From a car owners perspective , What is the best country to live in?

I don't know where people are getting these ridiculously cheap insurance prices in the US. My gf pays almost $3k a year on a Ford Escape! Not surprising for New Orleans but her family in Virginia pay extortionate rates too. A friend in the middle of nowhere in Texas pays about $2k for an F150.

Besides, driving there is pretty boring. Straight roads. Idiotic drivers (although more courteous than in the UK). Boring cars. Cops who will come down on you like a ton of bricks for doing a few mph over the limit.

There's no real enjoyment in driving across the vast majority of the USA. I'm sure it has it's spots but they're few and VERY far between.
 
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MrLOL said:
Better speed limits ? i never once found myself frustrated that i couldnt go faster on a 2 week holiday to florida. Being able to cruise the freeway and chop and change lanes without worrying about undertaking was far more preferable to being able to do 70.
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On motorways I've stopped with the overtake on the right thing, due to idiots going far too slow in the middle and right lanes. I now simply cruise down the M40 at 100-120mph overtaking SAFELY on whatever side I want

We have far more small roads in our country side, making speed enforcement harder ... in USA they have fewer roads, so it is easier to have speed traps :(
 
Cruising around LA and the West Coast would be awesome.

Cars are super cheap over there too. You only have to look on eBay Motors to see the massive savings to be had.
 
Somewhere in the emirates I guess. Drift around on abandoned roads or drive on 2 wheels in your pickup for fun, cheap fuel :D.

That said, the US has nicer scenery than Europe ( or the NL anyhow), nicer looking cars ( no tiny rubbish looking euro boxes) and most 60's-70's American cars look superb. And abandoned roads ( such as the USA's loneliest road like in top gear) where you can blast it at the top speed for the whole time. They have nicer/proper parkings, cheaper fuel...

The best place near me is probably Germany, nice roads: lanes are noticeably wider than here ( and not just on motorways:D), and also in good condition, no speed limit on the most motorways in rural area's with little entrances/exits ( so you can cut up to a third of your travel time compared to here for long distances, the average car usually does 85-90 mph too so you can make reasonable progress), higher speed limits on open roads than here, cheaper petrol than in the NL.
I have no idea about what laws and other bull**** they have though for things like insurance( hope they don't have the rubbish UK& Ireland system where every driver has to be insured for a car rather than just the main one and that everyone else can drive it no problem), mods, fines, other rubbish rules, etc.
 
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I've only driven in the UK and the US but i'd say both places do have significant flaws.
New York traffic flows much better than London but the roads are horrendous. Pot holes everywhere and when they are repairing the road they replace the tarmac with a metal sheets.

There isnt any lane discipline either as undertaking is perfectly legal.

When i was in Germany i was very impressed with the traffic flow on dual carriage ways/autobahns. The ethos over there seemed to be if your in the fast lane then whoever is going fastest has the right of way.
 
If you enjoy driving full stop as in accumulating miles in your car regardless of conditions then purely because you have to use your car all the time in most places, the USA :p Also the driving test (I just passed mine here in CA) is ridiculously easy :D

Although as has been said, the USA is such a massive, diverse place you can't really just say the country, if you find driving 50 miles along an arrow-straight, flat road then Arizona is your friend, if your heart's desire is to be in a hot as hell, 14-lane car-park then head to LA at rush-hour and you'll lap it up :p

Have to say though, driving through SoCal along PCH in a convertible is pretty hard to beat as a driving experience, plus the fact that if you own a convertible, there are only about 7 days in the entire year you have to have the top up :p Oh, and also you can have white cars and they look cool against a blue sky and palm trees, lol

But on the downside, what mavers said is true, the roads are far from the best, whether it's the freeways made of blocks of exposed concrete (no tarmac round these parts!) to the huuuge-ass potholes as soon as you get off the main routes (all of a sudden the 4ft clearance starts to make sense), so lowered cars or hard suspension is a recipe for sparks and very uncomfortable rides!

