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My current 2004 SilverJettaTurboWagon has just under 200K miles on it.
My previous 1995 Jetta had 167K on it when I sold it.
My 1983 GTI had 147K on it when I sold it.
My 1982 Jetta had 159K on it when it got totaled.
My 1966 Ford falcon had 189K on it when I sold it.
My 1959 Ford police interceptor had 311K miles on it when I sold it.
I'm just guessing here, but are VW and BMW owned by the same company, or produced in the same factory? Else why is Laminar implying so, other than just hassling BadKosh?
If a Subaru doesn't last you til 160k you're doing it wrong.
I'm just guessing here, but are VW and BMW owned by the same company, or produced in the same factory? Else why is Laminar implying so, other than just hassling BadKosh? .
Different companies, separate plants, parts and design.
My worst "luck" has been with Italians (yeah... I know), anything out of the British Midlands (nothing shocking there), and Cadillac, particularly their performance models (2 CTS-Vs and an ATS-V). The Germans have been good to me.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
ouch! I must have missed this problem. Amend my comment to apply to pre-2000 subarus... I still have a lot of miles on my 2010 to add so we'll see if the head gasket goes.
If a Subaru doesn't last you til 160k you're doing it wrong.
Or the differential grenades itself without warning, which happened to a WRX I owned, twice, and my old XT6, which I plan to restore one day (I loved that car).
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
VW owns Audi, Seat, Skoda, Porsche, Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini, along with a couple of truck manufacturers, but not BMW. One can mostly ignore the luxury brands, but the mainstream cars share a lot of parts.
All the penalties over Emissions-gate will see them selling off Lambo, Bentley, and Bugatti, which is sad, I think they've done a great job of improving overall quality. (Even if they've made Lambos a bit boring. They were better when they were trying to kill you.)
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
It just doesn't appear to be a large enough step above Rob’s (Audi) to make a difference. More like a lateral move with an incremental forward movement in the same motion.
i DON'T hate VW. Thats ALL I've driven since 1982.
Betrayal always hurts more when it's someone you really like.
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
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Mar 9, 2016, 10:33 AM
Originally Posted by angelmb
It just doesn't appear to be a large enough step above Rob’s (Audi) to make a difference. More like a lateral move with an incremental forward movement in the same motion.
It's way less power than his wagon, but waaaay less weight too. And it would never be a nice car, just something to abuse and tear around in off road.
Bullshit story. Just look at the pic, how neatly that tree was cut.
It was planted in the car. Probably by the police, to make the story go viral.
Illinois... I have no words.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
How do you explain that neatly trimmed tree ? There's something to the story we're not being told.
Someone PUT that tree on that car. It's impossible to end up cut like that from being run over.
So my Ford Focus Diesel decided to have an argument with its turbo. Apparently the oil feed is a bit suspect on these. Fine to messy in two seconds flat. Now I have no power and smoke a go-go if I go over 2000 rpm.
Apparently a new turbo is £800-1000 ouch! Most places say they wont warranty the new turbo as its too hard to clean all the cack out of the system when the old one detonates and I've heard plenty of tale (internet heard) of the replacement turbo going west only a few weeks later due to oil contamination.
Ford will only do an entire engine swap if I want a waranty. even much more ouch!
Anway, I've been offered a Volvo V70 TD estate at a steal. I imagine they'd be pretty indestructible and I even like the looks, but then I like giant estate cars. I know the owner and he looks after it really well. 130,000 miles but just had a clutch and rear suspension replaced.
Good plan?
This space for Hire! Reasonable rates. Reach an audience of literally dozens!
I got to spend some time in an '03 Honda S2000 on some country roads this past week. What a fun little car that just loves to be pushed.....unfortunately it appears they aren't getting any cheaper these days. Wish I had the extra cash, but at the going price for good-condition ones they're not much of a deal.
I also got to play around with an Acura RLX hybrid. Totally different car, but also very fun in its way. It has torque vectoring AWD, and surprisingly fun to push around corners considering it's a big heavy sedan. Also, shockingly good mileage...I got 7L/100km in normal-mode highway driving over 150km, and then 10.2L/100km in Sport mode and driving a little like I stole it (for a car that wasn't mine on a public highway).....pretty good for 377hp, hahaha. I also went 0-60mph in an empty mall parking lot at an self-timed 5.6 seconds! Unfortunately the electric motors in the rear take up a ton of trunk space, though, so you don't get a ton of rear storage for being such a big car.
