imperial/metric and left/right

[TonyFR]

Can I assume that the Touch and Go nav system correctly recognises whether it's in the UK or Europe for the purposes of guidance? ( I'd hate to be put on the wrong side of the road.....or the wrong way round on a roundabout!)

More interestingly, does the system automatically recognise speed as imperial or metric as it crosses a border, or do we need to change the units and display manually in the MID? 

I am based in France and soon driving back to the UK.

 

[philip42h]

Yes ... I was in France the other week. When crossing the border, both ways, the nav system knew what was happening and switched the speed sign recognition system correctly between mph and kph. I was quite impressed!

It does notify you of the change on the nav screen and you need to press OK.

I didn't bother to change units on the MID because in digital mode it displays both MPH and KPH - and anyway it's not exactly hard to do the translation.

It does know the correct way to go around a roundabout and counts the exits in the correct direction of travel ... though, irrespective of which country you are in, it does seem to do some strange things on occasions.

[TonyFR]

Thanks Philip. That's reassuring.

The default digital display in my French delivered car only shows kph, and I am currently having difficulty finding how to get the dual version (or even mph only) for my UK trips. And the choice of units in the MID menus only lets me choose between L/100 km or km/L, no sign of mpg for example. But as you say it's easy enough to do the speed translation, as have done for years in other cars.

[philip42h]

That is rather as I feared - cars in countries that use imperial units tend to be able show both imperial and metric; cars in countries that use metric units tend show only metric units. 😞   An exception being French cars with digital speedos that could readily switch decades ago!

Other observations:

1. With the LED headlights the beam pattern is flat so I didn't see the need to use beam deflectors. I never got flashed or anything ...
2. I've always previously used a magnetic GB sticker on the back. We now need to display a 'UK' so I bought a replacement magnetic 'sticker' but it won't stick - the tailgate isn't steel / magnetic!

I assume that you are up to speed with Day 2 Covid test requirements on entry to the UK? It's very straight forward to get into France (where Covid is well under control), but rather more bureaucratic getting into the UK (where it isn't).

[TonyFR]

Maybe one day the UK will go fully metric, having educated generations of children in metric, but I doubt in my lifetime. I guess this isn't the place for that debate, so will keep silent about thorny non-car issues such Br.......!

Thanks for the Covid warning - I have the Badge already having driven across in the summer (just before my RAV4 delivery!!)

[Stopeter44]

29 minutes ago, TonyFR said:

Maybe one day the UK will go fully metric, having educated generations of children in metric, but I doubt in my lifetime. I guess this isn't the place for that debate, so will keep silent about thorny non-car issues such Br.......!

Yeah, don’t get me started about that stupidity.

My LHD Peugeot 208 will do metric or imperial on the digital display, but only metric on the analogue speedo.

[flash22]

The uk's metric/imperial system works fine, we have the advantage of understanding both

UK Badge - get some new plates made with the emblem ?

[philip42h]

31 minutes ago, flash22 said:

UK Badge - get some new plates made with the emblem ?

Yes, probably, in due course ... having realised that the back wouldn't take a magnet only the day before we went, I've currently got a stupidly big sticker on the rear window (bottom corner) - which is, fortunately, almost invisible when looking from the inside ... 🙂

[ernieb]

Metric/Imperial that’s another whole experience.  Many years ago one of the parent companies wanted to quote for a large order of machined parts, of course our drawings were all metric and the US engineers read then as imperial so 260mm was interpreted as 260inches.  They spent time and money getting a foundry to quote for these massive aluminium billets and the purchase of new machines to mill the products. Very red faces when I had to explain the simple mistake they had made. 😊

[Terry10]

4 hours ago, flash22 said:

The uk's metric/imperial system works fine, we have the advantage of understanding both

UK Badge - get some new plates made with the emblem ?

Hi, you don’t need new plates. Go on eBay for instance and order a pair of UK stickers to go on your existing number plates. £1.50 and free postage.

Terry

[flash22]

Some dealer plates don't have the emblem on them, decals can look messy after a while tbh

[Terry10]

2 hours ago, flash22 said:

Some dealer plates don't have the emblem on them, decals can look messy after a while tbh

Promise you that if you apply them carefully they will last a long long time. Very surprised if there wasn’t space for them on your existing plate.

£1.50 against £25.00 is a no brainer personally

Terry

 

[Stopeter44]

FWIW, over here in France there's a not only the FR/🇪🇺 logo on the left side of the plates, but also the department (county) N° on the right. The department N° used to be part of the registration, but it changed 10 or so years ago and was going to be dropped completely.

Some people are very proud of the county in which the live, or where they were born, or whatever, so many people objected to the loss of the department N° on the plate, so as a compromise the department/region code is also displayed on the right.

Of course one of the disadvantages of the old system was that it was pretty obvious you were a tourist, because if you changed department then you had to change registration. Nowadays, the number of cars registered in Corsica is astounding, and I know that many people put anything other than the Paris region number on their plates, to avoid vandalism.

Anyway to make a short story long, I have a one department number on the front of the car, and a different department on the back, both of them stickers covering the original Paris region numbers. They have been on the car three years and haven't moved, and that's through I don't know how many car wash cycles.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Stopeter44
Punctuation

[TonyFR]

Amused by your plates, Peter. I bought my previous car from a garage in Aix en Provence and therefore with a 13 department number on the plates (though I live elsewhere but wasn't obliged to change the dep number). A lot of French people associate 13 with (mad) Mubikilles so over the years I often got jokey (!)  gestures on the roads and leery looks when I parked.

[philip42h]

6 minutes ago, TonyFR said:

Amused by your plates, Peter. I bought my previous car from a garage in Aix en Provence and therefore with a 13 department number on the plates (though I live elsewhere but wasn't obliged to change the dep number). A lot of French people associate 13 with (mad) Mubikilles so over the years I often got jokey (!)  gestures on the roads and leery looks when I parked.

Mubikilles! The swear filter doesn't like M !Removed! i l l e s either!🤣

Edit: and I failed to defeat it too! Perhaps M<bottom>illes ... 😉

[Stopeter44]

6 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Mubikilles! The swear filter doesn't like M &#33;Removed&#33; i l l e s either!🤣

Edit: and I failed to defeat it too! Perhaps M<bottom>illes ... 😉

Try Mar-seille. I wondered why for a moment that I couldn't spell that city correctly, but decided I couldn't be assed!

Edited October 31, 2021 by Stopeter44
Spelling

[TonyFR]

No idea why that happened. I spelled Mubikille quite correctly. Hope it doesn't get transliterated via Hiragana or Kitakana filters.

[TonyFR]

But it did get transliterated. M &#33;Removed&#33; i l l e are  the component letters!!

[TonyFR]

I give up. I suppose the sentiment that the principal city of the department of Bouches-du-Rhone is a bit mad is being proven in unexpected ways.

[Stopeter44]

You could try writing it like the English pronounce it "Mahseille" ?

[Cyker]

We've renamed it to Marsay - It'll be twinned with Margate