Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Booooo, can you keep it for a week/steal it?
Late to the party, but yeah, I have the Bullitt through next Wednesday.

It's a hilariously loudpiss car.
 
I also had a case with a local BMW dealer where I had a confirmed appointment to test drive an M235i. When I showed up, they told me that the best they could give me was an auto 228xi because “it was too cold for manual RWD cars to go out on test drives.” Mind you, it was around 50 degrees, so not that cold, and the car I wanted to drive didn’t even have summer tires. Pointing to my much more powerful RWD manual Mustang didn’t help either. I was pissed because I had driven 20 minutes out to the dealer, if they knew it was so cold, they could’ve called and postponed my reservation.
The hell? Where do they think BMWs come from, Death Valley?
 
I see no reason why you couldn't digitize em and post on a private forum. Doubt that Gente Motori would be trawling a random forum just for some old magazines.

Yeah, that's what I thought as well. Now I'm mainly wondering if there is enough interest in those scans, as each of those is about 300 pages.
 

If they are listening to my mic without me turning on Siri or whatever Google calls their version, they are committing a felony. I do know they have the capability to remotely turn on the mic, but I doubt it is done often.

Like I said above, the way LATCH is at the moment it couldn't take a sensor, they would have to be redesigned, which might not be as cheap as you think. You are also talking about extra wiring and such.

I am talking about the standard seatbelt latch. Nothing fancy needed, been around for decades.


Now more logic is being added to the software.

No! No computer needed.


Do people even pay attention to those? No one in NYC does for sure.

This explains a lot.

That sounds beyond annoying.

A mild annoyance compared to the death of your kid sounds like a minor trade off.
 
I am talking about the standard seatbelt latch. Nothing fancy needed, been around for decades.
LATCH is not the same as seabelt, they are special mount points specifically for child seats and are usually used when using a seat with a harness (you can mount them using seatbelts but in my experience LATCH is better). So having a sensor on the seatbelt isn't going to be all that useful in a scenario where a kid is not big enough to use one.
No! No computer needed.
How is computer not needed if it needs to know if the key is inside the car or not?
A mild annoyance compared to the death of your kid sounds like a minor trade off.
I don't want the car to bong at me every time I open the door to go get my kids out, it's fucking annoying. If some alert is implemented it needs to know when I actually left the car alone.
 
I keep forgetting that an actual key is a rare thing these days.
 
I keep forgetting that an actual key is a rare thing these days.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/04/tesla-owners-locked-out-of-cars-app-outage/

Tesla does have a backup plan for this nightmare scenario. All Model 3 owners are given a “credit card” key they can use to unlock the doors and drive with. There’s also an optional key fob owners could’ve bought for extra cost. Model S and Model X owners should have an actual key fob, but it’s not required. The problem here is that none of these folks who were “locked out” seemed to have one of these backup devices with them. It’s estimated that the app was down for about four hours.
 
It all your fault. Give us a real key.
 
1989-2001 medium duty International 4000-series chassis ambulance. DT466e or T444 (7.3 Powerstroke) engine.

$4000. Father-of-a-friend seller, motivated because he's moving to a state where he'd have to do epic battle with the DMV to keep it and not have to go full balls DOT compliance on it, whereas I can slap a mattress, genset and camp toilet in and call it an RV.

Why should I not sell the Ram stakebed and use this as a tow rig/camper/utility truck?
 
1989-2001 medium duty International 4000-series chassis ambulance. DT466e or T444 (7.3 Powerstroke) engine.

$4000.

Why should I not sell the Ram stakebed and use this as a tow rig/camper/utility truck?

Does the ram have an extended cab? I would think the single cab with no real space in the ambulance to recline your seat to be more of a PITA than the dodge. Those econoline chassis are not sophisticated in any way.
 
Does the ram have an extended cab? I would think the single cab with no real space in the ambulance to recline your seat to be more of a PITA than the dodge. Those econoline chassis are not sophisticated in any way.
The Ram is a single cab and awful in every single way except the engine.

And it's not an econoline.
This (representative picture, it's been awhile since I've seen this particular one in person):
3556190

Not this:
3556191
 
The turbo setup of the stock engine would cripple the low end torque compared to the hypothetical NA engine; the NA engine would be able to produce more torque off the line thereby shattering the gearbox.
Right, lowering the torque peak up top but raising the curve at the bottom end. Ah well, not like this was going to be any more than a thought experiment for a long time, if ever.
 
How bad of an idea is a DB9? A co worker is looking into one, my Googling hasn’t revealed too many major issues.

You know, they’re actually not that bad. IF you know how to cross reference part numbers and can do maintenance yourself. Granted you’ll still get hosed on the Aston specific parts, but they’re fairly reliable cars.
 
Thoughts on General Grabber Arctic tires for the Grand Cherokee? Our driveway is very steep (slopes down from the street), curves sharply, and if you slide down it you'll go through a fence and down a steep hill - good snow tires are a must.
 
You know, they’re actually not that bad. IF you know how to cross reference part numbers and can do maintenance yourself. Granted you’ll still get hosed on the Aston specific parts, but they’re fairly reliable cars.
That's what I'm seeing as well, seems like they mostly if you are religious with maintenance.

Thoughts on General Grabber Arctic tires for the Grand Cherokee? Our driveway is very steep (slopes down from the street), curves sharply, and if you slide down it you'll go through a fence and down a steep hill - good snow tires are a must.
I hear good things about General Grabber A/Ts. My buddy had an XJ when he went to school in upstate NY (lots and lots of lake effect snow) and he said once he switched from w/e came with the car to the GGATs he never had any issues in the snow. I would think dedicated winters would be even better.

Was trying to finally learn how to heel and toe.
  • Mustang pedals are a bit too far apart to do it comfortably
  • Coyote engines rev way too fucking freely
 
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