RHD , just forget it . That will be too difficult if you live in a country with LHD traffic. Plus parts for that will be hard to find. Do you not have a family member of friend that can at least steer you away from things that will not be good for a first time owner.

 

My dad didn't think it would be that bad. You just have to pay attention more. I do agree about parts, that would probably be one of the biggest downsides.

 

I think your dad is mistaken . It is that bad and just plain dangerous in some situations. Our town bought several RHD drive Japanese vehicles for the meter readers . The idea was they could get out on the right side and not the left where the traffic was. It proved just to difficult at time for them to change lanes or merge with traffic. The town has sold all of them at a loss. That vehicle is over priced as far as I am concerned.

 

The van is 27 years old, so its reliability will be dubious. I think it would be a poor choice for a first vehicle unless you really want to do your own repairs.

 

Its a bad idea.

My personal thoughts aside, they are objectively overpriced and it will likely have mechanical issues. If not now, in the near future.
As a new driver, you're better off getting something else for the same price; which will be 30x safer, 4x more fuel efficient, and have convenient features like Carplay, cruise control, AC that works, etc.

Even if you want to learn how to work on cars and whatnot, you'd probably be better off getting a cheap old Civic or something like that. Parts are cheaper, the work is easier, and there's probably a million write ups all over the internet. Working on Previas isn't nearly as cut and dry, and that's before you get into parts availability and cost.

The van is 27 years old, so its reliability will be dubious.

Absolutely. I could not possibly have said it better myself.
I can also speak from experience...

As the owner of a RHD Previa, you are 300% wasting money if you cannot justify throwing that money away for the sheer novelty of an abnormal vehicle. If you are attached to the idea of a Previa, go find a LHD one, it will be at least half the cost or less.
There's nothing wrong with getting an old car as your first car, but a RHD one is absolutely not the move.

It is that bad and just plain dangerous in some situations. Our town bought several RHD drive Japanese vehicles for the meter readers . The idea was they could get out on the right side and not the left where the traffic was. It proved just to difficult at time for them to change lanes or merge with traffic. The town has sold all of them at a loss. That vehicle is over priced as far as I am concerned.

Eh, its really not that bad if you aren't a negligent and careless driver. The larger issue lies in the ability to adapt to sitting on the wrong side and with completely inverted controls, it can be very disorienting and confusing at times; especially when you aren't used to it.
But I do agree, your city made a bad move. I would've expected them to get brand new RHD Jeeps, or tell the workers to come up with some other idea like electric scooters to ride on the sidewalks.

 

As the owner of a RHD Previa, you are 300% wasting money if you cannot justify throwing that money away for the sheer novelty of an abnormal vehicle. If you are attached to the idea of a Previa, go find a LHD one, it will be at least half the cost or less

Why would a RHD one cost more over there?

 

Well, thanks for the detailed answer.

I still don't understand why any private individual in the U.S. would particularly want a RHD vehicle; let alone pay twice as much for it.

Here in Europe you probably couldn't give it away but then you would just take it to the U.K. to sell (if worth doing).

 

It makes a lot more sense if the vehicle is a Skyline or something that was an amazing vehicle but not available over here. The only option is a RHD in some cases. In most cases it seems to just be people who find the importation itself to be prestige worthy and nothing screams "I can afford the luxurious payment of importing a car from overseas" like a RHD.