Popular motoring features you don't see here

[ingenieur]

Have you ever been to another country and seen something they do there that we really don't.

In Malta for example... and it's not just Malta, you see it in other southern European countries like Spain... people putting big vinyl graphics along the lower half of the car advertising something about it like TURBO or INJECTION or QUATTRO or something like that. You can probably find some examples here but generally speaking it's not prevalent like it is in some places.

Edited by ingenieur on Wednesday 13th July 19:29

[Foss62]

It doesn’t seem to be so much the case now, but at one time virtually all small cars in France were white. It was almost as if there was some sort of bizarre tax on coloured vehicles.

[samoht]

Wind deflectors over the windows in Japan. I think with the generally low motorway speed limits and relatively warm weather, people who prefer not to rely on A/C may find these help to avoid buffeting at 80 or 100 km/h.

[ingenieur]

samoht said:

Wind deflectors over the windows in Japan. I think with the generally low motorway speed limits and relatively warm weather, people who prefer not to rely on A/C may find these help to avoid buffeting at 80 or 100 km/h.

They could be a hangover from pre-AC days though. Like they were on every car in the 70s and 80s and they just carried on doing it.

[MitchT]

I don't know how prevalent they are in France, or if they exist anywhere else, but when I was on a trip to Versailles back in 2001 I noticed that the traffic light poles had miniature traffic lights lower down, really useful if you're at the front of the queue and the main ones are obscured by your sun visor, etc.

[entropy]

Turn at red light.

In North America and local laws permitting and different parts of the world you can turn on the nearest direction of traffic (left, in the case of North America). Works well enough. Never been adopted in the UK.

[scorcher]

entropy said:

Turn at red light.

In North America and local laws permitting and different parts of the world you can turn on the nearest direction of traffic (left, in the case of North America). Works well enough. Never been adopted in the UK.

Probably because a lot of our junctions aren’t suitable as they are single lane for left , right and straight on. And then we like sticking pedestrian crossings around corners which work in conjunction with the lights and people struggle with what we already have , often not moving forward on green and instead waiting for the specific turn right green signal to illuminate before proceeding.

Edited by scorcher on Wednesday 13th July 21:23

[JmatthewB]

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

[Foss62]

JmatthewB said:

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

I think all petrol pumps have a clip to hold the trigger (you could do this on a private pump I used to use occasionally), but they are generally disabled in the UK. I suppose the petrol station owners think that some idiot would manage to clip the trigger open without the nozzle being in the filler pipe and the auto cutoff would then not work…..

[LordHaveMurci]

JmatthewB said:

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

Used to be able to do it here.

[Foss62]

Always entertaining to get into an airport taxi and find that the driver is listening to a radio version of the Fast Show’s Channel 9.

[Rozzers]

scorcher said:

Probably because a lot of our junctions aren’t suitable as they are single lane for left , right and straight on. And then we like sticking pedestrian crossings around corners which work in conjunction with the lights and people struggle with what we already have , often not moving forward on green and instead waiting for the specific turn right green signal to illuminate before proceeding.

Edited by scorcher on Wednesday 13th July 21:23

Its errrr right you can turn on red in the USA, turning left means driving across oncoming traffic

[Zarco]

samoht said:

Wind deflectors over the windows in Japan. I think with the generally low motorway speed limits and relatively warm weather, people who prefer not to rely on A/C may find these help to avoid buffeting at 80 or 100 km/h.

There's loads of wind deflectors on cars here.

[markymarkthree]

Foss62 said:

JmatthewB said:

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

I think all petrol pumps have a clip to hold the trigger (you could do this on a private pump I used to use occasionally), but they are generally disabled in the UK. I suppose the petrol station owners think that some idiot would manage to clip the trigger open without the nozzle being in the filler pipe and the auto cutoff would then not work…..

Tennis ball does the trick.

[The spinner of plates]

ingenieur said:

samoht said:

Wind deflectors over the windows in Japan. I think with the generally low motorway speed limits and relatively warm weather, people who prefer not to rely on A/C may find these help to avoid buffeting at 80 or 100 km/h.

They could be a hangover from pre-AC days though. Like they were on every car in the 70s and 80s and they just carried on doing it.

Also the she smokers like em, keep a window cracked open when raining.

[Crumpet]

markymarkthree said:

Foss62 said:

JmatthewB said:

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

I think all petrol pumps have a clip to hold the trigger (you could do this on a private pump I used to use occasionally), but they are generally disabled in the UK. I suppose the petrol station owners think that some idiot would manage to clip the trigger open without the nozzle being in the filler pipe and the auto cutoff would then not work…..

Tennis ball does the trick.

In the UK you can see the holes on the nozzle handle where the metal clip would be installed in countries where it’s allowed.

And rather than carrying a tennis ball around with you the filler cap - at least on JLRs - is the right size to wedge in there as well.

Oh, and my contribution is going to be ‘car bras’ - the weird invention they used to love in the US (not as much these days, though).

[Pica-Pica]

LordHaveMurci said:

JmatthewB said:

I noticed in America people would fuel their cars without holding onto the nozzle somehow.

Used to be able to do it here.

I believe a few people drove off with the nozzle still attached!
Whatever, it was for safety reasons.

[Pica-Pica]

entropy said:

Turn at red light.

In North America and local laws permitting and different parts of the world you can turn on the nearest direction of traffic (left, in the case of North America). Works well enough. Never been adopted in the UK.

Also in USA, it is illegal to overtake a stopped school bus. I always overtake any stopped bus in U.K. with caution.

[jeremyc]

Wing mirrors on the ....errr.... wings.

And "where is my nearside front corner" masts.

[Gad-Westy]

I used to enjoy a yellow headlight when we holidayed in France.

I’m a bit fascinated by all the long wheel base variants of ‘normal’ cars in china too.