Our "own" car reviews

[narf]

It's not slight or vague, it's there... Just weak compared to my high compression engines back home. Shifting the Eos into first is like hitting a wall, during my Swiss trip in July only one downhill grade out-accelerated that. Here the grades are less than in the Alps, but several times first only slowed the acceleration.


A small update on the HUD: It's actually not too dark in the sun with sunglasses on... But it's partially polarised with the wrong angle, so my sunglasses kill most of it. Tilting my head makes it bright again, but isn't great to drive

 

[narf]

Quite a contrast... The car does both well though. Hit several detours due to closed roads... Always when I wanted to turn anyway

Massive multi-storey is massive.

 

[Spectre]

It's not slight or vague, it's there... Just weak compared to my high compression engines back home. Shifting the Eos into first is like hitting a wall, during my Swiss trip in July only one downhill grade out-accelerated that. Here the grades are less than in the Alps, but several times first only slowed the acceleration.

Don't know about low compression - that V6 has a 11.5:1 compression ratio. It is, however, a direct injection motor.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Coast forever syndrome. Most conventional automatics have it, but GM's transmissions are especially prone to it - it's actually designed in that way so it reduces fuel consumption when you let off the throttle. The box essentially decouples as much of itself as it can and to hell with engine braking.

That explains a lot....I've been driving my parents Malibu a lot recently...the 6-speed in that is one terrible autobox, for the lack of much engine braking and much more. I wont go on but between that and the horrible DBW throttle (nothing..nothing...ohh there it goes..too much!)...it is nigh impossible for me to drive that thing smoothly.

 

[93Flareside]

Either the Patriot's CVT does not have CFS or the aerodynamics are that bad.

 

[Spectre]

Either the Patriot's CVT does not have CFS or the aerodynamics are that bad.

CVT != conventional automatic. CVTs, dual clutch and other robomanual 'automatics' and similar do not suffer from coast forever syndrome unless the maker *really* wants the thing to clutch in on deccel.

 

[narf]

Porsche's PDK has a "sailing" feature that disengages the engine when just taking your foot off the loud pedal... But obviously not when downshifting manually.

 

[Spectre]

Porsche's PDK has a "sailing" feature that disengages the engine when just taking your foot off the loud pedal... But obviously not when downshifting manually.

GM, sadly, is not always that smart - not the 'sailing' feature, that's been in automatics since the PowerGlide and before. The engine braking when not in 'Drive' part.

 

[CraigB]

Today we have a two-for-one as I got to drive two vehicles I have never driven.

We will start big and work our way small. So ladies and gentlemen, girls and Spectre, I present to you the:

2006 GMC Topkick



My sister-in-law got a job about 200 miles east of here managing her own paint store. It's been a very quick deal and they need to get moved this weekend. THe company is paying for the truck and fuel, so my brother ordered up the largest truck he could find locally from U-Haul. Which happened to be one of three GMC Topkicks located at a convenience store in Oronogo, MO.

I think this is a good point to out that in the US, you do not need a special license to operate a vehicle with a combined, truck and trailer, GVWR of 26,000 lbs (~11,800 kilograms). I forgot to look at the trailer, but I saw the truck had a GVWR of nearly 20,000 lbs. I'm sure there is a length restriction, but I am unsure what that might be, if anything.






The interior was very comfortable. The pleather front drivers seat was well cushioned and I think would be great for a long trip. Instrumentation seems lifted out of a similar year GMC/Chevrolet pickup. It's a sea of hard plastics in black and blacker, so not the most stylish, but good enough for a truck meant to work.





Cargo capacity can be measured in Jimmy Hoffas. I believe this one is rated at 137.65 Hoffas, equivalent to about 14 VW Golfs or 7 Skoda Suberb Combis.






Engine is in deep in the engine bay, under an air cleaner larger than most Kias. This particular truck has the 8.1 liter gasoline big block. Power is good for such a large vehicle, but I'd venture to say that the turbo diesel models would probably be better suited to moving this much weight. I was able to drive the truck about 20 miles, all rural highway. Cruising at 65 MPH was not a problem, however I was unloaded. On the move it will be loaded with all their belongings and her 1999 GMC Sonoma on the trailer behind.

Overall I think it will do the job just fine, I mean if it didn't, U-Haul should just give up.


On to review #2, the smaller of the two:


2004 Honda Ruckus (Camo edition)





Dad bought this last week from a racer who no longer used it and we plan to use it around the track.

