Ok, I dont own an E in Europe, but I saw one. On Mildenhall Airforce Base. Other than that, I didn't see any while I was over there.

And this thread didn't have any posts in it, so I thought I would start one. :D

:shock: To think what I was going to say......:grin: :twisted:

Kissya, you should go ahead and say it. Might be fun. :D

Nickle isn't good enough for you huh? I'm still sitting at Tin. :(

:D I'm going for Gold...Baby :D

Ok, I dont own an E in Europe, but I saw one. On Mildenhall Airforce Base. Other than that, I didn't see any while I was over there.

And this thread didn't have any posts in it, so I thought I would start one. :D

Did it have right hand drive?

That guy from Norway was sniffing around the EOC, and then there was one from Russia. So who knows? Maybe Europe will get this taste treat built in USA?

Did it have right hand drive?

That guy from Norway was sniffing around the EOC, and then there was one from Russia. So who knows? Maybe Europe will get this taste treat built in USA?
I didn't check what side drive it was. I saw it while I was driving, it was parked. I'm pretty sure it was left side, it was parked on an Airforce base, but it could have been. who know's. :D

In the very earliest days of the forum, there was member in England who had gone through the time and trouble to "gray market" import a U.S. E. I don't think it's the same one as bacchus saw, as this fellow didn't note that he was affiliated with the military.

There were some modifications required to meet their standards, the most vexing seemed to be rear fog lights, which had to be installed with the wiring meeting the same durability standard as if it came from the factory. The post-conversion inspections were apparently pretty stringent. (If anybody knows anything about British cars, just what gives them the right to get picky about the electrics on an import, huh? :razz: )

They are not required to convert to RHD. Given the amount of tourist traffic from the Continent (now via Chunnel, formerly via ferry), it doesn't make much sense to allow French (etc.) LHD cars on the roads and then prohibit the locals from driving the same cars.

After posting that about RHD, I wondered if they made any that way. Then I recalled the BBC video:

http://www.youtube.com/w/Top-Gear---...search=element

Besides the UK, what other countries have RHD?

Besides the UK, what other countries have RHD?
Japan, for one.

Australia.

There are actually many RHD countries, just not ones you would immediately think of. Here's a map:

I didn't think this thread would have gone on for this long. lol

I was in India about 15 years ago; I don't remember them being RHD.

When I was in London in the summer of 04, I noticed they had markings on the pavement for pedestrians. You'd look down and it would say "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" to clue you as to where the traffic would be coming from.

Traffic flies in some parts of London and it's got curves, traffic circles, etc. so I surmised that a lot of tourists look the wrong way and get scraped off the road. Thought it was a great idea to help the pedestrians out.

I wonder if I could drive a RHD/MT. I doubt it...I'd be "clutching" with the gas.

Mike, the Map Key is backwards. lol

I wonder if I could drive a RHD/MT. I doubt it...I'd be "clutching" with the gas.
The pedals are in the same configuration as they are here...but you'll be shifting with your left hand. The shift pattern does not change either.

Mike, the Map Key is backwards. lol Ha ha. You know what it means.

[now where is that tongue-sticky-outie emoticon? :| ] http://www.geocities.com/genomindustries/smilietounge.gif

I am taking my E back to England when I finish working over here in the US.

I originally saw the Top Gear episode live whilst in the UK. Saw the piece on the E and knew I wanted one.

Less than a year later I am here in the US and have bought one (a used one last week and just joined the forum). My plan is to take it home and keep it for a long while. Though I will have to add a rear fog light and change the headlights a bit.

As far as I can see I need to have clear running lights (which means either removing the amber lens or getting a set of headlights from Japan). I will have to get the side markers wired up so that they act as indicators (sorry blinkers as you say over here) and not be on when the lights are on. Last thing is the rear fog light, and am thinking that it may be a case of utilising one of the revese lights (wire it up to a separate switch and have a red bulb). A lot of European compact cars only have one reversing light and the opposite one is the fog light.

edited for bad spelling

Japan, for one.

Also, Hong Kong and a bunch of places in the Caribbean and East Africa.


