Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What drives me crazy is driving around with my brother where he's constantly changing the fan speed, temperature control, cracking the windows, closing them etc. Why would anyone do that to themselves when you can just put it in auto, enjoy a constant cabin temperature of your liking, and focus on driving?

I know someone like this. But they actually stress out about it. "No, no, if I put it on auto, it's distracting." How can it be more distracting on auto than dicking around with the controls every few minutes?

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Totally. I don’t even use regular cruise control on the highway, let alone adaptive.

I like driving and enjoy feeling like I’m actually driving, not just sitting.

I'm a hybrid of this. I enjoy the driving, but I find that with a lane departure assist feature, my arms aren't as tired after a 6-7 hour drive. I actually want a vehicle that has a ton of lane assist, self steering and adaptive cruise control. I'd use it like 1% of the time on long drives and not worry as much if I have to take a few seconds/minutes to change or put on a jacket/sweater, grab a drink or eat a snack.

Originally Posted by photon

I've never driven a car with any kind of lane assist or adaptive cruise so not sure if I'd like it. Probably depends on the kind of car, I don't use cruise much in my coupe but when I had a Murano I used it a lot more.

It depends what you're trying to do. I like these features for when I want to divide my attention a little bit. Snack, clothing, music, map, chat, yelling at kids etc. and not accidentally blow by a radar because I wasn't fully alert and looking for them (has happened a few times over the last few decades), jerk the steering wheel to re-centre the vehicle due to a momentary lapse in attention etc.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

So you're the guy I end up having to pass 5 times on the way to Banff while my cruise control is set at 125

Nah that’s the other guy. He’s battling with the cruise control guys who don’t up their speed to pass “because I’m going fast enough.”

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I'm a hybrid of this. I enjoy the driving, but I find that with a lane departure assist feature, my arms aren't as tired after a 6-7 hour drive. I actually want a vehicle that has a ton of lane assist, self steering and adaptive cruise control. I'd use it like 1% of the time on long drives and not worry as much if I have to take a few seconds/minutes to change or put on a jacket/sweater, grab a drink or eat a snack.

If you’re not risking driving off the side of a mountain while you open your bag of Takis, then you’re not really living.

[Fuzz]

I use normal cruise everywhere, including 50km/h zones. I find it safer, because I'm not constantly glancing at my speed, and I keep my foot hovering over the brake so I can stop quicker. Anyone else do this?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm one of those ones who prefers manual controls for my temp. I'm not a fan of the car going full blast with the air/heat at startup. I also like to be able to control my AC etc as I'm not a big user of it.

I'm the sliver opposite with the nannies. Lane keeping, radar cruise, blind spot...meh, it's all nice, but all that stuff just dulls the driving experience and makes me zonk out. I know some like that, but I personally enjoy the act of driving and operating a machine, so I don't mind. Having to pay attention also keeps me alert. The only luxury items I really like is heated seats and remote start for my car that I park outside.

Just give me the biggest engine you got, a manual (if possible), a sweet stereo, and I'm good to go. It's probably why I don't mind (and often prefer) driving older cars.

Okay, that's kind of not quite getting what I'm saying.

I love driving. Nobody buys a sport sedan to just turn all the nannies on and sit there. I deliberately bought one with a hard button to instantly kill traction and stability control. I literally came out of work sideways yesterday. I have this thing dialed when I want to (and can) drive.

Most of the time I'm driving in traffic or on highway. I turn my stuff on to traffic assist drive me home in a bumper hump. With a flick of my thumb it's all off if I need to do some jockeying around strugglers or if a lane opens up. Traffic again...I'll let Jeeves take the wheel. I get absolutely nothing enjoyable from giving my full attention to stop and go traffic.

On the highway, sorry, but I'm over just holding the wheel and driving at 125 or whatever on the TransCanada highway for the 40 minute straightaway after Calaway giving two painted lines my undivided attention. If you're having fun doing that, hats off, but to me it's monotonous since I do it a couple times a week. For that stretch (and others like it (e.g. driving to Saskatoon or Edmonton, which I also do)), lane keep and radar cruise is amazing. It's absurd to not like it.

As I approach curves (I believe I was talking about the twists around Lac Des Arcs just a couple weeks ago), I always disable the nannies and have my fun.

