[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

If you're emulating a manual sequential shifter, then pull back to upshift is correct.

Maybe I’m missing something, but with the vast majority of manual shifters I’ve seen, whether one pushes or pulls to upshift changes depending upon the gear.

If I had to give upshifting a consistent direction it would be right.


Edit: or is what I’m missing the “sequential” part?

[MacNNFamous]

He's talking about race trans stuff. You pull back to shift to the next gear.

[ghporter]

Not sure if this is “car stuff” or “other computer stuff” but it involves my car, so I’m putting it here.

My car’s satellite radio stopped yesterday. Just stopped. It only displayed “000 Radio ID”. Not even the free “here’s why you should subscribe for this fabulous content” channel.

Very little searching was needed. My Honda infotainment system has a reboot option. You push and hold the volume knob/power button until the display says “Do you want to reboot the radio” and say yes. Then it goes ahead and reboots. Related research points to this system running on some variant of Android… And I don’t know if this reboot had any effect on the nav system - which uses the same display.

In any case, now I know more about my car. And it’s good to know that the computers that actually run the car are NOT part of the infotainment system. However, my completely digital dashboard and many of the safety and convenience options ARE managed through interfaces in the infotainment system. So while I am not worried that the engine will suddenly become possessed or something, I am mildly concerned that some Android glitch might turn my dash illumination OFF while I’m driving at night. What fun!

[Brien]

How is Android such a POS regardless of application? I've used TVs, streaming boxes, etc. with it as the OS and they all seem to need semi-frequent reboots or they get... weird.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

That seems super edge case. I’ve never heard of people having to reboot their Hondas

[ghporter]

I’ve had essentially the same infotainment system (two different vehicles) since 2017, and this is the first time I’ve had to reboot it. I had one other computer related issue, but it was a “car management computer” thing. A programming error meant that the motor that sets the parking brake was accidentally left on after the brake was latched in the “parked” position. This drained the battery pretty quickly. Honda did a quiet recall (addressed only if a customer complained), and they both updated the computer and replaced the battery. I can see not having everyone bring their vehicle in, since the error did not necessarily cause problems for every vehicle every time.

As for being an edge case, I found my solution on the second or third Google hit, from a CR-V owners’ forum. It appears that the infotainment system might be easily overwhelmed in some situations. Maybe if you use satellite, Bluetooth, Car Play AND Android Auto a lot. I don’t know.

We just use FM now and then, and mostly listen to satellite. A typical trip for us would be three to four hours of mostly freeway driving eastward, or four to five hours driving westward. I remember doing the eastbound trips with FM and CDs, and having a consistent set of channels whether you’re getting close to Houston or to Alpine sure makes a big difference.

[Thorzdad]

Took the Forester on a roughly 300-mile road trip over the weekend. Mostly two-lane state roads and county roads. No interstates. Averaged 34mpg.

[Laminar]

Dashcam thread is too old to be bumped so here's my first real get:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa26r4eBts0

I heard it happen before I saw it, but I pulled through the intersection and pulled over. The SUV was creeping along, I was afraid she was unconscious and just coasting but she was trying to get over to my side of the road. She was a bit shaken up but okay. The guy in the truck came over to make sure everyone was okay. The SUV claimed the light had turned red and she was finishing her turn. The truck claimed his light was still good and that she turned in front of him. I didn't tell them right away that I had a dashcam, mostly because I'd never had to pull video off of it in situ and didn't know if I could do it.

Eventually the police showed up and took statements and got the tow trucks on the way. I poked around at the camera and couldn't figure out how to find my video file. My clock wasn't set so there were no timestamps and the newest video file available was from two days prior, which didn't make sense with 3 minute clips. So I let the drivers know I would have to take the card out and download the video once I got back to work.

I finally found the instruction manual online and was flipping through it seeing if there was a way to fast forward through clips when I saw the wi-fi option...totally forgot the camera had wifi. Took several minutes of Googling to find the right app in the app store only to realize it was already on my phone even though searching my phone for every combination of "dash," "cam," "z3pro," etc. wouldn't pull it up. Opened it up, connected to the camera, loaded the clip, boom, there it was. I hopped out to take that to the officer but the truck driver intercepted me on the way, he was...very...interested in what I had found. So I let the officer know I would be able to download the video and she gave me a link that I could use to submit it. Only when I played it fullscreen did I realize that I can see the opposite stoplight on the right side. Definitely red before the truck entered the intersection.

