Foreign car trends which defies British logic

[matt21]

When traveling abroad what do you notice about the car world that makes no sense to us Brits.

Some examples of what I notice in India below. What do you see and where...

Tata Indica (Cityrover) seems reliable and keeps soldiering on
10 people in a car is normal
Complete carnage on the road but no road rage
Tooting is polite
Flashing means you are coming through
Ten cars go for one gap and all come out of the other side
People move house on motorbikes
Fiat is a premium brand associated with reliability
Piaggio Apes make a lot of sense
The rich are happy to drive a Suzuki Swift
A BMW / Audi / Merc is twice UK prices
Small saloons (Fiesta) seen as desirable

There is more...

[blank]

Using bumpers for bumping seems standard in Europe.

Just been on holiday and saw very very few undamaged cars.

[MGZTV8]

Lane discipline on autoroutes.

[medieval]

Lights optional at night.......

Pavements for scooters are overtaking lanes

What seatbelts?

[mikebradford]

Undertaking
I love it, if people are so daft as not to move back over to the inside land. and 9 times out of 10 are blocking the only overtaking land then undertaking just seems common sense.
That fact that some other countries embrace this just makes sense to me

[Zedboy1200]

Using all available lanes on motorways before lane closures and then merging in turn without apoplectic fits and violence seems standard across mainland EU.....just small minded Brits who can't seem to master this stress buster.

[0a]

matt21 said:

Tooting is polite

I noted recently that a friend's Astra diesel has a binary horn - ie it's either a full on aggressive beep, or nothing. Mine allows a light tap for a 'pip'. Perhaps our modern digital cars are to blame?!

[JakeT]

0a said:

I noted recently that a friend's Astra diesel has a binary horn - ie it's either a full on aggressive beep, or nothing. Mine allows a light tap for a 'pip'. Perhaps our modern digital cars are to blame?!

More expensive cars even newer ones have twin horns for that purpose. One to be cute and polite and another to say 'fk off I'm here'.

[TokyoSexwhale]

JakeT said:

More expensive cars even newer ones have twin horns for that purpose. One to be cute and polite and another to say 'fk off I'm here'.

The merc 600...

Mercedes Benz 600 horn.m4v: http://youtu.be/hljDL1ofkjQ

[TooMany2cvs]

JakeT said:

More expensive cars even newer ones have twin horns for that purpose. One to be cute and polite and another to say 'fk off I'm here'.

Used to be common in France. Light press for electric squeeker, full press for airhorns. Standard on big Citroens into the '80s, and 2cv light switches are set up for it.

[Insanity Magnet]

MGZTV8 said:

Lane discipline on autoroutes.

Unfortunately combined with 1m max stopping distances and weaving when it's obvious that there is nowhere else for the car in front to go.

Saw a driver in a Clio bully a Cayenne out of the way on the A10 this afternoon. 10/10 on the unhinged aggression front.

We carp on a lot about driving standards in this country but each nationality has their own set of ills...

[R_U_LOCAL]

I struggle to understand American's love for humungus great 4x4 pickup trucks.

And bland Japanese saloon cars.

[anonymous-user]

USA - Huge 8.0 trucks which little old ladies do their sunday shopping in.
France - Using bumpers to bump cars out of each others way, no ability to drive in the wet and zero roundabout discipline!
Thailand / Cambodia - Scooters used as family transport, i kid you not in Cambodia we saw a family of five on a moped / scooter, child where the drivers feet go, the dad driving, mum havng a seat-ee with a kid on each hip.

[Yiliterate]

Pretty much anywhere in the developing world...keeping cars running that would have long been condemned as unsalvageable over here.

[Mr2Mike]

matt21 said:

When traveling abroad what do you notice about the car world that makes no sense to us Brits.

Some examples of what I notice in India below. What do you see and where...

Tata Indica (Cityrover) seems reliable and keeps soldiering on
10 people in a car is normal
Complete carnage on the road but no road rage
Tooting is polite
Flashing means you are coming through
Ten cars go for one gap and all come out of the other side
People move house on motorbikes
Fiat is a premium brand associated with reliability
Piaggio Apes make a lot of sense
The rich are happy to drive a Suzuki Swift
A BMW / Audi / Merc is twice UK prices
Small saloons (Fiesta) seen as desirable

There is more...

Sounds very similar to China. The average UK driver's head would explode if they had to deal with the traffic in the larger Chinese cities, and yet there is very rarely any kind of road rage. Plenty of accidents though judging by the road death rate.

In a Chinese taxi, throttle control appears to be achieved via pulse width modulation of the throttle pedal, literally on-off-on-off all the bloody time. I have never felt as car sick as I have in the back on Chinese taxis Are Taxi drivers the same in India?

The other weird thing is that Taxis seem to be old European car designs which are built in China e.g. saloon version of the Citroen ZX.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Monday 25th August 21:37

[SeeFive]

Cuba - numerous old but well preserved classic '50s Chevy Belairs running a 2.0 Nissan diesel lump or similar smoker.

[matt21]

Mr2Mike said:

Sounds very similar to China. The average UK driver's head would explode if they had to deal with the traffic in the larger Chinese cities, and yet there is very rarely any kind of road rage. Plenty of accidents though judging by the road death rate.

In a Chinese taxi, throttle control appears to be achieved via pulse width modulation of the throttle pedal, literally on-off-on-off all the bloody time. I have never felt as car sick as I have in the back on Chinese taxis Are Taxi drivers the same in India?

The other weird thing is that Taxis seem to be old European car designs which are built in China e.g. saloon version of the Citroen ZX.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Monday 25th August 21:37

As I am in India on business we get allocated each a professional driver rather than typical driver. He turns up every day well dressed, in an immaculately clean Toyota Innova. Bland as hell, but makes sense, spacious, independant rear air con and obviously bloody reliable.

The drivers are all very good indeed. I actually feel safe with them, and they speak limited English. As I watch the carnage go by they drive very well and obviously aim to keep the travel as smooth as possible (often work in car).

That said went in a rickshaw taxi, and they also seem very in tune with their vehicle, although they are flat all the time as the things barely move.

India seems far more mechnically minded than the Chinese I have experienced.

[Asterix]

Mr2Mike said:

In a Chinese taxi, throttle control appears to be achieved via pulse width modulation of the throttle pedal, literally on-off-on-off all the bloody time. I have never felt as car sick as I have in the back on Chinese taxis Are Taxi drivers the same in India?

We get a lot of taxi drivers like that in Dubai. I'm sure the throttle is an on/off binary switch.

Also those that accelerate hard up to 120kph, coast to 100kph, accelerate hard back to 120kph, coast to 100kph, accelerate hard back to 120kph, coast to 100kph etc... I want to punch them, hard.

[ILoveMondeo]

Italy is always fun, 12inches from the car in front at 130kph seems the norm.

Scary st in a taxi!

Impressed that flashing means "excuse me I'm coming through" daren't do it here for fear of being brake tested or stabbed.

[crosseyedlion]

On the autoroutes: the french, belgians and dutch (belgians seem the worst) tailgating then not actually increasing in speed any more when you move over to let them past, or perhaps increasing 1-2kph.

Rediculous.