Merrymobile

[Shockwave]

31.5% grade? That's a piece of cake compared to this road on my commute. I measured the grade once and I think it was 36% but I'm not sure. One time late at night I saw a Honda prelude loaded with rather large (probably drunk) guys drive up this hill. It got about 2/3 of the way up , then slowed as white smoke billowed from the spinning front tires. The Honda came to a stop and slid backward down the hill with the front tires still spinning. The driver started playing with the gas pedal at which point the tires hooked up and the car strained back up and over the top.



-Eric

[funkcicle]

a Subway manager in a commercial park I frequent drives a hummer... takes up 2 parking spaces. I have the urge to give a nice one-fingered salute to anybody I see driving one, seems such an arrogant vehicle to own.

I, for one, enjoyed reading this:
[quote]
There you were with your red, pouty lips. Gorgeous. Your friend with her long flowing blonde hair. Blasting your thumping system at noon on a Monday. You knew we were all looking at you two in your white, flawless Hummer. You were talking on your phone, laughing as you almost knocked over the messenger as you flew around the corner from Montgomery onto Sacramento. You showed him.

As you both looked around at us peons running around on this busy Monday, throwing your snide I-think-being-head-cheerleader-five-years-ago-still-makes-me-cool looks around, we all looked to you for some guidance as to how we too could actually be *such cunts* without speaking.

You almost killed the 90 year old Asian man as you pulled into the parking garage on Sacramento. We were all shocked at your actions, hoping that someday, a couple of bitches like yourselves would get what was coming.

I guess you were going a little too fast to see the “Maximum Height 7’â€

[ThomasDodd]

[quote="funkcicle"]a Subway manager in a commercial park I frequent drives a hummer... takes up 2 parking spaces. I have the urge to give a nice one-fingered salute to anybody I see driving one, seems such an arrogant vehicle to own.[./quote]

It's only arrogant to use it incorrectly. Hence my dislike for the H2 and, even more so, the H3.

[quote]
You almost killed the 90 year old Asian man as you pulled into the parking garage...

I guess you were going a little too fast to see the “Maximum Height 7’â€

[MaryAnn]

31.5% grade? That's a piece of cake compared to this road on my commute. I measured the grade once and I think it was 36% but I'm not sure. One time late at night I saw a Honda prelude loaded with rather large (probably drunk) guys drive up this hill. It got about 2/3 of the way up , then slowed as white smoke billowed from the spinning front tires. The Honda came to a stop and slid backward down the hill with the front tires still spinning. The driver started playing with the gas pedal at which point the tires hooked up and the car strained back up and over the top.



-Eric

Well, he shoulda known that front wheel drive goes up steep hills better backwards.

My new Subaru Forester has a strange-but-true feature on it: if you stop on a hill (facing upwards) with the clutch in and your foot on the brake, and you take your foot off the brake, it does not roll backwards. There is some auto-gizmo that keeps the brake on until you hit the gas. Weird feeling, like what do I do if I want to roll backwards? But it's a neat vehicle, and as of lunch time today it has 125 miles on it.

MA

[funkcicle]

My new Subaru Forester has a strange-but-true feature on it: if you stop on a hill (facing upwards) with the clutch in and your foot on the brake, and you take your foot off the brake, it does not roll backwards. There is some auto-gizmo that keeps the brake on until you hit the gas.

That's really neat! I thought of something like that when I was about 7 years old... damn shame I didn't have the resources to patent it!

[Matt G]

My new Subaru Forester has a strange-but-true feature on it: if you stop on a hill (facing upwards) with the clutch in and your foot on the brake, and you take your foot off the brake, it does not roll backwards. There is some auto-gizmo that keeps the brake on until you hit the gas.
MA

The German makes have had this feature for a few years. It is called "Hill Hold" or some nonsense, but it does work quite well. I just picked up a new Audi, but because I am not too sure of this feature, I opted to not worry about getting a car with that feature.

[ThomasDodd]

The German makes have had this feature for a few years. It is called "Hill Hold" or some nonsense, but it does work quite well.

My father had a Nissan pickup (4WD) that was supposed to have a similar feature. Not sure how well it workd though. This was in the late 80's.

The advent of hydrolic clutches allows for this. Probably couldn't be done with a mechanical clutch.

[MaryAnn]

I found out that it's letting out the clutch that causes the Hill Hold to let go; so if I want to roll backwards, I just have to put it in neutral and let the clutch out.

I really love my new car (went through about a foot of water this morning along with everyone else who drove right by the "road closed" sign...we're in monsoon season here) but I hate all the auto-gizmos that I didn't have any choice but to take. Like, the only way to open the hatch is to use the fob to unlock all the doors; there is nowhere to put the key in the hatch. Matter of fact, there is nowhere to put the key except in the driver's door. That's it...can't get in from the passenger side except with the fob again. Bleah. I much prefer hand-cranked windows and physically-locked doors; all the electronic stuff just breaks, eventually. However, I seem to be getting about 25mpg city, this car ranked really high in the crash tests, and it's downright fun to drive. I'm only just now started to ask it to do things that would have the truck up on two wheels...and I do say, it "sticks" to the road, and it doesn't have a 400 foot turning radius. I keep giving it two feet of extra room in the back when I park.

MA

[ThomasDodd]

Like, the only way to open the hatch is to use the fob to unlock all the doors; there is nowhere to put the key in the hatch. Matter of fact, there is nowhere to put the key except in the driver's door. That's it...can't get in from the passenger side except with the fob again.

Some of the keyless ignition systems have a hidden keyed switch somwhere. Like the console, under the dash, or in the glove box. That incase you let the battery in the fob run down, or it gets damaged/lost.

I'm not sure I'd own a car that didn't have a override of some sort. I know roo well haw technology can fail, and at the least oppertune moments...

