The car in question.. The 2006 Ford Mustang.
I see at least one a day of this model around my area all of which are imported no doubt with all the agro and headaches involved with the SVA either for the owner or importer etc
GM Corvette is available here so why don't Ford take out all the hard work for buyers by selling it officially here?
A true American icon that would sell like ice cream on a hot day and would do wonders for Fords image.
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If Ford thought they could make money out of it, Im sure they would bring it here. Since they are going down the toilet, one assumes they havent got the spare cash to sell a loss maker over here.
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I believe they are now imported through certain ford franchises the first batch being sold by a dealer on E bay,you can buy them of the peg in Germany any colour any spec from 24000euros upwards.
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GM Corvette is available here so why don't Ford take out all the hard work for buyers by selling it officially here? A true American icon that would sell like ice cream on a hot day and would do wonders for Fords image.
As you point out the Corvette is available in the UK and could also be considered as a true American icon.
Total 2006 year to date Corvette registrations: 7
This may explain why Ford is reluctant to import the Mustang to the UK.
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I would be interested to know how many potential buyers are put off by the fact that they are only available in left hand drive? I've always loved big V8 american cars, but the LHD issue slightly takes the edge off the appeal for me. But I've never driven a LHD car on UK roads so I dont know from experience, how much of a hindrance is it driving in busy UK traffic?
I know many over here consider yank cars gaudy and brash, but do you think Mustang and Corvette sales would increase considerably if they did RHD versions?
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But I've never driven a LHD car onUK roads so I dont know from experience, how much of a hindrance is it driving in busy UK traffic? I know many over here consider yank cars gaudy and brash, but do you think Mustang and Corvette sales would increase considerably if they did RHD versions?
It's no worse than driving a rhd car on the Continent, perfectly all right but sometimes needing a little extra caution and vigilance when overtaking on single carriageway roads.
There's a superb Corvette which is almost a Le Mans racer for a bargain £50K, but my impression is that Mustangs these days, indeed ever since the seventies, are a bit sad. I doubt if rhd would much improve sales of either.
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..do you think Mustang and Corvette sales would increase considerably if they did RHD versions?
Or if we switched to driving on the right?
A fair number of cars would become immediately available here - such as the four wheel drive versions of MB and BMW saloons which apparently can't be coverted to RHD. Plus we would avoid the compromises that you get in many cars, such as wipers being set for LHD or offset pedals.
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apparently can't be coverted to RHD.
'apparently'. ;o) Bet they could if it suited.
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14mpg + left hand drive = low demand, alas.
Pity, because they make an absolutely awesome barky V8 noise.
Not too sure about the styling, looks a bit awkward IMHO, particularly compared to the 300C
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A RHD coversion is available here in the UK but it costs around £5000 which you will not get back if you sell the car
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Or if we switched to driving on the right?
Think of all the trouble with motorway slip-roads, etc.
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A friend of mine has just imported a new Mustang from the US and it was painless. He gets between 21MPG UK to 30 MPG UK (the us gallon is 20% bigger than the UK gallon. His insurance is cheaper than his Vectra and so is the road fund license. He finds this a great fun car and it gets loads of attention wherever he goes.
The left hand drive situation is not a problem as you rarely get the opportunity to overtake anyone on our crowded roads. Also, if he pulls over the the kerb he can get out safely without being hit by the door mirrors of passing cars.
Servicing intervals are great too. Oil and filter every 5000 miles then it is only fluids, brake pads and filters for the 1st 100,000 miles. Exhausts are stainless
I am very tempted
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US gallon is smaller, not bigger, than imperial gallon.
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You are quite right I stand corrected. so to convert the US MPG to UK MPG you multiply the US by 1.2
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Autocar have just sold the Mustang they imported - averaged 20.9 mpg whilst they had it. Total imported cost = £22k - sold after 11,000 miles/7 months for £18.5k (to a reader) = 53.5p per mile including depreciation.
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>> Or if we switched to driving on the right? Think of all the trouble with motorway slip-roads, etc.
That would the easy, surely - everthing would just run the opposite way around to how it is now?
