Modern cars too clever by half!

[swill453]

I think it was Audis in about the 1980s that had some kind of pneumatic central locking. Put half a tennis ball over one of the locks and give it a punch, and all the doors popped unlocked.

Hoax https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/can-u ... nnis-ball/
Mythbusters gives it a go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ1jfha ... e=emb_logo

Illusion shattered...

Scott.

[Breelander]

I'm also surprised at the number of us who had Minis, but who haven't mentioned its number one claim to fame. Namely, the bypass hose. .... It was thin enough to perish every few years, and thick enough to be un-removable unless you first removed the cylinder head. It was just jammed in too tight to be taken out and replaced in any other way.

After years of struggling to fit the 'concertina' one in my youth, a few years ago I found the easier way to fit the proper one - remove the water pump, not the head :doh:

[Watis]

I'm also surprised at the number of us who had Minis, but who haven't mentioned its number one claim to fame. Namely, the bypass hose. .... It was thin enough to perish every few years, and thick enough to be un-removable unless you first removed the cylinder head. It was just jammed in too tight to be taken out and replaced in any other way.

After years of struggling to fit the 'concertina' one in my youth, a few years ago I found the easier way to fit the proper one - remove the water pump, not the head :doh:

I too must confess to having a Mini as my first car!

And I do recall helping my father fit a concertina hose - without dismantling anything.

The application of a little Fairy liquid saw the thing slip over the pipes without too much trouble.

Watis

[redsturgeon]

I can still practise the old skills trying to start my Briggs and Stratton powered mower.

I was brought up trying to kickstart 1950s single cylinder 250cc motor bikes with manual choke Amal carb and Lucas coils, give me electronic fuel injection any day!

John

[bungeejumper]

I was brought up trying to kickstart 1950s single cylinder 250cc motor bikes with manual choke Amal carb and Lucas coils, give me electronic fuel injection any day!

Amen to that. But tell the young'uns that you spent your formative years getting your tickle button wet and they'll back away rather fast. But sadly, my Briggs & Stratton mower doesn't leave me much room for the old skills - not now that they've taken away the throttle control. All that's left is the decision as to how many pushes of the carb priming button to apply. (The instructions say three, but ours will start instantly on six, and not one less.)

No, it was my all-American Ryobi two stroke petrol strimmer (1990s) that really allowed me to demonstrate the good old skills. It had electronic ignition, but for some reason that didn't work unless you'd yanked the cord twenty times, dried out the plug, and then retired to treat the blisters on your hands. Then all you had to do was give it another twenty pulls, followed by more groaning, and then a few tried and tested OCD remedies such as singing the Star Spangled Banner backwards while standing on one leg.

Dry out the plug again, and then utter a few solid English Basil Fawlty curses for luck, and the infernal machine would start. Unless it didn't. In which case it was getting too late to do the bloody gardening anyway.

They tell me that all Ryobi's garden machines are made in China these days. They also tell me that they start.

BJ

[Sobraon]

@ Bj what is 'it' about Ryobi? I bought a Ryobi chain saw about 10 years ago and it always applied its chain brake if you used it for an extended period.

I took it apart and the set up for the brake was such that I couldn't see how it could fail to come on by itself under load! The thing was designed to be useless! I cant even bring myself to give the thing away on Freecycle. Combined with the refusal to start except by removing and preheating the plug, removing the air filter a squirt of 'easy start' and plenty of exercise with the pull-start means the thing is used now to keep my Stihl chainsaw off the deck.

Lesson learned for me - power garden machinery - look at other makes and then buy Stihl (YMMV).

[GrahamPlatt]

No, it was my all-American Ryobi two stroke petrol strimmer (1990s) that really allowed me to demonstrate the good old skills. It had electronic ignition, but for some reason that didn't work unless you'd yanked the cord twenty times, dried out the plug, and then retired to treat the blisters on your hands. Then all you had to do was give it another twenty pulls, followed by more groaning, and then a few tried and tested OCD remedies such as singing the Star Spangled Banner backwards while standing on one leg.

Dry out the plug again, and then utter a few solid English Basil Fawlty curses for luck, and the infernal machine would start. Unless it didn't. In which case it was getting too late to do the bloody gardening anyway.

They tell me that all Ryobi's garden machines are made in China these days. They also tell me that they start.

BJ

Ha, same story here. The thing (Ryobi strimmer) would usually start from cold after seven or eight pulls, but die after 15 minutes use, then simply refuse to restart entirely (taking plug out to dry, etc, no matter). I’d had it back and forth to a gifted mechanic, but we could never bottom the problem. Having one day needed it to work for a couple of hours, I finally lost it and went out in temper to the local tool shop, where I was taken for a large sum to acquire a Honda 4-stroke. In the end I consider it money well spent, as the Honda is perfectly reliable and a lot more powerful.

