851–860 of 875 posts
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I rented a Toyota recently. The A-pillars were so huge that I thought I'd better drive around near the rental company for a while to get used to it. So I did that, concentrating on driving safely instead of concentrating on navigating. I ended up on a hospital campus, in a lane intended only for ambulances. There was no visibility for cars shorter than ambulances, and I crashed on the way out. (At about 10 km/h, so n…
That was not anticlimactic.
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neither of those cars sounds particularly fun to drive, so that's probably where your disconnect is. it's very fun to row through the gears of a moderately sporty car; that's where people's "fetishm" (more accurately "preference") comes from
Honestly, my manual 97 Civic was so much more fun to drive than my current car (a Prius V). I'm on board with it being a hybrid (though it actually gets roughly the same fuel economy on the highway) and especially happy with gas prices what they are now. But I don't think you need a sporty car to appreciate the torque you generate in a manual
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I currently use a (automatic) borrowed car from the shop while my (manual) car is being repaired. I mostly do city-driving. One of the biggest issues with the automatic is stop-and-go traffic. It's absolutely trash at accelerating smoothly but fast, and I have no choice but to either go very slowly forward to not make it janky, or really aggressive acceleration. With a manual car, smooth-but-fast acceleration is easy…
Audi Q3 does not have a representative modern automatic transmission. You should try a car with a CVT from the last 2-3-ish years to feel the difference.
The six-speed automatic in my KIA for example, is from the past three years and it is not entirely great. It is perfectly fine 98% of the time, but those last two percent...
* Shifting speed is highly unpredictable on kick-down
* In certain temperatures it will slam the shift from first to second even when taking of very softly
* It will randomly decide to stay in a needlessly low gear on long, gentle inclines, even though there is plenty of power in higher gears if you force an up-shift in manual mode
* On low-speed sharp inclines (like my own residental street) it desperately stays in second gear to the point of almost stalling the engine, before does a brutal panic-downshift to first gear
But in standard highway driving or city-stop-and-go it is really nice.
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How is regenerative breaking not the same as engine breaking? Other than the lack of ICE in the EV, the engine is being used to slow down the vehicle, it has the exact same effect.
Well it’s not the same in a similar fashion of “1 + 1 = 2” is not literally the same as “3 - 1 = 2”. Maybe they accomplish similar goals but downshifting to brake can be done for as many gears as the transmission contains in a stepwise fashion. But without a transmission in a single speed vehicle with regenerative braking it’s more of a “spectrum” of braking and not directly controllable by the driver. And for the re…
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Most EV motors are fairly flat, but as you mention, they use software to further flatten in. Reality is; the torque curve is nearly perfectly flat.
That’s contrary to electric motor theory and to the dyno test that I linked above. The power curve is much flatter than the torque curve. https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/02/29007...
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Honestly, my manual 97 Civic was so much more fun to drive than my current car (a Prius V). I'm on board with it being a hybrid (though it actually gets roughly the same fuel economy on the highway) and especially happy with gas prices what they are now. But I don't think you need a sporty car to appreciate the torque you generate in a manual
Totally unrelated but I’m the GP. I currently own a Prius V and it is my favorite car ever. Bummer that it was discontinued.
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Got the f-150 as the main family vehicle. Extra width is a huge deal. we don’t feel squished together on trips. Kids and and dog have plenty of room. And the bed is plenty big for all luggage / camping gear. Plus it’s useful when we do need to haul couches or bigger items. Downtown park isn’t fun but is doable.
so what you need is a minivan and what you got is a truck. this is pretty much what we're complaining about yes.
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The giant A pillars are a nuisance for sure, but you're supposed to bob and weave your head with any size A-pillar. Even with the smaller old A-pillars you can hide plenty of things behind it. If you're ever in the Netherlands you should book a driving lesson for shits and giggles. Not claiming we're all amazing drivers, but we sure do have hard driving exams when compared to the USA.
In the USA, if you have a pulse, you'll pass the driving exam.
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High loads at low revs are stressful on engines, which is why automatics won't let you hit more than 20-30% load in a high gear.
Has a modern engine ever failed from insufficient shifting down? I feel like it’s a non-issue in reality in modern engines? Also I assume your point doesn’t apply to diesels, and I’ve noticed the same shifting down in diesel autos.
and the point does apply to diesels, the same as it does to any engine with pistons and a crankshaft. it's just that the operating range of a diesel is a bit lower.