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
S2000s have increased in value by ~25% over the last 12 months, same goes for the FD RX-7 and A80 Supra (with unmolested manual turbo A80s going for crazy money, you're better off getting a nice NSX). They'll never be "cheap" again.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
Crazy. This one is in mint shape and driven solely by the original owner, who is a retiring coworker. Looks like it just rolled off the line - even under the hood is spotless. Sounds like he will get a pretty penny.
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
He needs to sit on it and keep it in clean condition for another decade, it'll probably double in value.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
Why? You get the same return as a broad indicator fund, and get to enjoy driving it on the weekends.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
Nah, parking it is worse, even collectible cars need to be driven, to keep them at their best. Guarding against paint chips is cheap and other minor blemishes are relatively easy to take care of when it's time to sell. Even better, collector auto insurance is cheap, compared to what you'd pay on a daily driver.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I'll post this here so you guys have an opportunity to condescend either me to each other. Last summer I replaced the tires on my car. While nominally listed as the same 'size', I'm fairly certain the walls on my new tires are taller. This doesn't bother me per se, however I think the new tires have made my mpg estimates (and mileage in general) inaccurate.
My first evidence is that upon replacing said tires my mpg dipped 3-5 mpg, which to me seem heavy even factoring in the change from near bald tires to fresh ones. My second piece of evidence is that I have an app that tracks my driving that is under the impression I'm getting much better mpg based on my GPS mileage and its reading of my gas tank (Since GPS is likely inexact, I have my doubts about being able to trust this estimate).
Where I begin to play with fire is some quick analysis of whatever the proper subject is (math, geometry). I think if the tire walls are taller, than the circumference is larger, and assuming the car measure distance via revolutions of the wheel, then more distance is being covered without the vehicle knowing it.
What happens is that if the size of your wheels is off, then the speed and the distance travelled as reported by your car instruments will be wrong. Both of those are effectively rev counters for your wheels. Bigger wheel means fewer revolutions for the same distance traveled, i.e. distance travelled is underestimated and so is speed.
To check, pick some time when are driving on a straight road at constant speed with good visibility of the sky, and check what speed your GPS reports compared to what your car says. Keep in mind that cars are generally calibrated to show slightly higher than actual, to avoid legal liability. If the car shows a lower number than your GPS, then something is up.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
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Mar 16, 2016, 11:04 AM
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar
Educate me, you wretched souls of CarNN.
Do you happen to know the brand and size of the tires before and after? Tire manufacturers publish actual diameter data that you could use to compare before and after. Tire pressures matter too - a slightly deflated tire has a smaller effective radius than a fully inflated one.
I replaced tires on my car last year with the same size, but like you I realized the new ones were a bit taller. There's a speed camera that tickets anything over 70mph, so I alwasy set cruise at 69mph (heh) on that road. I ended up getting a ticket mailed to me for going 71mph even though I religiously set cruise at 69. I compared my phone GPS to car speed and found the car was reporting a slower speed than actual from the GPS.
Originally Posted by P
Keep in mind that cars are generally calibrated to show slightly higher than actual, to avoid legal liability.
Do you have a citation for that that doesn't involve anecdotes? I drive a lot of different cars from every carmaker with my phone's GPS running and everything these days seems to line up. Maybe in the days before electronic speedometers this may have been the case, but it's easy to be accurate today when multiple VSSes send speed to the ECU, which sends the actual speed to the cluster via CAN, where a servo sweeps the speedo needle.
Do you have a citation for that that doesn't involve anecdotes? I drive a lot of different cars from every carmaker with my phone's GPS running and everything these days seems to line up. Maybe in the days before electronic speedometers this may have been the case, but it's easy to be accurate today when multiple VSSes send speed to the ECU, which sends the actual speed to the cluster via CAN, where a servo sweeps the speedo needle.
It may be different in the US, but in the EU there is certainly an effect like this. It is an effect of the certification rules. I don't know the US certification rules, but the EU certification rules state that the indicated speeds must never be less than the actual speed, but that it can be up to 10% + 4km/h greater. If you want the document number, it is 75/443/EEC, section 4.4. This document is older than I am, but I cannot see that it has been superseded. The reasoning is apparently that it is a way to trick people to drive slower, because a proposal to update the spec to something more relevant was defeated in 2001.
