Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Apparently the new Focus diesel will be auto-only. WTF are we, America?

It seems carmakers really want us to buy the auto versions of their cars. They seriously underestimate the amount of people who wouldn't buy a car if it wasn't available in a manual. Most of my family would never consider an automatic car, nor would many of my friends, and these aren't car enthusiasts in any way. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
 
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Apparently the new Focus diesel will be auto-only. WTF are we, America?

It seems carmakers really want us to buy the auto versions of their cars. They seriously underestimate the amount of people who wouldn't buy a car if it wasn't available in a manual. Most of my family would never consider an automatic car, nor would many of my friends, and these aren't car enthusiasts in any way. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Stop-start tech doesn't work well in a manual car. Also, due to idiotic government regulations about fuel economy, more and more cars are coming auto-only because they have autos getting better fuel economy than manuals in the tests now.
 
Yeah, and because of that all supercars with dual clutch or automatited traditional 'box start with the auto mode on, because they use the default mode for economy tests.

By the way, Start Stop works as well as it can in manual gearboxes. I still hate the thing, but mostly because of the extra stress it causes to starter, crank etc, but it works. I'vent driven any diesels with start/stop, but they might be a bit rough and shaky of course.
 
There is so much wrong with this post, I almost don't know where to start. I'll cover the CTS down below.

Worn spark plugs DO affect gas mileage. See: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/engine/plugs.html for a visual representation.

Among other things, as spark plugs wear, the gap increases. This means that more voltage is required to bridge the gap with an arc; it also means that your spark will be thinner and weaker. Your flame kernel will therefore be smaller, lower temperature and perhaps even delayed by the coil having to charge up more to fire. Delayed fire is effectively a timing change and can throw off your fuel economy. A smaller flame kernel can result in less complete combustion, also throwing off your fuel economy. A lower temperature flame kernel can slow the rate of combustion, effectively delaying spark timing.

In theory, you can pull out the spark plugs, clean and regap them then reinstall. However, since you're pulling them out anyway and sparkplugs are cheap you might as well just go ahead and replace them at the interval specified by the manufacturer.

Your logic is sound and I do believe it in theory. I've never seen in practice though. I've never seen a car with a horrendous gas mileage just because of spark plugs. Usually it's the O2 sensor that puts you in the teen figures. Worn spark plugs may cause 1-2MPG loss, but not a significant change that the normal driver would notice.

Again, that is my personal opinion on the matter and I don't expect anyone to trust it blindly.
 
It has been demonstrated by multiple studies that worn spark plugs can knock off as much as 25% of your fuel economy. Not just a tiny loss. Thing about worn spark plugs is that the degradation is gradual so most people just assume the car's getting old and economy is going down. The O2 sensor generally tends to go all of a sudden, which makes people notice.
 
Focus diesel is a dual-clutch right? At least it isn't a slushbox.
 
It has been demonstrated by multiple studies that worn spark plugs can knock off as much as 25% of your fuel economy.

I wonder how much difference it would make to mine, they were replaced almost a year ago now. :think:

In other news I filled mine up yesterday, first time I've brimmed it for a long time. 44.7L from almost empty to full. The cost? ?58, equivalent to around $93. From the figures I had from the last fill up it's doing about 19MPG (imperial gallons), so that's about 190 miles from ?58. Sometimes I wish I had a normal car :lol:
 
I went about 190 miles with the daily driver and filled it up for $18 last night. I am glad not to have a normal car. :evil: :mrgreen:
 
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I went about 190 miles with the daily driver and filled it up for $18 last night. I am glad not to have a normal car. :evil: :mrgreen:

You also live in TX, so you have cheaper gas than most of the rest of the country. :p
 
And his daily driver is not actually a car :)

Edit: By the way, I am drooling over this at the moment. XKR coupe 11k

Just one more month, one more month till I come back and start the actual shopping.
 
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If it's mostly highway miles without much shifting, a tranny service should be enough to keep it running for a while. The local Jag mechanic has seen that drivetrain run up to 300k, at which point the throttle body went.
 
If that is the case it would still be a $6k gamble.
 
Even then, $17k for an XKR coupe is not the end of the world. Worlds better than spending it on buying and servicing a Volvo :whistle:
 
Started looking at the Saabs history and dicovered that not the previous owner but the one before that had a personalised numberplate, which is now on a Ssangyong Rexton automatic. Why would you do that? :lol:
 
You also live in TX, so you have cheaper gas than most of the rest of the country. :p

Not that much cheaper, really.

That's what paying 0.6?/l for petrol instead of 1.6?/l does :dunno:

Not exactly; that's what getting 4.5 L/100km will do. (To use one arbitrary system instead of another...)

And his daily driver is not actually a car :)

Bingo. For those that missed it, this is the current daily driver:

IMG_0198.JPG


Edit: By the way, I am drooling over this at the moment. XKR coupe 11k

Just one more month, one more month till I come back and start the actual shopping.

If that is the case it would still be a $6k gamble.

This, though there are ways around it and unlike some older Jags the Merc transmission the Rs used is actually rebuildable as well as still in production. Having the transmission fail isn't the end of the world so long as you know it's coming and prepare for it (by, say, laying in a salvage transmission or buying an aftermarket warranty.)
 
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Like I said, no big deal. At 0.6?/l my regular-sized estate can get around for less than $18 for 190 miles.

1. Your estate isn't regular sized for over here.
2. Even leaving that aside, your estate won't do 0-100kph in 2.8 seconds while getting 4.5L/100.
 
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