jtbo wrote:In case you haven't noticed, rest of europe drives on wrong side of road

So.
All my yanks have the wheel on the wrong side but I be a man about it

Also there are left hookers around for folk who have homes overseas,come up quite regular.

No need to register in your country.Nobody in London bothers if their car has foreign plates.Park where you want and throw tickets out the window.

^^

good point, i find in France that rhd is easier for many reasons one being the big holes in the side of the road . You can see them in a RHD makes it safer bad point is over taking , but if your brave and take time to see whats going on it isn't really an issue.

french plates in the uk do mean that average speed camera's are no problem, where they gonna send the fine? also parking tickets and the fact police are afraid to stop in case you can only speak french.

could also benefit you in some way ? it is perfectly legal as EU law states

Around mid 90's here was requirement to have sign on cars that had steering wheel on wrong side, not anymore but instead fines got in any EU country seem to find here and there is no way around without paying them, probably only EU country that has taken open borders such way that bills and fines are same all over EU but buying a car is not, that you must pay 20% or more to government, including % from freight cost too.

In real europe open borders seem to be understood rather differently

When my car has steering on right, it is not going to be regular daily beater, there is so much nice things that never got here steering on left side

How about Citroen XM 2.1TD, that should be comfy, yes?

possibly ... they look cool though! maybe a bx instead? watch out for dodgy suspension with xm's and bx can be costly

BX is noisy and not better than ZX in any other way than that it has hydraulic suspension.

It is not actually very expensive to replace those citroen spheres, but be careful that you are not leaving those around as at least our police did send recently bomb squad to examine such suspension component that was found from ground

they do look like weapons of mass distraction.

the bx's are n0t that noisy.. but the brake pedal "switch" is fun in a dangerous if you haven't used one before kinda way.

Xm's are very nice but are they not a bit too thirsty??

*cough* 340 1.6 diesel *cough*

germ wrote:
*cough* 340 1.6 diesel *cough*

Or get something faster, with even better MPGs:

germ wrote: they do look like weapons of mass distraction.

the bx's are n0t that noisy.. but the brake pedal "switch" is fun in a dangerous if you haven't used one before kinda way.

Xm's are very nice but are they not a bit too thirsty??

*cough* 340 1.6 diesel *cough*

My ZX has rated consumption of 5.8l/100km when XM has 5.4l/100km, that is difference of cd 0.36 and 0.28, even cdA is lot smaller in XM than in ZX even XM is a lot bigger.

There is one XM, TD auto, loaded with all the gadgets with only 209 000km on clock, but I'm thinking that it surely is too nice to destroy on salt roads of ours, especially as I have no chance to wash car after the trip when going to hotel.

I might get Xsara if I get one with low mileage, there is one with 256 000km on clock, fresh mot and price of 2900 euros, that is of course silly high by your standards, that XM was same price too.

BX in good condition and low mileage is bit hard to find, most of them are Vans here, with high roof, because of tax reasons, that means they are cold and noisy too as extended roof is fiberglass and has not much any insulation or sound deadening.

BX is cheap around here, but turbo diesel very hard to find, only 8 any kind of BX available now and quite many of them are not in shape I need, remember that I need to drive up to 40 000 miles a year, so car has to be reliable and not a project.

Car that I would like to have:
http://blog.cardomain.com/2009/04/03/on ... -corvette/

However our stupid government does not understand need to have such a ride and gives you ton of forms and taxes...

edit: This says manly, imo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbM3YGuGIVU
I do hate reality...

I guess if you want a "throwaway diesel car" then something French is probably not a bad idea, if they're widely available. Have you thought about an Italian diesel, like a Tipo or Bravo/a? Things will break just as much as in a French car, and they'll possibly be cheaper to buy. A Tipo with a digital dash is quite an amusing car too - although useless in Germany for emissions reasons.

Or something Japanese for a reliability win?

Tom

No Italian car, except Alfa Romeo to garage and only for sunny trackdays, maybe 2040 when those are cheap as nobody is not allowed to drive anymore by himself, by safety & health

I'm thinking here that in about one year, first C5 diesels start to be in my price range, those do have reputation, but it is not as bad as some magazines make it look like, also it would be comfy and maybe a car for few years.