Driving Skills
A former automotive journalist gives you a calm, no-pressure walkthrough of the controls in any new car — lights, wipers, hazards, traction control, drive modes, and getting your seat and mirrors right.
The worst time to learn where your fog lights are is when you're already in the fog. Yet most of us drive off the lot, or out of the rental garage, and just start going — figuring we'll work out the buttons as we need them. Usually we get away with it. Sometimes we're stabbing at an unfamiliar dashboard in a downpour, eyes off the road, hunting for the wipers.
There's a better way, and it costs you ten quiet minutes. Sit in the car while it's parked and safe, and actually meet your controls. I do this with every new or borrowed car, and it has saved me more grief than any gadget ever has. Let me walk you through it.
Your lights are how you see and how you're seen, so they're worth knowing cold. Find the main switch — often a stalk on the left or a dial near it — and run through the positions while parked.
Get clear on a few things. Where's the line between your daytime running lights and your actual headlights? Many cars have an "auto" setting that's great, but it can leave your taillights dark at dusk if you're not careful, so know what auto actually turns on. Find your high beams and the flash-to-pass function, since you'll want those without looking. Locate the rear fog light if your car has one, and the front fogs if equipped.
While you're here, learn the warning telltales too. The icons that glow amber or red on your dash mean something, and a quick skim of the manual now means you won't panic later when one lights up. A red light generally says stop and check soon; amber usually means attention needed. Knowing the difference keeps a minor alert from ruining your afternoon.
These three share a theme: you reach for them exactly when conditions are already stressful, so muscle memory matters.
Work the wiper stalk through its settings. Find intermittent, low, and high, and learn how the delay adjusts — a sudden squall is no time to be reading labels. Find the washer function and give it a test squirt so you know which way to push or pull. If you've got rear wipers or a sensor-driven auto mode, learn those too.
Then the hazard lights. This is the one button that should be findable blindfolded, because you'll use it when you've broken down, stopped suddenly, or need to warn traffic behind you. It's almost always a red triangle button placed front and center on the dash for exactly that reason. Press it once now so your hand remembers the spot. A few seconds today; real reassurance the day something goes wrong.
Spend the ten minutes while you're calm and parked. Every control you find now is one you won't be hunting for later with your heart pounding and your eyes off the road.
Modern cars come with a quiet safety net of electronics, and it helps to know roughly what they do — not to micromanage them, but to trust them.
Traction control steps in when a wheel starts to spin, easing power so you keep grip on slick surfaces. Stability control is its smarter sibling, gently braking individual wheels to help keep the car pointed where you're steering if it starts to slide. You don't operate these; they work in the background. The key thing to know is that they're on your side. If you ever feel the car pulse the brakes or pull back power in a slippery moment, that's the system doing its job — don't fight it.
There's usually a button to reduce or switch off traction control. Most drivers should simply leave these systems on; the rare exception is something like rocking a car free from deep snow or mud. If you switch it off, know how to turn it back on, and do so as soon as you're moving normally.
Drive modes — Eco, Comfort, Sport, and the like — adjust things like throttle response and steering feel. They're worth a play in a safe spot so you understand the character of each, but none of them rewrites the laws of physics. Eco won't make you slow and Sport won't make you a race driver; they just tune the experience. Pick what suits the moment and don't overthink it.
This is the unglamorous step everyone rushes, and it quietly affects every mile you drive. A good driving position keeps you comfortable, in control, and less fatigued; a sloppy one leaves you reaching, slouching, and blind in spots you shouldn't be.
Set the seat first, in this order:
Then the mirrors, and this is where most people go wrong. Set your side mirrors wider than feels natural — angled out so a car passing you disappears from the side mirror just as it enters your peripheral vision. Done right, this shrinks your blind spots dramatically. Even so, blind spots never fully vanish, so a quick shoulder check before changing lanes stays non-negotiable. Tilt the center mirror to frame the whole rear window. Two minutes here pays off on every single drive.
None of this is complicated. It's just deliberate. The drivers who handle bad moments well aren't braver than everyone else — they're the ones who already knew where everything was, so they had attention to spare when it counted.
So next time you climb into an unfamiliar car, before you pull away, give yourself the ten minutes. Walk the lights, work the wipers, press the hazards, glance at the manual for anything odd, and dial in your seat and mirrors. It feels almost too simple to matter. Then comes the night it's pouring and you reach for the right control without thinking, eyes never leaving the road, and you'll understand exactly why it was worth it.
Mateo has spent over a decade writing about cars — from budget runabouts to track-day machines — and he still gets a kick out of a well-sorted chassis. He founded Pyrelvos to cut through the spec-sheet noise and the dealership spin, and to explain what actually matters when you buy, own, and drive. He's owned more project cars than was strictly sensible.
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