Safe Speed Forums

I was thinking about getting a model of car that is only available in LHD but I can think of so many scenarios where the lhd could cause some serious bother. As a passenger in a RHD car I'm aware of just how little I can see sometimes compared to the driver.

Just the few I could come up with:

Overtaking another car on single carriageway road
Overtaking a van/lorry which you can't see through on a single carriageway road

Turning left into a narrow road and there is a parked car immediately on your left
Turning left into a narrow road and there is a parked van immediately on your left.

In the turning into the road scenario I can't see how you'd be able to go round a van safely at all without relying on oncoming traffic to realise you are in a lhd car and make allowances. Cars you can sort of see through so you could look through it's windscreen to see. The roads around me are always parked up. Often with vans and when turning into a narrow street I can't imagine a way of dealing it without just turning straight into the wrong side and just basically barging through!

Overtaking can mostly be avoided completely. It's annoying and it sort of negates the use of having a sporty car if you can't get passed anything as you really can't see. Only on sweeping rhd bends would you stand any chance of having a clear view. To overtake in a rhd car you only have to peep out a very small distance. With a lhd car you'd have to have the car on the wrong side of the road to see unless you were on a wide road and the car you were following was right over to the left. I can't get my head around where I'd have to position the car to see what I need to see to decide whether it is safe or not. In a rhd car it's peasy. With a lhd car I'd be a bit stuck beyond being able to look up the inside or through the vehicle in front. To me this doesn't seem a clear enough view to be sure of a safe overtake. Unless you sat very far back from the vehicle in front ie more of a following position but then you'd fine you were too far away to actually get past them when an opportunity arose. Or is it just actually perfectly fine as you do sit further back and the problems I'm thinking about don't even occur?

I've never actually driven a lhd car so I don't know whether the above are more theoretical risks and that when driving one you realise there are obvious solutions which you don't realise when you're just thinking about it. Or is it just a case of being X feet behind my normal choice of position to see the same view as in a rhd car and it's just no issue at all?

Personally, I'd be reluctant to. When I worked for a car manufacturer, I used to hate taking the LHD ones out on test! General observations as follows:

1. It feels weird. On the plus side, you obviously get a really good sense of where the kerb is, and you get a better view of cyclists / pedestrians as you approach them. The downside, of course, is this vague feeling that the opposite side of the car is about to plough into oncoming traffic all the time! It's a bit like when I was learning to drive. Judging where the kerb was, needed quite a bit of thought until I got used to it. I imagine the same period of learning would be required all over again (or nearly the same) with an LHD car.

2. Getting overtaken by motorcyclists is quite scary. (Though this depends on how good the rear field of view in the mirrors is, but if it's a sporty car, it may not be great).

3. In slow queues, it's harder to spot the bikers filtering up from behind you.

4. You can have great fun in the middle lane of a motorway, watching the cars in Lane 3 passing you if you have a front seat passenger reading the newspaper or a map, next to you!

5. Overtaking and turning left you've already mentioned. Overtaking is, of course, a complete pain. Turning left was less of a problem for me.

6. Single track roads with passing places (especially hilly ones) are a nightmare.

7. Toll booths, multi-storey car park ticket machines, etc are a complete pain in the backside.

8. I'm sure you'd get used to it, but changing gear with your right hand is weird. I'd THINK I'd got used to it, but then on a long motorway run, as I came off the motorway and up the slip road, I'd find myself grovelling about in the door pocket looking for the gear lever!

9. If it's very sporty and low to the ground, it's surprisingly hard to get out when you're stepping on to a high pavement instead of the road.

10. If it has no transmission tunnel, it's slightly unnerving having your accelerator pedal within easy reach of the front seat passenger's foot.

11. Not all bad news though - if it's a transverse-engined car, you'll probably be sat on the gearbox side, so when driving one-up, the car is likely to be better balanced than it's RHD equivalent.

12. If it was originally designed as a LHD, the pedal layout and spacing is often better than the RHD version.

13. Back to the bad points, most insurers will load your premium for a LHD car and, of course, if it's that rare, spares could be a problem.

14. Remember that to be legal in the UK, it will need a dual marked (metric and imperial) speedo head, a pair of headlights that dip to the LEFT, and (if it doesn't have twin rear foglights or one in the middle), the rear fog light will need to be moved to our offside.

Personally, I'd have to be seriously in love with the car AND it would have to be virtually "free" for me to even consider one.

I went for a VIP trip to the Rolls-Royce factory at Goodwood a while ago. They let us drive some cars on the circuit and on the roads around the area.

They sat me in a LHD Phantom and told me to drive through the tunnel at the circuit up onto the road. The tunnel is narrow and the Phantom is not much smaller than an artic. Whoa...

BTW, the Phantom is horrible to drive - best leave it to the chauffeur.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I've had a rhd version of the same model for years. The one I've seen is a mint original lhd and with all the work mine needs over the next few years it could work out cheaper to sell mine to someone that is desperate for an rhd version (most go abroad now) and get this lhd one! It will be an absolute gem. If I had the spare money I'd get that one as well and have them as mirror images in my garage

It's a shame as the one I'd get is perfect but the steering wheel being on the left is the biggest issue.

I really need a lhd car to troll round in for a couple of weeks to see whether I could get used to it or whether it's going to be something I'd never get used to.

All the current owners of the lhd ones don't seem to feel it is a problem once they've had it for a bit. Either they're all maniacs or I'm very risk averse...

Go on then, I'm bursting to know! Gonna tell us what it is?

