Things to consider before buying a RHD vehicle.

[bigbadboss101]

Hi, I saw an interesting vehicle. Now before one buys a RHD car, what should be considered?

- The condition of the car.
- The fact that you will be shifting with the left hand, and driving
would need to be get used to.
- Cost of parts.
- Insurance
- Ability to resell.

Anything else?

[nismodrifter]

fad factor

[SilverBoost]

Passing requires you to poke your nose out a little further to see what's coming.

[blue Zed]

You can not go into a drive through at a Mc Dee's unless you had a friend with you!.

[Perceptionist]

Well everytime you go to turn left at a light you won't be able to see oncoming traffic if someone going the other way is also turning left. If you pull out and get hit you will probably die because the driver sits right where the impact will occur. That's enough to scare me away from driving a RHD JDM import.

[Sharpie]

Originally posted by nismodrifter
fad factor
:werd:

and http://forums.beyond.ca/images/top_search.gif helps

[bigbadboss101]

BTW, I am looking into a Celica GT4. The other one I am looking at is a 98 Impreza Outback. Normal, LHD.

[CalgarySupra]

just get a cheap camera/lcd screen for the left hand turning

rhd is more nad more common look at the postal workers

[Tech2]

Originally posted by blue Zed
You can not go into a drive through at a Mc Dee's unless you had a friend with you!.

Bah! Just go backwards.

[benyl]

Originally posted by CalgarySupra


rhd is more nad more common look at the postal workers

That is only in the US and that is for rural postal vehicles to aid in their job. Non delivery postal vehicles are LHD.

[avow]

dont forget you have to signal with your right hand and wipers are on your left. thats one of the harder ones.

[Aznshadow85]

backing up... it feels weird to look over your left shoulder

[7thgenvic]

Original Post Removed. (Please read the Forum Rules and Terms of Use (http://forums.beyond.ca/articles.php?action=data&item=1) before posting again, or risk getting banned).

[TipoBoy]

You'll get people asking you whether it's legal to have a RHD car :nut: Of course it is - why wouldn't it be?

It's pretty much impossible to turn left at an intersection unless there is nothing coming as you can't see past the line of cars in front trying to turn left as well. However not seeing what's coming doesn't seem to deter a lot of LHD drivers :( from what I've seen, or even if there is something comng they still turn across the traffic - very scary. Don't get me started on the quality of driving here.

Merging into a road is pretty weird as you're looking through the rear left hand quarter light rather than over your shoulder. You have to position the car at the right angle and it still feels really weird. This is the most dangerous part for me as you're looking way back and not really looking where you are going at all.

You can't drive though pay booths or manned barriers without getting out and running around to the other side of the car.

You get a huge amount of people looking just because it's RHD.

Indicators and wipers stalks are the same way around, it really depends on the make of car not whether it's LHD or RHD.

You can't overtake on a single lane road without using the road to help, sweeping curve, down hill etc as you can't see past the car in front without sticking you car too much over the left hand side of the road. I haven't found this too much of a problem as most roads here are massive dual carriageways with enough room for several extra lanes!

It's easy to talk to drivers of LHD cars who pull up on your right hand side :D and picking up girls off the street is easier :thumbsup:

And yes the pedals are in the same order :D

John

[kdwebber]

Dumbass kids in civic's will try and race you all the time!

[bigbadboss101]

The reason I am considering is because of the car, and not it's RHD. Thinking about the safety issues now I am against it. I do like the GT4 but wish it's not RHD.

[sh0ko]

Dumbass kids in civic's will try and race you all the time!

:werd: :werd: :werd:

[Iqoair]

RHD vehicles can be a pain in the ass to pass on OOPs. Every piece of glass, every marker lens, head light, tail light, or reflector has to be DOT, or AS1, AS2 (North American approved). You have to have a third brake light also. Many of the cars being imported are being passed when they shouldn't be. Alberta transport is actually cracking down on these issues. As it stands now, a lot of shops will unknowingly pass the cars, even though these things have been clearly stated in the OOP inspection book for years. They issued a warning letter / Reminder to all licensed facilities a few months ago regarding this. These simple items can be very costly.

[talonboi]

on silvia and skylines, i've seen dot apporved stickers on all the windows.

as for headlights and tail lights. 300zx, mr2, supras etc... all have usdm headlights and tail lights you can use to pass OOP's
its not hard passing the oop's, and its also not hard driving rhd, its pretty easy actually.

sure it feels awkward driving on the right side, but doesnt everything you do in a different way feel awkward at first?

rhd and drive-thru windows - solution, walk your ass inside.

rhd and turning left at the lights - try it out, not as hard as you think.

is rhd a fad? but arent fads things that die out? doesnt seem like the rhd scene is dying down.

the skyline shop charges $10000 - $15000 and a 2 month down time to convert it to lhd

[heavyD]

Originally posted by talonboi

is rhd a fad? but arent fads things that die out? doesnt seem like the rhd scene is dying down.

It hasn't exactly taken off either. In a city of 1 million there are only a tiny handful of RHD vehicles. The Sylvia fad is almost dead now. The importers aren't selling tonnes of car like other used car lots. They stay in business though due to the insane margins they make on them. They are paying next to nothing for some of these cars and getting very nice returns. As long as there are 18 year olds that can't wait to get a decent car these guys will be there to take their money. If you may have noticed there are very, very few people that have bought Skylines and held on to them for more than a year. That should tell you something.

[-Jay21-]

After a few hours of driving, the RHD bit was no problem, and I'm not greatly co-ordinated and I can shift fine with my left hand.

[PiMpIn SmUrF]

Originally posted by kdwebber
Dumbass kids in civic's will try and race you all the time!
haha really? for me its a turn around, i get dumbass's in skylines trying to race me :rofl:

[FiveFreshFish]

I drove a RHD for the first time last week.

All those points mentioned above felt strange at first but I adapted quickly.

The one thing that screwed me up the most was the location of the rearview mirror. If I owned a RHD car, this will take me weeks to adapt to. Not sure why looking up to the left seems so much harder than looking up to the right. :dunno:

[knowslepizruff]

Im currently driving a RHD. It takes practically no time to get the hang of.

If you're too lazy to acctually go into McDonalds i have a solution for you. Get a stick, put a nail through the end and call it your "reaching stick". ask the McD's peeps tp put your bag on the end of your reaching stick....problem solved