He warned me that the idle screw had to be turned all the way in for it to a) idle and b) run. I knew this was not correct from the years I spent messing with Honda Express scooters. After work today I rode it the 4 miles home from the track, topped off the gas tank ($1.45) and took it home to remove the carburetor and clean out the garbage. The carburetor is not as easy to access as I had originally thought and it took me about 2 hours to pull nearly all the plastics off the bike, remove, dismantle and clean the carb, then put it all back together. I was rewarded with a much better idling and running scooter though.

Top speed is 27 mph and is reached at a leisurely pace. Though that might have to do with your authors, let's say, generous proportions. Braking is good and since the front brake can be used a line lock, burnouts were done.

Here's a bit of info I find odd though. In the state of Missouri (and I am sure other states) a scooter with 50cc or less, that can travel no faster than 30 mph is considered a motorized bicycle and is not required to be registered or insured. You do however have to have a valid license, but no motorcycle endorsement is needed. Helmets are optional too.

I think it will be fine addition to the Mo-Kan fleet and will service us well to check for oil, align sensors, etc.

 

[Hbriz]

I find the idea of a truck that big running on petrol just ludicrous. I fail to see anywhere there where diesel torque and economy wouldn't be better than whatever a massive petrol engine can offer.

Of course now Prizrak may come in to tell us we need high revving engines and the noise of a V8

 

[NecroJoe]

Because it's the US, and a rental...chances are, the people renting it aren't familiar with diesel, and would likely screw up the fill-up.

 

[Spectre]

I find the idea of a truck that big running on petrol just ludicrous. I fail to see anywhere there where diesel torque and economy wouldn't be better than whatever a massive petrol engine can offer.

Anywhere up north that you can't plug in overnight when the temperatures drop. Big diesels do not like to wake up on a cold morning and many fleets up there do not buy them for this reason. Diesel torque and economy doesn't do you much good when you can't get your fleet of trucks to start.

- - - Updated - - -

Because it's the US, and a rental...chances are, the people renting it aren't familiar with diesel, and would likely screw up the fill-up.

UHaul used to have quite a few diesels (they bought a LOT of my truck's siblings and cousins, and old UHaul trucks are also quite popular donor trucks for people swapping 7.3s into other things) and they still have some few in the fleet. While the idiots sticking gas in the diesel tanks was an issue, it was mostly mitigated by copious labeling on the truck and a disclaimer the renter had to sign, etc., etc. The number one problem they had with them was someone moving from the Southwest, Southeast or just plain South to somewhere up North in Fall, Winter, or early Spring. They'd have a tank of 'summer' diesel' from tanking up in the South, where it was warm, drive North, stop for the night someplace it was cold... and the truck wouldn't start the next (cold) morning. Block heater not plugged in, sometimes gelled diesel in the lines. UHaul got tired of the service calls and has since been buying gassers to replace the diesels over the past decade-plus.

It seems to be limited to UHaul and their customers, though, since all the other major rental truck fleets (at this size of truck) are pretty much all diesel except for some few stationed way up North. On the other hand, the other rental fleets don't advertise themselves as being newbie friendly and idiots welcome either so in-duh-viduals tend to gravitate away from the 'big professional box trucks'.

 

[NecroJoe]

I gotta say...the low step-in height is a big benefit when moving! I've done Budget, Enterprise truck and UHaul, and I'll do UHaul any chance I get. (Enterprise, if it's just a cargo van, though...unlimited mileage within CA/NV/OR)

 

[Beni]

Ah, Narf is on holiday so Spectre has to disprove what he just wrote by himself...

 

[Spectre]

Ah, Narf is on holiday so Spectre has to disprove what he just wrote by himself...

Just passing on what I learned from UHaul and fleet buyers up north.

But don't believe me - ask CrazyJeeper, who is just back from three years up in rural North Dakota. He'll tell you the same thing.

- - - Updated - - -

I gotta say...the low step-in height is a big benefit when moving! I've done Budget, Enterprise truck and UHaul, and I'll do UHaul any chance I get. (Enterprise, if it's just a cargo van, though...unlimited mileage within CA/NV/OR)

UHaul's lack of maintenance on their equipment is legendary. No shortage of links on Google, but this page has links to a few good ones: http://www.uhaulsafetyalert.org/UHaul_problems.htm

Not an impersonal story, either. I lost an XJ6 on a trailer being towed by a Uhaul truck when the trailer's brakes locked up for no apparent reason on a curve and the whole rig jack-knifed off into the ditch. The driver of the Uhaul sling wrecker they sent out to pull the assembly back to the nearest city thought I was BSing about why the crash had occurred... right up until the trailer brakes engaged *again* of their own accord, ripped the truck and trailer assembly right off the wrecker's boom and the whole mess went spinning into the highway median.

