rentals / automatics / left hand drive....it's a big list of newness

cloneslad

As the title states, I'm gonna be renting a car this weekend.

There are a few problems associated with this.

1. It will be an automatic, I have never driven one before. I hear they are pretty easy to drive, just put in drive, put your foot down and off you go.


2. It's a rental. Gonna be a 9 seater van (myself and 8 passengers) the biggest car I have driven has been an Avensis and even that wasn't for a great deal of time. My own car is a peugeot 206.

3. It's a left hand drive. (I am living in korea and we are taking a 3 1/2 hour trip from our island to the east coast to go to this event LINK). I have been driving on the road here for the past 2 months but it's just been on a small scooter to get me around the island. I am fairly comfortable driving on the road (and I'm even managing to stay in the correct lane now:rolleyes:)

I am the only one with an international license and I don't drink either so it makes sense for me to be driving over the weekend.

I don't really know why I'm posting, I guess I would just like to be given some assurances and some advice from others with experience. I'm not a nervous driver but that's cos I know what I'm doing back home.

Saab Ed

No need to be nervous at all. A small van like this really has the same footprint of the Avensis you said you drove , its just the bulk of it thats throwing you off

Id be more nervous being a dog in Korea to tell you the truth

cloneslad

Saab Ed wrote: »

Id be more nervous being a dog in Korea to tell you the truth

Judging by your location I thought you were a dog

R.O.R

Auto will make things easier, as long as you remember to keep your left foot away from the brake. Means you won't trying to grab the door to change gear.

Biggest problem I have when driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road, is lane positioning. It's pretty hard to keep to the right side of the lane when you are so used to keeping to the left side of the lane. That's going to be made more difficult by the fact you are driving something larger than you are used to.

First time I drove left hand drive on the wrong side of the road was a people carrier. Thankfully it was motorway all the way (Madrid -> Malaga) and not too busy, but it takes a while to get your road position right.

alias no.9

Having an auto makes the change to the other side easier. Things to watch out for...
1. An automatic car will not start unless the gear lever is in 'Park'
2. An automatic car will not allow you move the gear lever out of 'Park' unless your foot is on the brake
3. Watch out for car parks, it's where your concentration is often at its lowest and the tendancy to drift to the wrong side of the aisle of parking spaces is at its worst

cloneslad

R.O.R wrote: »

Auto will make things easier, as long as you remember to keep your left foot away from the brake. Means you won't trying to grab the door to change gear.

Biggest problem I have when driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road, is lane positioning. It's pretty hard to keep to the right side of the lane when you are so used to keeping to the left side of the lane. That's going to be made more difficult by the fact you are driving something larger than you are used to.

First time I drove left hand drive on the wrong side of the road was a people carrier. Thankfully it was motorway all the way (Madrid -> Malaga) and not too busy, but it takes a while to get your road position right.

Hopefully the 8 passengers screaming in terror will get me back into position.

I have no clue what the road will be like but the roads here are much better than back home and we will be leaving at 10:30pm so the roads should be quiet enough.

Although Korea does have one of the highest road traffic deaths per capita in the world :eek:

cloneslad

alias no.9 wrote: »

Having an auto makes the change to the other side easier. Things to watch out for...
1. An automatic car will not start unless the gear lever is in 'Park'
2. An automatic car will not allow you move the gear lever out of 'Park' unless your foot is on the brake
3. Watch out for car parks, it's where your concentration is often at its lowest and the tendancy to drift to the wrong side of the aisle of parking spaces is at its worst

Cheers, that's more than I knew. I will have a guy who drives autos next to me when I pick it up so he can help me out too.

peasant

cloneslad wrote: »

to go to this event ).

Jayzus ...you go all the way to Korea for THAT?

Mayo bogs (and the lovely culchies) not good enough for you, are they? :D


On topic:

Make sure to firmly plant your left foot under the seat, so it can't slip out inadvertently, hit the "clutch" and turn your passengers into dashboard ornaments

cloneslad

peasant wrote: »

Jayzus ...you go all the way to Korea for THAT?

Mayo bogs (and the lovely culchies) not good enough for you, are they? :D


On topic:

Make sure to firmly plant your left foot under the seat, so it can't slip out inadvertently, hit the "clutch" and turn your passengers into dashboard ornaments

it's like a game of spot the korean in that pic. I first came out here at the start of 2007 so I have done all the korean things. I'm not fussed on going to this but one of my mates is leaving after next weekend and he wanted us all to go, so I had to do the honourable thing and suffer in the mud.


I might glue my foot to the ground, hopefully there is a good footrest a nice distance from the break

Eoin

I never had the problem of trying to use my left foot on the imaginary clutch when I first switched to an auto. I had more problems going back to a manual and wondering why I cut out when I came to a stop.

As R.O.R said, keep an eye on your road position, and when making a turn just remember "right = tight, left = loose". I found that once the steering wheel is on the correct side for the country you're in, it makes it a lot easier to adapt. If you've already been driving a scooter over there, then it will be even easier to get used to.

alias no.9

cloneslad wrote: »

Cheers, that's more than I knew. I will have a guy who drives autos next to me when I pick it up so he can help me out too.

No problem, the first two just have the potential to make you look silly in front of your 8 passengers, the car parks however still catch me out, despite the fact that I have identified it as a problem.

milltown

Getting repetitive now but the two golden rules:

1. NEVER brake with your left foot. It's used to pushing the clutch all the way to the floor and can't be trusted.

2. Keep your passenger to the kerb.

Matt Simis

alias no.9 wrote: »

Having an auto makes the change to the other side easier. Things to watch out for...
1. An automatic car will not start unless the gear lever is in 'Park'
2. An automatic car will not allow you move the gear lever out of 'Park' unless your foot is on the brake
3. Watch out for car parks, it's where your concentration is often at its lowest and the tendancy to drift to the wrong side of the aisle of parking spaces is at its worst

Also an Auto in "Drive" will (with no accelerator pressing) drive slowly forward is if on a clutch biting point in a manual.

cloneslad

Matt Simis wrote: »

Also an Auto in "Drive" will (with no accelerator pressing) drive slowly forward is if on a clutch biting point in a manual.

This I do know and I plan on implementing it this weekend in some deserted area. We plan on ghostriding the van....if only we had a volvo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTvSUCCqPo

cloneslad

just thought I would let you all know that I survived the journey. It was such an easy drive, like driving a very stable, comfortable go kart.

I left at 10:30 on friday night and our mates in their rental van left at 8:30 but we still ended up beating them to the hotel by 30minutes.

dual carraige express ways with empty roads the whole way there allowed me to do the 400km in about 2hours 50minutes, (3hours if you count the one and only píss stop I allowed....once I found out we were closing in on the other van I refused to stop).

We also took it to one of the beaches on our island last night at sunset and did the ghost ride thing, was a bit of fun.

thanks for all your advice