Left hand drive cars

floatindolphin

floatindolphin

floatindolphin

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Joined
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Hi,

Does anyone have a left hand drive car that they use in the UK? What's it lkike driving "on ther wrong side" of the car?

I'm going to be getting a left hand drive car for the next year and was wondering if there's any major negatives (apart from getting in the wrong side to drive off in car parks) :D
 
Some people just don't seem to be able to wrap their heads around it. Others have no probelm.

I never found it an issue at all. First LHD car I owned was a manual one. Got in it, checked the controls, drove off. Never punched the driver's doorcard either, like some do :D

You driving it in the UK still or abroad?

If you're driving it in the UK you get a plus point - when you park on a street, you usually step out onto the pavement.....

Ticket barriers I ran into now and again could be a minor pain but usually I could reach across the car without a problem, as others below have just mentioned!
 
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Having driven a RHD car on the continent for several thousand miles:

Car parks, ticket booths, drive through stations etc are difficult without a passenger.

Overtaking (on straight roads in particular) can be very difficult and frustrating.
 
Overtaking is the main issue really, although some people find it more of a problem than others.
The only problem I had with LHD was overtaking buses in London. Not fun when you have to effectively veer completely into the other lane to see if there's any oncoming traffic..

It depends on the car too. Something big and wide will be much more of a pain than something small like a classic Mini.

Ticket barriers can be a nuisance, as can toll booths, etc.
 
floatindolphin said:
ah yeah ticket barriers! hadn't thought of that.

It's an '07 Peugeot 307 that my Bro owned when he lived in France.
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Unless it's free, I wouldn't bother. Even if it was RHD.
Flog it to one of the LHD car centres or something.

Was it ever on French plates? Because paying the taxes to register it in the UK is just silly, unless it's already been done..
Although I think this car has been mentioned on here a while back?
 
It's free :)

It's had all new headlights and other bits to make it Uk compliant or something or other so selling it on would be a problem.

Does anyone know if 307's have passenger airbags that can be turned off? parkers.co.uk doesn't have the info
 
mjt said:
Unless it's free, I wouldn't bother. Even if it was RHD.
Flog it to one of the LHD car centres or something.

Was it ever on French plates? Because paying the taxes to register it in the UK is just silly, unless it's already been done..
Although I think this car has been mentioned on here a while back?
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Yep all been done ^^^^

Have I mentioned it? .....heads to search function....

EDIT: yep, http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18025112&highlight=floatindolphin

He works at Pixar now, I think the car is the last thing he's thinking of :)
 
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Lopéz said:
Having driven a RHD car on the continent for several thousand miles:

Car parks, ticket booths, drive through stations etc are difficult without a passenger.

Overtaking (on straight roads in particular) can be very difficult and frustrating.
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This. I drive a RHD car overseas quite often.

Overtaking, I judge by the passengers face :D
 
i drive a LHD car all the time, as stated above the only issue i have is ticket barriers when going shopping. as for day to day driving once your used to it theres no problems
 
The best thing about LHD is that if you go to the drive thru, the passenger has to pay :)

I have a LHD and RHD car that I switch between regularly.

I find it's just a case of aligning with the kerb in the LHD and aligning with the centre line in the RHD.
 
EvilDreams said:
The best thing about LHD is that if you go to the drive thru, the passenger has to pay :)

I have a LHD and RHD car that I switch between regularly.

I find it's just a case of aligning with the kerb in the LHD and aligning with the centre line in the RHD.
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No, it's a case of aligning with the kerb in both unless you're one of those tools who drives in the middle of the road rather than on the left hand side...
 
Yes my old Karmann Ghia was Left Hand Drive, didn't really feel any different to me, junctions were a little awkward, especialy as it had no right side mirror and as others have said drive thru's and car park ticket machines were a bit of an effor to climb across, but appart from that I would happily have one again.
 
Disco Boy said:
No, it's a case of aligning with the kerb in both unless you're one of those tools who drives in the middle of the road rather than on the left hand side...
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No.

In a LHD you align your side (since you are on the left) with the kerb (or parked cars).
In a RHD you align your side (since you are on the right) with the centre line.

That should be clear enough. Unless you're one of those tools who reads a forum post and instantly gets belligerent even though they quite clearly didn't even understand the post in the first place.
 
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EvilDreams said:
No.

In a LHD you align your side (since you are on the left) with the kerb (or parked cars).
In a RHD you align your side (since you are on the right) with the centre line.

That should be clear enough. Unless you're one of those tools who reads a forum post and instantly gets belligerent even though they quite clearly didn't even understand the post in the first place.
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It was quite clear what you said, but you are still wrong. You should keep a constant distance from the left hand side, not align yourself with the centre line.
 
Suit yourself.

Do you regularly switch from LHD to RHD?

Following my method keeps you a constant distance from the left hand side. Unless of course you are imagining that "aligning with the kerb" means driving 1mm from the kerb and "aligning with the centre line" means driving 1mm from the centre line....

....which would just be silly.
 
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I drive LHD cars (I have 2 on the road ATM). My wife's is RHD. I mostly drive LHD.

As said, ticket barriers are the worst. I have to get out to operate them. This is no big deal and doesn't ruin my day. I have to operate a ticket barrier for the work car park so I am practised at the art of hopping out and back in quick.

Overtaking is only a problem with big vans and the like. Cars and such you learn to "look through them" to see the road ahead. Also you tend to look up the left of the vehicle ahead to see if the road is clear, which is arguably safer as you can see further up the road ahead without having to pull into the potential path of someone too close to the white line coming the other way.

Big trucks are too big to see up the inside of and you can't see through them as there's no front-to-back windows. For these you need to hand back as far as you need to until you can see the road ahead far enough to judge it safe to pass. This sometimes annoys people behind you who think unless you are riding the bumper of the vehicle ahead that you arn't making enough progress...

I've never had an issue positioning the car in the road. If you can judge the width of your car then you are fine.
 
Depends on the car, I'd hate an LHD in the UK if it was say a Focus or something bland.

Give me an e30 M3 and I'm fairly confident I'd learn to live with it.
 
I owned an E30 M3, two in fact (a std one and an Evo II). LHD takes a little while to get used to, that's all. Only once I nearly punched the door card when changing gear, strangely after a few years of ownership when I was tired and stressed one day :). I found LHD great to drive. In fact if you're right handed it feels better to change gear with the right hand, more natural.
On the test drive I did find myself straying towards the middle of the road a few timesh which I thought I would still do when I bought the LHD car but actually I was fine.
Overtaking can be a pain but there are techniques to use such as moving to the left of the road round LH bends to check for oncoming cars before popping out to the right and overtaking on the straight.
I found LHD not a problem at all, and safer when getting out of the car when kerb parked. Don't have to shout either when kerb crawling as you're already on the left of the car :)
 
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