Car Talk

It's interesting, as the response in the UK, even on the roughest sink estate would be: ''Wait to I get my hands on him! I'll show him, don't you worry!''

Meanwhile, the son has just turned up on his bicycle instead of the car. The missus has gone into war mode.

Best to just let it go, but my missus being who she is, will not let this lie now. She's in mega-apple eating mode, this means it's serious!

No point getting enraged. Let it go, with good intent and innuendo and gossip as the ultimate back-stop!
 
Chris Rea being interviewed on his first Ferrari:

“Yeah. It was instant disappointment. [Pink Floyd drummer] Nick Mason said to me once, ‘Chris, do yourself a favour. Stop trying to make excuses about all this. You’re a sad bastard. It could have been heroin. But it’s red cars.’ And he was right. There was nowhere to drive the fucking thing. Y’know, you put it in your garage. You didn’t want anyone to know you had it. Then you take it out, and you couldn’t find anywhere you could do more than 40 miles an hour. I’m a competent driver. I’ve raced at Monza. But it’s a terrible thing.”
 


a romantic view of the Rolls Royce
 
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Watched a review video on 2021 992 911 Turbo S, amazing car. Sadly no manual and the price point is ridiculous.
 
Watched a review video on 2021 992 911 Turbo S, amazing car. Sadly no manual and the price point is ridiculous.

It constantly amazes me how much performance Porsche engineers get out of that thing. 640bhp, 800Nm out of 3.7 flat 6! and drivable too.

...pity they've always been such ugly cars.
 
I Like this bloke's channel. He fixes cars and talks about the best and worst cars. Here are some videos l have found interesting.




Money pits
What l find especially interesting is all the `so called' expensive luxury cars being made with plastic parts which corrode and costs a fortune to replace. Many are said to be money pits.

 
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It constantly amazes me how much performance Porsche engineers get out of that thing. 640bhp, 800Nm out of 3.7 flat 6! and drivable too.

...pity they've always been such ugly cars.
I don't mind the look of the Porsche cars, it*s more the type of people driving it. In Germany a lot of dentists or other guys in a mid-life crisis.
 
i like this guy. this one is good as well



Yeah l like him too. The Ozzy Osborne of the car repair trade. Btw, l have seen the video you posted.

If you want a real Mercedes this would be the one, a proper car only a multi millionaire could afford. World's apart from the cheap massed produced versions on the road today.
 
A Scotty Kilmer parody:


 
I Like this bloke's channel. He fixes cars and talks about the best and worst cars. Here are some videos l have found interesting.




Money pits
What l find especially interesting is all the `so called' expensive luxury cars being made with plastic parts which corrode and costs a fortune to replace. Many are said to be money pits.

‘Wheeler Dealers’ with Edd China was the best of those car mechanic shows. Without him it is not worth watching.

The basic premise was
1 Buy an old car with potential
2 Do it up
3 Make a profit

Making a profit usually meant sale cost greater than purchase price and cost of replacement parts. It was not a true profit.

A stereotype, wide boy, Cockney car dealer - Mike Brewer - sourced the cars

An articulate and knowledgeable mechanic - Ed China - fixed them up. Brewer occasionally sourced trim and minor parts or got wheels refurbished.

The main reason for watching was seeing a good mechanic at work. Mike Brewer was replaceable. Unfortunately it did not work like that. A new production company wanted to cut costs so they reduced time filming the actual repairs.
 
If you want a real Mercedes this would be the one, a proper car only a multi millionaire could afford. World's apart from the cheap massed produced versions on the road today.
The older cab drivers here claim that the last reliable, quality Mercedes they drove was the W124 - easily went to 350k km and beyond on its first engine, even as a taxi with 90% stop-and-go city traffic. I think they stopped producing it in the mid-nineties and since then it has been downhill.
 
The older cab drivers here claim that the last reliable, quality Mercedes they drove was the W124 - easily went to 350k km and beyond on its first engine, even as a taxi with 90% stop-and-go city traffic. I think they stopped producing it in the mid-nineties and since then it has been downhill.

You better believe it, choice of Arab and African dictators, Queen Elizabeth II, undercover missions by the IDF and Marc Almond:

 
The older cab drivers here claim that the last reliable, quality Mercedes they drove was the W124 - easily went to 350k km and beyond on its first engine, even as a taxi with 90% stop-and-go city traffic.

I've heard the same about the W124. Solid construction with good quality control.

It's worth noting, though, that it's not the stop-and-go traffic that is bad for engines - that's bad for fuel economy. It's having the engine turned off and on, off and on, and only used for short trips so it doesn't really warm up that is bad for engines. Australian taxis are ordinary family cars - models like the Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Toyota Camry. It's very common for them to get to 350,000 or 400,000km without needing significant work on the engine because the engine is kept warm and is hardly turned off.
 
The older cab drivers here claim that the last reliable, quality Mercedes they drove was the W124 - easily went to 350k km and beyond on its first engine, even as a taxi with 90% stop-and-go city traffic. I think they stopped producing it in the mid-nineties and since then it has been downhill.

Yeah, there seem to be some real hardcore fans. Must be pretty good. The bloke who owns this talks about how good it is at 18:00 - 20:00 mins in. He reckons they were the last of the great Mercedes. The comments are interesting too.
 
My wife currently drives a Saab from the same time (20+ yrs old, obviously not nearly as good of a car) which somehow ended up in my hands and just refuses to die. As soon as it does, it will be a W124 for her. Like so many people, she loves the car from her childhood memories, driving to grandma with her dad, going on trips to the beach with friends, etc. Everyone loves this car but for some reason, you can still pick them up in good condition for next to nothing.

