Were Chrysler Voyagers ever sold in the UK (earlier models)?

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 23:08:07 +0100, Bas wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am planning on settling in the UK later in the year (moving from Holland)
> and am thinking of taking a 1995 Chrysler Voyager (2.5 td) with me. I
> haven't seen them for sale on the autotrader.co.uk site (only the later
> models) so I'm wondering if I could get replacement parts for the car once
> I'm in the UK (apart from importing parts of course). I would also need
> UK-spec headlamps for it (for driving on the left-hand side of the road) and
> they will of course be impossible to find if the '95 Voyagers weren't built
> to UK specs (I do hope I'm wrong).
>
> Many thanks in advance for your help.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bas

Save yourself a lot of grief and sell your Voyager in Holland and buy
another car when you get to the UK. It's going to be difficult enough to
drive on the other side of the road, using a car with the stearing wheel
on the wrong side is going to make it much much harder. If you buy a car
in the UK you will have the steering wheel as a constant reminder that
you are driving on the other side if the road.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

> Save yourself a lot of grief and sell your Voyager in Holland and buy
> another car when you get to the UK. It's going to be difficult enough to
> drive on the other side of the road, using a car with the stearing wheel
> on the wrong side is going to make it much much harder.

Piffle. There are plenty of left-hooker cars in the UK, and their drivers
get by just fine. As do postal employees in the US in their RHD vehicles.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 14:04:07 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
>> Save yourself a lot of grief and sell your Voyager in Holland and buy
>> another car when you get to the UK. It's going to be difficult enough
>> to drive on the other side of the road, using a car with the stearing
>> wheel on the wrong side is going to make it much much harder.
>
> Piffle. There are plenty of left-hooker cars in the UK, and their
> drivers get by just fine. As do postal employees in the US in their RHD
> vehicles.

Postal workers are a special case, they drive those things slowly on
residential streets only, going from mail box to mail box. Also everyone
knows to look out for mail trucks. It's also less of an issue if you
learned to drive on the left side of the road, having the steering wheel
on the wrong side is awkward but your instincts will still be correct.
Trying to drive on the opposite side of the road from the one you learned
on is different. It requires a lot of extra concentration because your
instincts are all wrong. The steering wheel is a reminder of which lane
you are supposed to be in because you can just keep telling yourself that
the driver must be in the center of the road. If the steering wheel is on
the wrong side then you lose a very important clue. If there isn't any
traffic to remind you then you almost certainly are going to drift off to
your normal side of the road especially if you've just gone through a
roundabout (rotary in American).

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

> >> Save yourself a lot of grief and sell your Voyager in Holland and buy
> >> another car when you get to the UK. It's going to be difficult enough
> >> to drive on the other side of the road, using a car with the stearing
> >> wheel on the wrong side is going to make it much much harder.
> >
> > Piffle. There are plenty of left-hooker cars in the UK, and their
> > drivers get by just fine. As do postal employees in the US in their RHD
> > vehicles.
>
> Trying to drive on the opposite side of the road from the one you
> learned on is different. It requires a lot of extra concentration
> because your instincts are all wrong. The steering wheel is a reminder
> of which lane you are supposed to be in because you can just keep
> telling yourself that the driver must be in the center of the road. If
> the steering wheel is on the wrong side then you lose a very important
> clue. If there isn't any traffic to remind you then you almost certainly
> are going to drift off to your normal side of the road especially if
> you've just gone through a roundabout (rotary in American).

And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:03:37 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

> And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
> Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.

The OP isn't a Brit, he's from Holland. If you read my last post, which
you obviously didn't, you would have noticed that I was talking about
people who learned to drive on one side of the road trying to adapt to a
country that drives on the other. Your every instinct is wrong. If you
walk around London you'll notice that every cross walk has a sign
reminding you to look right before you step off the curb because
American's and Europeans always look left instead of right and they have a
tendency to get flattened by taxis that are coming from the right. Driving
is hardwired into our brains, it's something that we all do on a
subconcious level. The reason that we can drive and talk on a cell phone
at the same time is because our eyes and brains are automatically scanning
the environment around us without our conscious selves even noticing. When
you have to change to the other side of the road you have to drive
entirely with your conscious brain because your subconcious brain is going
to be looking in the wrong direction. The last thing you want to do is
make it even more difficult by using a car that reenforces your wrong
instincts. On top of this the car in question is a beaten up Voyager, it's
hardly a classic car that anyone would want to hold onto. The smart thing
to do is to sell that piece of junk in Holland and then use the money to
buy a similarly priced piece of junk in the UK.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

> > And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
> > Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.
>
> The OP isn't a Brit, he's from Holland.

And whom do you figure *brings* all those left-hooker cars into the UK?

Ehrm.... don't fight over me please.... ;-)

The reason for bringing a LHD vehicle to the UK is a personal one, I never
considered it the best or most economical way, in this case I don't have
much choice.

