Left-hand Drive Cars in the US : An International Student Has a Few Questions

College Confidential Community
1

<p>I will be coming to the US this August and among other things, I had a few questions about the left-hand drive cars in the US (we have right-hand drive ones here):</p>

<p>Firstly, how are the clutch, brakes and the accelerator arranged on the left side? Is its in the same order as a right-hand dive car i.e.
From left to right - Clutch, Brake, Accelerator?</p>

<p>Secondly, how many gears does a normal car have?</p>

<p>Thirdly, in what order are the gears arranged? Is it like this</p>

<pre><code> 1 3 5
Neutral
2 4 Reverse
</code></pre>

<p>Thanks a lot!!!</p>

2

<p>Dunno…most cars here have automatic.
Left to Right: Brakes Gas (no clutch because we have automatic transmission here)
Dunno…I wouldn’t know.
Most common AUTOMATIC arrangements:
P R N D 2 L
P R N D 4 3 2 1
P R N D (+/- on the side so you can up/downshift)</p>

3

<p>It looks like the pedal order is the same, however most cars here are automatic, so no clutch or gears. The gear order on our manuals all are different though, so it will depend on what kind of car you drive.</p>

4

<p>If you know where Park, Reverse and Drive are, you’ll be fine. 99.99% of us only use those three gears.</p>

5

<p>So the majority of cars are automatic? Even the not-so-expensive ones? That’s interesting,</p>

6

<p>Some older cars and many pickup trucks are manuals, but yes there will be plenty of cheap automatic cars for you to pick from</p>

7

<p>If you rent a car, it will be an automatic unless you specifically ask for a manual.</p>

8

<p>As the others have said, 99.9% of rental cars are automatics. However, to answer your original question, the pedal and gear layout that you listed are the standard for US cars. You may see Reverse somewhere else (most likely if the car is a 6-speed), but the basic pattern is as you said.</p>

9

<p>The better cars are manual, and for them, the order goes (from left to right): clutch, brake, gas.</p>