[edit] duhhhh... I guess I was pretty late with that one.

I remember seeing the top gear episode with the element. I found it very amusing since they're on about how only old people drive hondas so they're 'un cool' but the Element was cool because old people don't like it... Lucally they didn't look at the US demographics :D

Rear fog thing is funny too. People here just don't get it. I see way too many morons in Volvoes with their rear fogs on even if it's a bright sunny day :confused: Than here I am eagerly awaiting a set of VW golf tail lights from germany that have rear fog lights in them... I'm also getting eurospec headlights as well so I'll actually be able to see something when driving at night

I sold one of my sunshades to a lady in the military. She was stationed in England and shipped her car over from the states. She also said there was about three other E's over there as well that were owned by people in the military.

Hiya, I am interested in buying a second hand RHD Element - I am living in Jersey in Channel Islands and am thinking that I may need to purchase one from France as I believe they dont sell them in UK?

Can anyone help or recommend?

Dee

Hiya, I am interested in buying a second hand RHD Element - I am living in Jersey in Channel Islands and am thinking that I may need to purchase one from France as I believe they dont sell them in UK?

Can anyone help or recommend?

Dee


A gentleman in Norway just had one shipped from L.A. He is in the process of doing the modifications necessary to meet Scandanavia's standards. If you wanted to, you could check out his thread 'E in Norway' or 'Norwegian Element' (I can't remember the exact title). Good luck.:) Oh, his is a LHD, of course, made for the U.S. market, but you might be able to live with the steering on the 'wrong' side. Regards.

Hiya, I am interested in buying a second hand RHD Element - I am living in Jersey in Channel Islands and am thinking that I may need to purchase one from France as I believe they dont sell them in UK?

Can anyone help or recommend?

Dee

Dee, welcome to the EOC. The only place that the Element was officially sold in RHD was in Japan. The Element was only sold by Honda in 3 Countries; US, Canada and Japan. If you need RHD I'd suggest looking to Japan as there were several thousand that were imported so finding one there would be easier.

Every Element that is in Europe has been imported by either the owner or an importer to sell. I'd guess there are far less than 1,000 total Elements in all of Europe.

All RHD E's were made in the US for shipping and sale to the Japanese market. Any E's you see in Europe will mostly be LHD's that have either been a personal import from the US, a vehicle shipped from the US by US service personnel for there use or canny dealers shipping them in and selling them on at a vast profit.

There are a couple in France and Germany that have posted on this forum. All have been personal imports from the US to there destination country.

There are a couple for sale (RHD's) on ebay right now which have been sourced from Japan.

As I type my E is only a few weeks away from being shipped from New York to the UK and I cant wait (its been 8 weeks since I parked her up). I looked at getting a RHD one, but nearly double the original cost due to dealers making a large profit. I can live with sitting on the wrong side of the car as I will be back in my E

After a hectic couple of days trying to sort out a title issue. My E is now in the hands of the shippers in New Jersey.

I flew into Boston on Wednesday to get the car out of storage and drive to NJ. The battery had been disconnected and of course I had no stereo code. Quick trip to the local Boch dealership, press a few buttons, service guy takes the displayed serial number from the unit, puts it into the Honda system and out comes my stereo code. Took 2 minutes and cost nothing. Bonus:rolleyes:

Next stop was to get some U or H rated tyres (legal requirement for the UK) only to find the dealer I had emailed, made a reservation with hadn't ordered the tyres I (the customer) wanted. But he did have instock some others he could recommend. Of course they were what he recommended as they were alot more in price. He kept telling me how good they would be in the wet and snow. He also kept missing the point when I told him we didn't really have those issues in the UK. I left with the same black round things in place.

Got to my friends in NJ to find my title hadn't arrived, gone AWOL in the post. Called the DMV, explained my situation and they said they may be able to help me if I call in. Next morningh I drove back to Boston, Quincy to be precise and went to both DMV offices. Thankfully after much pleading and sad eyes:-o oh and $25 I had a new title printed off. Now I had to drive back to NJ to make the shippers before they closed for the weekend.

