Driving and cars in the US

[edo]

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Like:
Turning right on Red
Big parking spaces
Cheaper fuel
Cheaper big engined cars
Sirius satellite radio


Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits
Appalling lane discipline
No thanks when you let people out etc
Some ridiculously large cars
The 2014 Camaro we had looked the part, but the quality of it was appalling. Drivers door creaked, roof didn't fit properly and needed your weight hanging off the mechanism to get it locked, and generally the majority of it felt built to a very tight budget. Lots of toys, but not a sporty car to drive in the slightest.

Noticed a lot more European and smaller sized cars than 5 years ago.

That's all.

[Chas88]

Just got back myself from 2 weeks in the US. Turning right on red is a massive bonus and 'gas' was cheap at $3.70 even in California. I also like how the intersections work where they are done by 'Stop' signs, everything seems to flow smoothly in all directions.

Most of the highways by me were 70 limit so not too bad, and on the 60-65mph roads everyone seemed to be doing 70+ anyways. I thought there was no real undertaking law there so you could just do what you please, that's what everyone seemed to be doing anyways.

I had a Nissan Pathfinder, 3.5 V6, which was well built and comfy for the journeys I needed it for. I think it's probably classed as a mid-size SUV in USA although by UK standards it was pretty big.

Saw a lot of Smart cars which surprised me, also lost count of the number of Tesla Model S I saw.

[KFC]

edo said:

Some ridiculously large cars

I live in Portugal and there was some american car show thing on today. I walked through it for 2 minutes but it was boring me to tears. Some pictures here if anyones interested - https://www.facebook.com/americancars.algarve

Like you say, the size of some of these things are absolutely mental. No way I'd want to drive them about here.

[Baryonyx]

KFC said:

Like you say, the size of some of these things are absolutely mental. No way I'd want to drive them about here.

They're quite manageable to experienced drivers, I should think with maybe some practice you'd be able to drive them even on Portugal's awful roads. Consider that the trend for bigger and bigger SUV's was driven largely by school run mums. Sure, hunters and grafters loved big pickups that you could sling a big buck in the back of, but the enclosed SUV sales were driven almost exclusively by women adopting the SUV mentality ('if I crash, I'll survive', where previously they though 'if I don't crash, I'll survive').


I quite like driving in America. I have returned from there recently and my hire car was a Buick LaCrosse. Basically an Insignia for America, I quite liked it. The 3.6 V6 engine was nice enough (but about as thirsty as my older, four litre V8 Jaguar!) and it was a quirky and comfortable thing. Perfect for the slower highway speeds. I found lane discipline and courtesy very much evident (try driving in the south of England and then complaining about the Americans). I suppose it could vary state by state, as it's a huge place. In Washington DC and Maryland, the drivers were mostly cautious and gridlocked. In Virginia, there was loads of fantastic roads quite often mainly deserted. Great experience, I loved it.

[KFC]

Baryonyx said:

They're quite manageable to experienced drivers, I should think with maybe some practice you'd be able to drive them even on Portugal's awful roads. Consider that the trend for bigger and bigger SUV's was driven largely by school run mums. Sure, hunters and grafters loved big pickups that you could sling a big buck in the back of, but the enclosed SUV sales were driven almost exclusively by women adopting the SUV mentality ('if I crash, I'll survive', where previously they though 'if I don't crash, I'll survive').

Have you ever been here

Its nothing to do with experienced drivers. Its to do with narrow roads in fishing villages, that you simply wouldn't be able to pass through as someone will have parked on one side of the road half on the pavement as 'anyone else can fit through that gap'. You'll constantly be stuck in a one way system, with no way to go forward and 10 cars piled up behind you.

[tvrolet]

Currently in the US with a new Stingray...in yellow All is well with the world.

[croyde]

I commute through London in my Mercury Grand Marquis, think posh yellow cab/cop car, and I find it just as quick and easy to drive as my little e36 Beemer.

You just get used to it.

[redtwin]

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Like:
Turning right on Red
Big parking spaces
Cheaper fuel
Cheaper big engined cars
Sirius satellite radio


Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits
Appalling lane discipline
No thanks when you let people out etc
Some ridiculously large cars
The 2014 Camaro we had looked the part, but the quality of it was appalling. Drivers door creaked, roof didn't fit properly and needed your weight hanging off the mechanism to get it locked, and generally the majority of it felt built to a very tight budget. Lots of toys, but not a sporty car to drive in the slightest.

Noticed a lot more European and smaller sized cars than 5 years ago.

That's all.

Appalling lane discipline as in people wandering out of their lane?.

The price of petrol has tripled in the past 10 years. I suspect that is the main reason for smaller sized cars now.

[edo]

redtwin said:

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Like:
Turning right on Red
Big parking spaces
Cheaper fuel
Cheaper big engined cars
Sirius satellite radio


Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits
Appalling lane discipline
No thanks when you let people out etc
Some ridiculously large cars
The 2014 Camaro we had looked the part, but the quality of it was appalling. Drivers door creaked, roof didn't fit properly and needed your weight hanging off the mechanism to get it locked, and generally the majority of it felt built to a very tight budget. Lots of toys, but not a sporty car to drive in the slightest.

Noticed a lot more European and smaller sized cars than 5 years ago.

That's all.

Appalling lane discipline as in people wandering out of their lane?.

The price of petrol has tripled in the past 10 years. I suspect that is the main reason for smaller sized cars now.

2 lane highway, sitting in lane 2 doing the same speed as a car in lane 1, meaning nobody can pass (only 2 lanes so cant even undertake).

[HD Adam]

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits

You weren't in Texas, were you?

Mostly 75mph out of the cities.

