

Just to add a couple pointers:

- remember to keep your sidemirrors flared-out a little more, or install the small blind-spot mirrors. Pickups have a much larger blind-spot (esp. on the passenger side, just behind the front passenger, you won't see much there) than cars. I tend to keep my left side-mirror flared out and downwards, so that I can see into the blindspot and use the mirrors to see where my wheels will be when reversing (also handy when off-roading)

- be mindful of your distance when parking either forwards or in reverse. Because of your elevated positions, your average will be a bit more exaggerated than with a car. Hence if you think you're far away from another car/wall when reversing the tailgate towards it, you might be a little off by a few inches. Same goes for the front bumper - and this is especially important if you have a chrome bar or some other sticky-outy thing in front/back. Rule of thumb - give yourself a foot of space more than you think, for safety sake.

- all the other points are very helpful, especially the ones about greater vehicle mass and speed, and increased braking distances.


Best thing to do is try to learn your vehicle as much as you can, learn how it will handle (try some emergency braking maneuvers in an empty parking lot, etc.), learn its limits.

[Kenjo]

thanks guys very practical points.i have especially noted the stopping distance.i am taking it very slow and the side view mirrors i will definitely note now.keep the pointers coming

[droppa]

yes, i agree with you on the flared out mirrors, my mirrors are out to the max, i see bout .5 inch of the broadside only, so more of the space around my is in my view.......

btw what vehicle is it you are going to get or got??

the reverse cam and sensors is also a great investment, i have seen a few with front sensors too....

and if its diesel u buying, esp a CR engine be careful of where u filling up, we already have crappy diesel, so u would not want to get the dirty stuff into your new tank, pump and inj.....try to fill up at the Unipet stations.....

[lighthammer]

^^ yes, i agree, be mindful of where you fill up.
Try to find gas stations that have a high-turnover, hence not much settling of the diesel sludge in the underground tanks.

Also watch the engine light, watch out for water int he diesel. Some gas stations have faulty sealing on their underground tanks and tend to get water in their diesel often - eg. the station on Omeara road, arima, just before the vet.


And please dont forget - YOU USING *** DIESEL *** now.... don't make the mistake and put super in yuh diesel tank eh!!!

[Kenjo]

haha yes the putting in super will take a really conscious effort. i will try to stick to the unipet station in st augustine opposite tstt.the van is a navara 4x4.reverse sensors are put in and i am checking around to get the front sensors possibly.

[droppa]

be careful of that 360 gas station, they HAVE SUPER AND DIESEL on the SAME pump, i have been there several times and cautiously pumped my fuel, double checking where the hose coming out the pump....

[Kenjo]

yes i remember when someone had an issue at that station with a temporary paper sign that they had up that cause a mixup between the diesel and super

[sureshot_james]

SLOW THE HELL DOWN..... or I'll be buyin your truck off the insurance guys for parts

[*Phoenix*]

I can feel the love pouring out in this thread... Daiz wha we talkin bout!!!
Organize to comeout and meet the guyz ASAP!!!

[lighthammer]

haha yes the putting in super will take a really conscious effort. i will try to stick to the unipet station in st augustine opposite tstt.the van is a navara 4x4.reverse sensors are put in and i am checking around to get the front sensors possibly.

Congrats on your new purchase man... from one Navara driver to another, you made a great choice!

Now come out with us on a Side B run, and I'll show you how to take that big beast.....and do stuff like this:

[civic minded]

mods should make this a sticky as alot of noobs ask the same question

[Kenjo]

Yes it might be a good sticky because there are just some things that I have noticed that probably will come with time & experience driving a truck that need to be said as a summary instead of new truck drivers fishtailing & learning the hard way of the basics of truck/pickup driving

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[droppa]

and you see that asian fellah with the black Nav in the pic above,

he is dey fadda,

brought it out to play at 3wks old, learnt how to balance his clutch, changed several sets of tires, and now he has found his passion and a club full of folks who share the same passion as him....



so as said in the posts above, learn how to drive your ride, take your time and feel 'er out, the Nav is a beast, and also has some toes, so dont get carried away....the stock HTs they come with are not so hot up...

and feel free to come here and ask questions,
use the search first eh,
it may have already been covered......

remember there are no stoopid questions.......

[Swisha]

where are some good recommended places to buy and install accessories?

was looking at 4x4 Trinidad in chaguanas...

[lighthammer]

depends on what kind of accessories you want.

- bling and fashion statement, try 4x4trinidad 672-4691, or LV marketing of Marabella 745-4447
- off-road parts and accessories: Moseley Enterprises, Biljah Road extension (next warehouse after sookhais diesel) - 3749339

[lighthammer]

Doesn't matter what you drive, what kinda power/figures it have on paper... as long as you have a good working knowledge of your rig, you can accurately predict how it will react and handle in certain situations and know how to drive your truck accordingly.... you'll automatically be much better off than 90% of trinidad's driving public who don't know much about their vehicles (only to push gas to go, mash brakes to stop and how to lock de wheel when to do a 3-point).

