Window Open

[waynne]

Do you drive with your window open? Why & when do you do it? Do you stick your arm out of the window when driving? Are you a roof holder - hugging the roof of the car (It's a bloke thing I think!)

I love to hear my engine, exhaust, Turbo spooling up Whistle and dump valve in the summer so that is why I open the window and I tend to rest my elbow on the window whilst driving. It stays very closed in the Winter.

[blacklineninja]

I open my window in the summer, otherwise it gets too hot in the car, however i don't change from having my right wrist resting on top of the steering wheel and my left hand on the gearstick...

A couple of my friends like to have their window open all the time though, although in Winter, it annoys the Hell out of me. It's bloody freeeeeezing

[turbonutter69]

Before I bought the Focus I used to have my window open all the time regardless of weather conditions. But now I tend to drive with the window up unless the sun is out.
Bit of an old thread but I thought I'd go on a mission and revive a few old one's.
Anybody got anything else to add?

[HDi fun]

Originally Posted by blacklineninja

I open my window in the summer, otherwise it gets too hot in the car, however i don't change from having my right wrist resting on top of the steering wheel and my left hand on the gearstick...

A couple of my friends like to have their window open all the time though, although in Winter, it annoys the Hell out of me. It's bloody freeeeeezing

I rarely open my windows, if at all. They're all remotely controlled but glass is transparent anyway, so why bother?

Blackline, do you drive with that one handed style? Panning the wheel? Left hand on gear lever? I find that to be quite hard work.

It's also likely to increase wear on the gearbox as you're putting pressure on the selector forks and other components, too. It's better to keep your hand off the gear selector lever unless you need to change.

I like to steer using a combination of fixed input, rotational and push pull. I'm not a fan of panning the wheel. Seems like very hard work to me.

Even with the windows closed

[turbonutter69]

I have the window open for the fresh air. I normally keep both hands on the wheel and only go for the gear stick to change gear. It just feels more comfy for me to have both hands on the wheel. Although I do sometimes rest one hand on my leg.

[HDi fun]

Originally Posted by turbonutter69

I have the window open for the fresh air. I normally keep both hands on the wheel and only go for the gear stick to change gear. It just feels more comfy for me to have both hands on the wheel. Although I do sometimes rest one hand on my leg.

I, too, keep both hands on the wheel. But on long haul trips, of which I do quite a number) I often adopt the 'twenty past eight-oclock' position. It reduces fatigue. It's also something that the Police advocate now - it's possible perhaps to be over alert and thus catalyse the onset of driver fatigue.

[turbonutter69]

Yup I do that sometimes to on the Motorway.

[pgarner]

twenty past 8 is nice motorway cruising especially with the armrest down and the other arm on the door card.

windows open, yup they all do i check them every time i clean the car. do i open them on the move nope climate control is tooooooooo nice

[HDi fun]

I've got those armrest things too. They can get in the way if you need to use that crude thing called the gear selector lever. HDi prefers automatics. Now, there's a surprise.

The low slung hands-on-wheel position is, to my mind, a good one to help avoid fatigue on long sections of fast wide roads. So thanks, pg, for your post

You can soon re-position your hands when you think it's necessary if you might need some more steering input. Anyone who's sat on a motorway at over 100mph should not be going that fast if they think sudden input might be necessary, so why not adopt a comfortable stance?

I even tuck my right foot away with the left one on deserted roads and let the cruise control take care of maintaining a set speed.

[CitizenErazed]

I rarely have my windows down, bassically because it's too damn noisey! wind noise I mean, it annoys the hell out of me and half the time I can't hear my music, only time I have my window down is when I'm in no hurry and I feel like cruiseing around at slow speeds (too slow for the wind noise to bee too irritateing) at which point I often keep myself in the car but do ocasionally stick my arm out to ride the wind (dip and raise your arm with it pointing foreward) and sometimes play drums on the roof with my fingers, but only useually the latter when I'm stopped in traffic.

[RobBentley]

I tend to have the windows down when going around country lanes (weather permitting) so I can hear the lovely 8 cylinder burble through my magnaflow exhaust

Anything above about 23c and I tend to close them and let climate control do its stuff, likewise anything below 16c and I close them for the same reason!

Always close them on the main roads - speed makes it too noisy.