The Car Thread ... !

[D.T.]

The sequential transmissions (I assume DCTs) are just so far superior to a manual in terms of real world performance numbers, it's no wonder most of the exotics have gone that way. Sure, the paddle shifters aren't as sexy as a real manual, but they are just so much better.

Totally agree, especially with your last sentence and like I pointed about above, that subjective measure may mean a person would prefer a manual, but there's not really any objective measure where it's better (barring a few outliers here and there, and/or on older sequential setups like SMG).

Plus, now that I've had a change to drive a few SGB cars: BMW DCT in 135, 335, M3), Porsche PDK in a Boxster, 911, GT-Rs, I totally get it. It's also the ultimate in convenience - when running in manual mode, it's the driver-car connectivity you want, and in auto mode is _so_ nice for traffic, or handing the car off to someone who can't operate a traditional manual.

 

[MatthewLTL]

so this morning i decided to tackle the progress of prepping my car for its surgery. I 1st had to hunt down a 10mm socket, after doing that, I began to remove the 2 bolts and a nut holding in the airbox to the car. After i removed the top cover, filter and the air tube of course. Once the box was removed i decided to remove the 2 bolts holding the upper cover on. Went to go to pull it off and hit a roadblock. There is a 3rd bolt on the upper cover. Problem is I cannot get at it. There is little clearance between the bolt and the strut tower wall. The A/C Line is in the way as well as a coolant hose. The coolant hose is no big deal i can remove that if needed. However the A/C Line and Serpintene belt are in the way of this bolt so i will need to get a swivel head socket wrench to get into it. I could also get at the Cam sensor bolt if i had about a 1 inch extension.

My question is because of how much a bitch this is to do, would it be a bad idea to just leave the upper timing belt cover off? or perhaps leave the bolt out that is a bitch to get at?

I have looked online and come across mixed opinions one several Hondas, Mitubishi's and Eagles that leaving the upper cover off has never caused any problems. Others said its playing with fire to do such a thing.

 

[2298754]

Plus, now that I've had a change to drive a few SGB cars: BMW DCT in 135, 335, M3), Porsche PDK in a Boxster, 911, GT-Rs, I totally get it. It's also the ultimate in convenience - when running in manual mode, it's the driver-car connectivity you want, and in auto mode is _so_ nice for traffic, or handing the car off to someone who can't operate a traditional manual.

The Porsche PDK and BMW DCT are probably best dual-clutch boxes out here.

The PDK is brilliant in every car it's been put into

 

[bunnspecial]

so this morning i decided to tackle the progress of prepping my car for its surgery. I 1st had to hunt down a 10mm socket, after doing that, I began to remove the 2 bolts and a nut holding in the airbox to the car. After i removed the top cover, filter and the air tube of course. Once the box was removed i decided to remove the 2 bolts holding the upper cover on. Went to go to pull it off and hit a roadblock. There is a 3rd bolt on the upper cover. Problem is I cannot get at it. There is little clearance between the bolt and the strut tower wall. The A/C Line is in the way as well as a coolant hose. The coolant hose is no big deal i can remove that if needed. However the A/C Line and Serpintene belt are in the way of this bolt so i will need to get a swivel head socket wrench to get into it. I could also get at the Cam sensor bolt if i had about a 1 inch extension.

My question is because of how much a bitch this is to do, would it be a bad idea to just leave the upper timing belt cover off? or perhaps leave the bolt out that is a bitch to get at?

I have looked online and come across mixed opinions one several Hondas, Mitubishi's and Eagles that leaving the upper cover off has never caused any problems. Others said its playing with fire to do such a thing.

I've had many bolts that took a fair bit of thinking on how to get them out.

Sometimes, a plain old box wrench is your best option. Yes, it's a pain and takes a while if the bolt is very long, but can often fit where nothing else can.

I have a half dozen extensions at least, and the professional mechanics I know probably have several times that number. If you're going to do much work on your own car, it's well worth picking up several different lengths of them-I often end up stacking two or three to get just exactly the length needed(often you will need one that's just long enough without being too long).

