In July I am giving my car a special treat ( and me a holiday ) by taking it for a tour round France and wondered what to do about headlamp deflectors when driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

The handbook refers me to an authorised dealer for an adjustment, so I guess that will mean a wad of money even though I am not expecting to drive at night and only want to avoid falling foul of over zealous french traffic police.

What does everyone else going to France do? Does black tape work on zenons?

Thanks

Richard

We're off to France in a couple of weeks - in the past (in the Passat) we got stickers from Halfords which did the trick. I assume we'll do the same this time with the Eos - its first trip across the channel. Very ex:Dcited!

I always use the beam deflectors. remember you need to take warning triangle and spare bulbs as well as hi vis vests. The vests needed for both front seat occupants and need to be carried inside car!!!.This is why a lot of French drive round with them over the back of front seats so they are not stopped for checks. Fine if not inside car, boot is not acceptable
Have a good trip roads are fantastic. Do not be surprised if people ask about the car they like cars as a norm.Every time we take our 911 Speedster it is aways an attraction, last year we took a new Beetle and had same reaction so would expect the EOS will create same interest
Have Fun:D
Geoff

I didn't know about the vests needing to be in the car - thanks for that. Whenever we're in France my husband does most of the driving :( because I can read maps and he can't!! But I also love driving and this is MY car so ... And his main concern this time is not to be stopped for speeding (he got an on-the-spot fine last time we were there, doing 50k through a village!!!).
I hope people will stop and admire the Eos - it's beautiful!! Have a good time too. .

Yes, vests were included last year, we will be down for the Classic Le Man's (in XF unfortunatley as need to take passengers) but will no doubt be down in the EOS soon
Have a good trip

Isn't it a hi vis vest for each person, this includes rear seat passengers too?

Not sure try www.rac.co.uk/web/knowhow then go to driving in Europe section.This gives country by country info. I thought was for front seat only, not seen any more in France. Will ask my friend who lives their what he knows
Regards

Thanks for the info/opinions....

I rang my local VW dealer to ask if zenons needed converting for right hand side driving ( elsewhere on the internet I had read that zenons dipped only downward, not to the side, so didn't need adjusting ).

I was told emphatically that zenons DID need adjusting, but that without looking at my car they could not tell whether it has been fitted with a manual adjuster ( a little lever ), which is not easily accessible, or could be done electronically. The problem with this is that you would then be driving to the ferry with lights dipping to the right ............

Normally, he said, the best solution is to use beam converters ( you can get cheap kits from Halfords ) or use tape. However NOT a good idea for zenons as the high level of heat generated will cause problems peeling them off afterwards.

The best solution, he said, would be to fit headlamp protectors and then the cheap beam deflectors on top. But at £50-£60 a pair of protectors it's an expensive option.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this issue?

Can anybody recommend a free standing sat nav mount ( not the windscreen variety ) which is secure on the EOS dashboard but quickly and easily removed?

I am hoping to navigate my tour de France using just sat nav and no maps ( my co pilot/wife is not the best at reading maps anyway and can't read french ) and the "non-slip" mat I bought today should have been called " non-stick"....

Seems to me one of the bean bag types might be best but they look a little bulky and might be difficult to tidy away when not in use.

What do other drivers use?

Thanks

Richard

Seems to me one of the bean bag types might be best but they look a little bulky and might be difficult to tidy away when not in use.


I have a beanbag mount that I use with rental cars and I think it works great. When not in use, I just stuff it under the seat. For my regular Eos local driving I use the proclipusa.com edition. It's a bit pricy at $60+, but I find the location is excellent for on the road programing. See my mount below. I'm using a Garmin GPS with it.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq207/Blueeos/IMG_0750.jpg

Seems to me one of the bean bag types might be best but they look a little bulky and might be difficult to tidy away when not in use.


Richard

I use a bean-bag mount which cost £12.99 from A1 Motor Stores in the UK. It works fine and since I very rarely carry a rear-seat passenger I place the bean-bag on the floor just behind/under the drivers seat. I can reach it easily from there but it would be difficult to spot from outside the car.