So yeah, when it's time to drive I'm right there with you, but let's not pretend those opportunities are ever present. Unless, maybe, you don't do a lot of straight highway driving or if you don't drive in rush hour. Those chores went from boring and even soul sucking to downright enjoyable. Cooled seats, sick stereo and my car driving me in a bumper hump while I'm getting a massage? Fk yeah.

You can have the best of both worlds. I have the fun car to rip in and I also have a car that chauffers me (again, button on/button off). All for the price of a loaded Rav4, mind you.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I use normal cruise everywhere, including 50km/h zones. I find it safer, because I'm not constantly glancing at my speed, and I keep my foot hovering over the brake so I can stop quicker. Anyone else do this?

No

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I use normal cruise everywhere, including 50km/h zones. I find it safer, because I'm not constantly glancing at my speed, and I keep my foot hovering over the brake so I can stop quicker. Anyone else do this?

100%. Part of it is modern cars are so quiet and smooth at speed now. Like, throw me in my Bronco II or my Chevette and 50 feels like 50. 60 feels like 60. The limits made sense.

Now with a good car 60 feels like you're army crawling along the road. All the speed limits are so fking slow for our modern cars; they're the same limits from when Tempos, Cordobas, Gremlins, Omnis, etc. ruled the roost. I use cruise just so I don't accidentally creep up into a rational speed for the roads. Gotta keep it artificially slow and boring.

[Bill Bumface]

I never understood the auto climate control debate until I owned a car with a horrendous implementation of auto climate control. The well done ones never give you a reason to even notice it's on auto, let alone get the urge to play with anything but the temperature dial.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I never understood the auto climate control debate until I owned a car with a horrendous implementation of auto climate control. The well done ones never give you a reason to even notice it's on auto, let alone get the urge to play with anything but the temperature dial.

Yeah, the comment about the fan blowing on full blast is an old school auto climate control gear grinder. My auto has settings for low, medium and high. I leave it on medium. If my phone rings it automatically goes to low, which is kind of a nice touch.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Okay, that's kind of not quite getting what I'm saying.

It's all good, I get where you're coming from. In general you and I just have different philosophies (and budgets!) when it comes to cars. I get the reason for all those things, I just don't particularly need them myself.

Btw, last summer I drove 8000kms back to Tuktoyaktuk and back, and Im not sure I activated cruise once, ha.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Table 5

It's all good, I get where you're coming from. In general you and I just have different philosophies (and budgets!) when it comes to cars. I get the reason for all those things, I just don't particularly need them myself.

Btw, last summer I drove 8000kms back to Tuktoyaktuk and back, and Im not sure I activated cruise once, ha.

Huh. Okay, then. Yeah, it's funny two car guys can be so different on this stuff, but there you have it.

[chedder]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I never understood the auto climate control debate until I owned a car with a horrendous implementation of auto climate control. The well done ones never give you a reason to even notice it's on auto, let alone get the urge to play with anything but the temperature dial.

My 22 f150 has auto climate and it is awful. 20 degrees outside, set it to 20 and in blasts sauna hot air at your feet forever. Never gets anywhere near the temperature your asking for. Some days it's way too hot and others too cold. It's all over the Internet with complaints and Ford says it's all fine.

That's a gear grinder of service departments. If it doesn't throw a code they don't believe you and won't do anything about it.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm one of those ones who prefers manual controls for my temp. I'm not a fan of the car going full blast with the air/heat at startup. I also like to be able to control my AC etc as I'm not a big user of it.

I'm the sliver opposite with the nannies. Lane keeping, radar cruise, blind spot...meh, it's all nice, but all that stuff just dulls the driving experience and makes me zonk out. I know some like that, but I personally enjoy the act of driving and operating a machine, so I don't mind. Having to pay attention also keeps me alert. The only luxury items I really like is heated seats and remote start for my car that I park outside.

Just give me the biggest engine you got, a manual (if possible), a sweet stereo, and I'm good to go. It's probably why I don't mind (and often prefer) driving older cars.