I can't comment directly on leaving the cover off since I have know knowledge of your specific engine, other than to say that covers are usually put in place for a good reason. I doubt you'd hurt anything by leaving it off until you get everything fixed, but I wouldn't leave it off long term.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I've had many bolts that took a fair bit of thinking on how to get them out.

Sometimes, a plain old box wrench is your best option. Yes, it's a pain and takes a while if the bolt is very long, but can often fit where nothing else can.

I have a half dozen extensions at least, and the professional mechanics I know probably have several times that number. If you're going to do much work on your own car, it's well worth picking up several different lengths of them-I often end up stacking two or three to get just exactly the length needed(often you will need one that's just long enough without being too long).

I can't comment directly on leaving the cover off since I have know knowledge of your specific engine, other than to say that covers are usually put in place for a good reason. I doubt you'd hurt anything by leaving it off until you get everything fixed, but I wouldn't leave it off long term.

I do have a dual ended open-ended wrench (that's how i figured out it was a 10mm socket i needed). One end of the wrench is a 10mm the other end is a 12mm. However even that dont fit. Dont have the leverage and the bolt is slightly recessed in the cover. I DID use this wrench to remove a bolt holding a support bracket for the A/C Line.

As far as the engine goes, it's the same engine as what's inside the 2004-2008 Chevy Aveo. unfortunately unlike the Aveo my A/C line runs along the side of the cover rather than on top of it like in the Aveo.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I had the pleasure of driving a Cadillac ATS today, wow what a ride. It was only the 2.0T version but I was astounded that GM could create such a nice car. The interior was very good, but not the best- there were some cheap parts here and there and I didn't exactly love the Cue system or touch sensitive button (though the tactile feedback is a nice touch). What really had me was the ride/handling. Hands down the best driving car I've ever tried in the segment. It's a better size than the 3-series too. I wish my GF picked up one of these! My biggest gripe was actually the poor visibility looking right from the drivers seat. The window is too small.

so this morning i decided to tackle the progress of prepping my car for its surgery. I 1st had to hunt down a 10mm socket, after doing that, I began to remove the 2 bolts and a nut holding in the airbox to the car. After i removed the top cover, filter and the air tube of course. Once the box was removed i decided to remove the 2 bolts holding the upper cover on. Went to go to pull it off and hit a roadblock. There is a 3rd bolt on the upper cover. Problem is I cannot get at it. There is little clearance between the bolt and the strut tower wall. The A/C Line is in the way as well as a coolant hose. The coolant hose is no big deal i can remove that if needed. However the A/C Line and Serpintene belt are in the way of this bolt so i will need to get a swivel head socket wrench to get into it. I could also get at the Cam sensor bolt if i had about a 1 inch extension.

My question is because of how much a bitch this is to do, would it be a bad idea to just leave the upper timing belt cover off? or perhaps leave the bolt out that is a bitch to get at?

I have looked online and come across mixed opinions one several Hondas, Mitubishi's and Eagles that leaving the upper cover off has never caused any problems. Others said its playing with fire to do such a thing.

Language Matthew

I suggest getting your hands on some tools before you dig too deep (buy, borrow, etc- tag sales are great for tools). "You can never have enough tools", to quote my father. Most parts on modern cars are metric, with the exception of parts that a typical owner would take a wrench to (oil drain plugs, lug nuts, battery terminals, etc).

You might want to find a service manual or read some forums, as they might have recommendations on how to approach the situation.

What parts have you decided to attempt replacing?

 

[MatthewLTL]

I had the pleasure of driving a Cadillac ATS today, wow what a ride. It was only the 2.0T version but I was astounded that GM could create such a nice car. The interior was very good, but not the best- there were some cheap parts here and there and I didn't exactly love the Cue system or touch sensitive button (though the tactile feedback is a nice touch). What really had me was the ride/handling. Hands down the best driving car I've ever tried in the segment. It's a better size than the 3-series too. I wish my GF picked up one of these! My biggest gripe was actually the poor visibility looking right from the drivers seat. The window is too small.



Language Matthew

I suggest getting your hands on some tools before you dig too deep (buy, borrow, etc- tag sales are great for tools). "You can never have enough tools", to quote my father. Most parts on modern cars are metric, with the exception of parts that a typical owner would take a wrench to (oil drain plugs, lug nuts, battery terminals, etc).

