I had a Visa with the so called satellite control. It was subliminally easy to use, and as is so often the case with the marque , one wondered why everybody else was out of step . Prophets without honour - front wheel drive affordable saloon ( Traction Avant ) , aerodynamic shape (DS , GS , SM etc) , brake ‘button’, front and rear interconnected suspension (2 CV) , high gearing (when everyone else was short geared) ( Visa Super E) , swivelling lights ( DS ) , efficient twins ( 2CV , Visa Club ) , incredibly comfy seats and ride (DS especially) and so much more. Sadly , nearly every modern Citroen is depressingly short of quirks …
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Had one.
GS Pallas.
Magic carpet ride, terrific long distance eater if you did not mind it taking it’s own time.
You were over humps and potholes before you knew what happened.
Used to lever the suspension up and down for my young son for giggles in traffic.
Loved it because it was so odd & innovative.
Terrific little flat 4 mill.
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Thanks MKmike - I wasn’t blaming anyone:) Just saying that having had both types in the same model car I prefer the Japanese on-the-right style, simply as it seems more intuitive.
It’s the first of my dad’s cars that I remember. Great thing and so ahead of it’s time. Actually, that might be where my life-long love of cars started. Everything about that dashboard and instrument cluster was bonkers.
Anyway, I digress! I’m quite a fan of the right hand indicator stalk on the NA. It’s another thing that adds character for me.
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What do you me by bastardised?
M-m
Nothing whatever to do with EU. Your brexit silliness is showing. Contrary to what the Daily Mail tells you about straight bananas and other such anti-Europe drivel the EU does not concern itself with such trifles. It’s to do with Mazda minimising the build differences for the relatively small number of cars they ship to Europe that are destined for UK. It’s the same reason motorcycles sold in UK have catalytic convertors when UK legislation does not require them - it’s cheaper than having a build difference just for the small UK market - ship 'em all with cats, tiny isolated UK as well as mainland Europe! Likewise, it’s not worth the cost of a build difference in the cars we ship to Europe to change the indicator stork for them.
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Of course, if its all about ergonimics, then logically the UK should switch to driving on the right, and adopt left hand drive cars, so that righties, who are the majority, can more comfortably drive.
The number one reason cited on miataforum against rhd cars is the lefty thing.
Mine doesn’t.
I have a '15 plate Focus (incorrect layout) and a '95 plate NA (correct layout)
When hopping from one to the other, it is a pain. Especially as wipers and lights need no input from me if on the right setting.
Luckily the local '5 drivers have got used to used to seeing a Focus heading the other way flapping its wiper arms uselessly in lieu of pop ups… 
And oddly, Korean cars aren’t sold much in Japan, and Korea drives on the right.
Proton cars (RHD) use indicators on the left, but Peruoda followed Japanese practice (because they were skint).
The regulatory reason is ISO (ISO 4040); International standards. Japan does not conform to ISO, ISO, so BMW, Mercedes etc don’t have to conform to JIS.
ISO originated from a Swiss organisation in the post-war period, and the UN was keen to encourage global trade, through internationally recognised standards, to improve confidence in the supply chain. ISO-13485 covers medical devices for instance.
Japan is historically quite protectionist, sometimes with terrible consequences. For many years, women in Japan were not able to access, easily, tests for inherited breast cancer, mainly because the authorities put specious blocks on certain types of clinical trials data. Samples had to be sent to the US for analysis, driving up costs.
A single standard does make conformance testing easier. and cheaper
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You will also find a fair number of the ISO / UN / EN standards derive, with some revisions, from original BS standards particularly with reference to machinery.
Is that the basis for the Indian Hindustan?
I believe it may still be in production
I always liked the foot controlled dip switches
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I’ve been driving BMWs for 12 years now and I still have ttrouble with the indicator system.
It’s electronic eather than mechanical and a brief movement produces 3 flashes for changing lanes etc
A longer movement produces flashing until you cancel it or the steering does. It’s very easy to mess up cancelling it yourself though and you can end up driving along inindicating left and right and left again as you attempt to cancel
Very frustrating and embarrassing for the driver and very confusing for other drivers.
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There’s a way to turn that on / off in i-drive, I believe.
Yes, you can adjust the number of flashes as well but I quite like the 3 flashes facility to change lanes or whatever. It’s the cancelling that can be really awkward. If you’ve triggered the full flashing, cancelling by moving the indicator the same way you moved it to indicate seems the best way to cancel. Weird but it works
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I find that the way you just described as the easiest and best way to cancel them.
I set our BMW for 3 flashes, as were the other BMW’s we have owned👍.
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Almost. The Ambassador is based on the four cylinder Oxford. @Scottishfiver beat me to the Wiki link.
The Isis has six cylinders, with the optional economy luxury of a Borg-Warner overdrive. Dad’s paperwork showed he averaged 35mpg for the life of the car. Not at all bad when with a similar sized engine, power and body weight my Mk2 Zephyrs and Zodiac each averaged 22mpg (no matter how I drove them).
The hydraulics in both Oxford and Isis are a nightmare, and very similar to the old J2 Van, with master cylinders under the floor and not on the bulkhead! Lift the carpet to top up.
Before emails and the web etc, living in Zim, my Dad sourced spares for his Isis all the way from India!
The things that wore out most often were the thicker torsion-bar suspension bushes, almost everything else was used on lots of other BMC cars so locally available.
Apparently, India had standardised on the heavy-duty bushes!
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The only Ambassador I’ve seen in Hyderabad (4x a year, last 10 years, bar 'Rona) was a half stripped shell by the side of the road. The roads are dominated by Maruti-Suzukis, Hondas, Toyotas and Dacias. Even the Tata Indicas have all but gone now.
The last Ambassadors might have had a curious mix of Whitworth and JIS, given the Isuzu lump used.