Be Excellent To Each Other

You know how it is though. You're a pedal, you've got every opportunity to have an exciting job like an accelerator, and you're stuck doing parking with no real prospects. The choke leaves you for one of the indicator stalks, your pet cigarette lighter dies, and you're just at rock bottom. What real support mechanisms are in place for a lowly parking brake that's just deep down unhappy?

Bravo, sir

I've heard that most pedals spring back quite well

I wondered where this thread had gone. I had AceAceBaby blocked and they last visited the forum six years ago.

Get to try the new 911 tomorrow.

What do you think of the Mission E concept they unveiled today, Cavey?

Didn't have you down as a boyband fan...

Must admit I hadn't heard of it; had a quick read and it does look genuinely impressive and innovative, especially the 500km+ range and 15 min charging times. If anyone can engineer a workable, practicable, worthwhile e-sports car, Porsche can.

However (and I admit for partly irrational reasons and borne of sheer prejudice), I loathe electric cars, sorry man. I shall resist them to my dying breath; I care not if I am literally the last guy on Planet Earth queuing up at the petrol pumps. I need pistons, crankshaft and spark plugs.

I've actually seen them live, too.
(They played at a charity evening in Manchester last year, Forever Manchester)

I can't cope with this paradox

Who says they're queuing for petrol though? Could be large paper Rizzlas, crisps and galaxy caramels if they're eco-hippies.

I'm finding the idea of electric cars increasingly attractive, however journeys for us are generally either (a) very short, like my commute to work, 5km each way or (b) to the city, 130km each way.

Neither of which are really ideal use cases for buying and running.

I'd have thought that the first use case would be ideal for running!

5km? Have you considered a skateboard?

Yeah, 5km... Is that all? **cough**

It's up a really steep long hill so getting to work would be tough, and getting home would be super exciting until I crashed and died.

I do have a bike though, and i rode it to work once. Planning to do that again, some day. I did walk once (when the car battery died unexpectedly) and that was nice but, y'know, too lazy to get up that little bit earlier.

It's ok, not like Australia will be a flaming inferno or anything in 50 years time. You keep driving those 3 miles.

Every VW and Audi 4 pot turbo diesel in the states is being recalled because they cheated the emissions test: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/bu ... .html?_r=2

HT: Doccy G

I'm waiting to see if they used a similar cheat on Euro spec ones, as if so it's probably on my Skoda.

Would you take it back if so? I wouldn't, I doubt.

As I understand it, it's able to detect when it's being tested during the US equivalent of an MOT and runs in low power and emissions mode. During normal road use it has no effect on economy, so the only benefit of having it removed is that it will be harder to pass the test.

I think I'd ignore it, unless there's compensation from VW as part of the recall.

Cavey is so quintessentially British that he will queue even when he is literally the last person on Earth.

It's got more power because of it, though.

Their reputation in the US is less than stellar as it is, I wonder what effect this is going to have on their sales and general business over there?

People will view it as a very American thing to do, the c car will be seen to have more power than it dOes because people will misunderstand, and they will get in all the newspapers. They will then sell a very similar car with a decent discount and make huge inroads into the American market increasing their market penetration, with user of what is essentially a loss leader.

What's the consumer obligation to take part in the recall? Are you effectively faking your own emissions test results if you leave it as is? Would testers actually fail you because of it?

The 2 litre Focus I'm driving now is a bit better on fuel and probably emissions than the Falcon (4.0 V6) I had for a couple of years ago. The wife's SUV is a thirsty thing though.

Fucking hell.

(Whizz to 20 seconds if you're in a hurry. Nothing happens once they get out of the car. Driver has a broken hand and some cuts, but is otherwise okay)

Fucking hell, lucky bastard. Are armco barriers supposed to turn into ramps like that?

Ooh, that's gonna cost him!

Even watching it on slo-mo, I can't figure it out. The car didn't drive up the Armco, because it would be rotating counter-clockwise in the air if it did. It just seems to spring into the air as if by magic, but with a really gentle rise.

It looks like he bounces up at exactly the same time he contacts the barrier rather than just going off a lump on the ground.

I'm starting to get frustrated by my lack of knowledge or awareness about car maintainence. Can anyone recommend a good book that would give an overview of common issues or things to be aware of, so the next time something happens I can keep calm and think 'ok, that's probably the flux capacitor' and/or have some idea of what the car repairman is telling me rather than looking like a idiot?

A Haynes manual for your car isn't a bad place to start, even if you don't plan on doing the work yourself.
It has a fault diagnostics section, and shows you what's involved in scheduled maintenance and repairs.

Thanks. I'll have a flick through one at the library and see they're at the level I'm after.

Yeah, they rate the difficulty of the jobs and have pictures.

Apparently, they also need to be covered in greasy fingerprints. One especially exciting fellow at a Land Rover show told me how his Hayes Manual was better than mine, as mine was cleaner. I pointed out that mine had several corrections that we'd scribbled on as we'd used it. He seemed less pleased with himself.

How stuff works is a good site to see fundamentals of engine operations which might help your understanding. Alternatively I have my old toyota training manuals which are quite basic and well written, could lend you them if you want.

Buy an old car, take it to bits, put it back together again, then try to work out why it won't work.

Because you took it to bits.

Yup

Thinking about it, that's how I taught myself HTML.

By taking a car apart and putting it back together?

Take 11 years out and get an apprenticeship at a back Street garage. Then realise that you've made a terrible mistake, that none of your skills are transferable, that your body is falling to bits and there are no prospects for advancement. Once you get there let me know what you did and how it worked out...

Weird, right?

Subaru pissing oil on to the floor and "the engine light is on". Could be pricey if head gaskets. What a 24 hours this is turning out to be.

The Picasso is due a belt change at 100k miles. It's currently on 102k miles. My last car snapped its belt. I should be worried, but the man quoted £400 to change it

Get it changed.

Been over any rocks recently?

[edit]Obviously, don't drive it anywhere with no oil in. Don't even start it up.

I know, but I can't afford it. Grrrrr

You can't afford a 2 grand engine rebuild either.