I think the guy in video is correct with regard to the accountants taking over the OEMs. I'm pretty sure though there is another big factor though, which is China. That's just by far the biggest market even today and manufacturers cater to local tastes. Doesn't necessarily affect the actual engineering too much, but definitely the design.

e. a picture is worth...
mercedes-w124-l-01.jpg
 
Hit a pothole today going 45, now air bubble on the right front side wall. Wanna sue the city for negligence.
 
Hit a pothole today going 45, now air bubble on the right front side wall. Wanna sue the city for negligence.

Had a stone or something hit the car a couple of weeks ago, then later noticed the air conditioning wasn't working. Turned out there was a hole in the compressor. They wanted Euros 800 to fix, I feigned shock and disbelief, then they said they would do it at their risk under the warranty. Never be sucker, they would have been quite happy for me to pay down at the VW dealer.

The missus has at last recognized she needs a new car and with her tax free position it could be a good one. It will have to be Toyota mind you.
 
In that case she should get the GR Supra?

She'll get that new CH-R I reckon. Unless her naturally tightness to spending money kicks in. She's already declared interest. It could go either way depending on where her mind is at down at the dealer.
 
Saw a Maybach S600 the other day; does not look anything special besides the V12 badge. The factory installed rims are super ugly. Definitely not a car I would drop north of 200k for.
 
That new Yaris Cross SUV looks great. Strong contender for the missus's new car, between that and the Toyota C-HR.
 
vehicle technology has gone overboard. When things get so shit to be Blade Runner shit then I will fly in the autocar
im with you on that part. im just not giving up my automatic, auto door locks, and auto windows.
 
im with you on that part. im just not giving up my automatic, auto door locks, and auto windows.

If I could have gotten a manual with my truck I would have. Fucking Ford auto-up windows go up and down if you run over flat road kill. Ford auto locks are a pain. They should all pop open when you stop the vehicle.
 
If I could have gotten a manual with my truck I would have. Fucking Ford auto-up windows go up and down if you run over flat road kill. Ford auto locks are a pain. They should all pop open when you stop the vehicle.
thats what you get for buying a ford.

my honda has a setting in the fancy computer to open the doors when you put it in park.
 
this was an interesting read:


really shocking to see how many people die via getting hit by a car.

It is interesting but so too is the manipulation of data. First off, the author references the Isuzu NPR which is not going to be an alternative choice for North American truck and SUV owners.

1596820034709.png


Pedestrian deaths account for 14% of traffic deals in both the USA and France even though the author quotes the lower French per capita rate. But they have been on this rise in certain countries not limited to big truck & SUV land only.

Other OECD data has shown that from 2010 to 2016, pedestrian fatalities [Canada] jumped by 10.5 per cent, behind the United Kingdom (11.6 per cent), France (15.3 per cent), Sweden (35.5 per cent) and the United States (39.2 per cent). Motorcycle deaths also spiked by 10.9 per cent.

Canada's top 2 selling vehicles are the F150, RAM pickup and Chev Silverado and GMC Sierra are 6 and 7. In the US it is F150, RAM and Chevy trucks that are 1-3. Big SUV's are out of the top 10 in both countries.

So there is more going on here than just trucks/SUVs schmucking humans. Culture? Driving skills?

Top pedestrian killing states

CA - 893 total pedestrian fatalities with a per 100,000 rate of 2.26 (#11) no truck/SUV in top 5 vehicle sales
FL - 704 - 3.31 ranked #3 F-series #2 ranked vehicle and only truck/big SUV in the top 5 vehicle sales
TX - 612 - 2.13 (#14) top 5 is all trucks with the RAV4 in-between
NY - 262 - 1.34 (#33) little cars in top 5 except for RAV4
NC - 225 - 2.17 (#13) trucks, Honda CRV and RAV4

43% of all US pedestrian fatalities.
 
It is interesting but so too is the manipulation of data. First off, the author references the Isuzu NPR which is not going to be an alternative choice for North American truck and SUV owners.

View attachment 34929

Pedestrian deaths account for 14% of traffic deals in both the USA and France even though the author quotes the lower French per capita rate. But they have been on this rise in certain countries not limited to big truck & SUV land only.

Other OECD data has shown that from 2010 to 2016, pedestrian fatalities [Canada] jumped by 10.5 per cent, behind the United Kingdom (11.6 per cent), France (15.3 per cent), Sweden (35.5 per cent) and the United States (39.2 per cent). Motorcycle deaths also spiked by 10.9 per cent.

Canada's top 2 selling vehicles are the F150, RAM pickup and Chev Silverado and GMC Sierra are 6 and 7. In the US it is F150, RAM and Chevy trucks that are 1-3. Big SUV's are out of the top 10 in both countries.

So there is more going on here than just trucks/SUVs schmucking humans. Culture? Driving skills?

Top pedestrian killing states

CA - 893 total pedestrian fatalities with a per 100,000 rate of 2.26 (#11) no truck/SUV in top 5 vehicle sales
FL - 704 - 3.31 ranked #3 F-series #2 ranked vehicle and only truck/big SUV in the top 5 vehicle sales
TX - 612 - 2.13 (#14) top 5 is all trucks with the RAV4 in-between
NY - 262 - 1.34 (#33) little cars in top 5 except for RAV4
NC - 225 - 2.17 (#13) trucks, Honda CRV and RAV4

43% of all US pedestrian fatalities.
there was a fair bit of framing but i think the intended focus was on the newer shape of these trucks and jumbo suv's which all seem to have these giant ass front ends that you can't see in front of. that's a relatively new introduction in the market i believe but you'd know more about truck design than i would. i dont remember the old trucks having these tall ass front ends that stick straight up.
 

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