You might want to find a service manual or read some forums, as they might have recommendations on how to approach the situation.

What parts have you decided to attempt replacing?

Well I know the car is Metric. I assumed that was because it's an import. I needed to buy a new bolt for the thermostat housing and it was metric threads. most engine bolts (valve cover bolts, battery terminals, fender bolts, airbox bolts, etc are all 10mm with exception of the T-Sat which is 1 14mm and 1 12mm.

I DO have a PDF of the service manual I found free Online, It's on my laptop. It guides me through the entire timing belt replacement steps to replace the Cam sensor. Not replacing the timing belt so no point in going through all that extra work. The timing belt is in perfect shape for being 15 years old.

Once i can buy either a extension or a swivel head socket wrench I can attack the Cam sensor repair. Since I know that is for a fact bad and has been for 5 years, that is the only repair I will do and see if it improves my MPGs. I will also have the new used tyres mounted on the car.

 

[D.T.]

So the pricing was prematurely released for the GT350, and GT350R. Pretty fantastic.

Ladies and gents, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 will be something of a bargain. Mustang6G has a leaked pricing sheet that indicates the base model will start at just $47,870, while the track-oriented R adds $13,500 to that price. Neither figure includes an $825 destination charge.

That means that the high-performance Mustang will undercut, well, a lot of stuff. The GT350R is nearly $11,000 less than a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 and is $2,830 less than a base BMW M4. The standard GT350, meanwhile, slots below the base Chevrolet Corvette by $7,130, while the price should even be within the reach of some Camaro SS 1LE consumers. In short, the GT350 and GT350R should appeal to a lot of people based purely on price alone. With the previous leak on options pricing, figuring out the cost of your ideal GT350 requires nothing more than some simple addition.

The 350R in red, this angle is fantastic

 

[quagmire]

I had the pleasure of driving a Cadillac ATS today, wow what a ride. It was only the 2.0T version but I was astounded that GM could create such a nice car. The interior was very good, but not the best- there were some cheap parts here and there and I didn't exactly love the Cue system or touch sensitive button (though the tactile feedback is a nice touch). What really had me was the ride/handling. Hands down the best driving car I've ever tried in the segment. It's a better size than the 3-series too. I wish my GF picked up one of these! My biggest gripe was actually the poor visibility looking right from the drivers seat. The window is too small.

Glad you liked it.

I like CUE. It has a learning curve, but once you get used to it, it isn't all that hard to use. I know the media still loves to bash it, but I think there is some kind of bias/selling point/whatever it is in their reviews like they did with iDrive initially.

And yeah the ATS is very fun to toss around. I do miss the N54/ZF transmission combo that was in my dads E90 335xi, but the chassis of the ATS is just so much better. And I am not dissing the LFX and GM's 6 speed auto. Yeah the N54 was a wonderful engine, but the experience is due to the two turbo's where the LFX is NA. So you'll have two different experiences/characters with those engines. And I recommended the 3.6 to my dad over the 2.0T mostly because of it being NA which should mean lower maintenance costs due to the less complexity of a NA engine. But also with the 2.0T, above 5000 RPM the engine is gutless and sounds horrible.

I do prefer the interior of the ATS over the 3 series. The quality of materials are more or less the same( maybe slight edge to the ATS due it being newer compared to the E90), but the design I find is light years ahead of the 3 series. The Germans have always been on the side of utilitarian looking interiors( nothing wrong with that, just personal taste). People have complained about the chrome in the ATS's interior, but I find it tastefully done and not overdone( certainly not like GM does with the Escalade's exterior use of chrome ).

 

[puma1552]

So the pricing was prematurely released for the GT350, and GT350R. Pretty fantastic.



The 350R in red, this angle is fantastic

Image

Amazing, Ford is really hitting grand slams these days. Why tart up an M3 to a laughable $90k (seen convertibles approach $100k) when you can have this for half the cost? Spare me the quality of materials/refinement garbage the BMW fanbois taunt while driving their $60k 335i that has the same low rent interior that a $32k 320i has. This GT350 is an outright monster and is going to pretty much own everything in it's class along with lots of cars in much higher price brackets.

Kudos Ford, keep doing what you're doing because it's working.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Glad you liked it.

