LHD or RHD? that is the question

[AlabamaShrimp]

So in the same way as the manual/automatic question what's your thoughts on driving LHD stuff?

 

As in I've always wanted a Traction Avant but right hand drive is pretty rare same goes for the other thing I really want, a deloren, but, driving on the "wrong" side of the car has alway felt a bit strange even when on holiday.

 

Of course if the car only came that way (as in the twingo) then I don't think I would have a problem but if I got that new mustang my wife likes the look of I think I would have to get a right hand drive conversion from Australia, which is mad!

[DVee8]

When i was in my early 20's i was after a Pug 505GTi.I had my heart set on this car at the time it was a D or E reg i think,i rang my insurance company and they would not cover me due to it being a left hooker.

[Rocket88]

Driven a few [mostly Yanks] never bothered me at all. Overtaking can be a bit iffy..............

[jonny69]

LHD is better for leaning out and slapping girls' bums as you drive past. Worth thinking about.

[Asimo]

LHD feels more natural to this right-handed person.

 

Seriously, the only drawback to LHD in Britain is car park machines, tolls etc. Plenty of insurance companies that don't care, even if there are some that panic about left hookers.

[dave21478]

Its no biggie and you get used to it very fast.

Overtaking requires proper positioning on the road and a bit of care but otherwise there is no risk. The minor inconveniences are car park ticket machines etc.

It depends on the car though - electric windows help and if there is no massive centre console, then you can lean across. Im not a tall person, but manage ok like that.

 

I once reversed my LHD car through a UK macdonalds drive through. The burgersmiths got very confused and called the manager who banned me. A little harsh, I though.

[Mr Livered]

I've always found LHD tricky. Of course I'm not used to it, and have no way of knowing whether that's the only reason, or whether I am somehow more suited to LHD.

 

I'm definitely very right handed, to the extent that I reckon LHD is a teeny bit safer for me personally. When indulging in a spot of country lane hoonage, I of course have to let go of the steering wheel with my left hand for gear changes. That's no problem, because my right hand is perfectly capable of steering safely.

 

However, in a LHD car I would have to let my left hand do the steering. I just can't shake the idea that it's safer for my dominant hand to ne the one that stays on the wheel.

 

Which says that RHD is better for me personally.

[saucedoctor]

LHD, or more accurately driving on the right, is just wrong. When confronted with an imminent head-on collision, most humans swerve left, summat to do with brain hemispheres if I recall. If you're driving on the right, that means the vehicles are heading towards each other.

 

Driving on the correct side of the road means that in the same circs, the vehicles are heading away from each other.

 

I'm not sure about the gear change either. I'm a right-handed person, and have tried writing with my left hand, just to see what would happen. Nowt, is the answer, I can't do it. However, I can do the more complicated bit of playing my guitar with my left hand. I've tried it the other way round, Jimi Hendrix-style, and I can't even manage "Smoke on the Water"

 

Also found it hard to get used to the right-hand gearchange in the Van Diemen.

[Junkman]

I couldn't care less on which side of the car I sit.

I had RHDs over beyond, LHDs over here, and often switched between cars with different setups on the same day.

In fact, I preferred when British cars had RHD even on the Continent, because it's more 'authentic'.

For the same reason, I'd prefer a Continental car over here with LHD, so that's what my future R16 TX will be.

With the yanks, one usually doesn't have a choice anyway.

 

Access to drive through facilities I find less of a nuisance, because I frequent them so rarely. The only real

drawback I see is that you have to be more careful when changing lanes with a car being the 'wrong' config,

since your blind spot is different.

[forddeliveryboy]

LHD Tractions preferable to the English-built rhd ones, for me. Silly little Lucas headlamps, dodgy wooden dashboard and so on just incongruous with this French beastie. Great for not having to get out into the traffic when parking on the high street to do your shopping. But for some reason, left-hookers always feel more cramped.

[cort1977]

I moved to the US a couple of years ago and found you very quickly adapt to LHD, don't give it a second thought now.  

 

The new mustang is going to be available in RHD.

[anonymous user]

It's never bothered me. LHD on a British car in the UK is great for confusing people, mainly passengers who try to get in the wrong side and especially when other people think a Springer Spaniel is driving.

[dieselnutjob]

Presumably you can't see very far round blind left corners but fantastically well on right hand corners.

[DSdriver]

LHD Tractions preferable to the English-built rhd ones, for me. Silly little Lucas headlamps, dodgy wooden dashboard and so on just incongruous with this French beastie. Great for not having to get out into the traffic when parking on the high street to do your shopping. But for some reason, left-hookers always feel more cramped.

I agree about the Slough built tractions but if a light 15 seems too small get a big 15 (onze B normale I think they called them).

[spike60]

I ran a shibag LHD Volvo 245 for about 2 or 3 years with no probs once I'd got used to it, this gave me confidence to buy a Corvette a few years later knowing I would be fine with it. The only thing I ever hit I reversed into!  As already said, car park tolls can be a pain especially in the 'Vet where sliding over inside the car to reach not an option.

