LHD or RHD pro's and cons please (1 Viewer)

[duffs]

Just as it says your views please, only driven LHD small car on hols some years ago

Cheers Jakki

 

[Mel]

Where will you do the most mls/kms
UK or mainland Europe?

 

[funflair]

LHD is easy in UK as sat next to road edge, not as easy to overtake but how often do you do that,

LHD would trade at any dealer abroad but would give a UK dealer an excuse you knock your trade in down.

First two days left hand drive felt strange but then becomes second nature.

Martin

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[androidGB]

LHD is easy in UK as sat next to road edge, not as easy to overtake but how often do you do that,

LHD would trade at any dealer abroad but would give a UK dealer an excuse you knock your trade in down.

First two days left hand drive felt strange but then becomes second nature.

Martin

Summed up perfectly, the only thing I would add is I felt it was better to "be sat on the wrong side" over here where I knew the roads, and on the correct side "over there"


Andrew

 

[lawry]

RHD Awkward at toll booths and perhaps barrier controlled car parks if on your own abroad but as Mel says ..........................

 

[Lenny HB]

LHD for us every time, easy to drive abroad. When you come to change vans LHD so much easier to as you have whole of Europe as your market with RHD you are stuck with selling / trading in the UK. Our last van we got 12k more from a Belgium dealer than what UK dealers were offering and more than we could have sold it privately for. They work on much lower margins abroad you don't get stiched up like you do in the UK.

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[Flatlander]

Where will you do the most mls/kms
UK or mainland Europe?

The answer to this question for me will be the deciding factor for the op. If the majority are in Europe, then choosing a lhd is the best thing.

One extra comment, that applies to using a rhd in Europe, or lhd in the UK. Make sure that the view from the wide angle mirror that is on the opposite side to the steering wheel is not obstructed in any way when driving the vehicle. It is on some.

 

[duffs]

Where will you do the most mls/kms
UK or mainland Europe?

France next year and year after for main holidays, and in between the UK,

 

[duffs]

RHD Awkward at toll booths and perhaps barrier controlled car parks if on your own abroad but as Mel says ..........................

We've got a TAG, after too many arguments and me driving off with OH arm still trying to get the ticket eeek

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[duffs]

I quite like the idea of being near the curb in the UK, seems easier to judge where you are ?

 

[duffs]

LHD for us every time, easy to drive abroad. When you come to change vans LHD so much easier to as you have whole of Europe as your market with RHD you are stuck with selling / trading in the UK. Our last van we got 12k more from a Belgium dealer than what UK dealers were offering and more than we could have sold it privately for. They work on much lower margins abroad you don't get stiched up like you do in the UK.

Were hoping on getting a classic Hymer and as they seem to be readily available in either, were only going to be in the 8-13k market, will that make a difference ?

 

[Mel]

I think if you intende any European travel LHD is beter.
I alwas buy LHD.

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[MillieMoocher]

I’ve never had LHD but driving RHDmotorhome abroad is a doddle, and certainly much easier than driving a RHD car abroad. Sure toll booths etc a a niggle but we alway tend to travel as a couple so whoever is in the passenger seat takes care of such things.

So applying that logic, I can’t see any real negatives for driving a LHD in the UK, and would in your position buy the best MH I could find and not worry about which side the steering wheel is.

By opening yourself to LHD vans as well as RHD, you’ll have a much wider choice, even being able to consider vans actually in Europe at present.

Good luck with the search

 

[Lenny HB]

Were hoping on getting a classic Hymer and as they seem to be readily available in either, were only going to be in the 8-13k market, will that make a difference ?

Probably not a lot apart from when you want to move up, a lot more choice in Germany.

 

[Mr B]

If it’s A class, I don’t know if any manufacturer that makes a Rhd one, only converting it to suit.
We’ve had ours nearly 3 years (Lhd), and as other people have said, we know the roads, junctions etc over here, so makes driving a Lhd less of a shock here and a breeze over the water.

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[jongood]

LHD for us.