[didds]

Top prize in this department ought to go to the first version of the Rover 200 series, which had an ingenious solution for the locked-out. Just inside the rear wheel arch was an unobtrusive little connector block. You shorted a wire across the two terminals, and all the doors sprang open. Why didn't anybody else ever think of that one?

becasue it is such an obvious security issue I'df imagine - once anybody that owned a R200, ort knew somebody that owned a R200, or knew somebody that knew somebody that owned a R200 all knew the "trick" every R200 in the country was now an open box

LOL

didds

[DrFfybes]

Just been looking for someone's house on GSV, and came across this

https://goo.gl/maps/EYfsMTzuit5cNqi56

Now there's a household that thinks modern cars are too clever, and knows what they like.

Paul

[Leothebear]

Apologies to be late on this topic. I cannot agree more on the sentiment. Software engineers with too much time on their hands. Or is it? Could it possibly be manufacturers intentionally constructing their cars with such software control to put the lucrative maintenance/repair business out of the reach of independent motor repair shops?

I really think the best cars were made about 10-15 years ago that didn't have computerized control on every function of the car.

[DrFfybes]

I think it is the drive (no pun intended) to add more and more toys to attract the younger generation and iterface with the latest tech.

People are growing up with touchscreens and voice control and multiple configurations, but I wonder how many Evoque owners really ever change the colour of the mood lighting in the cabin. But it has always been an arms race.... heater, radios, intermittent wipers, heated rear window, electric windows, air con, cruise control, ABS, traction control, adaptive suspension, drift mode. All the things we now consider essential were once high end options but the electronic age means they can be added in software now rather than adding buttons.

For youngsters cars are now white goods for getting from A to B, they want it to be as easy as possible to use, with as little interruption as possible from the important task of keeping up with social media. Most cannot wait for driverless technology. For business users the main concern is the tax implications, and for both parties the important thing is the monthly payments.

Paul

[redsturgeon]

IMHO touch screens for anything that needs changing while the car is in motion are anathema.

If one looks at what has happened in the camera world, with the advent of digital there was an increasing move away from dedicated knobs and dials on the camera body towards a menu driven screen system, either touch screen or arrow pad. In recent years though, high end cameras have seen a move back to analogue controls that has been welcomed by the majority of photographers. One of the great things is having dedicated controls that can be assigned to specific functions chosen by the user.

John

[jackdaww]

The dash gear stick was always a great talking point, but worked a treat.

Yes, a solid lever going straight across the top of the (longitudinal) engine to the gearbox made a lot of sense.

Scott.

===================================

i drove one (renault 4 ) for several weeks - a great car - simple gearchange , comfortable , bags of room .

then , during my daily commutes , in a viva , which had a nice slick gearchange , i just got fed up of the constant relentless clutch dipping.

tried an automatic , and neve gone back .

there wont now be many manual clutch/gearbox cars available soon .

[airbus330]

Bit of a divergence appearing with many manufacturers joining the tech bling arms race, while relatively new kids on the block, such as Dacia, producing frill free basic motoring. It has appeal as Dacia have doubled their sales figures in 10 years. Skoda, as a brand, offer a similar way forward. The big question, is how Chinese cars will be received when they finally match Western production and design standards. I suspect that they will err towards cheaper bling, rather than sturdy utility, but I think that they may well deal a killer blow with cheap electric cars that we can actually afford to buy.

[AF62]

Skoda, as a brand, offer a similar way forward.

??? Skoda’s cars, as part of the VAG group, certainly do not offer “frill free basic motoring” - the Skoda Octavia offers Apple CarPlay, Front Assist radar with adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, blind spot detection, etc.

It is just VAG offer the right car to each customer group, an overpriced Audi to the fashion victims, an expensive but sensible VW to the middle classes, a sensible Skoda to families, and a cheaper and younger focused SEAT at the bottom.

The technology is not wildly different across the brands, just Skoda and SEAT tending to lag a year or so behind Audi and VW.

[airbus330]

Skoda, as a brand, offer a similar way forward.

??? Skoda’s cars, as part of the VAG group, certainly do not offer “frill free basic motoring” - the Skoda Octavia offers Apple CarPlay, Front Assist radar with adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, blind spot detection, etc.

Sorry, I didn't express myself well. What I meant, was that Skoda represented (or at least used to) the no frills brand of VW/Audi. It used to be the case that Skoda/Seat were less plushily equipped and the interior build materials were more plain. Skoda, in particular has been gentrified to the point where a comparison with Dacia is inappropriate. In fact, Fiat are nibbling at the Dacia market with the current Tipo being very cheap and cheerful. But it is difficult to find an alternative that is as utilitarian as the Dacia's.