Friday I experienced trying to get from one side of NYC to the other and am so thankfull I will never have to do it again. My satnav said it would take 34 mins at the start of the journey. Two and a half hours later I was still enroute. How you guys do it every day I will never know:confused:

Though Friday afternoon, my beloved E was parked in a muddy lot ready to be containerised. Sadly I forgot to take pictures of her, but I shall hope to see her again in a few weeks when she lands in England. Fingers crossed unscathed:)

Then I go through the hassle of making her UK road legal and getting her registered. Watch this space

Wow, what a P.I.T.A.! Could anything else go wrong? I hope the ship doesn't sink on the way to England.

Got mine imported from Japan. Had it a week now and I get some looks. I'm going to de-badge it to create more confusion.:cool:

De-badge and put a Mercedes logo on it !

Called the DMV, explained my situation and they said they may be able to help me if I call in. Next morningh I drove back to Boston, Quincy to be precise and went to both DMV offices. Thankfully after much pleading and sad eyes:-o oh and $25 I had a new title printed off. Now I had to drive back to NJ to make the shippers before they closed for the weekend.


For the story, I had a little RMV issue of my own when relocating from Boston with my E.
After having my E for 3 years, I only noticed 2 days before leaving that my title (who reads a title?) indicated I had a 2004 model instead of 2003! The shippers were worried that US customs would not let the E go without a corrected title. By mail it takes 10 days to get a new title, but I was supposed to leave 2 days later.
Thankfully, a call to the RMV title office in Boston (Copley) with my flight tickets in hand and they reprinted a band new on (with new registration) in front of me.

Amazing how what seems impossible can be so easy with the right phone call, nice and understanding people, ... and some luck, sure.

For the second part of the story, ... UPS lost the new title that the shippers sent over the pond... In 10 years in Boston never UPS nor FedEx ever lost one of my shipments!
I then had to ask RMV for a duplicate by mail, which also worked, so I could get my E out of the container when it arrived..

It really ain't over till it's over.

Good luck with the rest of the journey.

Vince.

Update - now been told by the shippers that it will be 2 weeks from now before my E clears customs and is prepared for loading. Then its 12 days for shipping, so hopefully somewhere around the start of April I may be down in London retrieving my car. Fingers crossed

Just posting an update (to cheer myself up).

MY E is crated, on board the cargo ship "Ever Devine" and leaves NYC today. All being well it will be in London on April 6th.

Counting the days down:)

My Element has made it to the UK. It is now in bonded storage and will be there over the Easter break.

So another week or so and I will have the keys in my hands again and be making it UK road legal.

Happy days:D

I am hoping that your E makes it ok and didnt puke in the box when you open it that could get ugly.

Please post pictures when you get the E home along with Mrs. Beaker and the little one. I still chukle when I remember what you called him in VT lol.
Hope all is well with you and your family.

Did your E make it ok?

Fingers crossed it has made it ok.

Currently she is sat in a bonded warehouse near London, waiting for me to go down and claim her (everything has been closed for the Easter break). I just have to do some (ok lots) of paper work to free her without any import duty or taxes. Then a short drive home, make her road legal and get her registered.

let us know how it comes out and well as you know pictures would be a good thing.

Hope things are ok other wise
Justin

Was she in one piece?

:D I picked up my Element from the port on Friday afternoon. One small scratch and dent on the bottom of the drivers door and it looked like it had been used for off roading prior to getting on the ship. Looks like the dent / scratch will be repaired by the insurers.

The drive back home was interesting, lots of double takes and a few people even took pictures on their phones.

I spent all day yesterday cleaning and pampering her, washed, waxed twice. Now to do the light mods prior to getting her legal over here.

I have already encountered the "blinkered" response from auto shops. I took it into a place to get the rear pads replaced and I got the stock answer
"sorry mate but that isn't a UK car so we'll not stock those pads, try Honda".
He wouldn't even listen to me saying its just a CRV in a nicer dress.
So ordered some EBC pads and will do them myself.