I've driven in the UK many times and didn't find LHD a problem. I have
dropped the original idea of buying a <96 model and am now considering a 98
Dodge RAM Van or Chrysler Voyager VAN with a preference of a High Roof
version (already spotted a nice 98 2.5 TD Grand Voyager High Roof which I
hope to testdrive over the weekend).

Cheers for all of your suggestions, much appreciated.

Bas

"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
n.umich.edu...
> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
> > > And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
> > > Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.
> >
> > The OP isn't a Brit, he's from Holland.
>
> And whom do you figure *brings* all those left-hooker cars into the UK?
>

All very nice in theory but, I must tell you, from a practical point of view
you are talking -- to put it rudely but briefly -- piffle.

Should you wish to do so you may see my comment in my post of 30 Jan.

"BTW, the side of the steering wheel is not an issue, for me at least. I
have owned and driven RHD for a long time on 'the Continent' and LHD in the
UK, and
regularly drive across from the UK now."

And the OP has confirmed that also for him the steering wheel side is no
issue.

Just one point: after a bit of careful driving, switching sides is ****-easy
because everything is appropriately geared. Road marking, road signs etc.
Yes, quite a few Continental Europeans 'worry' about this matter, but only
until they try it. That's why I said that your concerns are "theory".

BTW, I don't think that the "look right" marking on the road are there for
Continentals or NAs; they are there for public safety, reminding people to
look out for traffic before stepping off the kerb... Furthermore, when
stepping off a traffic island/refuge half way across the sign (if there is
one) would say "look left"...

The only signs for 'foreigners' are on roads near the ports, reminding
people to drive on the left. Similarly in France there are "drive right"
signs in or near, for example, Calais.

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

"General Schvantzkoph" > wrote in message
news
> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:03:37 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
>> And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
>> Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.
>
> The OP isn't a Brit, he's from Holland. If you read my last post, which
> you obviously didn't, you would have noticed that I was talking about
> people who learned to drive on one side of the road trying to adapt to a
> country that drives on the other. Your every instinct is wrong. If you
> walk around London you'll notice that every cross walk has a sign
> reminding you to look right before you step off the curb because
> American's and Europeans always look left instead of right and they have a
> tendency to get flattened by taxis that are coming from the right. Driving
[...]

PS. Just curious: why do you give yourself the NG moniker Shvantzkoph?

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

"Dori A Schmetterling" > wrote in message
...
> All very nice in theory but, I must tell you, from a practical point of
> view you are talking -- to put it rudely but briefly -- piffle.
>
> Should you wish to do so you may see my comment in my post of 30 Jan.
>
> "BTW, the side of the steering wheel is not an issue, for me at least. I
> have owned and driven RHD for a long time on 'the Continent' and LHD in
> the UK, and
> regularly drive across from the UK now."
>
> And the OP has confirmed that also for him the steering wheel side is no
> issue.
>
> Just one point: after a bit of careful driving, switching sides is
> ****-easy because everything is appropriately geared. Road marking, road
> signs etc. Yes, quite a few Continental Europeans 'worry' about this
> matter, but only until they try it. That's why I said that your concerns
> are "theory".
>
> BTW, I don't think that the "look right" marking on the road are there for
> Continentals or NAs; they are there for public safety, reminding people to
> look out for traffic before stepping off the kerb... Furthermore, when
> stepping off a traffic island/refuge half way across the sign (if there is
> one) would say "look left"...
>
> The only signs for 'foreigners' are on roads near the ports, reminding
> people to drive on the left. Similarly in France there are "drive right"
> signs in or near, for example, Calais.
>
> DAS
> --
> For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
> ---
>
> "General Schvantzkoph" > wrote in message
> news
>> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:03:37 -0500, Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>>
>>> And yet somehow there's no systemic problem with LHD cars in the UK.
>>> Gracious, you must be right and everyone else must be wrong.
>>
>> The OP isn't a Brit, he's from Holland. If you read my last post, which
>> you obviously didn't, you would have noticed that I was talking about
>> people who learned to drive on one side of the road trying to adapt to a
>> country that drives on the other. Your every instinct is wrong. If you
>> walk around London you'll notice that every cross walk has a sign
>> reminding you to look right before you step off the curb because
>> American's and Europeans always look left instead of right and they have
>> a
>> tendency to get flattened by taxis that are coming from the right.
>> Driving
> [...]
>

On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 18:25:06 +0000, Dori A Schmetterling wrote:

> PS. Just curious: why do you give yourself the NG moniker Shvantzkoph?
>
> DAS

It started out as as a humourous/self deprecating name that I used in
rec.arts.movies.erotica, while I used a real e-mail address in
non-embarrasing gourps. Then some spammer started to harvest e-mail
addresses from the Linux groups and my spam load jumped up to a thousand a
day. When that happened I switched to General Schvantzkoph for everything.