[MaryAnn]

It's been so long since I had a new car I didn't realize how far the electronics thing had gone. It never occurred to me to check whether I could get in with a key at the usual places, you know? I just sort of "assumed" that I coudl get in a car with a key, all around. Silly me. But I will search through the manual to see if there is some hidden place to do so...and will write a letter to the manufacturer about my displeasure if there is not. Like, this is a safety thing. I also think hand-crank windows are a safety thing....what if I end up underwater and all the elctronics short out? I can unlock the door manually but that doesn't mean I could push it open.

MA

[Chuck(G)]

It's been so long since I had a new car I didn't realize how far the electronics thing had gone. It never occurred to me to check whether I could get in with a key at the usual places, you know? I just sort of "assumed" that I coudl get in a car with a key, all around. Silly me. But I will search through the manual to see if there is some hidden place to do so...and will write a letter to the manufacturer about my displeasure if there is not. Like, this is a safety thing. I also think hand-crank windows are a safety thing....what if I end up underwater and all the elctronics short out? I can unlock the door manually but that doesn't mean I could push it open.MA

Wait'll the drive-by-wire systems start becoming mainstream. Can you say "whopping repair bills"?

Actuators aren't cheap.

[Joe Baker]

It's been so long since I had a new car I didn't realize how far the electronics thing had gone. It never occurred to me to check whether I could get in with a key at the usual places, you know? I just sort of "assumed" that I coudl get in a car with a key, all around. Silly me. But I will search through the manual to see if there is some hidden place to do so...and will write a letter to the manufacturer about my displeasure if there is not. Like, this is a safety thing. I also think hand-crank windows are a safety thing....what if I end up underwater and all the elctronics short out? I can unlock the door manually but that doesn't mean I could push it open.MA

Wait'll the drive-by-wire systems start becoming mainstream. Can you say "whopping repair bills"?

Actuators aren't cheap.

Especially fault-tolerant mission-critical ones, such as would be required for brakes & steering. I don't foresee drive-by-wire for some time to come, though. A combination of installed base and manufacturing capacity, not to mention a lack of qualified repairmen (and the specter of lawsuits when underqualified repairmen hack past the fail-safes to "repair" things affordably) seems to me to preclude any widespread use of drive-by-wire for some time to come.

I WOULD love to see controls and devices communicate via some sort of computer network -- wireless or network bus of some sort -- one of these none-too-distant days. I think that could make electrical systems much simpler, dealer installation of options easier and less expensive (without wasting a bunch of copper on cars "just in case" the CD changer winds up being installed), and repairs a cinch. I'd love to see a bus that carries Ethernet on a shielded twisted pair, in the same jacket with a single DC power supply line. All of the devices and controls could just tap in for power and communications. Want the radio volume to adjust itself based on engine noise, road noise, and whether the windows are up or down? Just let it monitor all those conditions. Want your navigating software to activate your turn signals for you? No problem! Want your teenager's car to not go into gear unless the seatbelt is fastened, or to not allow the radio above a certain volume while the car is underway? No reason you couldn't do it. All this while also cutting the number of wires to a tiny fraction of the current number! Yes, some of the simpler controls (electric door-lock switches, for example) would become more expensive; but some of the more complex controls (climate controls, especially) could become much LESS expensive (assuming very large manufacturing runs).

A hybrid approach would also be possible. For example, each door might have a single network node that accepts input from the plain, old-fashioned, inexpensive switches, and controls the locks and windows in that door. The door controller could also drive a speaker based upon digitized signals carried on the network. All of the actual devices (locks and window regulators) and switches could be non-intelligent/non-networked, with only the door controller interfacing with the rest of the car. That way ONLY THE ONE CABLE comes into the door, rather than a dozen or more (as is common today). The same controller could be used (with different programming) in a manufacturer's full line of cars (too much to ask for them to standardize, I suppose), so the device itself could be produced fairly inexpensively, I'd think.
__________________________________
Joe Baker, who knows a car design guy at Ford, and will bounce this idea off of him.

[windshieldbug]

I don't foresee drive-by-wire for some time to come, though.

Houston, uh, we have a blinker problem. And cold-starts. Over.

[Kevin Hendrick]

Wait'll the drive-by-wire systems start becoming mainstream.

"I'm sorry, Dave ... I'm afraid I can't do that."

[MaryAnn]

Oh, I'm going to be a "p.c. freon-lacking crumbly space shuttle foam" hypothetical. Natch!

MA, who finds herself unable to let go of the truck. I love sweet Jezebel even though she has been unfaithful. She was / is sort of my midlife rebel symbol, much as bikes were my young-adjult rebel symbols. Maybe I'll fix her up and keep her anyway...

[Joe Baker]

... even though she has been unfaithful... Maybe I'll fix her up and keep her anyway...

Sure. We all need a little something on the side for when we want to do something dirty!



____________________________
Joe Baker, who is celebrating his 19th wedding anniversary today, and has a '95 full-size van on the side -- and NOTHING ELSE!!

[MaryAnn]

Well, Joe, as for doing something dirty using your definition....Jezebel would do much more poorly in this environment than new Roo. Jezebel has higher ground clearance but only two wheel drive, while Roo has that AWD. Jezebel is more suited to driving TO the dump than driving IN the dump.

MA, who also names and talks to her tubas. I haven't decided if Roo is male or female...but I think maybe s/he is androgynous. The tubas are all boys: Chaz, Franz, and Ebert. The horn, Smitty, is also a boy.

[Chuck(G)]

MA, who also names and talks to her tubas. I haven't decided if Roo is male or female...but I think maybe s/he is androgynous. The tubas are all boys: Chaz, Franz, and Ebert. The horn, Smitty, is also a boy.

Wonder if folks name their shoes or their food...