Do you intend to go without any form of map at all?

Since the French Gendarmerie take an extremely dim view of any kind of speed trap warnings and are likely to take yours off you if they catch you with one in the car whether or not it's in use and it might even be stowed in the boot (or even take your whole car!), how do they react to Sat-Navs which have a speed trap warning included in the software? Anyone know?

According to the AA web site the following applies to radar detectors and sat nav speed camera POI

Under articles L413-2 and R413-15 of the French 'Code de la Route' (highway code), it is strictly forbidden to have such devices (radar detectors) in cars in France, regardless of whether or not they are in use. Penalties can include fines of up to €3,000, confiscation of the device and of the vehicle, (as previously discussed).

This legislation does not apply to satellite navigation systems (SatNav or GPS). These can tell motorists only the location of fixed speed cameras, data which is already in the public domain.

Hi vis vests - apparently only one is needed in the car

That's interesting. Thanks.

Hi

Thought I would update you on our Tour de France in the Eos.

We just got back after 2700 miles touring in 2 weeks and the roads were mostly fantastic - light traffic even at the peak of the tourist season and great road surfaces ( how do they manage that? ).

We only took a very small scale map ( showing just the major roads and towns ) and relied on my Tom Tom the whole way. I have to say it was brilliant - especially with the new bean bag dash mount I bought - and worked perfectly, locating the smallest road and out of the way farm very easily. Of course there was was the occasional hitch with roads newly closed for construction and new no-entry signs it did not know about, but 99% of the time it was absolutely indispensable. It located the nearest petrol station for us when we were almost empty and in deepest rural France, a search facility I have never needed to use in the UK. All in all a fantastic device which gave us peace of mind and allowed us to concentrate more on the scenery - especially me when we were negotiating the Routes des Cretes with its hairpin bends, sheer drops of thousands of feet and no safety barriers! ).

The speed camera detector in the SatNav and my other GPS camera detector only beeped about 5 times throughout the whole trip ( and where there were camera detector warning signs anyway ). Slightly different from the UK!

As for the locals we only saw 3 police cars and no sign of any traffic police but I am confident I had all the papers and equipment necessary - I bought beam converters for my zenons ( £7 odd from Halfords ) which were easy to apply and remove, 2 high viz jackets ( I believe only 1 is strictly necessary but must be kept within the car ), plus warning triangle. I understood that spare bulbs are recommended but not mandatory ( but check when in other countries of the EU where different rules may apply ).

As for the car, she behaved well although developed a slight rumble between 15 and 25 mph ( since disappeared when back in the UK- I suspect it might have had something to do with the load we were carrying ) and the clutch started juddering when it got extremely hot and we were stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam in Lyon due to road works. Other than that we had no problem, but I was slightly surprised that we seemed to have no admiring glances from the natives, but then they don't seem to worry about a car's looks judging by french car design in general (!) and all the dents and scratches you see.............

So a driving trip on the continent is certainly something I would recommend, especially as the climate makes top down touring in an Eos even more of a real pleasure. Makes me envious of our antipodean friends and American cousins, although we can't really complain about the weather in the UK at the moment I guess.

You seem to have enjoyed yourself.
Would just comment that the gendarmerie take a VERY dim view of speed camera detectors in France, which are illegal.

If they catch you with one in the car (whether or not you are using it; it could be locked away in the boot) they have the authority to CONFISCATE YOUR CAR!!! Although they are unlikely to do that if you're not using it they will take away the detector and give you a hefty fine.

Note you were actually using yours so I'd be very careful if I were you if you go back again; you could have lost your beloved Eos.

Thanks for the warning about speed trap detectors.

However mine is GPS based ( i.e. warns of fixed speed trap locations, not radar which detects the speed guns themselves ) and so is not illegal in France. If it was then satnav would also be illegal.........

I actually took the precaution of taking documentation with me to prove it is GPS, just in case!