Other than the dent I am glad that it is in one piece. Hope that you dont find too many other issues getting parts. I guess that you wil have to educate them on the finer points of the E. Had anyone look strange at you in it yet?

Sorry to see the dent! Other than that it looks ok.

I hope you got your Justin decoder ring before going back. There is an import tax on big ticket items! :D

Dom

Here is our E with our other little Honda, the Jazz (Fit), both washed, waxed.

One does 25 mpg the other 45, can you guess which is which????

I like the Massachusetts plate on the front! Will They let you keep it on?

Dom

After waiting patiently for weeks for my testing day with the government agency responsible for checking vehicles and seeing they are fit for registration (VOSA), I can say it FAILED the test. :cry: I have to say it only failed on one thing and not what I was expecting either.

No issues with the fact it has LHD headlights and the main beam kicks up in a different direction.
The city light kit I fitted under the headlight bulb worked a treat (we have to have a clear white side light).
It failed on the side blinkers/markers. I wired them up so that they work as blinkers and all was well until they measured from what angles they are visible from, then it failed.

Basically they park up the vehicle, put the hazards on and stand at a measured distance behind the rear of the vehicle. They then move out sideways away from the vehicle and check they can still be seen. They then crouch down and see if they can still be seen. It's at this point that the marker/blinker gets obscured by the large wheel arch bulge in the side cladding.


So to pass and get my beloved E registered I have to fit a blinker further back along the cladding (just like the Japanese E's).

Typically with government agencies, I now have to wait 4 weeks for the re-test and of course pay for the privilege.

Though it still hasnt stopped us going camping with the Mass plates still on it:rolleyes: and getting looks from people at the E first and then the plate.

can you say a pain in the butt?
I am glad that you still can use it for camping.
Good luck with the next inspection.
are you figuring out what to do next?

The following thread talks about the same issue with the side markers already reported by another Uk. E owner: http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7268&highlight=arch+marker

It shouldn't be a big deal, just yet another hurdle ....

Vince.

Thanks for that link Vince.
Made interesting reading.:-P

:D IT PASSED ITS INSPECTION:D The E is good enough for the UK, it's official

just have to get it registered now and lose the Mass plates:sad:
will post pictures of it with it's new plates and the extra 2 side indicators in a bit, when it stops bloody raining

The following thread talks about the same issue with the side markers already reported by another Uk. E owner: http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7268&highlight=arch+marker

It shouldn't be a big deal, just yet another hurdle ....

Vince.
I didn't know we had a member from France...Bon jour Vince in France.

Beaker,
I'm glad everything finally worked out for you. Seems like it was a big pain in the backside...but isn't the E worth it (big grin).

-g

Congrats Beaker,,,,,,now you can enjoy!!!!!!!

I didn't know we had a member from France...Bon jour Vince in France.

Bonjour Gisele. I moved from 10 years in Boston back "home" last year indeed.

The E is riding fine in the south of France. Heads are turning and comments like "look, a Hummer!" go wild.
A poor and green(er) man's Hummer that is...

Congrats Beaker! Enjoy it, and let me know if you ever decide to drive down to the French Riviera. One SOP E causes enough disturbance, but 2 ...

Vince.

I alo so happy it passed now run ramped and cause trouble like only a NE Misfit would do.

I alo so happy it passed now run ramped and cause trouble like only a NE Misfit would do.
Anyone know what happened to my decoder ring? I haven't seen it since the last meet....Darn, now I guess I have to go on another meet, and get a new one....

Well the E is now fully road legal and we have had our first camping trip out in it. Quick shot of it by the beach showing its new UK registration.
The plate on the back of the E is a standard European length one and not a US sized one (not allowed as the plate aperture at the back can fit a European plate so I have to use one).

More to follow

hi guys,

im new to this forum but im glad i found it!! im an e owner, mine is a rhd imported from japan. had it for a year and a half!! grey!! looking for wheels for it now, nice ones!! are there any element get togethers in blightey, might be a laugh to have a convoy of them driving around!!
and does anyone know where i can find cheap spare parts, specifically a ballast for a hid light?