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In Reply to: OT: Never use cruise control when it is raining or icy posted by John Marks on November 12, 2004 at 09:44:16:
This reminds me of the scam that went round telling people to check their computers for a virus. It said to go into windows and look at the bottom of the main page and if there is a teddy bear icon titled "Setdebug" you should delete it.Well EVERYONE has this of course as it's a windows thing, but it didn't stop tons of people from screwing up their computers by deleting it.
I commend your public spirit, but the very argument is faulty. If the tires hydroplane, they are free from resistance and will spin faster. The computer will of course interpret this as an increase in speed and will slow the vehicle, not speed it up. (Unless it's an Audi or some other german car. Them I don't trust) The entire notion of getting airborne is impossible.
I do however agree with the sentiment, in bad weather you ought to be doing all the driving. But a good highway and light rain, cruise is fine.
Follow Ups:
Right pedal for gas, left pedal is for the brake.Some people just couldn't get that right.
Just last week another person with no business being behind
the wheel drove their vehicle into an accident.
"Oops I stepped on the wrong pedal"
Happened to too many people.I especially remember the story of the mother who crushed her kid in the garage when the car took off, IN PARK no less. Foot on the gas on not, it shouldn't be moving in park.
What you're confused about is Audi went into denial over it. Saying it ain't so don't make it so. I lost all respect for them after that. I mean really, you're product causes a mother to crush her kid and you steadfastly say it's her fault? I remember Herb Dennenberg, a philly news guy doing an investigation on it and they showed footage not meant to be footage of him getting in and starting one and the damn thing took right off on him, almost hitting the camerman. I suppose he's stupid too?
The technology was new, there would have been nothing wrong in admitting they screwed up. Their behavior was unconscionable, IMHO.
If the women in question had her car in PARK, the car could not, would not move foward. This is a hydraulic transmission not an electronic controlled transmission like Chrysler had so many problems with.
Have you noticed that after all the reports of runaway Audi 5000's
that it doesn't happen any more. There aren't as many of them on the road, yes, the real reason is because people learned that the right pedal is for go, the left for stop. The reports of people claiming they had their foot on the brake and the car just took off was also impossiable. The 500 has 4 good sized disc brakes and no wimpy 120 hp
engine is going to overpower them.
Here is an url about that poor women who ran her own child over.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cjm_18.htm
Sad yes. Not Audi's fault. Just another human being who made a mistake.GTF
"My personal thoughts are that Monster Cables suck".
we need people like Arthur Salvatore, etc... patrolling the ranks of audio reviewers and the media.Anybody with any type of automotive knowledge knows that was all bullshit. If a motor could overpower the brakes, let alone the stall speed of the torque convertor, people would be getting killed on a daily basis. It is for this reason that cars are designed the way that they are.
If you doubt this, go out to your car, fire it up, drop the car in gear with your foot firmly planted on the brake and stand on the throttle. I don't mean "give it some gas", i mean "STOMP ON IT"!!! All you'll do is rev the motor up against the stall speed of the torque convertor and waste a lot of gas. No "launching" or "unintended acceleration" is possible, even if the motor is "supercharged" and running nitrous. Only the gullible, un-educated public would believe such a thing. Evidently it worked, because Audi sales plummetted after that.
As a side note, all of the cases of "unintended acceleration" occured within a very small area of the country, primarily the New York region. Since New York is very much "Mercedes Benz territory", the increased popularity of Audi products was really beginning to hurt their sales. As such, steps were taken to "correct" the slump in Mercedes sales by defaming Audi in a very public manner. If the problem really was as reported, why weren't more cases reported in various areas across the country? Do you think that every single "defective" car was shipped to New York and none of them made it to other regions of the country, let alone other parts of the world?
Wake up and smell the coffee. Just remember that coffee is hot though and you may burn yourself. Just to make sure nobody hurts themselves, we'll put a disclaimer on it for you. Sean
>
... and didn't have any problem, it drove perfectly (for an Audi). I even tried to power brake it and the engine was easily defeated. I'm with you, GTF. I concluded it was operator error and nothing more.On a side note, after the major media took charge and ran with their story, dealers had to make big discounts to sell the car. A friend owned one for 6 years, having bought it new off the car lot. Guess what? No problems.
If I was to slip and fall, should I have blamed the tires?
That's basically what those people did to Audi.
It's to bad people can't take responsibility for their own actions.And your friend got a good car at a great price, I'm sure.
z
...this was his hobby and passion. I can tell you there were traction issues with at least four of them when I was in them, everything from poor rear traction, to fishtailing in off camber corners, to spinning 180 degrees in the snow. I found they had to be pushed hard or be in snow or rain for most of this bad behavior. I think the main contributing factors on the vehicle side were the types of tires they had and the amount of power, especially the on/off power of the turbo models (he had a 924 and later a 944). The early 911 turbos were notoriously dangerous with tons of understeer if the turbo kicked in during a corner...
Doctor killer is what some insurance companies call 911 type Porsches. Go too fast into turn, lift gas, go off road backward at speed.
So did my BMW.I had the best radials money could buy and that bastard wouldn't stay on the road to save it's life, (or mine) especially if the road was the slightest bit wet.
I'll never forget an incident at a hard left right jog in a road near me. I turned the corner and suddenly the passenger side was now the front of the car. (sliding, err gliding sideways) I corrected and it swung the OTHER way and now the drivers side was sliding forward. Meanwhile, cars coming towards me were diving off the road left and right as I was taking up both lanes the whole time. This on a 60 degree day with light drizzle.