I like CUE. It has a learning curve, but once you get used to it, it isn't all that hard to use. I know the media still loves to bash it, but I think there is some kind of bias/selling point/whatever it is in their reviews like they did with iDrive initially.

And yeah the ATS is very fun to toss around. I do miss the N54/ZF transmission combo that was in my dads E90 335xi, but the chassis of the ATS is just so much better. And I am not dissing the LFX and GM's 6 speed auto. Yeah the N54 was a wonderful engine, but the experience is due to the two turbo's where the LFX is NA. So you'll have two different experiences/characters with those engines. And I recommended the 3.6 to my dad over the 2.0T mostly because of it being NA which should mean lower maintenance costs due to the less complexity of a NA engine. But also with the 2.0T, above 5000 RPM the engine is gutless and sounds horrible.

I do prefer the interior of the ATS over the 3 series. The quality of materials are more or less the same( maybe slight edge to the ATS due it being newer compared to the E90), but the design I find is light years ahead of the 3 series. The Germans have always been on the side of utilitarian looking interiors( nothing wrong with that, just personal taste). People have complained about the chrome in the ATS's interior, but I find it tastefully done and not overdone( certainly not like GM does with the Escalade's exterior use of chrome ).

My daily driver is an E60 535i xDrive (2009). The N54 engine has been great. Zero reliability issue (though I have read of turbo issues, then again all turbos will have turbo issues), good fuel economy, plenty of power, and a decent growl. As I'm sure you know, the 535 isn't much different than the 540 V8, at least in the late E60 era. I found there be minimal turbo lag in the BMW, but the ATS was a bit more profound, but not terrible once out of first gear. There is a pretty clear powerband, as you alluded to. BMW on the other hand always seems to just have throttle lag issues. The ATS' turbo is a little too high pitched too... It sounds like a mosquito... And overall the sound wasn't particularly exhilarating.

I didn't like all the dark shiney plastic on the dashboard, it reminded me too much of a Ford. I generally don't love touch screens in cars, and I found the screen a little unresponsive (I think my fingers have low capacitance). It's not the worst system I ever used, I didn't find it particularly difficult to use, I just didn't love it. I'm not a huge fan of iDrive either myself but deal with it on a daily basis. Another gripe... No spare tire!!! (Seems to be the norm these days).

I was very impressed though, loved the handling and comfort, I liked the seats a lot. I'd definitely consider buying one, I never thought I'd say that about an american car.

Today I had the misfortune of driving a Jeep Compass. I had to go to a satiate branch of my hospital in the middle of nowhere and got to take a company owned vehicle. It was hard to see out of, had poor ergonomics, and my god a cozy coupe has better acceleration than whatever weed walker engine was in that peice of garbage. What a terrible car!

Especially for a 1.5hr ride.

 

[D.T.]

Another gripe... No spare tire!!! (Seems to be the norm these days).

I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. Our T4R has a spare, like a REAL, full sized tire, on a matching real wheel. It's not as bad with run flats, but I had a car with no spare, non-runflats - just a can of "fix-a-flat" and a pump.

 

[senseless]

I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. Our T4R has a spare, like a REAL, full sized tire, on a matching real wheel. It's not as bad with run flats, but I had a car with no spare, non-runflats - just a can of "fix-a-flat" and a pump.

If you're in FL, you probably don't have the pothole problems we have in the Northeast. Relying on a can of fix a flat would have left me stranded this winter. Sidewall damage is game over for tires.

 

[quagmire]

My daily driver is an E60 535i xDrive (2009). The N54 engine has been great. Zero reliability issue (though I have read of turbo issues, then again all turbos will have turbo issues), good fuel economy, plenty of power, and a decent growl. As I'm sure you know, the 535 isn't much different than the 540 V8, at least in the late E60 era. I found there be minimal turbo lag in the BMW, but the ATS was a bit more profound, but not terrible once out of first gear. There is a pretty clear powerband, as you alluded to. BMW on the other hand always seems to just have throttle lag issues. The ATS' turbo is a little too high pitched too... It sounds like a mosquito... And overall the sound wasn't particularly exhilarating.