[steve_earwig]

Errr, first post, hello I'm a Brit who's lived in Croatia for 10 years, I've driven left-hookers and right-hookers and it really doesn't make any difference, you soon get used to it (I did anyway...). I've driven right-hookers here and left-hookers in GB and, so long as you know which door you're closest too, it doesn't matter.Someone made a comment about you always turn to the right when you panic - not true. When I first came out here yes, but I drove my left-hooker Pug back to GB a couple of years back, had a near miss and, guess what? I panicked and went to the left.

 

Achweley, what I have noticed is nobody here expects to see a right-hooker, other drivers, pedestrians etc. always look to whoever's sitting on the left (I guess this won't work the other way around in GB as left-hookers aren't all that unusual). So if someone's waiting to cross the road, looking to see who's driving the car coming the other way that's weaving about all over the place. expecting to see a look of fear at the unbelievably dangerous overtaking manoeuvre they're pulling or whatever, they really don't expect to see someone sitting there with their hands over their eyes obviously screaming, trying to open the door and get out in a panic or just sitting there with a paper bag over their head with just a big grin drawn on it and no eye holes. Which reminds me, I really need to get hold of a steering wheel for the next time my brother drives out here,..

[eddyramrod]

I've had a bunch of American cars in England.  There's no real problem. 

Drive thru?  Carry a passenger (they can pay too). 

Tolls/car parks?  Plan your journey to avoid them. 

Overtaking?  Hang back until you have a good enough view, then use the power God gave you.  What d'you mean you're not driving a V8 auto with instant kickdown?  Why the hell not?

[HillmanImp]

LHD is GR8 for driving at people crossing the road and the passenger (or as they thing the driver) putting his hands across his face and screaming before the driver swerves past them at the last second. 

 

Well it was for my mate and me back when we were teenagers in his Beetle, probably not as funny for the people crossing the road but that doesn't really cross your mind at that age. 

[Spiny Norman]

I have driven a LHD car three times in my life, and on each occasion I tried to change gear with the window winder.

[sheffcortinacentre]

never had a prob owned/driven loads.

[forddeliveryboy]

I agree about the Slough built tractions but if a light 15 seems too small get a big 15 (onze B normale I think they called them).

 

I should've said I find all left hookers feel small from the driver's seat, to me. The Merc 124 especially so, it's weird. The reason for having a Normale is that the engine and box aren't shoehorned in to such a tight space that it makes reconnecting the shafts work of the devil, in every other respect I prefer the narrower car.

[Lord Sterling]

It hardly makes any difference for me. At first it can feel a but a strange driving a different handed car but I get used to ut very easily. I've driven LHDs for years having family and so on living abroad, now I've driven LHD cars continually since February and again, it doesn'ae feel strange to me at all.

 

In fact, the first time I ever drove was a LHD car in Belgium when I lived with Ole_man_Sterling.

[burraston2006]

I have driven a LHD car three times in my life, and on each occasion I tried to change gear with the window winder.

 

Did it work?!

[cms206]

Ahhh... LHD... this was mine. Ran it until it finally expired and wouldn't run any more. Fun times were had explaining a moss covered Courier Kombi on Czech plates to the chaps at Newcastle docks.


 

[Pete-M]

LHD isn't a problem 90% of the time. I've had LHD cars on and off for as long as I've been driving.

 

Pros and cons I've noticed of LHD cars.

 

Pros.

 

Car is often as it was meant to be.

Less people want to borrow it.

Get out onto the kerb.

Less likely to be nicked.

 

Cons.

 

Occasionally irritating at toll / ticket booths.

[steve_earwig]

I have driven a LHD car three times in my life, and on each occasion I tried to change gear with the window winder.

Like my dad when he had Renault 16s, every other car he got into he tried to change gear with the wipers. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, wipe, squirt...

[kinkersaab]

I like, if not prefer a LHD, it might be due to me driving soo many miles, when I get in a left hand drive car, it somehow feels more of an event. I did however find it hard a few years ago, I had been running an old r107 SL LHD in the uk, I then set of in my old saab convertible  RHD to drive to south of france, after getting used to driving lHD in uk, then driving rhd in uk, then RHD in france. it all got a wee bit much for my brain on some of the quiet French roads.... I managed with no damage...

[castros_bro]

Some people get it and some don't, I had LHD snd RHD from HGV to Berkeley but the abvious problems of toll booths etc. are trivial. Brit bike to Jap bike gear/brske swap is a pain.

[twosmoke300]

Pete m makes a good point , many cars were designed as lhd and are much much easier to work on in that format . Citroen clutch cables are a prime example

[406V6]

Reading the above I must be the exception. When I lived in foreignshire everything was LHD. I owned a local car and once I got used to a big mass of car to the right of me I was fine. Perfectly happy. But when I brought the same car back to the UK I hated driving it. Visibility from the left seat was so much worse and although the car was GR9 I was happy to see the back of it eventually. While I owned it I had a nagging fear that one day my brain would throw a wobbly and I'd start driving down the right hand side of the road and crash big-time. I deffo would not want one again.