Living with a LHD daily driver in the UK?

I daily drove my LHD Lancia for 18 months or so. For me it was really no problem, took a few days to remember which door to goto to get in, and to get used to where in the road position I needed to be but it was fine.

That said... The Lancia was a 1960s design, this means lots of glass, tiny thin pillars. In also was small and had low backed seats. All of this meant visibility was not a problem. I think in a bigger car, without such good visibility then it would make checking the blind spot when changing lanes on the motorway or pulling out at roundabouts a bit awkward.

Also if you regularly use carparks with automated barriers, or like going to the drive through... it's a bit of a pain for that. If every morning I'd had to stop at the barrier, get out, walk round, press a button and then get back in the car, then I'm sure that would've become a problem!

I've done it loads.

It's not a problem if you're a competent driver. After a week you forget about it. Occasionally you will encounter a junction with a limited view, but you can usually compensate by changing your position in the road to see- no worse than driving a van with no side window really.

Similar situation here in NZ. Our local constable has, among other interesting vehicles, a USA import Oldsmobile. I had a yarn to him about this very issue some time ago. He reckoned it took a little getting used to and tended to make one a bit more cautious on the road due to the reduced visibility.

The whole changing gear with the wrong hand thing, I don't remember being a problem even on the test drive. And I never did the 'punch the door card' thinking I was going for the gear stick either. I did manage to do that when getting back in a RHD car though! haha.

I actually think I preferred shifting gears with my right arm, but I don't know if that's as much to do with how nice the gearbox was to shift, as I've not driven a RHD fulvia.

Can't believe Nobody's suggested reversing up to toll booth, ticket machines.
Quick J turn and off you go!

Happy days!

Yep, here's the high tech bit of equipment you'll wish you had every time you pull up to a car park ticket machine or toll both...



Got mine in the pound shop. Don't be distracted by the one that looks like a robot hand, yeah it looks cooler, but for this application the robot hand is not a farts worth of good, it's the claw you need...

Used my Q4 daily for years and my Escort when it worked, LHD just becomes another part of that car's character.

Tolls, drive throughs etc just need a shuffle up over the transmission tunnel.... awkward at times, but no big deal.
Blind spot checking as you merge onto motorways probably is the biggest issue, but just stick a blind spot mirror on both sides and be extra aware and you're fine.

It's no big deal really once you get used to it.