Question about Right-hand drive

Blind_Io

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I've never driven a right-hand drive before. I don't know why, but I was thinking about driving one today when I was out and about. I drive a manual and was wondering about the controlls on right hand drive cars.

Since you have to shift with your left hand, is the indicator controll on the right side of the wheel (making the wiper controll on the left)?

Is the shift pattern the same as a left-hand drive, with 1st at the top left?

What other oddities are there about left-hand drive? I know that the bonnet release for some Land Rovers/Range Rovers in the US is on the right side; a remant from the right-hand drive configuration.
 
Re: Question about Right-hand drive

Blind_Io said:
I know that the bonnet release for some Land Rovers/Range Rovers in the US is on the right side; a remant from the right-hand drive configuration.

Same with Mini's... drove me nuts the first time I wanted to look under the bonnet.
 
Ok firstly, yes the indicator is on the right hand side of the steering wheel, on localy made cars and secondly, the shift pattern is the same as a LHD car with 1st in the upper left. Also, and most importantly the pedals stay the same.

I must admit as I have not driven a LHD and I'm sure it would feel quite strange to me as its basicly the same and yet different to what I know.

I think that some maufactures also move the handbrake (e-brake) to allow more room for the driver. Then there are the wiper arms that pivot from the other side so as to give the best vison to the driver and in some cases reversing the heater/dimister controls to favor the driver also.
 
Rinmax said:
Ok firstly, yes the indicator is on the right hand side of the steering wheel.

Very rare for that here.

On a small minority (i think Mazda are fond of doiing it, and a number of other performance cars) the indicator stalk in on the right, so you can shift whilst indicating. But on the vast majority, say 95+%, the indicator stalk is on the left and wiper controls on the right.

At least in the UK, that's true.

Shift pattern is the same, though one of my friends cars had it back to front with 1st being in the top right. I haven't heard of that or seen that in any other car, so disregard that as a rare exception to the rule.

On my car at least, all the bonnet/boot/fuel cap release controls are on the right side.
 
GraemeH said:
Rinmax said:
Ok firstly, yes the indicator is on the right hand side of the steering wheel.

Very rare for that here.

On a small minority (i think Mazda are fond of doiing it, and a number of other performance cars) the indicator stalk in on the right, so you can shift whilst indicating. But on the vast majority, say 95+%, the indicator stalk is on the left and wiper controls on the right.

At least in the UK, that's true.

We actually get a mix - local builds & Japanese / Korean imports will have the stalk on the right side, European vehicles will be a bit of a mixed bag - but a lot of them will have the indicators on the left hand side.

GraemeH - I'm really suprised by that - I'd have thought that it would be pretty much the same in the UK - but your higher proportion of European vehicles means more of your cars would have the stalks set up for LHD - but those from Japanese / Korean manufacturers would be the correct way around - ie. I'd expect a 350Z to have correct RHD stalks in the UK as well.
 
Yes as we bought more Euro Boxes designed for LHD, the RHD versions are made as an afterthought, the indicator stayed on their (left) side, when after a period people thought that's the correct side. Originally Korean, British, Australian (I guess) and Japanese cars all had their indicators on the right hand side of the steering wheel, for the reason given above. Now it is indeed rare for this to be the case as even makes coming from RHD countries (as listed above) use the incorrect layout. My last Suzuki was right, but my CIVIC (Made in Swindon) is left. Probably more important if you are going to drive in a right hand drive country is acquiring some traffic sense before trying to take the wheel. My mate married an American lady and the change of side plus the incredible (for her) amount of traffic put her right off when she tried to learn. The roundabout completely threw her at first. In the end she has not taken her test after 5 years of being in the UK.

/edit Damn fbc beat me to it.
 
I think I would freak out if I had to drive on a country with right hand drive. I would probably stop the car, get out and scream: "I can't do it!" and walk home. :lol:
 
Redliner said:
I think I would freak out if I had to drive on a country with right hand drive. I would probably stop the car, get out and scream: "I can't do it!" and walk home. :lol:

:lol: It's not that bad to be honest - you get used to it. I've driven a RHD in LHD countries (British registered car in Europe), and a LHD car in a RHD country (LHD Monaro driven here), and you do adapt after a while, but it's certainly 'interesting' to begin with.
 
I drove a car with the indicators on the left in my licence test (Daewoo Nubira), but the overwhelming majority of cars here have their indicators on the right, probably since nearly all of the Japanese makers do it, and Japanese cars are very popular here (along with Aussie and Korean cars, although South Korea is a LHD country, many have their indicators on the right here). In fact, there's only three cars I can remember driving with their indicators on the left, that Nubira, the Festiva my instructor also had, and my mate's Peugeot 306. The indicators on the right do make sense, though, change the gears and indicate with different hands.