 

[WillH]

My son moved to France 9 months ago, he still drives his RHD car having simply re-registered it in France. Reckons he has no problems at all.

 

[two]

I chose RHD because most of my trips are in the UK. The roads here are narrower than abroad and more congested, so better to have the advantage where it matters most. Roads in Europe are comparatively traffic free and I've not found RHD to be much of a hindrance over there.
RHD is likely to be at a premium. I'm not sure what impact it may have on insurance premiums but they always ask.

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[Clarky]

I had driven LHD hire cars when on holiday a few times and never had any problems so ordered our new van as LHD.
I had never driven an A Class before so getting in the left hand side with that huge screen, that seemed to be miles away, was really weird. The Memsahib, sitting in the suicide seat, kept yelling at me to move over as trucks hurtled straight towards her. Getting used to the width, even having had two previous RHD coachbuilts, took a while.
Now though, as we spend most of our time over the water, it is second nature.
There are some junctions and roundabouts that need care as vision is restricted to the right but of course it's so much easier when dealing with those cranky French drivers who don't realise that most cars, BMW's excluded, have indicators.

Richard.

 

[Speve]

LHD is easy here and easier across the channel, take a look on Link Removed you might find a better deal with your budget.

 

[davidbaldam]

It’s horses for courses, I prefer right hand drive, even on the Continent, I find it easier to keep the by my side and when arriving at tolls etc I would just unclip my seat belt wind down the window pay the tolls then take my seat belt up and drive off and try not to worry to much about those behind me. You pays your money etc.

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[Alistair33]

LSD for me too

EDIT Oooops LHD

 

[Mr B]

I chose RHD because most of my trips are in the UK. The roads here are narrower than abroad and more congested, so better to have the advantage where it matters most. Roads in Europe are comparatively traffic free and I've not found RHD to be much of a hindrance over there.
RHD is likely to be at a premium. I'm not sure what impact it may have on insurance premiums but they always ask.

Have you been on any pass up the Alps.
We’ve just recently done the Grossknocker to Austria. Buses, Porches, mountain bikers all driving like loons.

Oh, and these things

 

[WSandME]

I've had both LHD and RHD motorhomes. The difference between them, in my opinion, is dwarfed by the difference between driving a car and a motorhome.
Either way, either here or abroad, you quickly get used to it. The major problems - eg at oblique junctions - are equal: LHD will have problems on a sharp left hand junction, and vice versa regardless of which side of the road you're using.

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[Abacist]

Depending on the make and model of van you may find you cannot see the traffic from one side when joining a more major road at an obtuse angle when you have no passenger to help you.

The sort of situation would be when you have no window behind the passenger sat beside you.

@Techno installed an extra window in his van to overcome this problem.

 

[Techno]

5 yrs next month. Never regretted LHD

 

[bellabee]

LHD for us, too. Most of our driving is abroad, but we do a fair bit in the UK too. There are lots of narrow lanes with hedges where we live, and it's much easier to gauge the distance from the edge of the road in the LHD. We have far fewer scratches caused by branches, on the left hand side of our van, than we did when we had RHD.

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[Crazylegs]

Not forgetting that usually lhd mh's have the habitation door on the o/s of the vehicle whereas rhd are normally on the n/s, so on some continental sites your rhd habitation door will face your neighbours. You can of course park the other way around, but we stayed on a Croatian site where that wasn't possible.

 

[EuroTrotters]

2 x LHD
2 x RHD we have had

I would choose LHD where I can.

Easier to drive on the Continent, more natural to me as a right handed person (unless I am racing, dont do that in the MH)

 

[Kim H]

LHD was a must for our first van 6 years ago. At that point we were thinking how easy it would be for our European travels, but as I was still working we thought we would use it 50/50 in U.K. It was definitely the right decision for us, in the U.K. we could hug close to the kerb on roads that we knew and be 'normal' on the European roads that we didn't. We've since traded in for our second van and it's another LHD, bought in Germany and much cheaper than we could have bought here.