The N54 in my dads 335xi didn't give us any issues at all in the 70,000 miles he owned it( he gave it to my brother much like he gave his E46 to him when he bought the E90), but considering he is getting closer to retirement ( certainly not helping Cadillac's stigma, but I pushed hard for the ATS where he was set on another 3 series when it came for replacement) the ATS will probably be owned a bit longer so the 3.6 V6 is probably the safer choice long term wise when it comes to maintenance vs the N55 in the F30 or the 2.0T in either vehicle. Never gave us the dreaded limp mode due to the HPFP failing( that's a DI thing, not turbo), etc.

But the E90 was becoming the dreaded maintenance queens Germans tend to become in high mileage( freaking dealer wanted $2000 for a battery change, which we obviously told the dealer screw you). $1000 just to get it back within emissions regulations when something with the emissions system failed.

It also helped the ATS was going to be $8K cheaper than a comparable F30 335i with xDrive( MSRP wise). Fun fact: Our ATS had exactly the same MSRP as the E90 335xi when my dad bought it back in 2007. We got $7500 off the ATS thanks to the GM Card, loyalty program, and the presidents day sale GM had going on at the time so it made it an even bigger steal. We probably wouldn't even come close with BMW( only managed to get $1200 off when we bought the E90). The deal we got wouldn't have affected my dads decision to go for the ATS, but it was certainly nice!

I didn't like all the dark shiney plastic on the dashboard, it reminded me too much of a Ford. I generally don't love touch screens in cars, and I found the screen a little unresponsive (I think my fingers have low capacitance). It's not the worst system I ever used, I didn't find it particularly difficult to use, I just didn't love it. I'm not a huge fan of iDrive either myself but deal with it on a daily basis. Another gripe... No spare tire!!! (Seems to be the norm these days).

What interior color did you have in yours? My dads has the jet black interior which certainly can make the dash even darker, etc. But I love the morello red interior. It's not a bright red like BMW's red interior is, it is a darker red. I describe it like a red wine like color to it which makes sporty, but classy especially with the carbon fiber trim. Helps create a nice contrast with the black center HVAC controls.

My only complaint with CUE is the fact the zoom animation on the nav screen is a bit slow to react, but everything else is fairly fast in response and animation.

GM has improved it a lot since it came out. When I first checked out the ATS in 2012, it was very laggy in response and animation was choppy. But our 2014 ATS is much much improved.

Certainly though the cheapest thing in the ATS is that horrible horrible instrument cluster, but thanks to HUD I rarely have to look down and see that horrible thing.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. Our T4R has a spare, like a REAL, full sized tire, on a matching real wheel. It's not as bad with run flats, but I had a car with no spare, non-runflats - just a can of "fix-a-flat" and a pump.

Fix-a-flat has saved me atleast $200 in tyre repairs. The Impala has bead leaks in all four tyres. One of them got so bad that it would go completely flat in less than 24 hours. 6 cans of fix-a-flat and it's mostly fixed the problem. A entire can on the completely flat tyre put in 15psi of pressure and i put 30psi air in on top of that. Hasn't gone flat since and actually holds air real well in non-winter months.

 

[2298754]

Fix-a-flat has saved me atleast $200 in tyre repairs. The Impala has bead leaks in all four tyres. One of them got so bad that it would go completely flat in less than 24 hours. 6 cans of fix-a-flat and it's mostly fixed the problem. A entire can on the completely flat tyre put in 15psi of pressure and i put 30psi air in on top of that. Hasn't gone flat since and actually holds air real well in non-winter months.

Are you just screwing with us or are you actually serious?

 

[bunnspecial]

Go to a tire shop and ask them how they feel about Fix-a-flat. From what I've been told, it tends to make a real mess of the rim and everything else.

BTW, I think that a lot of the recent trend first toward Donuts and then to no spare at all is related CAFE, where shaving a fraction of an MPG off a car by leaving the spare out can make a difference. At least that's what I've been told.

I hate Donuts, but solved the problem myself on my car. I had one rim that was scuffed up pretty badly when I bought the car. I bought a refinished one on Ebay, and then when I bought new tires had them swap out the scuffed up rim for the good one and put the best of the old tires on it(which weren't that worn, but were just crummy tires).

