Driving in the USA
We have just returned our hire car and are waiting at Bangor airport Maine to board a flight to New York.
Everyone seems to drive an SUV and the majority are large or very large. We had a Dodge Journey equivalent size to the new Ford Edge, this is a big car in English terms bigger than the CRV or the Kuga but even this was dwarfed by many.
Tigerfish may think his Merc ML350 is a big vehicle but not compared to its bigger brother the 450 or the even bigger 550. This is simply huge. All the pickups are gigantic as well
However what is great is all the parking bays are similarly oversized and can accommodate all these big vehicles easily.....no squeezing in and out here.
We've had a great drive through New England, seen some fabulous towns and scenery, a beautiful part of the USA.
Only downside is its bl***y expensive, especially eating out.
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Our daughter works in UK for an American company, earlier this year she and 3 male colleagues were on a business trip to US and had a hire car.
It was of course an automatic, none of her male colleagues had ever driven an automatic ( she has an automatic) so they asked her to drive them.
The car was a big people carrier and none of them could figure out how to work anything in the car, plus DD was not happy driving anything so big, so they went back into the hire place and requested something a bit smaller!
I thought it was a poor show on the part of the men that they needed to ask a girl to drive them! Driving an automatic is very easy after all.
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The car handover took place on the 7th floor of a multi storey car park. The valet just brought the car over, jumped out, left the engine running and ran off! - no explanation, nothing. It is around 10 years since we last had an automatic so took a few minutes to work out what to do but by the time OH had negotiated the 7 floors and the streets of Boston to pick up the rest of the gang he was an expert. I have driven the car as well and size really doesn't matter!
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I had a Chrysler Neon auto when I was in the USA about ten years ago. I've always had manual boxes so it was a new experience to me. Can't recall it being an issue. You do feel a bit dinky up against all those Dodge Rams though.
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Me neither. My last four cars have been automatics including two tow cars. I can't really see any advantage to a manual gearbox car?
David
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Quite!
I suppose driving on the other side of the road could be a little daunting, combine that with an unfamiliar car.
DD said she soon got used to it, though the gear selector was on the steering column.
We have had only automatics since the early 70s, and although she has a full licence, both her (handed down) cars have been automatics, so she is very used to driving them, and much prefers automatics.
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No, we are not confusing the two but we have seen both.
All the pick ups are simply huge.
Manhattan is simply crazy. We were in Times Square on Saturday evening and there were simply thousands of people. Security is high in TS with the police standing under a little canopy, fully armed with automatic rifles, at all times, day or night
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Have done a few trips to the US, Wisconsin, Arizona and California. Absolutely loved it. I do agree, and have stated it on the forums of how large the parking bays are. The fuel is cheap, but I thought the meals weren't badly priced. On one of our trips, we landed at San Francisco, and got to our hotel at about 9:30pm, and the hotel restaurant was closed, so went out for a meal. We ordered our drinks, OH wanted a beer, he had a choice by the waitress, and one of the beers was Boddingtons. Couldn't believe it. I knew you can get Guinness, but Boddies, a Manchester beer, the brewery being right next door to Strangeways:)
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True Byron, but at the time we visited the US, it was brewed at Strangeways. Also another thing about driving in the USA was that even if the traffic lights were on red, at most of them, you can still turn right provided its clear for you to do so, and also the overtaking and undertaking as well.
I had to have a laugh to myself, that when we were driving to our next hotel to Los Angeles, we were on the freeway, and got in a traffic jam, and I couldn't believe what I said to my hubby, which was "hey, brilliant, we're in an actual traffic jam". I had to literally slap my face with the amount of traffic jams that I'm in over here
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"I suppose driving on the other side of the road could be a little daunting, combine that with an unfamiliar car."
I remember driving in a hire car in France and found myself trying to change gear with the door handle!
Have never hired a car abroad since.
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reface , you are so right! I have driven my big Landcruiser so many times in France that it became almost second nature! Then we flew over for a party on a friends boat in Lagos Portugal, and I needed to hire a car! So I hired a Citroen Saxo, identical to my wife's car, a vehicle that I knew almost as well as my Landcruiser. Result, - just as you described! I made a total pigs breakfast of it. Cganging gear with the door handle, and switching on the wipers instead of indicating! It was hilarious for my passengers. i was mortified! Never again! I will take my own car, I have never made a mistake then!
TF
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I don't know if it's because I've been doing it for so long but I've always found it no problem swapping from RHD to LHD. When I used to return from our apartment in Spain, I would end up driving three different vehicles in the space of twelve hours.
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CY, I have never had that problem before or since. I think my problem then was due to driving an identical model, except from the position of the wheel! Whenever I'd done it before or since it had been a totally different car. Least thats my story & I'm sticking to it!
TF
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