I didn't have *any* problems making a claim with Uhaul's insurance after that - whenever they claimed I'd caused it, I pointed them right back at their own employee's testimony and they shut up.

Uhaul is at the very bottom of my list for vehicles.

 

[Beni]

Just passing on what I learned from UHaul and fleet buyers up north.

But don't believe me - ask CrazyJeeper, who is just back from three years up in rural North Dakota. He'll tell you the same thing.

You basically told us diesel rental trucks don't work 'up north' when they're operated by UHaul but seem to be fine when operated by other companies. So even if CrazyJeeper would back it up it would still not be coherent.

What kind of low winter temperatures are we talking about anyways (the usual ones, not the thrice a century ones)?

 

[Spectre]

You basically told us diesel rental trucks don't work 'up north' when they're operated by UHaul but seem to be fine when operated by other companies. So even if CrazyJeeper would back it up it would still not be coherent.

Not really. You missed the part about those other companies stationing gas powered trucks up there in those areas. Only Uhaul is in the process of completely dumping all their diesels, and it's at least 95% complete except for some old PowerStrokes that somehow haven't been cycled out of their fleet yet. It does seem that the non-Uhaul fleet renters are better about plugging the block heaters in at night or a couple hours prior to setting off in the morning in such an environment.

Just FYI, the big pickup/box truck diesels start having problems cranking up on their own without a block heater starting at around 2-4C. It's not the diesel gelling in those cases but the fact that the oils used in them become suspiciously not unlike cold maple syrup at those temperatures; the big engine wants a *lot * of power to kick over from dead cold at that point and sometimes it's more than the battery array can provide. US winter diesel batches have sometimes been observed gelling at around 0C, which makes the problem worse. Our 5% biodiesel mandate hasn't helped there either. (This is the not-working part - if you don't plug in the block heater, it doesn't want to start.)

What kind of low winter temperatures are we talking about anyways (the usual ones, not the thrice a century ones)?

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/58801 - to use where CrazyJeeper was as an example.

 

[narf]

Ah, Narf is on holiday so Spectre has to disprove what he just wrote by himself...

I'm "working"!

 

[rickhamilton620]

Just passing on what I learned from UHaul and fleet buyers up north.

But don't believe me - ask CrazyJeeper, who is just back from three years up in rural North Dakota. He'll tell you the same thing.

- - - Updated - - -



UHaul's lack of maintenance on their equipment is legendary. No shortage of links on Google, but this page has links to a few good ones: http://www.uhaulsafetyalert.org/UHaul_problems.htm

Not an impersonal story, either. I lost an XJ6 on a trailer being towed by a Uhaul truck when the trailer's brakes locked up for no apparent reason on a curve and the whole rig jack-knifed off into the ditch. The driver of the Uhaul sling wrecker they sent out to pull the assembly back to the nearest city thought I was BSing about why the crash had occurred... right up until the trailer brakes engaged *again* of their own accord, ripped the truck and trailer assembly right off the wrecker's boom and the whole mess went spinning into the highway median.

I didn't have *any* problems making a claim with Uhaul's insurance after that - whenever they claimed I'd caused it, I pointed them right back at their own employee's testimony and they shut up.

Uhaul is at the very bottom of my list for vehicles.

Came hoping someone would mention their notoriously dodgy safety record, leaving satisfied.

LAtimes did a 2 part investigation about them:

http://consumerist.com/2007/06/24/u-haul-knowingly-rents-deadly-trailers/

 

[NooDle]

Because it's the US, and a rental...chances are, the people renting it aren't familiar with diesel, and would likely screw up the fill-up.

Is that even possible? I tried to refuel an identical petrol Astra to mine and tried diesel out of habit...the nozzle just won't fit so you have to be quite an ididot and quite thorough to do this.

I'm "working"!

Well do your job then and explain to the good Americans thatas long as the battery isn't shit, diesel engines work fine in -20?C. Pre glow ftmfw.