I drove my van to work on Monday 18th July and haven’t touched it since. I know I need to be braver, face the unknown and wait for the unfamiliar to become familiar, but it’s a little scary.
Swapping from a car to a van and the difference in size was one challenge I knew I had to overcome but I never thought about car design. I have been a firm favourite of Ford for over 20 years and thought about buying a Ford transit but it seemed a little too big. I wanted to start van life in something smaller.
Now I am driving a Mercedes vito.
After 35 years of driving with a handbrake between my seats, now the handbrake is a peddle. I have four peddles instead of three.
The clutch is super sensitive. I only have to lift my foot off a fraction and the van is ready to take off. My old pedal had a much higher ‘bite’ and I find myself stalling a lot or shuddering along until I change to second gear.
There are 6 gears now and they’re fairly close together so sometimes when I think I am in fourth I am actually in sixth gear!
The windscreen wipers are near the indicator so they often start up every time I am turning a corner (I discovered months later that this is an actual fault and shouldn’t work that way).
Don’t even get me started on reversing!!!
These are little things that I will get used to the more I drive and I am going to start using my 2 hour work breaks to take short trips out so I can become more familiar with my new home but in the meantime it has been sat outside doing nothing.
I am still trying to find someone that can do the insulation and carpet lining for me. Most places do VW or larger vans but not the Vito.
Zestizm 
You’ll get there. Now when I sit in my van, it feels normal. It would feel odd to drive a car.
I got used to towing a 7m caravan with our van – a rig that was as long as an articulated lorry, but not as heavy. To give me confidence, I took a towing course with the Caravan and Motorhome club. I wonder if you could find a driving instructor who would give you confidence? They can sometimes organise experiences off the road – such as at an airfield, where you could practise manoeuvering without worrying about traffic. If you Google Van Driving Courses, quite a few come up. If you are near Woking in Surrey, I can recommend someone! š
Wish me luck in the spring, when I am taking my Class 2 LGV licence so that I can drive our expedition truck, The Beast. š
As ladies, I think we sometimes knock ourselves, but there is absolutely no reason why we can’t drive a large vehicle. It is good to treat it with respect.
And just for info, when I did my towing course, I met a wonderful lady called Bella. She was 80 years old and learning to tow a caravan for the first time so that she could do a trip around Scotland that she’d planned to do with her late husband.
Best of luck and GO YOU!
PS – There are a few self-build van forums on Facebook who might be able to help. The South Central Self Build Get Together is a friendly bunch. They have a Northern branch too.
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I have definitely come a long way since I wrote that post. I love the van now and can’t imagine life without her! I have seen The Beast and it really is HUGE. Wow. Good for you. Definitely wish you luck with your Class 2. I have been considering taking a mini bus course over the last year. Its as big as I want to go with my camper – I think š
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Hoping to go for a drive today. Need to put my big girl pants on!!!
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You’ll get the hang of it..a new vehicle is always challenging š
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