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Indicator on the right makes a lot of sense in manual cars - not so much difference in autos. The key thing is that you can change your signal and gear at the same time which is very useful on roundabouts. If you drive a manual car with the indicator on the right you suddenly realise what a stupid idea it is having it on the left.
All RHD markets outside Europe have the indicators on the right as far as I am aware. The Japanese were the last to sell cars in the UK with it this way - to the extent that some Rover/Honda models which were the same car the Rover version had it on the left and the Honda the right.
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Indicator on the right makes a lot of sense in manual cars - not so much difference in autos. The key thing is that you can change your signal and gear at the same time which is very useful on roundabouts. If you drive a manual car with the indicator on the right you suddenly realise what a stupid idea it is having it on the left.
All RHD markets outside Europe have the indicators on the right as far as I am aware. The Japanese were the last to sell cars in the UK with it this way - to the extent that some Rover/Honda models which were the same car the Rover version had it on the left and the Honda the right.
Can't say I often need to change gear on roundabouts so left hand indicator is fine for me. Years since I had a car with RH indicator stalk, like changing between auto/manual it is what you get used to, I suppose.
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Be careful what you wish for. We already have a 20% increase in anything priced in euros thanks to the youngsters' failure to vote their opinions (partly due to the stupidity of HMG having the referendum in termtime). It may well be a taster for what is to come.
My Motor show number of Oct 1970 lists the 2.8 Jaguar XJ6 at £2280 and the Merc 250 at £2994. For families, a Ford Cortina estate is £1059 and a Peugeot 404 estate £1489. Multiply by twenty to get an idea of the extra cost to buy a 'foreign' car if/when we return to those days. See what happened - no incentive to improve the quality of our homegrown stuff, which rapidly went to the wall.
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I have had cars with indicator stalks on right hand side. It is nothing to do with EU but car manufactuers reusing parts in both RHD/LHD cars. Right hand indicator stalk is easier with manual cars, for autos it is not of much issue.
I feel UK embrace metric system fully (km instead of mile). We buy fuel in Litre but fuel economy is measured in MPG which is odd.
I do think DRL is pointless - so would be happy to get rid of that :-)
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"I feel UK embrace metric system fully (km instead of mile). We buy fuel in Litre but fuel economy is measured in MPG which is odd"
You'll be lucky - the hardcore brexiter luddites already want to go back to inches, gallons, pounds, hundredweights, furlongs, rods, poles and perches in order to expunge all traces of ever having anything to do with Europe.
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<< I feel UK embrace metric system fully (km instead of mile). We buy fuel in Litre but fuel economy is measured in MPG which is odd >>
I've been saying that for years, but just get laughed at. We don't really need to compare our consumption with 40+ years ago when we bought in gallons - why make work in having to multiply by 4.546... ? Can't agree with switching to kilometres though, that wouldn't bring much benefit. The Irish did that many years ago, possibly to spite the English, and (as one would expect) there was an amusing mixture of road signs for a long time afterwards, maybe still is ...
<< the hardcore brexiter luddites already want to go back to inches, gallons, pounds, hundredweights, furlongs, rods, poles and perches in order to expunge all traces of ever having anything to do with Europe. >>
If that's what they like they should move to the US, which has been more 'imperial' than we have for a long time. They still state the weights of some massive objects in pounds, and don't even use the correct size of gallon :-)
As a trained scientist I am happy with either system, but a decimal-based one certainly makes life easier.
Edited by Andrew-T on 24/09/2017 at 15:56
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As a trained scientist I am happy with either system, but a decimal-based one certainly makes life easier.
I had an Opel Monza with a digital dashboard, and the switch that flipped between mph and kph was faulty, a known fault. Mine was stuck on kph, so I had to try and work out my speed on various roads. I could never get used to it though!
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As a trained scientist I am happy with either system, but a decimal-based one certainly makes life easier.
I had an Opel Monza with a digital dashboard, and the switch that flipped between mph and kph was faulty, a known fault. Mine was stuck on kph, so I had to try and work out my speed on various roads. I could never get used to it though!
I had a Senator with the same digi-dash - used to take great delight frightening passengers by getting up to 127 mph, and then flipping it to 200 kph!
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As a trained scientist I am happy with either system, but a decimal-based one certainly makes life easier.
I had an Opel Monza with a digital dashboard, and the switch that flipped between mph and kph was faulty, a known fault. Mine was stuck on kph, so I had to try and work out my speed on various roads. I could never get used to it though!
I had a Senator with the same digi-dash - used to take great delight frightening passengers by getting up to 127 mph, and then flipping it to 200 kph!
At least yours worked :-)
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I wouldn't worry too much about us Luddites getting our wish, the present euophiles in charge of carrying out the democratic wishes of the country are heading, as they always do, to another sneaky betrayal, just as we've come to expect from British politicians.
Doesn't bother me in the least to be honest i'm long past caring what happens any more, people inevitably get the governments they vote for, just hope future generations are able to learn the real truth why the Jerusalem that this country once was, has been squandered and surrendered without a shot fired in defence, from beneath their feet, i hope they find out where the blame for it lies.
Car wishes, so long as i can avoid automated clutched gearboxes, electric parking brakes, keyless go and stop start i'm quite happy to plod on with anything made by Toyota or Subaru with 4WD.
