Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

285k. :|
 
I know that Smart engines aren’t designed to last much longer than 100k, 80k-ish at the moment. The Rover V8 could implode at any mileage.
 
226k, 81+k , 280+k, 60+k - last three have had odo/speedo/instrument cluster replacements and I CBA to go look up the actual numbers for them in my records.
 
asians love this feature, entering the chinese written name of city is way easier on such a touchpad than selecting the correct icon from a list of 10000
but for us, it doesn't make sense as you'll have to enter at least 3-4 letters before the correct destination will be selected

This makes sense, since my car is sold in China as a Buick.
 
Yeah basically.

I will likely be doing like, oil changes etc myself, (they charge EIGHTY DOLLARS ffs, and I think last time they damaged the sideskirt a bit, I HATE YOU HERB CHAMBERS, you don't even know the oil needs to be changed every 3k not 5!!!) but I got the extended warranty for a reason.
How can a modern car possibly need its oil changed every 3000 miles? Most cars these days have service intervals six times longer than that.
 
How can a modern car possibly need its oil changed every 3000 miles? Most cars these days have service intervals six times longer than that.
High compression, high strung boosted engine in a very small package.
 
I just wanna say, from a purely aesthetics perspective, the Nissan 370Z has aged incredibly well. “Beautiful” isn’t the right word, but it has fantastic presence, and is very striking.
 
High compression, high strung boosted engine in a very small package.

I had to look up what a US spec 500 Abarth makes: 150hp from a 1.4, apparently. That's 10 more than you get from a perfectly normal family-spec 1.4-liter Golf on the European market. The base Peugeot 508 makes 180hp from a 1.6, and there's a 225hp version too if you want.

The engine in my own car is a 2-liter twin-turbocharged diesel. It makes 195hp, which was pretty "high strung" when it came out about a decade ago. The most powerful 2-liter diesels these days seem to make around 240-250. Anyway, 30.000 km interval.

Our company van has a 1.6 liter twin-turbo diesel making 145hp. 40.000km or two years between services, with a 1000kg payload rating and a 2000kg tow rating. Even I am starting to find that a bit insane, but I trust the manufacturer.

Obviously, all of these 30-40k km intervals are variable, with the car deciding when it wants a service depending on your driving habits or when it thinks enough time has passed. I hit around 20k km on the Skoda I had. Still over four times more than 3k miles :p
 
@Perc Remember US duty seems to be tougher on cars than Euro, likely because we basically live in our cars.

If anything, a longer commute is better for the engine oil. Fewer cold starts per km/mile, etc.
 
If anything, a longer commute is better for the engine oil. Fewer cold starts per km/mile, etc.
Longer commute is better, however that is only one small part of the equation, if you live anywhere outside of NYC and SF (and a few neighborhoods in other big cities) you are driving to go literally anywhere. We are talking if you wanna go get some milk you likely can't just walk to your local store, so you end up with a bunch of short trips where engine often doesn't get to operating temperature even when you get home.
Give you a personal example, my kids' school is 1.6 miles away so a 3.2 mile roundtrip, as I don't drive to work often (and when I do I have to switch cars after drop off) in the colder months water temp usually reaches normal mark when I'm halfway home already.
Most metro areas will have just that kind of driving where it's just far enough that walking isn't very feasible but close enough that it's not so good for your car.
 
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Longer commute is better, however that is only one small part of the equation, if you live anywhere outside of NYC and SF you are driving to go literally anywhere. We are talking if you wanna go get some milk you likely can't just walk to your local store.

Europe isn’t just London and Paris. ? There’s plenty of boonies here too.
 
Europe isn’t just London and Paris. ? There’s plenty of boonies here too.
Sure but it is way smaller than US and much more densely populated. These are generalizations that of course won’t be true for everyone.
 
@Perc Remember US duty seems to be tougher on cars than Euro, likely because we basically live in our cars.

Yes, because the US is the worst place in the world for cars. :)
 
The only reason the us environment is tougher is because we don’t have inspections to catch minor things before they get major. Nor do most owners understand regular maintence repairs. If we had a more education population, I’d feel we would have less reports of some cars failing in ways or known in other parts of the world.

I’d hazard a guess that places south of the boarder, Mexico and the surrounding countries as well as South America and Sourh Africa never mind including Russia.

But go ahead and assume the US has an environment not seen in other parts of the world.
 
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