All of the cars in my house (two Ford Falcons, a Ford Laser and a Subaru Liberty (Legacy)) have their indicators on the right. Oh, pedal arrangements are the same (clutch on left, accelerator on right), and the handbrake is either in the middle (smaller cars), or on the right hand side (in most cars).

Manual gearshifters, in most cases, have the 1 on the top left, although I've seen a few (and that Daewoo was one), with the reverse gear on the top left, then all the gears to the right of that (had to lift a lever to shift it into R).

In fact, I don't think there's a European brand or car in the top 10 (save for the Focus/Astra), and the highest selling Euro brand would be BMW or Merc.

I'd like to try driving a LHD car one day, but it's very hard to get LHD cars here (since local rules require nearly all LHD cars imported under about 30 years old to be converted to RHD, hence we don't get some of the kickarse supercars). The only LHD cars I see around here are oldschool (60's) American cars.
 
everything is the same, indicators are on right only on JAP cars, all euro etc RHD is on left.

I got 2 rhd cars and 1 lhd, its all the same once you drive for few min.
 
Fairly certain that Korea is RHD, so is Japan. Korea was a Japanese colony until 1945. The Nubira was a copy - actually used some of the same machine tools which were shipped out to Daewoo when production ceased, of an Opel design from the 1980s which explain why the indicators was on the "wrong" side.
 
VUK said:
everything is the same, indicators are on right only on JAP cars, all euro etc RHD is on left.

I got 2 rhd cars and 1 lhd, its all the same once you drive for few min.

That was a pain switching from my old Volvo to the nissan.
Everytime you come to an intersection, the wipers come on :oops: :lol:
 
Deanodriver said:
I'd like to try driving a LHD car one day, but it's very hard to get LHD cars here (since local rules require nearly all LHD cars imported under about 30 years old to be converted to RHD, hence we don't get some of the kickarse supercars). The only LHD cars I see around here are oldschool (60's) American cars.

you don't want to be driving those, it feels so weird. I've sat in a LHD converted to RHD E30 M3 and it feels kinda weird because the wipers wipe the wrong way, vanity mirrors from the sun visor on the drivers side, passenger has no roof handle.

There were lots more but I can't remember the rest
 
andyhui01 said:
Deanodriver said:
I'd like to try driving a LHD car one day, but it's very hard to get LHD cars here (since local rules require nearly all LHD cars imported under about 30 years old to be converted to RHD, hence we don't get some of the kickarse supercars). The only LHD cars I see around here are oldschool (60's) American cars.

you don't want to be driving those, it feels so weird. I've sat in a LHD converted to RHD E30 M3 and it feels kinda weird because the wipers wipe the wrong way, vanity mirrors from the sun visor on the drivers side, passenger has no roof handle.

There were lots more but I can't remember the rest

I meant a proper LHD car, not a converted car :)
 
Re: Question about Right-hand drive

Blind_Io said:
Since you have to shift with your left hand, is the indicator controll on the right side of the wheel (making the wiper controll on the left)?

Is the shift pattern the same as a left-hand drive, with 1st at the top left?

gear shift is the same, except for you use your left hand (the correct hand) instead of ur right hand to change gears, pedals are the same.

the indicator stalk that u are worried about does not have a set side that they follow, on some cars the indicator stalk is on the right with the wipers on the left, and on some cars its the other way around.. for example, on my subaru the indicator is on the right and on my ford bantam bakkie, the indicator is on the left (same as the mercedes).. so u will just have to play around and figure it out by yourself.

As for the bonnet release button, its normally by your bottom right hand corner, below the ignition switch
 
"the correct hand?" That's a bit presumptuous considering most people in the world drive left-hand drive cars and the first car was built in Germany, where they also dive on the right with left-hand drive.

Not trying to start a flamewar or anything, just something to think about.
 
maybe u are just too uptight about it, it was meant to be a small harmless joke :( yanks have a lousy sense of humour......
 
When driving a RHD Car in Britain it drove me nuts.....I hit against the door 3 times when trying to shift before I realised it was on the other side :) after 30 min it was no problem ;)
 
MadCow809 said:
maybe u are just too uptight about it, it was meant to be a small harmless joke :( yanks have a lousy sense of humour......

Sorry, I should have made use of the Emoticons. That was not meant to be a uptight, I just thought it was interesting how you worded your post, since Britons tend to be as elitist as Americans are egotistical and humorless. 8)
 
Blind_Io said:
MadCow809 said:
maybe u are just too uptight about it, it was meant to be a small harmless joke :( yanks have a lousy sense of humour......

Sorry, I should have made use of the Emoticons. That was not meant to be a uptight, I just thought it was interesting how you worded your post, since Britons tend to be as elitist as Americans are egotistical and humorless. 8)
Obviously everthing we Brits do is correct. We speak the right language, drive on the correct side of the and we slowly allowed the colonials more control of their land to keep them happy. :D
 
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