Right Hand Drive

[OldSchoolFresh]

I was just wondering how is the difference between right hand drive and left hand drive? Is it awkward driving on the right side of the road with a RHD? How is turning around and manouvering?

[PlatinumShift]

No its not hard, the hardest thing to do is turning right in something like This Fairlady Just because the rollcage gets in the way of the rear side window.[/url]

[JZ]

Pretty straightforward, in fact a lot of us prefer steering with the right (for most, the dominant) hand and shifting with the left.

I find the hardest part is backing up, I still can't get used to turning my body to the left and the occasional left turn I feel like I can't see where I'm going. I also found myself straddling the centre line of the road as my body naturally wanted to line up with the median.

BTW this Q comes up frequently enough that I will move it to FAQ.

[thumper]

my problem is with the center line in the street. when doing LHD i'm used to giving myself space from the center line. when doing RHD i find myself doing the same, but this time it's away from the shoulder. as a result i keep getting too damn close (or over) the center line and the passenger starts to freak

the other thing is stuff like manhole covers. i usually dodge the usual stuff with no problems with LHD. but when RHD i keep nailng every one for some reason

[CanadianGTR]

I had to adjust which line on the road I drive to. Instead of driving to the median, I have to drive to the shoulder line.

Making lefts, and rights, can be tricky. Lefts are hard because of the obvious lack of visibility, and rights are a pain because you have to look PAST your passenger to see oncoming traffic.

Passing people on one lane roads is tricky, I find myself looking THROUGH the car ahead of me to see if anything is coming (having two turbos and good brakes help correct any "mistakes" you make in judgement though).

Drive-throughs of any sort are a pain, but fun to do in reverse (Yes I know I haven't posted the pic yet, it looked too staged, so I'm going to do it again during a busier time of day so there are more cars to compare to)

Squeezing between two cars is harder too because your used to judging the dimensions from the other side of the car, which is hard to get your head around at first.

Parking near curbs I find is a pain, cuz I'm always farther away than I think I am since I'm not used to being on that side of the car when it comes to judging distancses.

I have yet to try parallel parking with a RHD car, but I'll keep you guys posted, if anything, it should be easier.

I was used to driving RHD after about one solid day. I feel just as comfortable with RHD as I do with LHD.

Hope this helps.

[turbo_steve]

When I first picked up my car I just got in and took off. I had no problem being on the right side. Like you guys said, it feels natural. I think I peeled out of the lot, went sideways and took off. The only thing I found a problem with at first was shifting aggressively while going all out, I found I missed and gound a couple times. But now its smooth, also not shifting at redline but more around 6k is better. It accelerates better too. I really dont have a problem doing left turns, but with a passenger it is awkward, although its the same with LHD sometimes. I don't find parking that hard, but backing up I usually turn right, realize that it is useless, then turn to the left. LOL. For the issue of passing large vehicles on 2 lane highways I put in a fm wireless cam in the front left side of the bumper and put it to a screen in the dash. It works really well, not to mention its fun driving around looking at traffic from the ground level almost. It really does help you look around traffic though. Here are some pics:





I also have my xbox hooked up for music, movies, dl'd tv shows, and games. Its fun. I've also done some other work. I'll take pics later and show you guys all the work I've done on the car. Oh, and I found my boost problem, cracked exhaust manifold. Hopefully that will be fixed this week. And I will be getting new trim for the dash there. I'm not gonna install it though because it will have to be modified and I'm just gonna give it to who ever buys the car so they can do what they want. Wish me luck!

-Steve

[OldSchoolFresh]

haha I'd love to go though a drive through with a RHD backwards! All the looks would be priceless.

[BobyYoo]

When I first picked up my car I just got in and took off. I had no problem being on the right side. Like you guys said, it feels natural. I think I peeled out of the lot, went sideways and took off. The only thing I found a problem with at first was shifting aggressively while going all out, I found I missed and gound a couple times. But now its smooth, also not shifting at redline but more around 6k is better. It accelerates better too. I really dont have a problem doing left turns, but with a passenger it is awkward, although its the same with LHD sometimes. I don't find parking that hard, but backing up I usually turn right, realize that it is useless, then turn to the left. LOL. For the issue of passing large vehicles on 2 lane highways I put in a fm wireless cam in the front left side of the bumper and put it to a screen in the dash. It works really well, not to mention its fun driving around looking at traffic from the ground level almost. It really does help you look around traffic though. Here are some pics:





I also have my xbox hooked up for music, movies, dl'd tv shows, and games. Its fun. I've also done some other work. I'll take pics later and show you guys all the work I've done on the car. Oh, and I found my boost problem, cracked exhaust manifold. Hopefully that will be fixed this week. And I will be getting new trim for the dash there. I'm not gonna install it though because it will have to be modified and I'm just gonna give it to who ever buys the car so they can do what they want. Wish me luck!

-Steve

that's a nice setup, may i ask what kind of cam is that, and where did you get it from??

[Bern]

I was actually thinking of doing a similar camera setup, except I was thinking of putting the camera in the left hand side mirror. Drilling a hole and installing the camera there, but I don't know how feasible that would be.

[sidewazegtsr]

Well I got used to driving on the right in about 2 min's, no seriously!

The only thing that takes a bit of practise and what not is making left turns in traffic. In which case use the cars in front of you and look through there windsheilds to see and if you can't, just wait. If the guy behind you honks his horn, give him the finger, tell him to give you 15G's (so you can replace your car) and you'll turn the corner :P . Other then that it's not hard. The pedals are all the same, the shift pattern is the "standard H" so it's not to hard to learn. You can also try driving in empty parking lots or roads with not a lot of traffic as well.

Don't worry you'll pick it up pretty quick.

[Bern]

I've been reading the boards here recently about the problems people have driving Right handed. I've been thinking about it....yes, I will eventually get used to it but it'll never be a LHD car. Drive-throughs, Two lane highways are definite problems, and since I live in Scarborough and at a condo, I'd have to get out of the car everytime to put my key in to open up the underground garage. And about the 15 g's, i'm sure you'd ask for cause if you'd get hit, you're the on the bad side when you get t-boned.

[entelijint]

I'd have to get out of the car everytime to put my key in to open up the underground garage.

that's why our cars come with that funny little gear that makes them back up... quickly pull a u-ball, drive in backwards and when you're in, flip it back around. i manage to do it for drivethru's, parkades and toll booths... just takes a bit of practice doing a 3 point turn in 10 seconds or less

[Bern]

I'd have to get out of the car everytime to put my key in to open up the underground garage.

that's why our cars come with that funny little gear that makes them back up... quickly pull a u-ball, drive in backwards and when you're in, flip it back around. i manage to do it for drivethru's, parkades and toll booths... just takes a bit of practice doing a 3 point turn in 10 seconds or less

true, there's reverse....but it's kinda hard seeing someone who's trying to get out of the garage (especially someone who's in a hurry and doesn't care to brake when he sees the garage door opening). I'm sure it'd probably no problem doing the reverse thing, but i've seen alot of people in my building who don't use the big aid mirrors and turn blindly.

[JNS Performance]

i also had to adjust the way i drove to but for me its easyer when you have a car in front of you cause i jsut possition my self with teh passenger riding shot gun or the seat they would sit in. but when no car is is infront of me i do possition ith the cerb to my right. I also make the mirror mistake sometimes.

Took me a half an hour to get used to the rhd and once you get it its second nature