Edited by gordonbennet on 24/09/2017 at 16:31
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"I feel UK embrace metric system fully (km instead of mile). We buy fuel in Litre but fuel economy is measured in MPG which is odd"
You'll be lucky - the hardcore brexiter luddites already want to go back to inches, gallons, pounds, hundredweights, furlongs, rods, poles and perches in order to expunge all traces of ever having anything to do with Europe.
Even at the height of European enthusiasm is the UK,we were always going to retain miles and pints - not that UK metrication was to do with our Common Market, EC or EU membership as it started long before that.
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<< Even at the height of European enthusiasm is the UK,we were always going to retain miles and pints - not that UK metrication was to do with our Common Market, EC or EU membership as it started long before that. >>
Do the French still use the 'livre' = pound, or about half a kilo?
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<< Even at the height of European enthusiasm is the UK,we were always going to retain miles and pints - not that UK metrication was to do with our Common Market, EC or EU membership as it started long before that. >>
Do the French still use the 'livre' = pound, or about half a kilo?
I'm not an expert on French history but as far as I remember the french "livre" wasn't an actual measure of weight, it was a value of money or coin I think.
Funnily - the prices in the shops are still given in francs in small print under the euro price.
In case they dump the euro one day maybe!
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<< I'm not an expert on French history but as far as I remember the french "livre" wasn't an actual measure of weight, it was a value of money or coin I think. >>
My small French dictionary says Livre = pound (weight or money). I was lucky enough to be taught French by a native of Alsace, and I remember talking about buying stuff by the livre. I suspect it may still happen in markets and the like.
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France and Germany adopted/recognised the 500g "livre"/"Pfund" in the early 19th century and many older French and German shoppers still use them today to mean a half kilo.
I would have loved to see a New British Pint of a standard 600 ml size coming into being, together with a re-definition of the Pound weight as 500 grams. a small increase which in time people would simply have got used to, just as we did with the Decimal system.
Car tyres will, I suppose, forever remain a mishmash - the trouble I had trying to get a TD tyre for my Montego in Spain all those years ago, grrr......
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I think leaving the EU will be a bad thing. But I don't suppose it will affect motoring much other than cars becoming more expensive to buy.
Once we leave (if we do) the government will sit back and think "that's satisfied the people" and there won;t be a great hurry to change any EU regulations that get transferred to British law as a result of the so-called Great Repeal Bill.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 26/09/2017 at 13:03
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I think leaving the EU will be a bad thing. But I don't suppose it will affect motoring much other than cars becoming more expensive to buy.
Once we leave (if we do) the government will sit back and think "that's satisfied the people"
I think the worst possible result would be getting to the end of the negotiations and leaving the EU without finding out first whether the majority still wants to. One has a cooling-off period with almost any other kind of agreement.
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I think leaving the EU will be a bad thing. But I don't suppose it will affect motoring much other than cars becoming more expensive to buy.
Once we leave (if we do) the government will sit back and think "that's satisfied the people"
I think the worst possible result would be getting to the end of the negotiations and leaving the EU without finding out first whether the majority still wants to. One has a cooling-off period with almost any other kind of agreement.
The problem with that is it gets you a rotten deal as you're not a serious negotiator. It's like going to buy a car and saying "what's your best price if I pay and take it away today......although I'll have to wait 3 weeks for an OK from my wife/husband/partner before I can commit"
FWIW I do not expect much change in car prices. Even in the (unlikely in my view) event we end up with tariffs lots of our cars come from odd places - even some of our BMW are from the USA, Mercs from South Africa etc. so some may go up but in the long term some will go down.
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I've run out of wishes but my three predictions for the post-Brexit world would be:
1. A return to compulsory big black and white "GB" stickers for continental travel (and les flics dishing out fines for non-compliance, as is their wont). "EU" adorned rear registrations meanwhile become as rare as yellow headlamp lacquer.
2. Duty free allowances are reduced to such ridiculously low amounts that low-level smuggling of booze and fags becomes commonplace, leading to cars mysteriously sagging on their rear suspension...
3. As high-level smuggling takes off, Ford dealers observe that Transits begin to outsell Mondeos and soon every other vehicle on the M20 is a van.
Edited by Bilboman on 26/09/2017 at 15:33
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If your no.1 happens we will no longer be able to laugh at the types who, despite having a Euro GB number plate, stick a large GB sticker on their car. Is it to show everyone they've been abroad?
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If your no.1 happens we will no longer be able to laugh at the types who, despite having a Euro GB number plate, stick a large GB sticker on their car. Is it to show everyone they've been abroad?
Nope, my cars if they have anything on the number plates denoting my home country, its a union flag with no reference whatsoever to the EU, i refuse to show any support or submission or respect for or to that German dominated organisation or its apparatchiks.
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So you voted remain then I guess.
I'm talking about those who have a Euro number plate - i.e. GB within the EU stars but then put a GB sticker on the car too. The Euro number plate's purpose is to show where you come from so you don't have to put a sticker on as well. If they hate the EU they could get a new number plate sans the EU stars.
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I'm exactly the same, we didn't fight two world wars only to be taken over by treaty!!
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Let's hope our economy doesn't tank post-Brexit and we end up in a rerun of the 1970s. You can keep your BL.
Edited by notagoodname on 29/09/2017 at 15:22
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