Be Excellent To Each Other

OT: I know my Mazda goes fast because I can see a graph with lots of lines on...

So, what use is this when I don't know how much the car weighs, idiots?

I want to say A4. Also, the S5 has been out ages (I saw one maybe 3-4 months ago?), so I imagine they're talking about the RS5.That's a crying shame. Apparently the 2010 M5 will have a turbocharged 4.4l engine as well, because the Euro emissions regs are going to close out proper engines. Likewise Audi saying the twin-turbo 5l V10 RS6 Avant will probably be their last really silly car (hence it being so silly). Then again, I remember Aston Martin saying the same, around Vantage (Vanquish?) S time.Ironically, a V12 might be better suited to dragging 3+ tonnes about, because it'll make more torque at lower revs. I'm sure that's not how they'll be marketing it, though.

What's this PS business that everyone seems to be quoting as output figures at the moment? What happened to BHP?

Um, yes. I made the mistake of allowing HC to pick our car last time and we ended up with a Honda CR-V which is both large and deeply uninteresting to drive, as well as being comically bad at fuel economy. It's up for sale at the moment, fortunately. Also, Honda reliability is a bit of a myth - what they do have though are dead keen dealers who fix shit pronto and courteously, unlike some dealers I've encountered. Fiat were runaway the worst, Ford were mcuh much better but all were useless compared to Honda who basically will ford rivers, scale mountains and put out fires to get your car sorted quickly and with the minimum of fuss. That does make a difference. Its a shame the car is so deeply deeply uninteresting to drive.

You have to ask? "The EU". Not strictly fair, perhaps - I don't think it's an EU directive - but PS is the continental calculation.

Hm - not fair at all, in fact, the EU was for more stupid and tried to make us use kW.

Y'know what, I think the expanding markets in China, Russia etc mean they will build whatever the market dictates and the EU can go hang. However, the whole idea of building heavier and heavier cars with bigger and bigger engines has got to stop somewhere. AMG seem to be ditching superchargers and turbos at the moment, whereas Audi and BMW seem to be on a turbo frenzy at the moment. As for the new M5, that engine is being rolled out in all kinds of vehicles including an X6 and X5 - ugly as the X6 is, apparently it handles even better than the Cayenne which is a ludicrous piece of engineering - my mate has an S and it's pretty bloody handy for something so large. Uglier than a bulldog licking piss off a nettle though.

Yes, I've found V8s more economical than V6s around town due to torque and lack of torque is the principal reason our Honda CR-V is so ludicrously thirsty around town - Honda and their vtec engines and heavy cars are a bad marriage.

W is the one true sensible measurement of power, all this horse-based stuff is, well, a load of horse-based stuff.

WFTW

A old CR-V accounts for one of the funniest things I've ever seen - I was driving in the snow about eight years ago and a CR-V was going left at a crossroads. The driver was pouring the power on for giggles, and the front-wheel drive CR-V was understeering away. After a few seconds, the little computer decided the car was struggling and engaged the 4wd system, causing it to oversteer madly and fuck off round and round in circles, ending up in a parked car. I laughed so hard I nearly turned myself inside out.

Heh. The one time I've been stuck in the snow (on an actual road) was a very steep one in central Fife. I was in my front wheel drive electric van and it was ploughing away nicely, when I notice I'm gaining on a 4x4 (a Vauxhall IIRC) further up the hill. I don't really want to slow down and lose momentum.
Then the bastard stops. He's engaging 4x4 I think. The brakelights go off and I think phew, he's about to get going again. Then he *rolls backwards at an alarming rate*, bangs the brakes back on again and slides sideways into the ditch, blocking half the road.
I had to reverse all the way back down and then got stuck on the lake of ice at the bottom.
Fucking 4x4 amateur, I'd have made it if he hadn't been in the way in his pointless tank.


I must say I laughed at the pictures of that muppet stuck in a river on the news today as well.

Couldn't you have driven past on the other side of the road?
And Frontera's (if that's what it was) are awful, awful things to drive off-road.

[edit]And I think this is one of the few situations when calling a 4x4 pointless is a bit unfair. The driver was just a twat.

Yeah but I'd stopped by then out of surprise (and it was sort of on a bend too) and couldn't get going again. Perhaps if I'd had 4 wheel drive eh? Or snow tyres..

Think it was.
Anyway, such things fuel my annoyance at them..