[subego]

Woops!

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Only when I played it fullscreen did I realize that I can see the opposite stoplight on the right side. Definitely red before the truck entered the intersection.

Good catch - you'd never have seen that on the cam's built-in screen.

My cam did catch someone going around a red-light once. Turn right into alley behind me, left through a parking lot, left onto cross street, right at the intersection. The light was still red for us, this took very little time.

Alas, my rear cam wasn't working at the time. The forward cam just showed someone on the cross street turning right at the light. Which was still red for us.

[Brien]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Tons of vehicles have the stop/start thing now. Not sure if it’s required, though.

I believe it is; luckily MT's don't have them (AFAIK). My GTI sure doesn't!

[Thorzdad]

I can disable it in my Forester.

[andi*pandi]

I can disable it too. In theory I wouldn't mind it if it didn't turn off just 3 seconds too soon, for the type of stop and go I do. The stalling is jarring, it sounds like the car is dying, and then there's a pause when it starts up again that just lags into traffic. If I were stuck on the interstate for 5 minutes it totally makes sense.

[Thorzdad]

In my Forester, I’ve found that it’s dependent on how much pressure you put on the brake pedal. You can stop the car and hold it there without the engine shutting off by not fully pressing down on the pedal.

[ghporter]

My last three cars have had it: a 2013 BMW x3, a 2017 Honda CR-V, and a 2021 Honda CR-V. I've found finessing the brake can keep it from activating while still keeping the car from moving. And, at least with the Hondas, tweaking the steering wheel a little bit restarts the engine. The best I can figure is that it triggers the power steering, which puts a load on the engine, etc.

I also switch it off when I'm trying to enter traffic and need lag-free power.

[subego]

In my one experience with it I kept stopping short and creeping forward to keep the engine running.

[subego]

Saw a Cybertruck, finally.

As awful as it is, I could kinda get into it if it was more practically designed.

[OreoCookie]

What I don’t get about the Cybertruck is that its design and is inspired by a dystopian vision of the future (cyberpunk). The whole car embodies that, bulletproof* doors, and “if you ever get into an argument with another car, they will lose.” I don’t see the appeal.

[subego]

I dunno… I like low-poly?

[OreoCookie]

Does it look differently, better IRL?

[subego]

Worse. The stainless just looks… weird. It needs a matte black.

It’s bigger than I imagined.

[ghporter]

I have officially seen two different cyber-chunks here in San Antonio. Definitely different vehicles; I noted that the first one I saw had a vanity plate.

The truck-thing in the 1977 film “Damnation Alley” did it better, and that particular movie vehicle looked like crap.

If they wanted to build an electric truck, why didn’t they build a truck with electric power that could do truck things? Ford did, and their electric F-150 does “truck” quite well. This “thing” doesn’t seem to have the capacity to carry a large suitcase…

[Thorzdad]

I have yet to see a Cyberjunk in the wild. I see a ton of Rivians around here, though. They’re really nice-looking in-person.

I’ve seen exactly one F150 Lightning, and it was driven by the AAA guy who showed-up when we had a dead battery on the road. We talked a lot about it. He loved the thing, and had the bed loaded-up with all kinds of tools, batteries, and whatnot. You’d never know it was a Lightning other than the discreet badging/trim and, of course, the lack of motor noise.

[OreoCookie]

The Rivian looks distinctive, modern and to my eyes attractive. Shame they don’t make sedans or, gasp, station wagons.

[ghporter]

I’ve also seen a Rivian in the wild. My first thought was that it was a very nicely customized pickup, sort of like what Lincoln maybe should have done with their pickup. (Excuse me, but I had a whole-body shiver just thinking about a “Lincoln pickup truck”).

Seriously, it looked like an understated luxury pickup truck. A quick Google search showed pictures of their SUV model, too. Sort of like what a modern Bronco and a modern Discovery might have as a love child. Not bad.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Was looking at their SUV today in a parking lot. Nice looking machine.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I will say that I’ve never been a fan of the engine cutoff feature. However I’ve had it in a truck since late last summer and I got used to it pretty quickly. As other have said it’s pretty easy to massage the brake pedal if you want to keep the engine running, but it’s pretty rare I end up doing that now.