A well set-up automatic climate control system shouldn't go full blast of heat or cold at startup. Our old 2014 Outback was terrible for that but most modern automatic systems should ramp up the cooling/heating gradually. I usually always find summer/winter temperature settings in my vehicles that work for me and for the most part I leave them there all the time. Fiddling constantly I find akin to the old style ON/OFF temperature control with a large deadband that makes you feel like you are going through several temperature cycles in the car as it goes from hot to too cold, back to too hot, back to too cold. People don't constantly change their house thermostat several times in an hour so I just don't understand why so many prefer oscillating temperatures in their vehicles.

Radar cruise control is one of the greatest recent additions to cars as you can set your speed and just focus on steering. Not sure why anyone would want to go back to having to constantly brake then resume cruise control manually on busy highways. To me this isn't enthusiast driving stuff and more inconvenience of getting from point A to point B. Now lane keeping I don't care for because it intervenes when I don't necessarily want/need it to but when you consider the amount of distracted drivers these days anything that keeps people safe from them is a good thing and I would add if you are driving by yourself on the highway and getting a little tired, may be a good thing to alert you that you need to snap out of it a little more subtly than hitting the ditch.

[DoubleF]

For those quickly going from too hot and too cold... are you sure the vent positions are optimal? Angle the vents a little further from blasting straight at you or too far from you and you won't have to fiddle with it as much?

[81MC]

Originally Posted by Sliver

100%. Part of it is modern cars are so quiet and smooth at speed now. Like, throw me in my Bronco II or my Chevette and 50 feels like 50. 60 feels like 60. The limits made sense.

Now with a good car 60 feels like your army crawling along the road. All the speed limits are so fking slow for our modern cars; they're the same limits from when Tempos, Cordobas, Gremlins, Omnis, etc. ruled the roost. I use cruise just so I don't accidentally creep up into a rational speed for the roads. Gotta keep it artificially slow and boring.

Reaction times have not improved though. If anything, I bet my life they’re worse because the constant distractions. 50k zones theoretically are places where there is a higher risk of cross traffic, blind spots, pedestrian/vehicle interchanges etc.

It’s widely reported that the total stopping distance is impacted more by perception&action time than the braking capability of the vehicle. Performance variance also maters less at lower speeds; the 22 Sienna and 92 Tempo are going to be closer in stopping distance at 50kmh than the distance covered during perception and reaction time.

I agree with you on highways where the potential for cross traffic and children and is lower, no doubt. But your normal 50 zone? Nah, those are rarely appropriate places for faster driving.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Reaction times have not improved though. If anything, I bet my life they’re worse because the constant distractions. 50k zones theoretically are places where there is a higher risk of cross traffic, blind spots, pedestrian/vehicle interchanges etc.

It’s widely reported that the total stopping distance is impacted more by perception&action time than the braking capability of the vehicle. Performance variance also maters less at lower speeds; the 22 Sienna and 92 Tempo are going to be closer in stopping distance at 50kmh than the distance covered during perception and reaction time.

I agree with you on highways where the potential for cross traffic and children and is lower, no doubt. But your normal 50 zone? Nah, those are rarely appropriate places for faster driving.

Yeah, you're right.

Highways and maybe a handful of other roads (like John Laurie).

[calgarygeologist]

I'm looking for recommendations for a good mechanic. I had a shop that I liked and was going to for the past 5 years or so but they closed in June and now I need to find a new place. Pretty basic Ford vehicles in my house.

If the shop can do mechanical work as well as wheel alignments that would be awesome because I need to book an alignment in the next two weeks and also get an oil leak diagnosed which started about 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Knibbe in Crowfoot is a frontrunner because I have heard a lot good things about them.

[kevman]

Knibbe is where we go when I'm not doing it myself.

It's a little out of the way for us (much preferred their old Centre St. location) but they've always been super honest and do quality work. I like how they will show you the parts they took off so you know exactly what was wrong. They also won't try to sell you new brake pads cause you have 6mm left when they only started at 10mm and are only half spent.

[Nufy]

Does location matter ?

I use Lads Auto off of Ogden road for stuff I don't want to do myself.
(Which is becoming more and more as I get older...)

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Nufy

Does location matter ?

I use Lads Auto off of Ogden road for stuff I don't want to do myself.
(Which is becoming more and more as I get older...)

North would be my preference. My previous mechanic was by the airport but Ogden is okay since access to downtown is easy enough.