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G-Mach posted:The UK also shuts down at the slightest hint of snow. Try driving that same 70 mile commute with -10F degree weather with snowfall/ice and heavy winds in a one liter Citroën C1 for 5 months in a row. When I lived in the Toronto and Mississauga, I commuted all winter in an Miata with snow tires and a hard top. Ok it's not Montreal or Regina, but it still snows a lot. Ineptus Mechanicus posted:I wouldn't worry about large SUVs and pickups in a small car if I had the slightest faith in the people driving them. If I drove a small hatchback I'd have that fucker lit up like a Paddy Hopkirk themed Christmas parade float. Do European countries have a more courteous driving style? Here if you want to change lanes it's as likely as not the guy behind you will speed up and block you to assert his dominance or whatever. Yeah there is that, no matter how poo poo people are at driving here, they aren't as aggressively bad as Canadian drivers. Cars tend to be better maintained and newer here too, probably because it just gets too expensive to run an old banger, and a decent second hand car can be had for peanuts compared to the used vehicle market in Canada. -edit- Mini review of the Mercedes A-Class hire car I drove all last week (100 miles/day each way!).  It is Very Good. All of it. Any complaints I have really only serve to knock it down one spot from Excellent. First, it was a diesel automatic, so I wasn't expecting marvels. The auto box is very good though. Pretty responsive. The Eco mode on it is pretty much invisible, just serving to slow down response and acceleration, as well as enabling the auto-stop. Which works a treat by the way. You can feather the brake as you would in traffic or at a not-very-long stop, and it keeps the engine running. If you push harder, it turns off. As soon as you release the brake, the engine fires up, and by the time you're pressing on the gas, the transmission lag has caught up and you're rolling. If you know you're going to need a little bit more sprightly performance, you can just shut it off by a button push. The NVH was well controlled. The diesel only rattled a little, the suspension did a decent job on rougher pavement, there was very little wind noise below 80mph. It would happily do 90+ and the only way you'd tell short of watching your speedo is a slight increase in the wind noise. Steering is very good, light but decent feel. The cruise control is excellent. It's the best implementation I've ever seen and it was a joy and revelation to use all the time. Basically there's a little stalk on the left side of the wheel under the multipurpose stalk that you set your speed by nudging up or down. Then to increase or decrease your speed, you bumped it to the first detent to go by 1mph increments, or to the stop to go up or down by 5mph. The info screen between the speedo/tach told you what speed it was set at and any pedal input cancelled the cruise. Sounds boring but in practice it was like "why the hell has nobody else come up with this idea before" kind of good. Short of radar adaptive cruise control I don't know how it could be better. Other than the fact that you can't actually see the stalk in question (I still have no idea what it looks like) because it's blocked by the steering wheel. Comfort and ergonomics were mostly good. If found the seats a little narrow in the shoulders, and I'm not huge, but it was noticeable. The climate controls were a bit of a stretch, but you set the temperature and never touch them again so who cares. The stereo was good, but I never did figure out how to pause or stop a CD short of ejecting it (yes I used CDs because bluetooth is, was, and always will be buggy worthless crap). The SatNav worked well, but as usual the voice recognition is loving useless. The other input methods are a bit tedious but once you've worked it out it isn't bad. There is one HUGE loving GLARING FAULT with this car though, and it isn't limited to this car alone. There is no spare tire. Not even a bicycle wheel spacesaver. Not something you usually think about, until a rock punches a thumb sized hole in your sidewall. Thanks for the 12v pump and canister of Mercedes® brand tire sealing goo, Mercedes. That isn't going to do poo poo. Luckily I got the flat just outside a nice country pub which was convenient enough for a pint while I waited for the tire fitter guy to show up. Anyway, the most recent cars I've driven have all been new model Golfs and specced out they're roughly the same price. I can't think why you'd pick a Golf over an A-Class other than maybe looks. Finger Prince fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Feb 24, 2014 |
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Feb 24, 2014 21:56
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Ineptus Mechanicus posted:I wouldn't worry about large SUVs and pickups in a small car if I had the slightest faith in the people driving them. If I drove a small hatchback I'd have that fucker lit up like a Paddy Hopkirk themed Christmas parade float. Do European countries have a more courteous driving style? Here if you want to change lanes it's as likely as not the guy behind you will speed up and block you to assert his dominance or whatever. I don't know if you have ever driven anywhere else, but the drivers in the US are for the most part extremely courteous comparatively. Also in many places/countries, lights and road signs are vague suggestions at best. Maybe it's different in the extremely dense and large cities, but every mid-size city I've ever been too has been fine. That's not to say there aren't retarded drivers or rude ones, but you'll get that anywhere. Linedance posted:When I lived in the Toronto and Mississauga, I commuted all winter in an Miata with snow tires and a hard top. Ok it's not Montreal or Regina, but it still snows a lot. Linedance posted:When I lived in the Toronto and Mississauga, I commuted all winter in an Miata with snow tires and a hard top. Ok it's not Montreal or Regina, but it still snows a lot. New cars too. And the UK used car market is even more crazy, you can get some pretty amazing cars for really cheap. subx fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Feb 24, 2014 |
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Feb 24, 2014 21:56
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I feel like the US combines fairly rude driving with very high speeds. Most places seem rude but slow or polite and fast. IDK though, not direct observation.
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Feb 24, 2014 22:08
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Linedance posted:Mercedes... I'm not surprised, I still think the five-speed box in the old W210 E320 we had for a few years was fantastic. Even with 15+ years extra development time I'd say the five-speed auto in my Honda isn't quite up to par with where Mercedes was in 1997.
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Feb 24, 2014 22:36
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The last time I saw or even thought about the Mercedes A class was a decade ago in England. I thought they were kinda dumpy looking little euro-cars, with no real market in the US. Not saying I thought it would be stupid to sell them here, just that I figured nobody would buy them. Of course a decade later and hot hatches and small little runabouts are really catching on, do they have any plans to release it in the US? This new generation though...I dunno, the long front end really does wonders for the cars proportions, I like it. One question, why does it have such a long bonnet compared to the earlier ones? They didn't make it RWD, did they? Did they? 
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Feb 24, 2014 23:48
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Terrible Robot posted:The last time I saw or even thought about the Mercedes A class was a decade ago in England. I thought they were kinda dumpy looking little euro-cars, with no real market in the US. Not saying I thought it would be stupid to sell them here, just that I figured nobody would buy them. Of course a decade later and hot hatches and small little runabouts are really catching on, do they have any plans to release it in the US? No they didn't. It is sort of somewhat coming, in sedan form as the CLA, and crossover form as the GLA. I'm as anti-crossover as it gets, but the GLA 45 amg just does something to me  Using the same drivetrain as the CLA 45 AMG also means new cats and a chip takes you to 420hp/394 ft/lbs in an awd 3500lb "suv"
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Feb 25, 2014 00:01
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Terrible Robot posted:The last time I saw or even thought about the Mercedes A class was a decade ago in England. I thought they were kinda dumpy looking little euro-cars, with no real market in the US. Not saying I thought it would be stupid to sell them here, just that I figured nobody would buy them. Of course a decade later and hot hatches and small little runabouts are really catching on, do they have any plans to release it in the US? Nah, look at the proportions:    vs.   They did a decent job trying to elongate the axle-to-dash a bit to hid the fwd roots, though. I've seen CLAs in real life and they look ok I guess, though they're styled kind of silly compared to a 'real' mercedes. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 00:05
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Terrible Robot posted:This new generation though...I dunno, the long front end really does wonders for the cars proportions, I like it. One question, why does it have such a long bonnet compared to the earlier ones? They didn't make it RWD, did they? It's about the same as any other FWD car. The old A-class has a "pancake" slant-4 engine that was laid out flat going underneath the firewall, giving it SMART proportions. I guess they stopped doing that once they figured out it was impossible to service.
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Feb 25, 2014 00:20
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Cream_Filling posted:Nah, look at the proportions: Apropos of nothing but I just want to point out that despite having the correct RWD proportions the new 1 series is a horrendously ugly car even by modern BMW standards - the X1 is marginally worse but not by much, and I would rather live with a FWD A Class(or you know any of the other 1000 FWD hatches on the market that are actually decent looking) than have to look at that monstrosity in the morning.
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Feb 25, 2014 00:56
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I kinda figured it wasn't RWD, but the first picture of one posted really makes the front end look longer than it is. Still better than the previous generations.
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Feb 25, 2014 01:20
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Linedance posted:All this talk about urban planning and commuting distance and all that is really just a red herring. The stats show (at least in the UK) simular average annual mileages to North America. The difference is people do those mileages in small displacement diesels and petrol engines cars. Why? Cost of fuel and tax. My friend commutes from Swindon to Heathrow in a one liter Citroën C1. That's about 70-80 miles down the m4 at anywhere between 70 and 90mph in good traffic. There's nothing preventing a small car doing long distance and higher speeds except the driver being intimidated by all the huge trucks around them (this is a real thing for a lot of people). Exactly. US drivers don't drive significantly more than many drivers in other parts of the world and people insinuating that the average person is commuting 50 miles each way over vast expanses are kidding themselves. People in the UK commute similar distances on similar roads. The only difference is fuel and taxes.
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Feb 25, 2014 01:55
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The average Swedish commute is 10 miles one way, the avg US is 16 miles. Just for comparison.Linedance posted:There's nothing preventing a small car doing long distance and higher speeds except the driver being intimidated by all the huge trucks around them (this is a real thing for a lot of people). Very true, and related to the "driving a car with less than 200 hp means instant death" train of thought.
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Feb 25, 2014 03:20
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Nidhg00670000 posted:Very true, and related to the "driving a car with less than 200 hp means instant death" train of thought. YOU haven't merged on one our ridiculously short on ramps with masses of SUV's bearing down on you.
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Feb 25, 2014 03:31
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The average usage of cars is similar, sure, but the extremes at the ends of the spectrum are what kills it. I live in suburban NYC, about 60 miles north. I have access to everything I need and can get to the city by mass transit. Most of the US lives on one of the coasts, and a majority of that is in the DC/NYC/Boston megalopolis. That being said, God help you if you live in Montana, or Alaska yet were sold the same type of car that is sold in Europe. It's like guns, our gun ownership is exaggerated and could probably use some adjustments, but there's still areas of this country that are so isolated and filled with apex predators that a gun is almost mandatory. The US also has an RV and boating culture that is different than Europe and require different types of tow rigs. A camper in the UK and a camper in the US can be radically different in how people view them. Europe also doesn't get the numbers of people who want to own a 40ft speedboat, due to lack of places to use such a thing. The US has a poo poo ton of huge lakes and rivers that are open to boating and I'm pretty sure Europe regulates that stuff out of use on the places large enough to support such vehicles. e- for full disclosure I drive a 12mpg V-8 2wd truck, mostly to and from work and mostly alone. However, that commute is 7 miles one way and though I've had this beast for 9 years I just cracked 59,000 miles today. 7,000ish miles a year ain't too bad, all things considered. Seizure Meat fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 03:35
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Residency Evil posted:Exactly. US drivers don't drive significantly more than many drivers in other parts of the world and people insinuating that the average person is commuting 50 miles each way over vast expanses are kidding themselves. People in the UK commute similar distances on similar roads. The only difference is fuel and taxes. Here there's also a mentality of Bigger Engine Better Engine, and I don't think people would be too keen on paying a premium to get a smaller engine. Many a lay person would probably view it as paying more for less. Personally, I just went from a job that is 6 miles away, which took 15~20 minutes commute (with about half the distance at 55mph) to a commute of 8 miles one way (roughly a 30 minute commute with traffic), all surface streets (with the "option" of spending half a mile on the interstate at 65mph). Everything here is low-density urban or suburban, but my new job is in downtown. Personally, the little 1.0 Turbo in a Fiesta or Focus would be great for me, and if I were in the position to buy one new it'd be on my short list, especially if it gets the economy numbers it claims (I've heard it doesn't, though). At worse, I may make a 50 mile trip to the next closest city on interstates, or about the same distance on back-country roads, once in a blue moon. There are people, though, who won't be able to get over the idea of that small of an engine; and as you said, gas prices are part and parcel to the reasoning behind it.
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Feb 25, 2014 03:49
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That generation of people is dying out or adjusting to the high (in the US anyway) gas prices. My mom, for example, just bought a 2014 Corolla. She's always had American cars or SUV's, and the smallest car she's owned*, until now, was the early-00's Impala she had with the 3.4 six in it. She loves the little bastard, and I do too. My dad even downgraded to a used Sonoma with a 'banger in it. I don't think it's accurate to say that America as a whole entity wants larger engines still. That changed for good within the last decade or so, IMO. *I take that back, she had a Vega wagon when I was a kid Seizure Meat fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 03:55
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I think America still wants them, we're just finally wising up to the fact that $1/gallon gas is never going to come back and make my mom's dream of a lifted K2500 Suburban come true. She's still clinging on to her old '02 TrailBlazer EXT... She's owned it longer than at least her previous three cars combined, and it might be up to her previous four or five cars now. But the vehicle she wants to replace it with now, is a second-gen Volt.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:19
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I know I'm sure as gently caress hooked on big American V8's, so whatever sense my parents are gaining I'm pissing right down the drain.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:24
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YF19pilot posted:Here there's also a mentality of Bigger Engine Better Engine, and I don't think people would be too keen on paying a premium to get a smaller engine. Many a lay person would probably view it as paying more for less.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:31
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atomicthumbs posted:speak for yourself The people who want their engines screaming on a regular basis probably also want large engines. I love making my engine scream whenever I can. I also love the fact that it has 300hp. I think a good indicator of how ready Americans are to accept small turbo engines will be the Mustang Ecoboost. If it sells well enough, I think we can safely say the stigma is dying. For my part, if I end up upgrading, I'll definitely pick it over the V6 but not if I have enough money for the V8. PT6A fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 04:37
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Performance anything isn't a metric you should use to judge the overall car market. A turbo four banger Mustang has a tuner market salivating at the thought, and enthusiasts will buy it because we are educated on what the potential of such a car would be. A good test Friar Zucchini already mentioned. If people will buy a turbo V6 pickup truck then the US market is ready and willing to accept smaller engines. That's the only example you need, trust me.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:45
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If we're making (questionably accurate) generalizations about the average American buyer, honestly the typical buyer is far more likely to look at rated output and mileage numbers versus actual engine displacement.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:51
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IOwnCalculus posted:I'm not surprised, I still think the five-speed box in the old W210 E320 we had for a few years was fantastic. Even with 15+ years extra development time I'd say the five-speed auto in my Honda isn't quite up to par with where Mercedes was in 1997.
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Feb 25, 2014 05:00
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PT6A posted:I think a good indicator of how ready Americans are to accept small turbo engines will be the Mustang Ecoboost. If it sells well enough, I think we can safely say the stigma is dying. For my part, if I end up upgrading, I'll definitely pick it over the V6 but not if I have enough money for the V8. This is the boat I am in. I am totally on board with a turbo 4 Mustang, but I would only buy one if the V8 is out of reach. Because the Mustang should have a V8. Dammit. 
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Feb 25, 2014 07:47
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PT6A posted:The people who want their engines screaming on a regular basis probably also want large engines. I love making my engine scream whenever I can. I also love the fact that it has 300hp. I bet 90% of the buyers dont know its a v6. Ford jumps through hoops to avoid calling it a V6 in advertising. It may as well be a Voldemort engine.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:52
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Leaked Mazda 2 concept render. Allegedly, the real thing is supposed to be shown next week in Geneva
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Feb 26, 2014 01:56
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Is there a complete listing of the 2015 Focus engine lineup? I'm hearing about the 1.0L i3 eco but not sure what else is coming in / leaving.
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Feb 26, 2014 02:09
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Nodoze posted:Leaked Mazda 2 concept render. Allegedly, the real thing is supposed to be shown next week in Geneva I always find it funny how renders always have massive wheels and nice looking headlights, but the production model always looks dumpy with its tiny wheel arches and generic headlight design
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Feb 26, 2014 03:22
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That's the worst looking concept-car render I've ever seen. What the gently caress is going on with the wheels? Why the gently caress do they phase through/flatten at the ground. Why does the rear look like it was painted on a tarp, is the new Mazda2 being released as a Sochi Olympics tie in?
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Feb 26, 2014 04:43
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Terrible Robot posted:That's the worst looking concept-car render I've ever seen. What the gently caress is going on with the wheels? Why the gently caress do they phase through/flatten at the ground. Why does the rear look like it was painted on a tarp, is the new Mazda2 being released as a Sochi Olympics tie in? 
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Feb 26, 2014 05:36
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edit, wrong thread.
Aeka 2.0 fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 05:43
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Have you seen my apex seals? I seem to have lost them.
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Looks familiar... http://goo.gl/H2txzw
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Feb 26, 2014 06:31
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MINI is bringing a concept of the next generation Clubman to Geneva: http://www.motoringfile.com/2014/02/25/world-debut-mini-clubman-concept/. It's has four (six) doors now and is a separate model from the upcoming 5-door version of the standard Cooper 3-door hatchback. Got that? Looks pretty close to the production version:  It'll have the same engine options as the regular Cooper, so 1.5L Turbo 3 and 2.0L Turbo 4. There will also be an AWD plug in hybrid model with electric motors on the rear wheels.
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Feb 26, 2014 07:04
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D C posted:I bet 90% of the buyers dont know its a v6. Ford jumps through hoops to avoid calling it a V6 in advertising. It may as well be a Voldemort engine. I've been renting a v6 vert this week in Hawaii and it's a pretty decent car all things considered. Fuel economy isn't great and it has a fairly soft suspension but the power seems p good and it's not the greatest handling but not as bad as I expected (never drove a Mustang before).
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Feb 26, 2014 09:22
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Over last weekend, Bloomberg reported Ford will be dropping Microsoft for the next generation of Sync in favor of QNX which is already in use in a bunch of other infotainment systems for other automakers. Which I can only say is about loving time. Admittedly I'm not a Ford person (love their exterior designs but gently caress their interiors. Goddamn messes of buttons and shifters in front of hvac controls) and I've not had much experience with any QNX systems but there's got to be something better than what they've got.
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Feb 26, 2014 15:55
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BraveUlysses posted:I've been renting a v6 vert this week in Hawaii and it's a pretty decent car all things considered. Fuel economy isn't great and it has a fairly soft suspension but the power seems p good and it's not the greatest handling but not as bad as I expected (never drove a Mustang before). I had one a little over a year ago and I thought it was a pretty fun rental. The mileage numbers on the info screen were pretty good until I was getting on the freeway and really goosed it.  It's the most powerful car I've driven, actually.Thwomp posted:Over last weekend, Bloomberg reported Ford will be dropping Microsoft for the next generation of Sync in favor of QNX which is already in use in a bunch of other infotainment systems for other automakers. I'm a Microsoft fan (used to live in Redmond) but something obviously wasn't working in their relationship. Whose fault it is I dunno but it sounds like it was really hurting Ford's new reputation for quality.
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Feb 26, 2014 16:52
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I can't speak to MS's Sync but Microsoft's UVO system in my Optima is straight up garbage in the way it handles mp3's. I keep waiting for some sort of firmware update or something to fix its issues. Edit: ah there is one new update, I'll try that and hope for the best. Edit: nope, didn't fix anything. davebo fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 17:07
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I've heard that, much like other Ford products (e.g. the Taurus), the original was really good and new and then the redesign right after was ugly and sucked balls and ruined the brand.
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Feb 26, 2014 17:11
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Cream_Filling posted:I've heard that, much like other Ford products (e.g. the Taurus), the original was really good and new and then the redesign right after was ugly and sucked balls and ruined the brand. The non My Ford Touch Sync systems work great. I've had that in a 2008 Escape, 2009 Escape and my 2011 Fusion. Works great, never had a problem. We had the old 2.x software on the My Ford Touch system in our old 2012 Ford Explorer. It was pretty solid but it wasn't as user friendly for the non technical generations. My wife and I had no issues with it, but my Mom wouldn't have liked it. Some things were 4 menu's deep though and that kind of sucked. They moved to the 3.x software platform and dumbed the interface down a whole lot. It also got more unstable. I have a few theories on why. 1: Supposedly the coding was outsourced to a really lovely 3rd party 2: I'm not sure if the different hardware in the car made a difference. After upgrading our 2012 Explorer to 3.x it got really buggy, but our 2014 on the same software version is problem free. I haven't explored if the guts of the MFT has been improved with more RAM or a updated processor or something. I can't blame them for moving. The MFT system has really caused them issues in reliability reports from Consumer Reports and JD Power and the QNX system should be much more stable than the current WindowsCE based software. Our 2012 Explorer had this nasty habit of just crashing the MFT system until you restarted which wasn't so great while driving considering MFT is responsible for almost all the controls in the car. Can't change the radio station, adjust HVAC front or rear, or anything else.
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Feb 26, 2014 17:48
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Sync is terrible, only Microsoft would take a large high resolution color LCD and use it to display only one line at a time. Connecting my phone was five menus deep and if I made the mistake of disconnecting it before opening the door (which was what actually turned off the radio) I had to go through it all again to reconnect. Just an awful interface, and MS spews their logo all over the interior so you know who to blame. I especially appreciated the two sets of identical controls for the different displays, really love redundant buttons on my steering wheels.
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