[Laminar]

I've seen a couple Cybertrucks (or maybe the same one multiple times?) at Target, and my neighbor got one a couple weeks ago. He has one of the extra long Escalades now, I think the CT will replace that? So far he still has the Escalade and the CT sits in the driveway behind the Escalade's garage spot with the charging cord running out under the closed garage door.

As far as "truck stuff" goes, the CT has a bigger bed than the Lightning while having a shorter overall length. The Lightning keeps the F150's proportions, so it has a large front frunk where the engine would be, larger than the CT's. Honestly for what I end up using my truck for (mostly towing and general errands, sometimes stuff in bed, and verrrry occasionally a completely full bed), I'd take a big frunk to easily hold groceries and stuff that couldn't go in the bed over a slightly longer bed.

This weekend I towed my car on a trailer 125 miles at 80mph to a remote location (no on-site utilities or charging), raced the car, then towed it 125 miles home at 80mph. I got 13mpg on this trip, meaning I only used 20 of the 36 gallons of fuel in my tank, leaving me another 200 miles of range. There is no electric truck that could even make the first leg of my trip, the 125 miles towing at 80mph. Not the Rivian, not the Lightning, not the Cybertruck. If I started with a 100% full battery, slowed down to 60mph, and was willing to use 100% of the battery's capacity, I could maybe get there. But then I would need a 0-100% charge before going home, which would take hours and hours. Fast charging to 80% capacity is not an option, because 80% capacity won't get me home.

There is a Supercharger about halfway there. I could stop for an hour each way, but now my trip is 6+ hours instead of 4 hours, meaning I have to wake up an hour earlier to leave and I don't get home in time for my scheduled evening activities.

I'd love to replace my truck with something electric for the simple around-town stuff like runs to Home Depot, the junkyard, and dragging kids around, but the core function of my truck - towing - is not a viable use case for electric trucks yet.

[OreoCookie]

@Laminar
How useful is the CT's cover for the bed? Apart from aerodynamics, would you want that? (Plus, it covers the rearward-facing window.)

[Laminar]

I have one of those vinyl bed covers on my truck, probably the best thing I ever did. I wouldn't have a truck without one. Most trucks spend most of their time with very little in the bed and because there's no trunk, there's not really room in the cab for random tools, tie-downs, and other stuff you need to carry. On Costco runs I'll throw dog food, paper towels, anything in a cardboard box, and other similar items in the bed. It's nice to have that covered up so nothing blows out, bounces out, or gets nicked while I'm running other errands.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Do you folks have the electric Silverado down there yet? Is that one supposed to have some pretty beefy range? I think they’re supposed to hit Canada sometime this year, but I think there’s been some delays and I haven’t seen one yet.

[reader50]

Last I heard, the "fleet version" of the EV Silverado has been released. But the retail version is still held up.

Fleet version = the true base version, at affordable price, intended for sale to businesses. Like for delivery or service trucks. Some dealerships will sell fleet versions to the public, others will not.

Retail version = upscale versions sold at retail, with huge markups. Has the cushier seats, better sound system, premium paint jobs & subscription services. All the features you might like, but don't need. For double the price, or higher.

[Laminar]

Looks like someone tested it at 230 miles of range towing 6000lbs, which is better than any other electric truck. It's also carrying 2000lbs more batteries to make that happen. So in that case I'd only need to stop for 1-2 hours on the way home to charge instead of both ways.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Ahhh, that’s how they did it. Well I guess if you had a DC fast charger en route you could stop for 20-30min and probably get more than enough juice for the 250 miles? Apparently those can be hit or miss though.

[Brien]

Seems like there's a market for a solar panel bed cover, no?

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

I have yet to see a Cyberjunk in the wild. I see a ton of Rivians around here, though. They’re really nice-looking in-person.

I’ve seen exactly one F150 Lightning, and it was driven by the AAA guy who showed-up when we had a dead battery on the road. We talked a lot about it. He loved the thing, and had the bed loaded-up with all kinds of tools, batteries, and whatnot. You’d never know it was a Lightning other than the discreet badging/trim and, of course, the lack of motor noise.

I've seen quite a few here. I like the low-poly N64 look, but it's IMO just too big. A Maverick scale version? I'd consider it.

The R1T and R1S both look quite nice in person as well. I'm definitely keeping an eye on R3 news.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Brien 

Seems like there's a market for a solar panel bed cover, no?

A solar panel of that size would maybe give you a mile or two of range per day.