Basically, you need to learn how your vehicle will react with the current setup you have on it, and not just how it will react, but how to direct it and make it go where you want it to go, under the many common but adverse situations you may encounter on a daily basis.

And I don't mean stuff like how to do dem 3-point turn or how to reverse into a mall parking lot eh; i mean how your truck gonna handle at 40km/h, 60km/h and 80+km/h and even 100+km/h on a wet road as you approaching a yellow light about to turn red.... and under that same condition with an empty truck vs a van fully loaded with either passengers or cargo...... being able to predict how much your steering wheel gonna tug when you hit a patch of water on a main-road at certain speed... how your back-end gonna react if you keep the power on vs lifting off the "go-pedal" when taking a hard corner.... how hard your brakes and tyres gonna react and stop your 1.8tonne vehicle when the taxi in front of you pulls a hard brakes to pick up some passenger at that very last second.... that's the kinda thing that makes you a safe driver and distinguishes you from the rest of the driving crowd.



Off-roading is a different story, but not everyone is into off-roading so I'll save that for another thread.

[Upcfordcruiser]

Some great advice in this thread already... bravo!

I will throw in a couple things I didn't see mentioned in my quick skip through the posts

Keep your wheelbase in mind when making turns in a shopping center. I had an 89' Ford F150 single cab shortbed and it had the same low speed turning characteristics as most full size cars. No big deal. I traded it in on an extended cab model, which was 2 feet longer, and hit my rear tires on just about every curb in the city by turning too short. If I had 20's, they would've been junk.

The other is whether or not it has a limited slip rear end. All my trucks had open rear differentials until I bought a 99' F150 extended cab 2wd with the biggest motor, a 5.4L and found out (while making a turn in the rain) that it had a limited slip rear end that was very responsive. It made the truck fishtail good but was controllable. A few months later I was teaching my girlfriend (at the time) how to drive it, as she had only driven small cars. She was waiting at an intersection to turn and had to accelerate hard to get out in front of some cars, and sure enough, the diff locked up and spun the truck around 180 degrees, facing traffic. She was so stunned she just sat there and started crying and commented how the truck did it 'all on it's own', which was true to a point.

[droppa]

good point on the lsd and turning, he got the nav so he hadda be careful on its widht too and if he decides to put on wheels that will extend out....

lol at ur gf, but i dont think the nav can 180 jus so, maybe with a good power up and launch....

[lighthammer]

good point on the lsd and turning, he got the nav so he hadda be careful on its widht too and if he decides to put on wheels that will extend out....

lol at ur gf, but i dont think the nav can 180 jus so, maybe with a good power up and launch....

yes, the navara definitely has a larger turning circle than most local pickups (the L200 sportero has teh smallest turning circle, followed by the hilux then the ranger).

It's actually categorized as a "midsize" pickup (the US frontier is in that category) while the Ranger, Dmax, BT50 and Hilux (yes the hilux too) are designated as "compact".

Many times I had to scare some dumbass drivers who want to pull up to the last centimeter as I'm exiting a sidestreet onto a main road (happens every morning when I go to work) and they eyes open wide-wide when I come *this* close to touching them - all because they refused to give me enough room to come out without the rear tyres climbing the curb. All the while I'm revving hard and blowing my turbo at them - fwwiisshhhhhh... hehehehe

I wonder how much wider their eyes will get when I get my ARB bumper & winch.... heheheheh


[quote=droppa]but i dont think the nav can 180 jus so, maybe with a good power up and launch[/quote]

Why, yes my friend.... it can.
Happened to me once, when my nav was brand new.
Maybe not 180, but enough to scare the pants off the lady in the AD wagon next to me.... as well as myself.

Now it only happens in mud

[Kenjo]

got the navara but oh gosh that turning circle makes me almost reach to Japan when i am finished but loving it.taking things nice and slow for the moment.will keep you guys up dated as to how it is going.thanks again for all the advice

[lighthammer]

Congrats on the purchase man!
You chose a good truck, I just hope you chose it for the right reasons .

Take good care of it, carry it for regular maintenance and it'll serve you well.

Don't worry about the turning circle, you'll get used to it after about 2 weeks or so.
Just to make my point, tonight I was parking up in pricesmart, if you see how fass I pull in as a man coming out, pull up and reverse in, one-shot.... de lady next to me parked up was fraid I woulda hit the car behind.


DOn't you just love that power when you mash the "go" pedal? I bet yuh was smiling hard when you did... eh?

[Kenjo]

Didn't get to use it for any particular speed but more the storage space will be th main advantage.can't wait to make a Maracas run but I will give it a couple weeks again & then try those curves.just reverse parked a little while ago & it wasn't too bad at all.the mirror definitely have to be angled as widely out as possible as well as downward for best effect.

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