Hi
This link provides advice for americans who will be driving over here. Some quite amusing items.
www.travelfurther.net/dictionaries/driving.htm#spe...d
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The main difference is how agressive and unfriendly UK drivers are compared with the States (Florida). Maybe this is because it is so easy to get sued/shot over there?
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Leif,
I found much the same in Metropolitan Detroit during 2 weeks working there. I did wonder if it was because you never know who's packing a piece!
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I've just returned from about two months in California and I agree driving is a much calmer and more relaxed experience there, despite much worse traffic and pollution problems. It could be the gun thing, but then Americans are not averse to aggression in other situations. On Market Street in San Francisco one day I saw a gun pulled and fired in the air, when two blokes argued over who had bumped into whom.
In general Americans don't speed, except on the out of town freeways, and even then not much. I attribute this mostly to cruise control. They are especially anti-speeding in town, but in the Nevada desert it was a choice between speed and airconditioning (even in the new 3 litre V6 Dodge I was driving). Overall American cars don't seem made for "enthusiastic" driving anyway. That darned Dodge hated to go round corners.
Chris
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>>>but in the Nevada desert it was a choice between speed and airconditioning (even in the new 3 litre V6 Dodge I was driving). Overall American cars don't seem made for "enthusiastic" driving anyway. That darned Dodge hated to go round corners.
I have just returned from a couple of weeks driving through Nevada, Arizona and Utah (bout 2000 miles in total). Did a similar trip in a Neon last year and the handling on that thing was a joke, slowing down to 30mph for freeway exits is not fun. This year I ended up with a PT Cruiser, I really enjoyed the handling on this. It seemed well planted round all the mountain passes and v.comfortable through that distance. Auto gear box still a bit of a joke which left it feeling a bit underpowered through the mountains but there you go no manuals available.
As for the air con, more speed seemed to help get the air con working better. I've finally seen the point in the recirc control which was the only way to keep the car cool at 40 degrees C.
Some American cars seemed to have been slapped around with the ugly stick before public release but I rather warmed to the shape of the Dodge Intrepid that the hire companies were throwing out to family sized parties, was this the one you had. Also after visiting Lake Powell I was left with a strange desire to drive a Ford F150 with a boat on the back as this seems the standard form of transportation there.
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Yes, it was the Intrepid. It does look ok, but the visibility inside is terrible, and the long overhangs at each end meant the spoilers were smashed up by the time I picked it up. I added to the damage. I was really disappointed by the performance. It did nothing under 3500 revs, by which time it was screaming like a banshee. Climbing into the Sierra Nevadas (7000 feet elevation) on a fast dual carriageway road, the thing was in second most of the time, trying to keep up with the 50mph traffic. It managed less than 15mpg for that trip, though a long freeway run gave about 26. Actually the auto box was quite dangerous. It would jump down a big step unexpectedly, producing masses of power at high revs, often on a tricky corner. What that is like in the wet I dread to think.
But what really narked me was the boot. For such a big car it was hopeless. Two medium sized suitcases filled it, and the lip was above waist height, so the effort to get them in there was hernia-inducing. The overheating was caused by a combination of 40 degrees, 75mph, and full-power airconditioning. The only way to get the engine temp down without boiling ourselves was to slow down. I quite fancy a PT Cruiser diesel to replace my ancient BX (if I can manage to kill it).
Chris
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I had an Intrepid on my first trip - can't help agreeing with you. Had a Mercury Le Sable second time - much better.
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Ford F-150 Lariat 4 X 4, that's my man. Great truck. I've planted it at the lights and seen off Porsches more than once. I don't tow a boat around but how about a trailer with a Custom Chrome Hog?
Steers with 1 finger, proper a/c, not like those weedy Euro jobs, power seats, power adjustable pedals, Growlette in the RH seat in her tank top and cut-offs, George Thorogood on the sound system. Life is good.
Currently retails in Manila at just under 16k sterling. Helps to have gas at 96p a gall equivalent though.
The only possible way to get better than this is the F-350 diesel with a 7.6 liter (I think) V-8 in there like my pal has. Would climb a mountain on tickover.
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I was under the impression that you always gave way to the car coming down hill not the one going up hill (basically due to the laws of physics). Can someone confirm
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I believe the (somewhat dated) principle is that since more torque is available in reverse than any forward gear, it is easier for the car going downhill to stop and reverse up to a passing place allowing the upcoming car to keep moving than for the upcoming car to stop, reverse downhill (easy) and have to move off uphill in first gear. Only applies on single track roads where you need to find a passing place.
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I am fairly sure of ths situation.
The correct action is for the car travelling downhill to give way.
This is so that the car travelling up hill doesn't have to make a potentially tricky and clutch-wrecking hill start.
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so nothing to do with a car going uphill being able to come to a stop more easily. I always thought that this was particularly the case in icy conditions where the car coming down hill might not be able to stop at all!
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CM:
I don't believe so.
The driver driving down the hill should drive so as to be able to stop within the distance he can see to be clear, or actually a rather shorter distance in the case of a single track road.
In icy (i.e.) exceptional conditions, one will always have to make allowances for the conditions at the time. If faced with a car sliding down an icy hill towards me and unable to stop, I (1)would probably not be attempting to drive up the hill in the first place and (2)would certainly tend to get out of the way if at all possible.
Andy
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I particularly enjoyed the jokes \"pictures\" section. I have never before seen the one where someone appears to have misunderstood the meaning of \"burying your head in sand
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