Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

NecroJoe said:
Why do digital speedometers skip digits?
Click to expand...
Because if they didn't, the dashboard would be an annoying, unreadable and flickering in the corner of your eye every time you accelerated or braked.
 
You don't have to have the speedo refresh that quickly.
 
I just saw a Nissan Skyline in the US for the first time in 13 years... It was a Spark Silver R32 GTS4.
 
I just drove by two gas stations (one Shell and one JET) - the Premium 95 E5 at Shell cost a whopping 1,629 Euro per litre (6.95$ per gallon) while Premium 95 E5 at JET cost 1,419 Euro per litre (6.06$ per gallon). That's an effing huge margin which I've never seen before...
 
I don't usually watch Petrolicious videos let alone repost them, but I thought this one was great. Not just because it has a Defender in it, but because it's about something other than a rich kid with an expensive classic.

 
Eye-Q said:
I just drove by two gas stations (one Shell and one JET) - the Premium 95 E5 at Shell cost a whopping 1,629 Euro per litre (6.95$ per gallon) while Premium 95 E5 at JET cost 1,419 Euro per litre (6.06$ per gallon). That's an effing huge margin which I've never seen before...
Click to expand...

I used to see this all the time. And it was stupid, there was a Shell station which was always quite cheap, and literally next door a BP which would routinely charge 20c per litre more. The weirdest part is that you still saw people in the BP regularly.
 
Hbriz said:
I used to see this all the time. And it was stupid, there was a Shell station which was always quite cheap, and literally next door a BP which would routinely charge 20c per litre more. The weirdest part is that you still saw people in the BP regularly.
Click to expand...

I asked about this once at a Shell station which was $1.00 more expensive than the other stations on that block. The cashier said that some people either have company Shell cards, or rewards cards.

The freeway exit I take to get home is the same exit you take to return your rental cars to the San Francisco airport...so that one is always at least $1.00 higher than average. The funny thing is, while you're filling up, you can look a few blocks further down the street in the opposite direction and see another station which is at least $0.50 less...then from that one you can see the station that's one of the cheaper ones around.
 
Hbriz said:
I used to see this all the time. And it was stupid, there was a Shell station which was always quite cheap, and literally next door a BP which would routinely charge 20c per litre more. The weirdest part is that you still saw people in the BP regularly.
Click to expand...

:dunno: Maybe people with company fuel cards that 1) can't fill up at the Shell and 2) can't be bothered.
 
Eye-Q said:
Premium 95 E5 at Shell cost a whopping 1,629 Euro per litre (6.95$ per gallon) while Premium 95 E5 at JET cost 1,419 Euro per litre (6.06$ per gallon).
Click to expand...
21 ct/l difference? That's new. Probably due to a price change timing difference between the two stations (to the non-Germans: it's totally normal here for fuel prices to vary by excess of 10 to 15 ct/l throughout the day).
The largest difference I've seen was 12 ct/l between a Star (low) and a Shell (high) 500 m down the road. I came by the Star first, needed to fuel up anyway so did while wondering why the fuck the station was overrun - and saw the reason after I continued my journey.
 
2) because company pays for fuel. Gas statipn makes more profit, economy benefits, everyone happy. Regular Joe without fuelcard still goes to wherever fuel is cheapest :dunno:
 
DanRoM said:
21 ct/l difference? That's new. Probably due to a price change timing difference between the two stations [...]
Click to expand...
I just looked up the prices on those two stations again, the gap is now at 23 cent per litre: Shell 1,639 Euro per litre, JET 1,409 Euro...
 
Yes, it's about 7 km away from the next Autobahn exit, but at a major through road.
 
Sooo, I 'get' to drive this thing tonight. Fully dealer maintained until a couple years ago, according to what I was told.



'O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, your lights are all a-blazing!'

Less than 100K, less than 10 years old, and oh god everything's broken in it. The groans, rattling, popping and shuddering is ridiculous. On the other hand, this can't entirely be VW's fault (only mostly) because despite appearances this isn't actually a GTI.



Yup, it's a fauxTI, made by swapping a GTI fascia onto a 'Rabbit' 2.5.
 
Last edited:
WHY!?
 
Why the faux-TI conversion or why did someone buy this horrible POS in the first place? Or why did I get stuck driving it?
 
1 and 3. VW's have varying levels of disintegration over here so no horrible POS tagging from here.
 
Spectre said:
Fully dealer maintained until a couple years ago, according to what I was told.
Click to expand...
That's the critical thing there - "a couple years" is too long, every other car would suffer from neglected service as well.

I have a 13 year old car with about the same mileage and it's fine. Of course it has been serviced and consumables and some other bits and bobs have been changed, but that's the way things goes when a myriad of parts are playing together. Even a Rolls Royce wouldn't be faultless at this point if you neglect service "a couple years"...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top