Overall, what is the best Canadian Province for motorists?

"MegaSuper" (megasuper) 04/11/2015 at 09:19 • Filed to: None

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I haven't heard as much on this topic province-to-province as I have among the US states, so is there a province that stands out for being wildly awesome or terrible to motorists? (I'm talking registration costs, insurance costs, fuel costs, laws, driving roads, perhaps weather, everything, all things considered)

Some provinces have a provincial monopoly on car insurance, meaning there's only ever one price, right? I suppose this can be good or bad.

In Québec, right-hand-drive cars are illegal after a certain year of production; on the other hand, they require (AFAIK) snow tires certain times of year, so that probably makes the roads safer. Also "Hellaflush" cars are illegal, so if that floats your boat, they have that too.

I heard British Columbia has a lot of great JDM imports...but because of that, the provincial government has suggested banning RHD cars quite a few times. (Do these guys automatically win because of the good weather? People tell me this but isn't Southern Ontario warmer/less snow?)

I haven't heard much one way or the other about the other provinces or territories (other than those sweet polar bear-shaped license plates!). Does anything stand out as being great or terrible? (Doesn't Ontario have strict emissions standards or something? What does this actually mean in reality? Are out-of-province or grey-market cars basically an impossibility?)

Anyways, I turn it over to you now Oppo!

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 09:38

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BC - A lot of great driving roads, Lower Mainland has a lot of JDM and tons of super cars. Second most expensive overall insurance

AB - One of the cheaper provinces to insure (mine was half as much in AB as it was in BC). People drive usually too fast for conditions, a ton of bro-trucks.

SK - Very cheap insurance, mostly because everything is flat. People drive fast but only because roads are pretty much a perfect grid.

ONT - Very expensive insurance, southern tip is same latitude as parts of California so weather is pretty good. Lots of cool cars in bigger cities.

Just the provinces I have experience with.

CB > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 04/11/2015 at 09:50

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To add to this, Ontario is also pothole ridden and traffic is terrible in the Golden Horseshoe. As well, lots of salt, and studded tires are illegal.

In Quebec the drivers are insane.

Also, expect to hit a moose anywhere in the country.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > CB 04/11/2015 at 09:59

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And if you don't hit a moose, be prepared to hit a deer or three.

bob and john > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 10:03

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Lumpy has it down. But ont also has some pretty shitty roads, both in terms of pot wholes and There not being that many 'fun' roads to drive.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/11/2015 at 10:07

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..and if you don't hit deer, be prepared to hit raccoons, squirrels, porcupines... etc..

chaozbandit > bob and john 04/11/2015 at 10:13

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Don't expect to find any fun roads in the GTA, since you have to pretty much drive at least an hour north west to find some twisties, going as far out as cottage country (as far north as St Catherines). Theres a pretty detailed thread on some of the canadian car clubs that shows all the fun "bike" roads, but they might not be as fun on four wheels. If you're hell bent on staying in the GTA, you'd have much better luck spotting high value cars than you would finding fun roads.

That is, assuming you survive all the pot holes and terrible drivers.

bob and john > chaozbandit 04/11/2015 at 10:22

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nope, I'm a motorcyclist, I know most of them.

thebigbossyboss > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 04/11/2015 at 10:45

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And if you don't hit those be prepared to hit a turkey or ptarmigan, or buzzard.

thebigbossyboss > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 04/11/2015 at 10:45

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Ontario has way way colder weather than northern california.

thebigbossyboss > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 10:48

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BC is probably the best as it has many many sparesly travelled mountain roads, the southern end has mild winters, they don't use too much salt and they just raised the speed limits on 1,300 kms of rural roads.

However, in terms of outright velocity, Ontario highway 401 can be like the autobahn sometimes, they occassionally will catch people speeding between 230-260 km/h on it which is fast. My car could not even go that fast, but the traffic routinely goes 120, and often does a lot more.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 11:02

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NB cons: insurance is quite high and the sales tax is ridiculous 14% on new and used cars.

Pros: Lots of nice roads and not that many speed traps and such.

AB cons: Speed traps galore and if its not a speed trap its a speed camera, you pretty much have to drive with your cruise and always be on the look out for popos. It sort of sucks the fun out of driving when you are constantly staring at your speedo.

Pros: insurance is very cheap(about half of what I paid in NB) and the sales tax is very low at 5% and on cars bought on a private sale a la kijiji and such you pay no tax what so ever. You only pay tax on a used car if you buy it from a dealer. Makes it real easy to swap project cars all the time.

WhiskeyGolf > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 12:17

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You can find nice roads in Ontario near the south east area (think Haliburton, Bancroft and the like). I deduct a lot of marks for the 50 km/h+ street racing rule. Obviously this isn't because I'm an irresponsible driver but when the main east-west thoroughfare limit is 100 km/h and drivers are routinely travelling 140 km/h+, you'd be surprised how easy 150 comes up. I think if 400 series highways had the limits raced to 130, it'd be a pretty good place to drive (just make snow tires mandatory!)

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 12:25

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My guess would be BC, southwest AB, or possibly one of the provinces in Atlantic Canada.

The things BC has going for it are many: Temperate weather, good roads, great driving roads, etc. The downside is that it is expensive. Vancouver or Vancouver Island (especially the south tip) would probably be optimal.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > thebigbossyboss 04/11/2015 at 12:30

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But even then, for Canada it is pretty good, this winter sucked though.

thebigbossyboss > CB 04/11/2015 at 12:41

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I once went through a 62 km traffic jam in the golden horshoe hahaha.

The Compromiser > chaozbandit 04/11/2015 at 14:32

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St. Catherines On is south and west of Toronto. Not north.

MegaSuper > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 04/11/2015 at 23:35

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W…wha…what? There are speed cameras in Alberta? Wow, I've never heard of that being a thing outside of the EU and Asia.

Do other provinces have them?

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > MegaSuper 04/11/2015 at 23:44

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I don't know about any other province? I never experienced any in NB. But here they are literally everywhere. It's a fucking nightmare.