Would be a bit of an issue where the junction only has on OR off ramps - their function would be the wrong way around from the original choice.
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>> Or if we switched to driving on the right?
>>>> Think of all the trouble with motorway slip-roads, etc. That would the easy, surely - everthing would just run the opposite way around to how it is now?
How many billions of pounds would it cost the UK taxpayer to change every junction layout and every road sign in Britain? Just think how many accidents there would be because of people having a momentary lapse and driving onto the wrong side of the road.
Surely it would not be difficult to engineer these cars for right and left hand drive if done at the design stage, like Chrysler and Cadillac are now doing, and same as every other manufacturer that sells cars globally.
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The cost of moving signs, road markings and silly things like traffic lights/speed cameras etc would kill off any notion of us driving on the right.
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Oh well, it looks like we'd have to bin the speed cameras to keep costs down then!! ;)
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Sweden managed it OK in September 1967
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Yes but that was 40 years ago.
Think of the best reasons for driving on the right (I can't bar being able to drive a Mustang with ease)
Now offset that against the cost of switching. It'd be billions! You'd have to change entire sets of junctions, erase road markings only to paint them all on again, sort out signs - on the motorways alone it would cost a fortune, arrange traffic lights on the proper side - the list goes on. At just one motorway interchange by my house alone I reckon the cost wouldn't me far off a million quid.
The whole of the United Kingdom?
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what if we bulldoze the country and start again?
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"Think of the best reasons for driving on the right"
There are none. You enjoy the cheapest priced used motors in the whole of Europe by a million miles - prices that I could only dream of paying - if they were all magically changed into LHD, that advantage would be lost as people like me started buying them up by the transporter load to sell on the continent.
Enjoy the Status Quo (and I?m not talking about a lame 3-chord pop'n'roll band)
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I think I'm right in saying, although Sweden drove on the left 40 years ago, left hand drive cars were common - I was told so they could see the curb in the snow, but I'm a bit doubtful that bit is entirely true!
If most cars suited the change - then I guess they saw less of a problem. Also the one way street beloved of town planners and hated by a lot drivers was a lot less common.
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I don't know - people are always looking for problems!
I'm sure that as part of our integration into Europe, the 'anomaly' of us driving on the left will eventually be eradicated.
As for the cost ? small beer to the EU (but they?ll be giving us back what was our our money in the first place).
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Dont forget there are three countries driving on the left in Europe,UK,Ireland and Cyprus.
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The driving on the right thing should'nt be a problem. The best idea would be to have a phased changeover.
Cars with even figures on their number plates would change to driving on the right at, say, midnight on the first of the month and cars with odd figures on number plates change at midnight a week later.
This should ensure a smooth change-over.
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This is a proposterous idea.
The only sensible approach is for everyone to drive on the other side of the road, but in reverse until the signposts are turned round.
This would need to be supported by stiff penalties for anyone with dirty mirrors as this would seriously impact on the safety of other road users.
Lee -- There\'s no place like 127.0.0.1
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Lee you are being stupid now. DRBEs idea has merit, however it would need several live practise runs to make sure its feasible.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Well, I'm not so stuck in my ways that I can't see beyond my own ideas. I'll go for a few trial runs of drbe's idea, so long as they're unannounced, like fire drills.
It could be a conbination of my idea and that one that gives the best results. A third way, if you like.
All cars with even numbers driving backwards on the wrong side of the road at irregular intervals is perhaps the way forward.
I stand corrected, thanks.
Lee -- There\'s no place like 127.0.0.1
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All cars with even numbers driving backwards on the wrong side of the road at irregular intervals is perhaps the way forward. I stand corrected, thanks.
The way forward? It often seems like that already.
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Drifting off topic...
I'd be keen to see all the road signs switched to km and kph.
They managed it in Ireland just recently.
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Drifting off topic... I'd be keen to see all the road signs switched to km and kph. They managed it in Ireland just recently.
What would be the point of that?
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Spend money. Make everything as much the same as possible. Suck up to the Europeans and Napoleonic modernists. Be a pain in the fundament to one and all (except the aforementioned).
There: four perfectly good reasons.
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