Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

[Redliner]

You know what I mean...mid-mid, or mid-rear engine and front wheel drive.

 

[Matt2000]

There must surely be an obscure FWD kei van of some kind that's mid-engined.

 

[gaasc]

Not...quite

BEHOLD! Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion. Amongst its many unique features is a rear-mounted Ford V8 powering the front wheels.

 

[Perc]

I spent a couple of days on an island. There is a road network and cars, but they've all been taken there by barge and the roads range from good gravel roads to really bad ones. Sometimes there's soft sand, rocks and tree ruts. I did see an 00's Fiesta, a B5 Audi A4 and a mk3 Golf estate but I have no idea why someone went through the bother, it's like putting a fish on a bicycle. I would probably bring an early 00's Japanese 4x4 of some sort. Jimny, Grand Vitara, 4runner etc. Ideally something with a mechanical diesel and a 4 speed auto. Speeds are very low so the only road manners you could possibly need are suspension travel and softness. There is no garage so ease of maintenance is a good thing.

We were lent a Hyundai Terracan for a couple of hours to go explore, six people in a five-seat car so one had to go in the trunk. This was fine. I naturally volounteered to drive. Mid-way through the journey a friend commented from the back seat that it was nice of me to drive "because of the terrible roads". I was having a blissful moment doing a bit of delightful light overlanding in perfect summer weather, all windows down. The diesel was somewhere slightly above idle and the slushmatic either in first or second, and all I had to do was to steer and give it a dab of throttle or brake every now and then. I was even sitting in a leather seat, for christs sake. I don't know how the situation could have been improved.

 

[DanRoM]

Story time.

So... a while ago, I fell for a speed trap. Because my car is registered to my father, he was the one to receive the questionnaire from the authorities. After he sent it back saying he wasn't the driver and didn't specify who was, the authorities sent more letters - this time, to both my brother and to me.
My brother apparently didn't recognize me for sure on the photo (seriously?) and also didn't know the licence plate, so what did he do first? Message our sister if she knew the car. Not me, that came after dear sister suggested it. Anyway, my sister also didn't know my plate. So when I visited her today on unrelated business, I had to explain my licence plate to her - she assumed I got a personalized plate, but couldn't make the connection as she is neither a car person nor had she ever heard of leet speak (to be fair, it is fairly obscure). Neither had her husband, despite being an IT guy... must be a generational thing.
Anyway, because the two of them are also looking to buy a new car right now, I used the opportunity to blow their mind by introducing them to @leviathan's personal plate generator. She immediately found some (totally un-) suitable possibilities.

And yes, I did pay the fine...

 

[NooDle]

unteresting, but also, questionnaire? We just get a bill in the mail, please pay X amount before date Y or else it will get more expensive / you will need to go to court. Also here the one who registers the plate is considered as responsible, if not you need proof (a

 

[eizbaer]

Also here the one who registers the plate is considered as responsible

oh if it were only so easy!
over here, and there's been courts confirming this only recently again, the driver is always responsible. since the driver is the one doing the speeding - the owner did nothing wrong (letting someone else drive isn't a crime)! of course you could argue: if you don't know who was driving your car at a particular time, that's your bad luck, you're responsible. but no, still did nothing wrong. somehow, actually having to know who drove your car is deemed unreasonable... and in a situation like described above, you may well be able to get out of paying the fine entirely.
mind you, if it happens often enough (the "memory problems"), the court may mandate you run a drivers log. until then: free pass.

 

[DanRoM]

Considering that my offense was below the points on licence or driving ban thresholds, I would have thought that they would simply send an automated letter stating the fine, and if someone other than the owner of the vehicle was driving, those persons can sort out the payment between themselves.

But no, that town apparently has some truly German, very thorough civil servants working on such matters.

@eizbaer - I briefly thought about trying to get out of it, but as I realised quickly, the step to look up the owner's son and compare the speed tap picture to his ID picture on file is not enough hoops to make the process take three months until they reach me.

 

[eizbaer]

and if someone other than the owner of the vehicle was driving, those persons can sort out the payment between themselves.

stop it with your pragmatism! you're still in Germany after all!

Considering that my offense was below the points on licence or driving ban thresholds,

also if this, then the actual fine doesn't really hurt anyway... so why even bother trying to get out of it. would be more hassle than it's worth, really.

@eizbaer - I briefly thought about trying to get out of it, but as I realised quickly, the step to look up the owner's son and compare the speed tap picture to his ID picture on file is not enough hoops to make the process take three months until they reach me.

had a similar situation with a friend of mine back in uni - only they somehow figured it must've been his brother also bigger infraction... so it was rather relevant, because the driving license was still "young"... so in danger. everybody decided to plead the fifth (so to speak), cause it was all direct family involved etc... I don't actually know what came of it, tbh.