I cut it again, it came round, fishtailed a bit, and finally went straight.
You keep your Porsche, and may God in his mercy bless and watch over you.
In my 911 I have Alpine cdp, some kind of 400 watt 4 channel amp and B&W 610i speakers stuffed in the back. Bought the B&W's on ebay cheap and they sound 100 times better than any car speakers.
As a rule, and I don't know if it's because I am an audiophile, but I really don't enjoy car audio and I don't even try. It's a lost cause because real happiness for me there is impossible.I had an Alpine unit in the BMW. It was all right, but I had problems with it and then it just completely broke. The joke was, the radio got stolen 3 weeks later (when completely useless) as I had not removed it yet. The only auto theft I ever had. Serves him right.
I had a Blaupunkt in my Neon, and swaped it because it didn't have a jitter memory and every bump causes it to skip. I replaced it with a fairly high model Alpine but found the Alpine was not as good sounding, even though it had 20 second jitter protection. So it came out and the Blaupunkt went back in, but padded more securely.
I would get a Nakamichi but I don't trust them. I and a friend owned cass decks by them and both suffered from mechanical problems. I have heard they are among the most truly musical audio decks out there however, but I don't care enough to invest the money in it. I'd rather use it towards an inside upgrade.
What you did with the B&W's was not an uncommon practice back in the 70's. It's actually not a bad idea really, as it helps dampen and control the speaker far better than any car driver does. I may do something like that in my Ford Ranger. Cars like the 911 or even my Spitfire are great for that as they have fairly large gaps behind the seats. Not big enough for a person, but big enough for a speaker.
There are lots of models in the BMW range – what were you driving? What ever model it was must be a real dog because an Audiophile driving in the rain doing 180 degree skids from left to right could have no way been at fault.
I mean to say, driver error for an audiophile just isn’t possible is it?Smile
320iI even had a lot of weight in the trunk but it never helped with that thing. It was like Brit Spears: It's ass would never stay put.
My first car was a VW Beetle. That thing wouldn't hold the road in bad weather either, it was always sliding.
Ironically I had a Triumph Spitfire which never gave me a problem. I drove it thru some of the worst winters of the early 80's and it was great in snow. If I got in somebody elses rut, it stayed put like a slot car. (wasn't bad without a rut either) It was only scary on the highway when a truck passed me. It was not uncommon to feel it getting sucked under the trailor as it passed. I always had to be careful when one passed me quickly.
I thought audiophiles were better at arguing than anything, but as far as it being my fault, in that case no. In fact if it wasn't for the fact that I was a good driver and didn't pannic I'd never have held the road. And that was not the first or last time that car did that to me in a turn. The worst incident came when the damn brake cylider let lose one day and I made a left turn off the road to my house at about 40mph and 2 wheels practically with no brakes. (the emergency didn't do squat) I either had to try to make the turn or face a collision ahead. I used every inch of that corner and missed a telephone pole by a smidgen.
I was happy the day that car went bye bye. I'm convinced the germans over-engineer everything, and I won't be buying from them any more.
It is true it used to happen to my spitfire too though (if it went under 15 degrees, the master cyliners would be shot) but they always had some life to them still. When the damn BMW went, it went. I can say that much for it, it never did anything half way.
…….. depending on what year it was. I have had quite a lot to do with 3 series BMW’s over the last 20 years and I and my Yuppie friends have found them to handle extremely well. Admittedly, in this part Australia ice and snow are unheard of.
Maybe the Krauts are getting their own back on the good ol US of A by deliberately sabotaging all left-hand drive models?The main thing is you lived to tell the tale and you finally saw the light and got rid of it. I know if I had any car that behaved as you describe it would be gone immediately.
Also, I can’t ever remember a truck ever passing me unless I was stopped……. I know it is great fun passing road trains on bull-dust roads in South Australia, I’m not sure I could do it now with traction-control (unless it was turned off) because accelerating over 80kph on a dirt corrugated road does wonders for your back and teeth, not to mention hitting your head on the roof as you bounce your way along.
Lastly, guess what? Even doing 100 – 120 kph over a corrugated dirt road, the car NEVER, dare I say, “literally flew through the air” – but then again this is Australia and those things just don’t happen here in the southern hemisphere. I think maybe because the steering wheel is on the right-hand side of the car they not only handle way better but the laws of gravity actually apply.I am off to the beach now.
Smile
Sox
Must be nice to live in a country where a beautiful beach is always 5 minutes away. (unless you go inland on a walkabout)I enjoyed driving the 320i on a nice dry road. I liked the way it handled. On water or snow, forget it.
Here in america at least, trucks can get going. I had the Spitfire when in college and I was driving out to state college (Penn State University). On a lonely stretch it was just me and 2 trucks for some miles. I suddenly noticed we were all doing 95 mph (not kph). Funny how that happens....
I slowed down and the one behind me flew past me and he really sucked my in hard when he went by. I literally held the wheel left until he went by. (I was still in the passing lane)
We're due for a new car next year and I'm leaning toward the new Scion TC. If it test drives nice, I think it will be a keeper. It's gotten great reviews already. I'd really like a pontiac solstice but I'm not single anymore, alas.....
THAT'S a car.
.
You must have been freakin'.Over near Oakland there is a Porsche parts store and junkyard.
The guy there said he gets totaled Porsches coming in at an average of 1 a day. Probably a lot of kids who think they're invincible.Paul
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