Some 85mph limits.

Texas is the only state I drive in where the cops will blow past you at 90mph and not bother if you're 10mph over the limit.

[redtwin]

edo said:

2 lane highway, sitting in lane 2 doing the same speed as a car in lane 1, meaning nobody can pass (only 2 lanes so cant even undertake).

That's just downright inconsiderate, even ignorant.

[edo]

HD Adam said:

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits

You weren't in Texas, were you?

Mostly 75mph out of the cities.

Some 85mph limits.

Texas is the only state I drive in where the cops will blow past you at 90mph and not bother if you're 10mph over the limit.

NY and NJ, plus a bit of Connecticut. To be fair in NY, knobhead dawdlers aside the traffic did tend to tick along at about 70.

[h0b0]

"Driving cars in the US" is too much of a generalization. There's 300 million people and each state has it's own identity. I have just left Florida where people drive in an infuriating manner. They all do the same speed in all lanes. Back in Northern NJ and people drive like lunatics. That's my comfort zone. People in MA change lanes because they get bored whereas in NJ they do it to screw with you. Speed limits in NJ are 65 but in Arizona they can be 80 and even then ignored. Out in the middle of nowhere I was over taken by "speed limited" trucks doing 90.

Also, don't judge a car by a rental. They have rental spec cars with lower output engines and lower than base options. These make them feel very cheap.

[anonymous-user]

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits

That doesn't sound right at all. Pretty much everywhere you go in USA will have HIGHER speeds permitted than a similar road in UK. I guess the only exception is the "middle of nowhere" national speed limit for single lane roads of 55 mph as opposed to the UK's 60 mph. But in most populated parts of UK there's almost a blanket 50 mph limit these days. Driving down to Goodwood next weekend will be a 40 mph limit most of the way once you leave the A3.

[ViperDave]

5 USA said:

edo said:

After 2 weeks driving about in the US..

Dislike
Pathetically slow highway speeds & limits

That doesn't sound right at all. Pretty much everywhere you go in USA will have HIGHER speeds permitted than a similar road in UK. I guess the only exception is the "middle of nowhere" national speed limit for single lane roads of 55 mph as opposed to the UK's 60 mph. But in most populated parts of UK there's almost a blanket 50 mph limit these days. Driving down to Goodwood next weekend will be a 40 mph limit most of the way once you leave the A3.

I've seen more single lane middle of nowhere roads with 65 and even 70 limits than i have with 55 limits. Granted it varies by state with Oregon being a notable 55 limit state with nice well maintained roads with wide shoulders and 55mph limits, nobody seemed to pay any attention to them mind.

[Matt Harper]

h0b0 said:

Also, don't judge a car by a rental. They have rental spec cars with lower output engines and lower than base options. These make them feel very cheap.

Seriously? I've done lots of work with all 3 US manufacturers and rented hundreds of cars. I've never heard that - not to say it's not true, of course.
Which are different and how?

[anonymous-user]

Agreed - I didn't want to give the impression there's no "55" at all though.

The days when USA had the blanket 55 limit and all car speedos had to end at 85 mph are long gone.

[redtwin]

edo said:

NY and NJ, plus a bit of Connecticut. To be fair in NY, knobhead dawdlers aside the traffic did tend to tick along at about 70.

The most congested area of the Eastern seaboard. No wonder you hated it. It's a bit like an American tourist driving in London then going back and saying that driving in the UK sucks.

[TheFinners]

People sure as hell do not like letting you across lanes in Caifornia, most drivers have their eyes locked straight ahead, as though they have been hypnotised, or are staring at their phone. Distracted driving is very common over there (phoning, texting, eating...) much more so than in the UK. The other thing we noticed was that the lane width on most of the main highways was actually narrower than a British motorway, which made overtaking trucks an interesting experience!

Baryonyx - that is exactly what we had, it was a quite nice combination of European and American tastes. Plus having 304bhp made it pretty quick too!

[Matt Harper]

By way of contrast, I live and drive in the US (though originally from UK) and had cause to visit southern England (London and E. Sussex) in July.

Likes - I'm genuinely struggling here….
Very pretty countryside along the Sussex coast

Dislikes -
Badly parked cars on both sides of narrow roads, everywhere.
Spending 45 minutes at a standstill on M25 between M3 and Heathrow on a Saturday morning. No RTA - just miles of coned-off carriageway and a billion people on the move.
Incredibly rude and aggressive lane-changing/chopping accompanied by angry 'stare-down' of baldy passengers (why is everyone a slap-head in UK?)
Pumping petrol, then having to go and stand in line to pay some monosyllabic, gum-chewing, disinterested troll for the privilege.
Waiting an hour and a half for a pre-booked rental car at LHR to discover the 7 seat vehicle was a Fiat 500!
Huge potholes, disintegrating road surfaces almost everywhere.
On-coming vehicles in middle of or on wrong side of the road on blind bends, on country lanes.
Cars driving around pedestrians on marked crossings.
Speed limits considerably lower (aside from in residential neighborhoods) than at home.
Speed cameras literally everywhere.
Drivers turning right, cutting across the on-coming lane of the road they are turning into.
Cars parallel parked facing against the flow of traffic (illegal in US) attempting to drive into on-coming traffic when leaving.
People throwing trash out of their vehicles seemingly as a matter of routine.
Concept of merge-in-turn lost on 90% of the "Avoiding eye-contact, but you're not getting in, in front of me" brigade.
A nation over-run with minuscule comedy cars - every time one pulled up, I expected a heavily face-painted, brightly clothed circus carny with huge shoes on, to jump out and throw a bucket of confetti over an unsuspecting passer-by.