 

[GRtak]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zdBbPPHpB8Y

 

[Matt2000]

This might just be a British thing but there's an opportunity here:

 

[eizbaer]

"The best hot dog in the world" stuffed into a baguette? Baguette as in (possibly) crunchy / crispy crust that's gonna absolutely destroy the roof of your mouth? yes, please

also: "in a pickle", really couldn't help themselves, could they?
also also: how tf does that news lady pronounce wienermobile? if you go for the pun you gotta lean into the wiener, come on! Wiiiiieeeeeneeerrrrrrr! don't just swallow half that word trying to get past it as quickly as possible...

 

[Matt2000]

"The best hot dog in the world" stuffed into a baguette? Baguette as in (possibly) crunchy / crispy crust that's gonna absolutely destroy the roof of your mouth? yes, please

This is accurate. In fact, that ad could be straight up lying because they used to just chop the end of the baguette and then impale it on a big spike to make a hole down the middle, so the bread is compressed and tough.

 

[Perc]

So, ISA (Intelligent Speed Assist) is DING DING DING mandated BONG BONG on new BEEP BEEP BEEP cars in the EU now. Every car maker has to DING DING DING realize their customers will BEEP BEEP BEEP hate this. You can of course turn it off, but it DING DING DING comes back on after every startup.

You can do like Renault did and make it possible to create a "custom profile" with the settings you want off and on. Said profile is activated with a physical button on the dashboard. The button is helpfully lit up after the car is turned on and goes dark when you press it.

You can also do it the Suzuki way, as demonstrated here by Marek Drives, 6:03 into the video.

View: https://youtu.be/q3qhb7d08lo?t=363

 

[93Flareside]

This might just be a British thing but there's an opportunity here:
View attachment 3573020

This most definitely is not.

Source: am from Chicago.

 

[calvinhobbes]

ISA (Intelligent Speed Assist)

Is that the thing that reads the wrong speed limit signs correctly, ignores the correct ones and adds a layer of out-of-date database information into the mix before telling you to drive at 30 on a highway?

 

[eizbaer]

Is that the thing that reads the wrong speed limit signs correctly, ignores the correct ones and adds a layer of out-of-date database information into the mix before telling you to drive at 30 on a highway?

Yeah that describes my experience fairly well… I still can’t figure out when it decides to accept a sign, ignores a sign, or when it takes something from the database. There is regularity in this, from my experience, but I don’t get what the reasoning might be. But hey at least my car no longer hallucinates red traffic lights on the autobahn (it liked to mistake the overhead LED limit signs for them) and then tries to stop for them

 

[calvinhobbes]

Yeah that describes my experience fairly well… I still can’t figure out when it decides to accept a sign, ignores a sign, or when it takes something from the database. There is regularity in this, from my experience, but I don’t get what the reasoning might be. But hey at least my car no longer hallucinates red traffic lights on the autobahn (it liked to mistake the overhead LED limit signs for them) and then tries to stop for them

The stupid rented Tiguan I drove through Belgium and France a couple of months ago would actually decelerate hard when, while on adaptive cruise control, it mistook a speed limit on the highway exit for one that applied to all lanes. That did include the 30km/h limits for rest stops and service stations.

I literally floored the accelerator several times to get it out of kill-my-driver mode. IIRC, switching to regular cruise control fixed that issue, but of course it also created the issue of having to adjust the speed each time I came up to someone slightly slower whom I couldn’t overtake right away.

And while I’m at it, lane assist that pushes you into the path of an oncoming HGV on a country road with no markings can eff off, too.

 

[Matt2000]

I found it really frustrating when I had the Model 3, the worse was it detecting 30 roads as 20 for some reason or ignoring temporary speeds for no reason. The latter was more annoying as I had the CC set to use the speed limit when activated and it was very often wrong.

I'm not sure if I'd expect it to be better or worse in a Tesla but I would expect normal manufacturers to make a complete hash of it, given how they handle in-car entertainment.

 

[Perc]

Is that the thing that reads the wrong speed limit signs correctly, ignores the correct ones and adds a layer of out-of-date database information into the mix before telling you to drive at 30 on a highway?

Yes, this.

I wouldn’t want to use sign recognition with ACC anyway, because (i’m guessing) there’s no way to make the system add 5-10km/h to every sign. The feature is useless until cars stop lying about what speed you’re doing.