Also driving seems to be very stress-free in the USA because no-one is in a massive rush to get to places, plus wide lanes, easy directions to get to places (left, right, get on freeway, drive 500 miles, right, right, destination) and plentiful parking space make getting around by car much less of a chore than it is in the UK
 
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I would give a vote for some of the eastern block countries. They have so few populations the roads are almost empty. I was driving around lithuania a couple of months back. Half the size of england but with 1/16th the population. No speed camera's, very little traffic even at peak times and some great country roads. The conditions of the roads were no different to englands roads either. Coming back to england and driving the roads here felt like being in a cattle pen.
 
rypt said:
On motorways I've stopped with the overtake on the right thing, due to idiots going far too slow in the middle and right lanes. I now simply cruise down the M40 at 100-120mph overtaking SAFELY on whatever side I want
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What like the speed limit? :p
 
G-MAN2004 said:
Cars are super cheap over there too. You only have to look on eBay Motors to see the massive savings to be had.
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But they aren't?

New cars are cheaper but I think you'll find that the prices on used "specialist" foreign cars to be a little crazy. A good Toyota Supra out there is still easily a $20,000 - $25,000 over there. This is not what I'd consider to be "Super Cheap" for a 17 year old Toyota...

Us in the UK really do have super cheap cars. I do not think there are many places in the world where you can buy a perfectly good popular 02ish plate Family Saloon car for £1,500 (MK3 Mondeo). Or a Twin Turbo 165MPH+ Grand Tourer for £1,000 that won't implode within minutes (In the case of my Soarer :cool:). I don't imgaine that sort of money would even buy a half decent example of the most uneconomical, poorly built piece of dross to come out of the states in the 70s/80s.

I do hope to leave this country someday, but I'm under no illusions that the grass will be any greener when it comes to motoring. We really do have it good here.
 
I think the UK has loads of good roads, OK they're a big congested if you choose the wrong ones at the wrong times, but there's loads of fun to be had.

If I was driving in the US, I'd have to have some huge Cadillac convertible, a 4 ton behemoth, with suspension like jelly, no handling characteristics to speak of, and armchairs for seats. A 7 litre V8 getting 10mpg should complete the picture. Then I'd travel everywhere at 40mph enjoying the scenery - luxury!

Disclaimer: I am not one of those people you see doing 40mph everywhere in this country. :)
 
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As far as registration costs and taxes cars go, I think you have it pretty easy in the UK.
Fuel costs and actually using the car is another matter though, although with track days you have the possibility to use them properly too.

The 'best' country depends on what you want.
The USA is a pretty good shout though.
 
ryanpetit said:
Although saying that one of the best roads I have driven on was route 1 in California up the coast, the Dodge Charger I had didn't do them justice.
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Love that road! :cool:

One tip to anyone thinking of doing it though, go North to South. As driving on the RHS you'll be right next to the coast the whole way! :)
 
[TW]Fox;16736651 said:
New cars are.

A 335i is $42k for example.
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You can't compare prices like that though, most people I know in the USA are amazed that I can even afford a second hand BMW. I have a massive extended family over there based across different states. The exchange rate is not equivalent to actual real life costs/earnings.
 
The American equivilents of forums like this are rammed full of young people with new and nearly new cars. A far greater proportion than over here, for example.

New cars are far more easily accessible there.
 
For rich people, yes.
The USA has a much larger population the the UK and as such, many more people who can afford to buy brand new cars.

New cars are still relatively expensive for Joe the Plumber.
 
[TW]Fox;16736699 said:
The American equivilents of forums like this are rammed full of young people with new and nearly new cars. A far greater proportion than over here, for example.

New cars are far more easily accessible there.
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The American equivalent of forums like this are occupied by a possible audience of 300 million people instead of 60 million. Yes a lot of young BMW owners there post on BMW forums but how reflective are they against the average American teenager. Not very in my experience. There is also a far wider gap in the 'those who have' and the 'those who don't' over there.

edit: basically what mjt said :)
 
Used cars on Ebay motors are certainly not cheap compared to here - we have perhaps the cheapest used cars in the world.

Ebay Motors is awesome though, every car has about 60 high res pics! Much better than the junk advertised by idiots on our Ebay.
 
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