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Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

eupolicy.social

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Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#361

Post by nottorp »

Aurornis wrote: post #328
nottorp wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the weather, heated mirrors may be a safety feature. I'd very much like that for rain/foggy days for example.

This comment section went from “I don’t understand why car makers don’t sell a cheap stripped down car without luxuries” to “Heated mirrors and seats are very important” very quickly. HN comments discovering in real time why the stripped-down base model vehicles don’t actually sell. People like those luxury features and they choose to pay extra for them.

But which ones are luxury? I don’t want a fucking infotainment system that has the fucking a/c controls on the fucking touch screen for example.

And I’m not willing to pay 30% extra for electric and then wonder if it’s safe to rent a cabin in the woods for the new year’s.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#362

Post by torginus »

Sorry for going counter to the narrative, but I had a friend who had an early 2000s Citroen which was made around the time when French cars had the worst reputation - and I tell you, by the stories he told, they deserved it.

There was no part on this which didn't get replaced during the scant few years he owned it, and it left him stranded like half a dozen times.

He contemplated setting it on fire rather than selling it, not wanting the next lucky owner to go through the same stuff he did.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#363

Post by emtel »

weli wrote: post #287
emtel wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Guillotine for the super rich Can we not glorify mass executions on HN please? Bluesky is available if that's your thing.

When did hacker news become so right wing that saying the French revolution was a good societal movement is seen as "glorifying mass executions"? lmao

I'm not sure you have to be terribly right wing to say that a "societal movement" which includes something called "The Reign of Terror", in which tens of thousands of people were executed, was a bad thing. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution#Reign_of_Ter...)

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#364

Post by nandomrumber »

jfengel wrote: post #285
graemep wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you are right that this is linked to how much time people spend in their cars. I am quite happy with a cheap car because I do not use it everyday, and even when I do the majority of my journeys are short ones (15 to 20 min).

I really wish there were an even cheaper car for that use case. Perhaps billed as a second car for families, where one is used just for commuting and errands, and the other is the general purpose one with a longer range. Say, with an 80 mile battery, two seats, and under $10k. I gather that they exist in China and might be allowed into the US. I'd buy one.

I was hoping secondhand Nisan Leaf’s would fit those criteria by now.

The Nissan Leaf’s biggest problem is it’s the only vehicle in its class worth considering, or available at all, so secondhand ones are sold at whatever the market will bear.

There’s the Prius, but whoever is responsible for its styling will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#365

Post by bluedino »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #327
IgorPartola wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Ford F-150 (14 gen) and the front is so huge I need to step on the front grill guard to reach anything inside the engine compartment. It is all around an unreasonably sized vehicle. My excuse is that (a) I do use it for home improvement stuff and for hauling stuff around and (b) I work from home so no commute. But for most people who do not work construction this is an insane daily driver.

> I do use it for home improvement stuff and for hauling stuff around I don’t understand this argument, as they seem incredibly impractical for that. There is very little space for ‘stuff’, there is only the uncovered bed which is relatively small. The bed is also at an awkward height so very impractical to get stuff in or out. Since the bed is open, you always have to take all your ‘stuff’ out, you can’t leave tools…

You can fit a full size dresser in the rear sat compartment in the crew cab models (the most popular model)

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#366

Post by rickydroll »

fpoling wrote: post #237
ninalanyon wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to city air pollution is a different vehicle with a different drive train: an EV. The C15 is a workhorse for farmers and craftsmen not for shopping trips and driving the family to visit granny on the other side of town.

EVs are still heavier than ICE vehicles and will for the next 10-20 years unless one is OK with a tiny battery. And heavy weight means more pollution from wheels that produce particles that ends up in lungs. Note brakes also pollutes with asbestos but EVs typically have regenerative braking so I think brakes pollutes roughly the same in a heavier EV as in ICE car.

I compared the weights of EVs versus ICE, and they were surprisingly close. Most of time, the differences were in the 15% range, and then you find exceptions like the Hummer, which is 30% heavier. I'm sure it comes as no surprise That the heavier the vehicle, the bigger the difference in ICE versus EV weight.

While I think lighter weight vehicles of all types would be a big win, I fear that ship has sailed. I think we have an opportunity to reset vehicle size both from a desire for cheaper and simpler vehicles. Look at cost and weight of the BYD EVs and the new pickup trucks from Slate and Telos.

Overall, I find the slightly increased weight for an EV to be an acceptable trade-off. Brakes last longer, tires, depending on make, are about 10% shorter life at most and overall maintenance is much less. Since I keep my cars until the body goes toes up, I have a much lower carbon footprint. than the 3yr lease route

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#367

Post by bluedino »

kube-system wrote: post #157

> The Ford Ranger (2020). One of the most popular pickups in the US. A key selling point is that the cabin is so high you can run over toddlers without even noticing. The craziest thing about this criticism is that it is phrased as hyperbole but the reality is that this is seen as a small truck in the US. The Ford Ranger actually is the best selling pickup truck in Europe for 10 straight years, but doesn’t sell as mu…

The even smaller Ford Maverick sells twice as many as the Ranger

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#368

Post by immibis »

ambicapter wrote: post #296
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sane environmental stuff you mentioned has morphed into a requirement for deeply integrated electronic oversight Decent catalytic converters require an array of sensors, ECU, and ability to fine control the engine inputs to work - without them most large cities would become smog ridden hells.

What do the sensors do? There's not much you can change in the catalytic converter so I assume it's just reading temperature? So I assume it's changing the fuel/air combustion ratio according to the cat's temperature?

Not a motorhead but IIRC a combustion with too little oxygen produces soot (pollution) and one with too much oxygen produces NOx pollution, with a sweet spot in the middle. The exhaust oxygen sensor allows the ECU to adjust the air/fuel mix to hit the minimum pollution spot, instead of estimating it.

There might also be a catalyst temperature sensor or something.

It's not a "whole bunch" of sensors, it's a few sensors and it's not some inscrutable magic, it's somethijg someone could replicate in open-source if they had equipment and time. We really need to get away from the mindset that proprietary stuff contains inscrutable magic. It's often worse quality than the open thing. However, it does have the right connections to be allowed to be put in a car that drives on the road.

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