When you are used to driving a small car? (the van in question is a 15 passenger van–although I won’t have any passengers)
The one time I had occasion to do it, I drove a few times around the block before embarking on a 3-hour road trip. About twice around the block was enough for me.
Be aware: In a typical such mini-van, the driver is sitting much farther toward the front of the vehicle than in a typical car, and more or less right above the front wheels. This means you have to adjust how you steer around corners, especially when following the curb in making a right turn.
You have to drive a little farther out into the intersection before starting the right turn than you are accustomed to do in a car (or, actually, it just seems that way because you are sitting farther forward in the vehicle). Otherwise, you will drive over the curb.
Look at the van, walk around it and then sit in it while looking at the size. Next drive it around in a low traffic area. Find somewhere to back it up…that’s the really tricky part, you won’t know where the wheels are.
In your small car, your left foot is about 2 feet from the front of the car, but the wheel is only about 4 inches from your foot.
For me, that’s what makes driving our truck so tricky. I know where the wheels are on my small car, I don’t know where they are on the truck because I don’t drive it every day.
I drive a variety of vehicles in a given month, up to Sprinter van sized. Large vehicles are quite easy to drive in my opinion, and the advantage of height to see further down the road is excellent. Often you feel like you are driving slower than you really are in a larger vehicle, so be sure to give yourself extra braking distance and in general drive gently. Remember to swing wider on turns (but try not to stray out of your lane). For parking it’s best to pick the distant, open places in the parking lot.
Standard American vans such as a passenger van you have described are decent fun to drive. Just flow with the traffic and give yourself room.
As in many opportunities in life, remember there are some real idiots that have mastered the ability to drive a passenger van. Surely you can too.
Good luck!
I’ve always owned small cars, but drove vans occasionally over the years, mostly job-related. From the outside I was always a bit intimdated by the size, but the moment I started driving them it was no problem at all. The elevated driver’s position is really a plus.
My daughter is a very new driver, she did all of her practice and testing in our Smart car.
Last week we took her out in our neighbours Explorer, not exactly a 15 person van but probably a change of the same order of magnitude, and in about 2 hrs she was pretty comfortable.
We’re training her to be the designated driver when we go on a wine tasting tour with our neighbours, she has threatened to pull over to the side of the road and put us out if we’re too unruly.
I’ve always driven small cars. But a while ago, when I was coaching youth volleyball, I had to drive a 15 passenger van for weekend tournaments. I hate driving big vehicles.
It wasn’t actually a big deal. You just drive a little more carefully. Give yourself some following distance. Take your turns a little slowly. Be careful of maximum heights in parking garages. Don’t be aggressive when changing lanes.
I rented the smallest size of U-Haul box truck during a move. The box was no wider than the cab, though taller, so it was much like driving a van. I got used to it in a few hours.
Can you in your jurisdiction actually drive a 15-passenger van with a regular car licence? I believe that, in Ontario, that would require a bus driver’s licence. (Of course, if you actually have a bus driver’s licence, that question is moot.)
Did she get to do the parallel parking in a Smart car (I hear some places don’t test it - no idea if that is true)? That would have been awesome.
I hope she is looking forward to the wine tasting trip too.
I’m apparently a mutant. I drove a Scion xA for years, and now we have a Sonata which has been our only vehicle for over a year. (I’m not counting the pickup, because that’s just driven occasionally to the dump.) I still can’t get used to the size of the Sonata - I’m not sure where the front ends and it feels crazy wide to me, even tho I know it’s not.
What makes this even weirder, before the Scion, I drove an Aerostar for over 230K miles and never had a problem. I’m pretty sure it’s all related do some depth perception issues I’ve had forever.
I used to drive a 15-passenger van for field trips when I was in graduate school. On several occasions after that, I’ve rented the same-sized van for moving purposes. As long as you aren’t doing anything real complicated (like parallel parking or backing up with trailer), it’s not that big of a deal. There are things you’ll need to be mindful of, but they’ll probably come to you intuitively after a few minutes behind the wheel .
One of those things is turning radius. While making a turn once, I hit a parked car because I underestimated the clearance I needed. But that was the only “oopsie” I’ve ever made.
In Florida, I think it’s legal with a standard driver’s license. I was able to rent a 15 passenger van and drive it off the lot from a reputable company, and they didn’t specify that I needed a CDL or anything else special.
At my university (also in Florida), they used to provide 15 passenger vans for us for some school sponsored events. Never checked for anything special in the license there, either.
Laws seem to be much laxer here. A few years ago, three of us rented a 37’ RV in California (that we drove down to Tucson, up to Salt Lake City, and back down to LA), and no special license was required. It was … different … driving that thing, as I had never driven anything larger than a minivan before, and I’m a little surprised no extra training/licensing was required, but we managed to do it without hitting anything. Took about 6-8 hours on the highway before I really started feeling comfortable driving it, but still not something I’d want to drive through the city (though one of the drivers drove it around like it was old hat for him, even taking us through the streets of Hollywood and multi-point turning it out of a cul-de-sac. I never got that comfortable or brave with that thing.)
I used to own a van. I quite liked it.
Having always previously driven cars, the steering was a little weird at first, because, as mentioned upthread, you’re seated right over the front wheels. However, it only took a few minutes to get used to that. No, the real issue was going back to a normal car. I tried driving a relative’s huge old 1970s Ford around a roundabout, which is a thing that would once have come naturally to me, but I made a complete botch of it. Took a while to get back into the car mindset.
It’s a bit like moving between autos and manuals. You hear stories of people stalling because they forget the clutch. I’ve never done that, because I’m very aware I’m in a manual. So, I go the other way - get into an automatic and keep bashing the footwell with my left foot, looking for a phantom clutch.
Ah, I’ve found a cite for the Ontario situation: