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twistedmentat posted:What about rolling them down a hill? And when you think about it, US auto manufacturers are failed tech. idk my dad's got a lil 2010 Ford Ranger with no options but A/C (handle crank windows, AM/FM stereo without tape or aux) and it runs great- but with the barebones amenities it's like driving an 80s truck with more grey plastic inside that said I'm way more likely to go Korean or Japanese when used car shopping
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Sep 5, 2019 22:36
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Peanut Butler posted:idk my dad's got a lil 2010 Ford Ranger with no options but A/C (handle crank windows, AM/FM stereo without tape or aux) and it runs great- but with the barebones amenities it's like driving an 80s truck with more grey plastic inside I've got a 2005 Ranger with no options at all: manual windows, no A/C, came with an AM/FM stereo only until I found a $5 cassette unit at a thift store. The only thing I'd change would be to add A/C... wonder what that costs.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:48
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Pham Nuwen posted:I've got a 2005 Ranger with no options at all: manual windows, no A/C, came with an AM/FM stereo only until I found a $5 cassette unit at a thift store. The only thing I'd change would be to add A/C... wonder what that costs. I had a 97 Ranger like that. The only option was power steering. Bench seat, standard cab.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:51
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TotalLossBrain posted:I had a 97 Ranger like that. The only option was power steering. Bench seat, standard cab. My very first vehicle of my own was a dark blue '97 Ranger of the exact same specs. I miss that little thing. 
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Sep 6, 2019 03:51
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TotalLossBrain posted:I had a 97 Ranger like that. The only option was power steering. Bench seat, standard cab.  Except mine was a 95 F150 standard cab, short bed, bench seat, manual windows, manual locks, stock stereo was only AM/FM. The only good part was it was a 5 speed 4x4 with with unkillable inline 6. Transmission was a pile of poo poo though...more specifically the master cylinder. Automatic/remote locks were suprisingly easy to install after the fact. It was a great little truck.
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Sep 6, 2019 04:23
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Peanut Butler posted:idk my dad's got a lil 2010 Ford Ranger with no options but A/C (handle crank windows, AM/FM stereo without tape or aux) and it runs great- but with the barebones amenities it's like driving an 80s truck with more grey plastic inside My dad bought a Nissan Frontier a couple years ago and it's a wonderland of featureless plastic panels that could have been some button or knob but aren't because he got the least amount of options possible.
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Sep 6, 2019 05:02
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TotalLossBrain posted:I had a 97 Ranger like that. The only option was power steering. Bench seat, standard cab. Bench seats are the best seats. You know why 
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Sep 6, 2019 07:50
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I didn't even know you could still get cars with hand cranked windows, holy poo poo. I absolutely loved those things. When I was a kid we had to rent a car for some reason I don't remember, and it was an Oldsmobile, and when we parked and tried to get out the doors were locked and we couldn't figure out how to unlock them. Obsolete technology: doors?????
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Sep 6, 2019 10:42
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Pham Nuwen posted:The only thing I'd change would be to add A/C... wonder what that costs. Theoretically, you should already have the compressor bracket on the engine, with an idler gear bolted in, and the knockouts in place to route lines. In reality, OTOH, I hope you feel like completely dismantling the dash to install a different HVAC system. You'll also probably have to reroute a ton of stuff under the hood to get the evaporator and it's housing in, plus pull the radiator to get the condenser in, plus (maybe, not familiar with Fords of that era) get the ECU flashed to support it. Also you'll have to pull your parts out of a junkyard from a matching make/model truck, except the compressor and dryer, both of which should be bought new. Then spend a weekend chasing leaks. As far as paying someone else to do it, you'll get laughed at by most shops, and the tiny handful who would touch it would likely want more than the truck is worth to do it. So, in short, a good project for a serious home mechanic to learn on, but don't do it to your daily driver.
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Sep 6, 2019 11:30
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packetmantis posted:I didn't even know you could still get cars with hand cranked windows, holy poo poo. I absolutely loved those things. I had a 2005 Neon, and the rear windows were hand cranks, I was actually really good at reaching back and rolling them down. It wasn't a good car but it had a lot of pep.
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Sep 6, 2019 12:25
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In 2010 I rented a Dodge Caliber without power windows or locks. So they still made them up to that point. The windows weren't an issue because it was Vegas and who drives without A/C in Vegas. The power locks sucked because I was driving around 4 other people who were equally unfamiliar with such a rustic automobile. I had to manually walk around and lock each door that everyone forgot to lock on their way out. I used to keep an extra window crank in my VW Bug because the pot metal they used snapped so easily.
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Sep 6, 2019 12:37
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packetmantis posted:I didn't even know you could still get cars with hand cranked windows, holy poo poo. I absolutely loved those things. Good news! The Dacia Sandero still has manual front windows in "Essential" trim. The hand cranked windows on old luxury cars were often beautifully engineered. One rotation of the crank to fully open or close the window is nice.
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Sep 6, 2019 15:16
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Horace posted:Good news! The Dacia Sandero still has manual front windows in "Essential" trim. drat that sounds amazing, some kind of hydraulic system?
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Sep 6, 2019 17:12
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I always wanted a circa 1980's Mercedes SL convertible. Their power lock system uses a vacuum pump from the driver's side to the passenger's door. I wisely realized that, along with all the other pre-computer mechanical parts like thermostat climate control, would be terrible to repair in a 40 year old car and never actually bought one.
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Sep 6, 2019 18:27
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Krispy Wafer posted:I always wanted a circa 1980's Mercedes SL convertible. Their power lock system uses a vacuum pump from the driver's side to the passenger's door. I wisely realized that, along with all the other pre-computer mechanical parts like thermostat climate control, would be terrible to repair in a 40 year old car and never actually bought one. Pneumatic power locks were common in Mercedes up until around the 2000s. The true evil is having to replace the whole lock if a membrane tears or the whole pump if the plastic manifold on the pump cracks.
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Sep 6, 2019 19:07
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ryonguy posted:drat that sounds amazing, some kind of hydraulic system? Just clever gearing, I think. Hydraulic power windows are very cool though, they're near silent. Krispy Wafer posted:I always wanted a circa 1980's Mercedes SL convertible. Their power lock system uses a vacuum pump from the driver's side to the passenger's door. I wisely realized that, along with all the other pre-computer mechanical parts like thermostat climate control, would be terrible to repair in a 40 year old car and never actually bought one. Speaking of Mercedes and hydraulics... how about a 600 with hydraulic everything - windows, seat adjustment and this, uh, feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7fGISs-wCQ
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Sep 6, 2019 19:11
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The hydraulic everything in Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is most definitely "obsolete" and at least to a degree failed technology. My understanding is that the leading way of fixing, refurbishing and recalibrating the system still today is "Don't".
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Sep 6, 2019 19:17
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Horace posted:Just clever gearing, I think. Hydraulic power windows are very cool though, they're near silent. That's so wonderfully stupid and pointless. Some German engineer had a plethora of hydraulic cables and no good place to install them.
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Sep 6, 2019 20:25
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I love luxury tech because all of it is "We assume you are rich enough to buy a new one before this breaks"
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Sep 6, 2019 21:27
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packetmantis posted:I didn't even know you could still get cars with hand cranked windows, holy poo poo. I absolutely loved those things. yah my dad got the 2010 Ranger thru Cash For Clunkers, ended up paying like $7k and a lovely '89 GMC mini pickup (that he bought for like $500) for it new I wonder if auto manufacturers went hog wild on optionless vehicles that year
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Sep 7, 2019 00:11
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Horace posted:Just clever gearing, I think. Hydraulic power windows are very cool though, they're near silent. My neighbors, when I was a kid, had a fancy Lincoln Towncar back around '90. It had a really weird locking system for the trunk. It wasn't self closing but it was self latching. If you closed the trunk, it would slowly pull it down with a motor to latch it. I had to get something out of their trunk. After doing so, I slammed the trunk shut. Instead, it bounced. I put my fingers underneath to lift and re-shut it. Instead, the motor engaged and tried to sever my fingers. I barely got my hand out in time. It had no safety of any sort.
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Sep 7, 2019 12:00
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We had a 2002 Volvo x70 that had motorized headlight wipers. I thought that was novel and not useful.
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Sep 7, 2019 12:08
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Empress Brosephine posted:We had a 2002 Volvo x70 that had motorized headlight wipers. I thought that was novel and not useful. That would probably be useful somewhere with a lot of dirt roads.
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Sep 7, 2019 12:34
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Volvo, so snow presumably
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Sep 7, 2019 13:27
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I have headlight wipers on my 89 Volvo 240, but I got them from Australia because they weren’t ever an option for that model in North America. Now that I think of it, my uncle had a Saab with headlight wipers, so it’s definitely a Swedish thing.
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Sep 7, 2019 17:37
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Empress Brosephine posted:We had a 2002 Volvo x70 that had motorized headlight wipers. I thought that was novel and not useful. Toyota trucks in America, so the Tacoma and Tundra, have motorized headlights. There is a little thumbwheel on the dash that levels your headlights depending on how much you're hauling. It's a nice little touch which does more for fellow drivers than yourself. The early '90's Toyota Soarer was available with ultra-sonic vibrating side mirrors to eliminate moisture build-up. I'm not sure it works any better than heated mirrors, but flagship cars gonna flagship. Many vehicles, for example the Citroen DS, have had headlights which turn with the front wheels. I had an Oldsmobile Aurora, instead of moving lights they put white bulbs in the headlight cluster corners which activate when the headlights and blinker are both on. These bulbs are pointed out from the corners of the car just enough to peek around a turn. I thought that was an elegant solution for a problem I didn't know I had.
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Sep 7, 2019 18:55
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madeintaipei posted:Toyota trucks in America, so the Tacoma and Tundra, have motorized headlights. There is a little thumbwheel on the dash that levels your headlights depending on how much you're hauling. It's a nice little touch which does more for fellow drivers than yourself. I think every car sold in the EU has to have that since 2000 or something. It's nice, if people remember to use it.
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Sep 7, 2019 19:04
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KozmoNaut posted:I think every car sold in the EU has to have that since 2000 or something. It's nice, if people remember to use it. Having a switch inside the vehicle that moves the lights from LHD to RHD configuration sounds good. Beats jamming a socket on 10 inches of extension and slowly turning one of four adjustment rods until the lights are aligned. My truck is now two inches taller than stock in the rear, which forced me to change the headlight assemblies. The stock lights had no provision for aiming the lights up/down without using shims. Cheap assholes, the Chinese aftermarket provided a better product at less than half the price of OEM.
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Sep 7, 2019 19:36
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madeintaipei posted:Toyota trucks in America, so the Tacoma and Tundra, have motorized headlights. There is a little thumbwheel on the dash that levels your headlights depending on how much you're hauling. It's a nice little touch which does more for fellow drivers than yourself. Does this feature automatically level the lights, or does it let you manually adjust the setting? I'm usually in favor of having manual controls for things, but in this case I could see so many people just raising the lights to the max upward angle they'll go, saying "oh, this is so much better than only seeing stuff from waist-height down" and then blinding every single oncoming driver for years and years.
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Sep 7, 2019 20:17
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Powered Descent posted:Does this feature automatically level the lights, or does it let you manually adjust the setting? I'm usually in favor of having manual controls for things, but in this case I could see so many people just raising the lights to the max upward angle they'll go, saying "oh, this is so much better than only seeing stuff from waist-height down" and then blinding every single oncoming driver for years and years. Both versions exist. The automatic version is normally not adjustable by the driver. Somebody I know once dialed it all the way up, thinking you adjust the headlight brightness that way. -e- We have biennial inspections in Germany which include checking the headlight adjustment. People will also flash you back. Lurking Haro has a new favorite as of 20:27 on Sep 7, 2019 |
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Sep 7, 2019 20:23
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Powered Descent posted:Does this feature automatically level the lights, or does it let you manually adjust the setting? I'm usually in favor of having manual controls for things, but in this case I could see so many people just raising the lights to the max upward angle they'll go, saying "oh, this is so much better than only seeing stuff from waist-height down" and then blinding every single oncoming driver for years and years. Manual, the truck doesn't know what attitude it is in. The most use I've gotten out of it is pulling a trailer that gets emptier, but has proportionaly more weight on the hitch, as the morning goes on. I feel you though. Automatic dimming hi-beams does not mean leaving them on hi all the time. Turn the loving fog lights off, it's not foggy! Bunch of savages in this town. 
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Sep 7, 2019 20:34
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I have owned two Tacoma's since 2001 and this feature is news to me. Is this a non us market feature?
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Sep 7, 2019 22:22
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Lurking Haro posted:Both versions exist. I'm stupid. You can only adjust the headlights down to compensate for a high load. The highest level is the normal level.
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Sep 7, 2019 22:36
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Mercury Ballistic posted:I have owned two Tacoma's since 2001 and this feature is news to me. Is this a non us market feature? As far as I know, Toyota is super weird on options. Even intermittent wipers are just an option, like, you could spec a Tundra out to 65k and not have them. Ex: first truck I drove with the adjustable headlights was a Tundra work truck with bench seats, four stalks on the column, no intermittent wipers, roll-up windows, and plastic seats. I found the build sheet in the glove box, two options: adjustable headlights and cruise (the fourth stalk). Wanna say it was $150 for both, dealer optioned.
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Sep 7, 2019 23:13
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Der Kyhe posted:The hydraulic everything in Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is most definitely "obsolete" and at least to a degree failed technology. My understanding is that the leading way of fixing, refurbishing and recalibrating the system still today is "Don't". It's not impossible, just very expensive - like, even with the values of Silver Shadows no longer being rock bottom it can still cost more than the car is worth to diagnose and repair a hydraulic fault. The One Weird Trick is that most of the system was licensed from Citroen, so a Citroen specialist can do a lot of the work, and obtain a lot of the parts, for a fraction of the price of an R-R expert using official R-R parts. Citroen hydropneumatic tech is a good case of (sadly) obsolete and commercially failed technology. Self-levelling and height-adjustable suspension, power brakes working off a 2000psi engine-driven pump rather than your puny foot, variable ratio and effort self-centring steering, headlamps that follow the steering angle of the front wheels and more!
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Sep 7, 2019 23:55
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Lurking Haro posted:Both versions exist. In terms of headlight feature exclusivity, it's probably adjustable angle -> washers -> steering following -> wipers. Not to mention lasers and all that crazy stuff. Horace posted:Speaking of Mercedes and hydraulics... how about a 600 with hydraulic everything - windows, seat adjustment and this, uh, feature:
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Sep 8, 2019 00:52
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BalloonFish posted:It's not impossible, just very expensive - like, even with the values of Silver Shadows no longer being rock bottom it can still cost more than the car is worth to diagnose and repair a hydraulic fault.
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Sep 8, 2019 01:37
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Arsenic Lupin posted:What happened to the values of Silver Shadows? I'm really curious. Here in the UK at least, all the grotty Shadows that had been run into the ground by strip club owners, slum landlords, scrap merchants, independent music label 'executives' and dodgy wedding car hire companies have finally died and gone to R-R heaven over the past decade. Which means that the ones left are at least half-decent or the rare minority which were actually maintained and looked after properly. So the quality of the 'stock' is generally better and, with Shadows being anything between 45-36 years old, being noticeably rarer than they once were and having lost a great deal of their dodgy image, they're treated more favourably by the classic car market. So Shadow values have been on the slow rise for a while now. These days its the Silver Spirit and the lower-spec 80s Bentleys that are the 'cheap Rolls-Royces' and can be seen in reserved spots in car parks round the back of Northern mill-town nightclubs, adult video warehouses and single-store discount supermarkets.
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Sep 8, 2019 08:40
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mobby_6kl posted:IIRC they have to be automatic with HID headlights, they'd of course put a sensor it to tell the car what angle it's at. Otherwise you get the manual adjustment, even my miata has it in case I decide to put a briefcase in the trunk. Yeah, there's a weight sensor on the real axle that determines the angle of the lights. It's real fun for other people on the road if that ever breaks on somebody's car and they don't feel like paying to get it replaced. Another favorite of mine: aftermarket HID kits, whether simple bulb replacements or more complex arrangements. I really love getting blinded by Xenon lights on some dipshit's 20 year old junker because there's no autoleveling and no washers to get the glare-amplifying coating of crap off the headlight assembly. Ruflux has a new favorite as of 14:10 on Sep 8, 2019 |
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Sep 8, 2019 13:46
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BalloonFish posted:Here in the UK at least, all the grotty Shadows that had been run into the ground by strip club owners, slum landlords, scrap merchants, independent music label 'executives' and dodgy wedding car hire companies have finally died and gone to R-R heaven over the past decade. Which means that the ones left are at least half-decent or the rare minority which were actually maintained and looked after properly. So the quality of the 'stock' is generally better and, with Shadows being anything between 45-36 years old, being noticeably rarer than they once were and having lost a great deal of their dodgy image, they're treated more favourably by the classic car market. So Shadow values have been on the slow rise for a while now. good post
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Sep 8, 2019 14:46
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