Why Your Next 4WD Should be a Right Hand Drive

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
Which would you rather have, a seven year old FJ for $14K or a 25 year old $19K LC diesel (such as from landcruisersdirect.com)?
 

96Delica

Adventurer
Which would you rather have, a seven year old FJ for $14K or a 25 year old $19K LC diesel (such as from landcruisersdirect.com)?

I don't understand why the LC's are so much when they come over. I bought my Delica for $10k and it had less than 80,000km on it. I know the LC is a lot more off road oriented and revered. More competition for the Cruisers at auction maybe.

Also, yes you may be paying more for an older vehicle, but they're in almost showroom condition usually. Worth it for some people I suppose.
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Yeah Mat, they are just more desirable and more expensive to purchase at auction. Global competition for these Cruisers is pretty strong, with models being shipped to the Far East of Russia and all over Africa.
 

spencyg

This Space For Rent
Given my left handedness I guess it must be okay to keep LHD 25+ year old diesel powered rig in favor of its European or Asian RHD brethren ;)

SG
 

96Delica

Adventurer
Yeah Mat, they are just more desirable and more expensive to purchase at auction. Global competition for these Cruisers is pretty strong, with models being shipped to the Far East of Russia and all over Africa.
That makes sense. I should have added, if the opportunity arose, I would sell the Delica and get an LC faster than you could say "Import laws"!!
 

JamesW

Adventurer
It's hard to drive your own RHD car in a LHD country because you've built up a habit for driving and do it nearly instinctively,but you break into it fairly quickly. The worst part is overtaking,parking and merging with traffic. TBH i'd be slow to drive a LHD car here every day,it would get really tiring in a daily driver.

Not really understanding the intense boners you guys in the States are rocking for diesel trucks,i've never driven a 90's diesel 4x4 that doesn't feel underpowered,they might be a bit more economical,but when they're screaming just doing the speed limit it is soul destroying. I guess if you do spring for a cruiser or LR the UK wouldn't really be the best place to pick one up,most of them are rotting,probably a better bet to go somewhere like spain or Italy,where the roads are less likely to be salted,and you'll also get a LHD. I know a guy got a fairly old santana in spain and it is like a brand new truck underneath,it's like a time capsule
 

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
Not really understanding the intense boners you guys in the States are rocking for diesel trucks,i've never driven a 90's diesel 4x4 that doesn't feel underpowered,they might be a bit more economical,but when they're screaming just doing the speed limit it is soul destroying.
I've been curious about that...to get to the really cool areas out west I have to drive 900 miles (Minneapolis, Minnesota to Denver, Colorado) - just to get to the mountains, let alone beyond. I have done it many times in one long day in my Trooper, but that is doing 75 mph. Can a late 80s 4.0L diesel Land Cruiser cruise the land comfortably at 75 mph?
 

Scott Brady

Founder
The HJ61 I had for over a month would cruise no problem at 80mph.
10368188_10153143501948275_6968183765521732649_n.jpg
 

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
Great, thanks!
I had a friend who had an old diesel Isuzu Trooper (1984 maybe?), and he said "cruise control" consisted of setting a brick on the accelerator, because it wouldn't even get up to 75 mph. Of course, it only had like 47 hp IIRC.
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
attachment.php











[WHY when I upload a photo is it now doing THIS \|/ ? I didn't attach it. I embedded it. It just started doing that recently (not naming names here).]
 

Attachments

  • cod.jpg
    cod.jpg
    275.9 KB · Views: 126

rock_shoes

Observer
I had some reservations about buying my first RHD vehicle. It has a manual transmission (shifting with the opposite hand), altered visibility relative to my home country, and control stalks on the opposite sides (blinkers/windshield wipers).

All of my reservations disappeared after about 5 minutes driving the thing.

It turns out I'm more ambidextrous than I thought and shifting with the opposite hand was a breeze. Visibility in a SWB Pajero is amazing in spite of being on the opposite side of the car. It's like driving around in an aquarium (having driven both I'd wager the visibility is better than an FJ Cruiser even in a LHD world). Remembering which side was the blinker versus the wipers on the other hand took an extra 5 minutes :elkgrin: . Passing isn't the disaster people think it is. Either wait for a passing lane, have your passenger look for you, or simply shift a little right prior to your pass to verify the coast is clear. Merging onto the highway isn't any different than merging back right after passing in a LHD vehicle. 6 months and 18,000 Km later you would have one hell of a time prying "Betty" out of my hands. North American manufacturers still don't produce anything like her.

2014-07-03 09.02.54.jpg


Canadians are very fortunate to have 10 years of cherry picking the best RHD examples prior to our southern neighboors being able to import them (Canada has a 15 year rule instead of 25). Even having to wait that extra 10 years many incredible JDM imports will be available to the US market.
 

Attachments

  • 2014-07-03 09.49.42.jpg
    2014-07-03 09.49.42.jpg
    588.2 KB · Views: 10
  • 2014-04-14 19.08.42.jpg
    2014-04-14 19.08.42.jpg
    579.3 KB · Views: 9

getlost4x4

Expedition Leader
Did it for 2 years while living in England. A bit awkward when I got back and test drove a car. I was driving down the wrong side of the road a freaking out the car salesman.

Easier to parallel park in USA as well. Not so safe to pull out from that parking space, however.

Any ExPo readers care to share their experiences driving a vehicle with the steering wheel on the "passenger side?"
 

Abitibi

Explorer
Hi

I've been driving RHD here in Canada for over 7 years. I own two right now (a Patrol and a Pajero) and owned a few Delica previously. I drive LHD vehicles for work and my only issue switching back and forth between those is turning on the wipers instead of the flashers. I prefer driving RHD.

The left turn intersection isn't really an issue if you give yourself a small buffer. Maybe in a low rider sporty thing but in trucks you're usually looking above the cars facing you anyway...

Passing will be a problem if you like to hump the car's bumper in front of you but if you give yourself some space (which works better to get some much needed acceleration to safely pass) then it's a no brainier.

RHD are much safer in the city. Turning right at an intersection lets you see the bicycles and pedestrians way better.

They are also safer when driving on small roads since you can better see the edge of the road leading you down the ditch (especially in the snow where it's hard to see the edge).

And I'd rather be sitting on the right if I had a partial head on collision. Chances are the left corner would get crushed before the right one. Not sure passengers would agree but c'est la vie.

My Patrol is a MT. I'd rather steer with my dominant hand and shift with my left...

I bought the Pajero for my wife. After 20 minutes of driving she was fine with it and never complained about RHD.

It's not for everyone but so many cool trucks are RHD...

Cheers
Mr. D


Sent from my iPorn using Tapachat HD
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,568
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top