And yes, it would be trivial to make a better speedometer. The speedo needle isn't even physical in a lot of modern cars, and since the ABS and traction control systems require an extremely quick and specific measurement of rotation speed, the cars "knows" very well how fast each wheel is turning.
(I happen to know of an example where an engineer built a launch control system entirely in software, because all the sensors he actually needed for it were already in the car for other reasons)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
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Mar 16, 2016, 12:53 PM
Originally Posted by P
(I happen to know of an example where an engineer built a launch control system entirely in software, because all the sensors he actually needed for it were already in the car for other reasons)
I set up launch control on my M3 for fun. The Megasquirt has the capability built in, it just needs a clutch switch, of which the M3 already has two (neither worked for me, though, so I added my own using a motorcycle brake light switch).
Also added a 0-5V pot that lets me change launch RPM on the fly.
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Last edited by Laminar; Mar 16, 2016 at 01:48 PM.
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She's shoved this to the back burner, unfortunately.
The big hurdle she's having trouble with is parking. I think I may have said, street parking in this neighborhood can entail 20+ minutes of puttering around, and she's not thrilled about the idea of renting a space somewhere.
I forgot about the Fiat 500 Abarth (bought one awhile back), it's a blast to drive, and very easy to find parking for (even fits in some motorcycle slots). If she's a person who is rough on cars it could be a bit too delicate, some of the interior bits feel a little flimsy, but it sure is fun and economical.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I love those little buggers, they're a hoot. Truly terrifying over 45mph (which takes a while to reach).
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I forgot about the Fiat 500 Abarth (bought one awhile back), it's a blast to drive, and very easy to find parking for (even fits in some motorcycle slots). If she's a person who is rough on cars it could be a bit too delicate, some of the interior bits feel a little flimsy, but it sure is fun and economical.
She actually entertained the idea, but her big issue with anything in that realm is she's from right outside Peoria, and often makes the 600 mile round trip home and back.
how often is often, and would the price of renting a zip car for the weekend eclipse the cost of a parking space per month...
Living without a car is tough though.
how often is often, and would the price of renting a zip car for the weekend eclipse the cost of a parking space per month...
Living without a car is tough though.
I'm honestly not sure what a spot costs around here... soooooo happy I have a garage.
When it comes to long-term Zipcar rental, there's a bit of a catch-22.
Right off the bat that's about $300. Even if it's a two day rental, she gets killed on mileage.
Where it gets sticky is there's an Enterprise not too far away. At worst, they're going to give you something on par for cheaper. At best, it'll be like last time she went home: they gave her a Mustang for about $150. It's really hard not to go with them.
The problem with this is it kills what makes Zipcars so attractive. They're low friction. Going to Enterprise and dealing with their shit is a pain in the ass, and you have to go by their schedule. The even bigger drag is returning it. She gets home at midnight... okay, spend 20 minutes finding parking, and then wake up an hour early to drive it back to Enterprise before work. Blech.
This is why she goes home once or twice a year, as opposed to the 6+ she would if she owned a car.
Wait, you had multiple passengers and you went with a Mini over the Civic?
Was it the new 2016? I drove the Turbo version and it was pretty nice. CarPlay is sweet. I hear they are finally bringing the Type R, which should also be a blast.
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Last edited by ShortcutToMoncton; Mar 24, 2016 at 11:57 AM.
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Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
Wait, you multiple passengers and you went with a Mini over the Civic?
Was it the new 2016? I drove the Turbo version and it was pretty nice. CarPlay is sweet. I hear they are finally bringing the Type R, which should also be a blast.
I'm assuming it was pre-2016. What I disliked most about it was the front of the car felt about a mile away, and the turning radius was garbage.
Had never driven a Mini before, so I wasn't aware the passenger space was so tight. Luckily, the third passenger was a dog, so she actually liked the tight fit.
I could have just let her go in the back of the van, but then I'd have to clean out all the plaster dust, and if I got into an accident she'd bounce around like a pinball.
They have a Mazda3. I'll prolly check that out next.
Interesting....weird that you would zone in on the turning radius of all things. I don't think the Civic's radius is unusual compared to any other cars in its class - the Mazda3, Corolla, Jetta, etc. In fact, I would be very surprised if it was significantly larger than the Mini's radius?
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
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