| Motoring Discussion > Driving in Iceland | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: movilogo | Replies: 6 |
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New Fri 7 Aug 15 20:17
Driving in Iceland - movilogo
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Drove 1300 km in Iceland this week. This was first time I drove in other side of the road! Contrary to my belief, it was not difficult and within first 10 minutes it became natural. I hired a car locally there so I guess LHD configuration helped. The driving: • Very few cars on road – not surprising because of very low population. • There were long queues on car hire desk. I guess at least 50% of tourists hire car. • Main roads are paved but there were few gravel roads. • I tried to avoid gravel roads as much as possible (as I hired a FWD car) but still had to drive on them. I found braking and handling difficult on those roads. Even though rated speed was 50-80 km/h on such roads, I had to drive at 20-30 km/h. I saw one car skidded and ended up in ditch in front of me (occupants were safe). • Speed limits were confusing. Sometimes you can do 120 km/h easily yet limit is 90 km/h. Other times even though limit is 80 km/h, I was not confident over 50 km/h. • There were pot holes in their main ring road (equivalent to our M1/M25). • My hire car’s tyres were rubbish (even at 18000 km). I guess poor handling on gravel roads was because of tyres. I think most renters drive on gravel roads which drastically shortened tyre life. • Headlight was supposed to be on all the time which I did forget sometimes and noticed many tourists forget too. • Had to buy fuel from automated pumps using credit cards. They were pain in backside to use! • Distances among main tourist spots were very long. So after 2 days driving was tiresome and monotonous. • The sceneries were beautiful though. I mostly visited West and South coast. Wish I spent few more days there. • Often there are no railings when there are steep cliffs on roadside. UK roads are far better in comparison. • I didn’t take any extra insurance there although I took a excess car insurance from UK. The car: • It was a Ford Focus (latest model) – petrol version. Don’t know engine size. • Handling was poor on wet and gravel roads. I think poor tyres are to blame. • Seat was uncomfortable for me. Head rest lowest position was high for me. The car seat seems too low. Visibility during parking was a pain. • Fuel cap had no locking system! • The controls were confusing. There was no dash indicator to show headlight is on. Some switches were not intuitive. • Based on how much I spent on fuel, I guess fuel economy was good. • I drove previous generation Focus and I think I liked that one better. My own car is first generation Ceed and I drove latest Ceed version and I liked older one. I think most modern cars are becoming bulbous and seats are lowered. This makes them uncomfortable to drive IMHO. Other comments: • Iceland is real place to drive 4x4s. I was not adventurous enough to hire one. • I realized buying 4x4 in UK is waste of money because our roads are so good. |
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New Fri 7 Aug 15 20:21
Driving in Iceland - movilogo
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Forgot to mention: * Most cars were Korean (Kia/Hyundai), Japanese (all brands but mostly Toyota/Suzuki/Mazda etc) and Land Rover/Jeeps. * Saw several American cars. * Not seen single BMW or Audi although saw few Mercedes though. * Seen good number of Volvos and Skodas. Many VWs too (mostly Polo/Golf). * Most tourists were German, French, American, Chinese/Japanese. Very few Brits. |
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New Sun 9 Aug 15 08:35
Driving in Iceland - idle_chatterer
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>> • Main roads are paved but there were few gravel roads. >> • I tried to avoid gravel roads as much as possible (as I hired a >> FWD car) but still had to drive on them. I found braking and handling difficult >> on those roads. Even though rated speed was 50-80 km/h on such roads, I had >> to drive at 20-30 km/h. I saw one car skidded and ended up in ditch >> in front of me (occupants were safe). >> • Speed limits were confusing. Sometimes you can do 120 km/h easily yet limit is >> 90 km/h. Other times even though limit is 80 km/h, I was not confident over >> 50 km/h. I disagree, maybe it was the FWD ? I spent time hooning around Flinders Island in the Bass Straight back in the heady summer days of January (it's miserable in Melbourne now although maybe that's just the cricket). I must admit that the battered rear drive hired Ford/Mazda ute I drove on primarily gravel roads was the most fun I've had in years. I perfected my drifting techniques and often struggled to keep down to 80kmh I was having so much fun. However when avoiding wildlife at dusk 40kmh was nearer the mark.... You're right about UK roads though - I observed this in my recent trip 'home', they really are quite good although there are noticeably more potholes than I recall pre-GFC. |
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New Sun 9 Aug 15 09:20
Driving in Iceland - Zero
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Done a lot of Driving in Western Australia, as soon as you get away form the metropolitan areas the roads are quick to turn into "red tops". Gravel roads with extreme camber and huge ditches either side. Sometimes you get half and half - a single tarmac strip down the centre, and you are expected to pass other cars with two wheels in the dirt and two on the tarmac. At speed too, I got tutted at and poked in the ribs by my aussie co pilot for slowing down "Its a big country mate how we going to get anywhere at this rate" The dust gets everywhere, and the road trains turn the road into a corrugated nightmare. Dusk is the worse time there. There is a shimmering oasis on the top of the road making a kind of alien visual no mans land and the big red roos are active leaping into the road. Last edited by: Zero on Sun 9 Aug 15 at 09:20
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New Sun 9 Aug 15 10:20
Driving in Iceland - sherlock47
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>>>Drove 1300 km in Iceland this week.<<< Surprised that 1 week was long enough! - " I had to drive at 20-30 km/h." :) Just as well AC was not on the road behind you. Just out of interest , did your hire car contract have the usual exclusion about driving on unpaved roads? Or do they make an exception for a land where so few tarmac roads exist? Last edited by: sherlock47 on Sun 9 Aug 15 at 10:22
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New Sun 9 Aug 15 11:12
Driving in Iceland - Mike H
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We went to Iceland back in 2001, staying in Reykjavik. We hired a car just for one day and drove down to the southern tip. IIRC we didn't have too many issues with the roads, and I certainly don't recall the major roads being in bad condition. At that time, and I guess it's still the same, you could take out special insurance against underbody damage when you hired the car. Some of the roads are marked on the maps as only being suitable for 4x4s. I can't quite understand why you should have significant difficulties with unmade roads. Back in the 1980s we visited Norway by car for the first time, and at that time there were long stretches of main road that were just gravel - out of the 120 miles we drove one day, 80 were unsurfaced, and as long as you drove sensibly and kept the speed down they didn't cause any real problems (although we were in a chunky Saab 99 at the time). Having been back a few times since, there are still significant numbers of unmade roads. The reason is simple - the extreme temperatures would quickly damage tarmac, so in the spring they just run a large roller/resurfacer over them and they are returned to usable condition. |
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New Sun 9 Aug 15 19:47
Driving in Iceland - movilogo
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>> did your hire car contract have the usual exclusion about driving on unpaved roads? Gravel roads were allowed in FWD cars. F roads were excluded and solely meant for 4x4s. Not all gravel roads were bad though. In some roads I could drive at 50 km/h easily however, some of them were really bad. |
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