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I pull into my driveway and back out.
My neighbor always backs in, and goes out forward.
Our driveways are the same length and our cars are the same distance from the side walk.
Does their backing in and out forward,
or my forward in and backing out,
affect wear and tear on the transmission, or gas mileage, etc. one way or the other?
They may be backing in so it is convenient to go out forward.
Mechanically speaking, there's no reason not to. (Think this one through. )
I usually back in to my parking space at home because if I drove in forward, I'd be opening my driver's door against a couple of pine trees.
If he parks along the edge of the driveway, maybe he prefers to open his door over pavement instead of stepping out onto the lawn.
It usually makes it easier to load or unload the trunk into the garage or house.
If it's a busy street and/or drivers tend to drive fast on your road, the advantage of backing in seems obvious when it comes time to leave.
I could eliminate the 365 times per year of using the reverse gear of the transmission, by parking on the curb.
Then maybe some idiot will run into my junker, and I get a new one.
I don't know about in the US, but in the UK it's illegal to reverse into a main road from a side road.
Your driveway is classed as a side road.
Same at a mall, or car park. Technically if you reverse out of a space, you commit an offence.
While it's unlikely you would ever be prosecuted for it, if you were to have an accident while doing it, you would automatically be held liable.
The mechanical point is nullen void, whether you back in, or out, you still have to back up.
When I was a kid we had an old pickup that my dad only used once in a blue moon if he had to haul something. He always backed it into its parking space because it wasn't unusual for the battery to be dead when he went to use it; it was easier to pull another vehicle up to it in order to jump it that way.
I don't see any right or wrong here, it's just a matter of what's more conveninet and/or comfortable for the driver.
We like driving forward. So we go forward both comein into the driveway and pulling out of the driveway.
We pull in facing forward. When leaving, we back into the little side drive we built for turning/parking and turn around and drive out forward. When the ground is hard we sometimes cut thrugh the front yard and go out where the circular drive will eventually go.
I don't see the difference. Either way, you still have to reverse.
To back in or not to back in = Should I reverse now or reverse when I leave?
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