My spare is less than ideal, but it's miles ahead of a donut. If I do have a flat(which, fortunately, I've managed to go about two years without on my car), with the full size tire I can at least get it fixed at my convenience rather than feeling like it has to be done immediately. Riding on one cheap Cooper tire for a few days beats the heck out of riding on a donut.

 

[yg17]

Fix-a-flat has saved me atleast $200 in tyre repairs. The Impala has bead leaks in all four tyres. One of them got so bad that it would go completely flat in less than 24 hours. 6 cans of fix-a-flat and it's mostly fixed the problem. A entire can on the completely flat tyre put in 15psi of pressure and i put 30psi air in on top of that. Hasn't gone flat since and actually holds air real well in non-winter months.

Please, stop driving. None of your cars sound like they're safe for the road.

 

[turtle777]

Fix-a-flat has saved me atleast $200 in tyre repairs. The Impala has bead leaks in all four tyres. One of them got so bad that it would go completely flat in less than 24 hours. 6 cans of fix-a-flat and it's mostly fixed the problem. A entire can on the completely flat tyre put in 15psi of pressure and i put 30psi air in on top of that. Hasn't gone flat since and actually holds air real well in non-winter months.

This is so ridiculous, he can't be possibly serious.

-t

 

[AustinIllini]

Amazing, Ford is really hitting grand slams these days. Why tart up an M3 to a laughable $90k (seen convertibles approach $100k) when you can have this for half the cost? Spare me the quality of materials/refinement garbage the BMW fanbois taunt while driving their $60k 335i that has the same low rent interior that a $32k 320i has. This GT350 is an outright monster and is going to pretty much own everything in it's class along with lots of cars in much higher price brackets.

Kudos Ford, keep doing what you're doing because it's working.

The only thing they are missing is a true Corvette fighter. You have the Mustang, which isn't really a Vette fighter and the GT is just WAY too expensive to be considered a Corvette rival.

Give me a $50,000 two seater designed to go really fast.

 

[A.Goldberg]

The N54 in my dads 335xi didn't give us any issues at all in the 70,000 miles...

But the E90 was becoming the dreaded maintenance queens Germans tend to become in high mileage( freaking dealer wanted $2000 for a battery change, which we obviously told the dealer screw you). $1000 just to get it back within emissions regulations when something with the emissions system failed.

I have about 95 or 96,000 miles on my E60 at this point. My father gave it to me when I graduated college. My Grand Cherokee had become too unreliable and not worth fixing. The cost of ownership with the BMW is gut wrenching. My battery change cost $500 due to "reprogramming", whatever that means. I had a bunch of suspension work done as well as a new starter, let's just say the cost was about 1/3 of what the car is worth, if not more. It's too much money to dump into a car that old, in my opinion. It's a fantastic car, but as I've mentioned before I'd prefer and SUV or possibly something less ostentatious.

What interior color did you have in yours? My dads has the jet black interior which certainly can make the dash even darker, etc. But I love the morello red interior. It's not a bright red like BMW's red interior is, it is a darker red. I describe it like a red wine like color to it which makes sporty, but classy especially with the carbon fiber trim. Helps create a nice contrast with the black center HVAC controls.

It had black leather, black dashboard, and black carpet- no wood trim, just aluminum. It's a nice interior, but the cheesy glossy plastic around the HVAC controls was the biggest turn off. The secret storage compartment in the center stack was quite a surprise.

My only complaint with CUE is the fact the zoom animation on the nav screen is a bit slow to react, but everything else is fairly fast in response and animation.

I noticed that as well. I think my biggest gripe is the lack of designated physical buttons. I'd prefer to switch between HVAC, Radio, Nav, etc quickly and easily. I do like that they opted not to burry the HVAC controls into the infotainment system, unlike some cars that have deleted their physical HVAC controls. I didn't find the voice recognition to work that well either. The touch screen didn't respond to my fingers that well (better than some though). Like I said before, the capacitive touch dashboard buttons annoyed me. It may be "cool" but I prefer function over form in this case. I wasn't a fan of the center console layout much either. I do appreciate the "normal" shifter compared to BMW's "backwards" shifter (pull for Drive/shift up, push for Reverse/shift down).