Incidentally, I take it the work that needs doing on yours couldn't be done with parts from the LHD one,could it?

The lhd one is in much better condition. Mine spent early part of its life by the seaside so it is more rusty by a long way. I've already spent quite a bit dealing with rust in the 10 years or more I've had it. Garage has someone else's 16v in bits and even after never having any rust work done it's less rusty than mine! Mine will need the roof doing again and the other sill.

I would use bits off the rhd for the lhd to be honest. It would be criminal to do it the other way round....

Car is lancia integrale 16v. Only rhd one for sale I can find is £11k at a dealer. Claims to be an original lancia approved conversion (I think that's a myth) It'll be a Whalley or a Mike Spence. No pictures so it could be a shed or immaculate.

Oh my word! I must compliment you on your impeccable taste in cars! An Integrale is one of those iconic cars that would definitely have a place in my fantasy garage! I can see why you're keen to make sacrifices! I'm an Alfisto myself, but I do really have a soft spot for the Integrale.

Just a thought, but if you have a RHD car already, can you not just use the bits from it to convert your LHD car to RHD? OK, you'd need deep pockets, but if you're going to run one of the all-time 80s classics, you probably will anyway... I don't think they ever made any RHD cars, so those that are out there must be conversions (some of which, I believe, were a bit dodgy...). Anyway, I gather converting them is frowned upon by the real "Deltisti", and there are various moans about the RHD steering rack not being as quick as the LHD one, but it's an option, I guess?

Some stuff about it here:

http://bbs.scoobynet.com/other-marques- ... o-rhd.html

I haven't got such deep pockets any more. Mine has been off the road since March but I can see the sense in selling mine and switching to a better one. With the garage I use they aren't that expensive to maintain, especially when you get one where they've already done everything...

The conversion process isn't realistic at all. It would have to stay lhd. Even with bits from mine. That conversion is quite compromised and it just isn't the same as a pukka car. It's one thing getting an already partially ruined one with the rhd conversion it's another ruining another that is otherwise mint!

I didn't even know that you could get an Integrale in RHD. I drove a LHD one about 25 years ago and was impressed by the feel and grip. Brilliant but rust prone!

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Certainly is rust prone!

Aye, fair comment, I guess. Surely the LHD one wouldn't be your main means of transport though? I would have thought the few that are left in good condition are worth trying to keep that way?

No. I have an alfa spider for everyday. I used to use the rhd grale as an every day car but I generally walked to work then so it wasn't an issue. When I actually used it every day it wasn't so bad. The garage I used were very good so I could often ring them up during the day and say 'it's making this new noise, how serious is it?' and they'd either book me in for a few days later or let me drop it off that day if was a serious issue. I had a classic vitesse as well then so I'd often just hop in that as that was guaranteed to start first time and not doing anything weird!

I don't do a massive mileage now so every day would be roughly twice a week which it can just about cope with

I'd definitely have to keep it nice but it would probably need less spending on it than the one I have now which needs quite a bit...

TWO nice cars! (Is it one of the older spiders, by any chance? The really pretty ones)? Yeah, you're probably right. The number of Integrales is dwindling and if it really is a tidy one, you're probably best keeping it as a LHD. Although, that still doesn't mean it's not going to be a right royal pain-in-the-backside!

Not an early spider. Later ph2 version. Nearly bought an early one though. Love the look of them

I have driven my UK spec RHD car on the continent with no such issues. I don't see any problem driving a LHD car here.

Overtaking, it sounds like you get far closer than I would even in a RHD car, lay well back and you can see past both sides depending on the curve of the road and on a straight road you can still see enough to safely move out to where you can see clearly before committing yourself.

I usually stay well back. It's possible that over the years I've started to sit closer and not realised it of course.

It's the toll booths that get me more than anything else. There's really no easy way round that apart from getting out. Closely followed by the overtaking thing on rural roads where safe overtaking spaces are at a premium. Single track roads where you're really tight for passing space would, I imagine, be more difficult - at least until you got used to where the far side of your car was in relation to the oncoming one. If you don't have to cope with those on a regular basis, maybe it'll not be such a big problem. Everything else, I'm sure you'd get used to.

A bit late to the party....

I frequently drive fairly powerful LHD cars on the roads over here for work and tbh it's just something you get used to.
I usually have most trouble switching back to my own car, stalling it or trying to put my arm through the drivers door to change gear.

If the question is safety then yes of course you can, it just requires awareness & suitable caution, like any other vehicle with bigger blind spots than you might like.

People always ask if i find it hard to swap and get road positioning right, either i'm now totally used to it (i.e. the other week drive my ~100hp rhd car to work, drive rhd >500hp 2 seater to test track, drive lhd >500hp saloon back to office, drive ~100hp rhd car home, go for ride on my 0.25hp bicycle (central driving position)) or it's not a big issue for some reason, you're still aware where the corners of your vehicle are.
Overtaking, actually this is probably where more power helps as you can sit back far enough to see, take a good look, and still be past with barely a twitch on the throttle
Awkward RH turns are my biggest issues (as there is a regular one i have to use) as the road is at an angle that means i have to lean as far forward as possible and look back through the rear quarterlight to get a good view, which in a sports car generally isn't much of a view anyway!

For day to say use I guess little inconveniences already mention might add up, but probably worth it (in your case definitely).

I'm still on the fence with the whole thing and getting splinters...

I think that your indecision gives you your answer. If you were happy with LHD then you would have bought it by now.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.