GM has improved it a lot since it came out. When I first checked out the ATS in 2012, it was very laggy in response and animation was choppy. But our 2014 ATS is much much improved.

I'm pretty sure I drove a 2014 model. Though it may have been a 2013...

Certainly though the cheapest thing in the ATS is that horrible horrible instrument cluster, but thanks to HUD I rarely have to look down and see that horrible thing.

Now that you mention it, the instrument cluster was pretty boring. I also felt the numbers were quite small to read. That said, I really liked the graphics used on the LCD within the cluster.

----------

I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. Our T4R has a spare, like a REAL, full sized tire, on a matching real wheel. It's not as bad with run flats, but I had a car with no spare, non-runflats - just a can of "fix-a-flat" and a pump.

A 4Runner better have a spare tire! I have run flats on my BMW, but I do have the space/well for a full size spare, so all is not lost. My girlfriend's new (to her) Volvo S60 has the "optional," "dealer installed" spare tire, which consists of a donut in a bag thrown in the trunk. Who wants a spare tire rolling around in the trunk. I'm hoping this will be one of those fads that rebounds.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Are you just screwing with us or are you actually serious?

You already know the answer.

Please, stop driving. None of your cars sound like they're safe for the road.

It's not even worth trying at this point.

This is so ridiculous, he can't be possibly serious.

I assure you, he is.

I'm at the point that if I see a Chevy Impala or Daewoo I am going have an anxiety attack and have to pull off the road. It's actually incredible that both of his two cars actually are "drivable" (in the sense of being able to travel down a road). As terrible as this sounds, I pray those two cars break and fail start... for the safety of everyone in MN.

 

[MatthewLTL]

You already know the answer.


It's not even worth trying at this point.


I assure you, he is.

I'm at the point that if I see a Chevy Impala or Daewoo I am going have an anxiety attack and have to pull off the road. It's actually incredible that both of his two cars actually are "drivable" (in the sense of being able to travel down a road). As terrible as this sounds, I pray those two cars break and fail start... for the safety of everyone in MN.

1st off a bad FPR and a bad CPS do not make cars unfit for the road. Drag does not make a car unsafe. The tyres on both cars are well within the legal thread to be safe. The tires on the impala are relitively new bought the car with new tyres on it. every problem the impala has i a common issue and problem on all 2000-2005 models of Impala and Monte Carlo and what ever other GMs use the 3800 Series II

 

[MatthewLTL]

Go to a tire shop and ask them how they feel about Fix-a-flat. From what I've been told, it tends to make a real mess of the rim and everything else.

BTW, I think that a lot of the recent trend first toward Donuts and then to no spare at all is related CAFE, where shaving a fraction of an MPG off a car by leaving the spare out can make a difference. At least that's what I've been told.

I hate Donuts, but solved the problem myself on my car. I had one rim that was scuffed up pretty badly when I bought the car. I bought a refinished one on Ebay, and then when I bought new tires had them swap out the scuffed up rim for the good one and put the best of the old tires on it(which weren't that worn, but were just crummy tires).

My spare is less than ideal, but it's miles ahead of a donut. If I do have a flat(which, fortunately, I've managed to go about two years without on my car), with the full size tire I can at least get it fixed at my convenience rather than feeling like it has to be done immediately. Riding on one cheap Cooper tire for a few days beats the heck out of riding on a donut.

with how little the spare is ever used i aint in any hurry to replace the donut tire. Leaving the spare out to gain MPGs isn't unheard of. Most people have roadside assistance on their insurance coverage so they can just use that rather than carry a spare.

 

[MatthewLTL]

This is so ridiculous, he can't be possibly serious.

-t

dead serious. Spent $80 for a shop to fix the tyres. That failed so i resulted to the free option...... Fix-a-flat. i had 6 cans laying around. Used them all on the car. It's stopped the leaking in 2 tyres and drastically reduced the leaking in the other 2. Problem is the rims. The mechanic said they are the worst case of rims he's ever seen (stupid Alloys) he had to use Bead sealer.

One whole can on a completely flat tyre has fixed that tyre. not like I care about a TPMS sensor.... cars not drivin 30 miles at a time for that system to work anyway not hard to check the pressure.