The Automobile Thread

Derkderkall said:
Thoughts on AWD? How many of you have it? If so how often do you think you actually need it? Is it worth the extra cost up front. Neither of our cars have it. Even back in the snowy north east we didn’t. Tires are obviously the most important.

Just curious
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I've had it on virtually all of my cars for the last 15 years (Subarus and Audis). I also sell Audis, which are essentially all AWD, so I'm admittedly biased. Need is a strong word. I go to the snow less than I used to, but I still go. I've always felt pretty smug when I get waved by chain control when driving into Mammoth or Big Bear while others fumble around in the cold and dirty snow late at night trying to put chains on (whether they actually need them or not). Day to day driving in Southern California, I'd say you're virtually never taking advantage of AWD, aside from occasional driving in heavy rain. I wouldn't specifically get an AWD car for driving in the rain, though there are times when I'm glad I have it.
 
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buggravy said:
I've had it on virtually all of my cars for the last 15 years (Subarus and Audis). I also sell Audis, which are essentially all AWD, so I'm admittedly biased. Need is a strong word. I go to the snow less than I used to, but I still go. I've always felt pretty smug when I get waved by chain control when driving into Mammoth or Big Bear while others fumble around in the cold and dirty snow late at night trying to put chains on (whether they actually need them or not). Day to day driving in Southern California, I'd say you're virtually never taking advantage of AWD, aside from occasional driving in heavy rain. I wouldn't specifically get an AWD car for driving in the rain, though there are times when I was glad I had it.
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Enhanced handling no?
 
Derkderkall said:
Thoughts on AWD? How many of you have it? If so how often do you think you actually need it? Is it worth the extra cost up front. Neither of our cars have it. Even back in the snowy north east we didn’t. Tires are obviously the most important.

Just curious
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I have an AWD Audi and a 4WD truck. We get snow in Prescott & sometimes the roads get icy. We have friends that originally moved here and did not have AWD or 4WD and they found out their first winter that they couldn't even get up their driveway on snowy days. I take the truck on multiple 8-10 day ski trips every season and use the 4WD every year.

Do you need in it OC? Highly doubtful.

There was an article years ago about snow driving. It was about a winter driving school/course in Steamboat Springs. The instructors point blank stated that *most people* are better off in a front wheel drive vehicle WITH quality snow rated tires than they are with AWD. They said quality tires are the most important part of the equation and too many people thought the AWD was going to save them from their poor driving skills which led to them actually being more likely to be involved in a collision.
 
On the AWD (or even 4WD) thingy, I dunno....

I lived in Salt Lake City from January 1984 to December 1986. The whole time I was there I drove a 1973 Chevelle. Rear wheel drive. Went deer hunting in it on the clay tracks in the high Uintas, Strawberry, Fishlake...well over 10,000 feet elevation and wet.

Never owned a set of tire chains. Never got stuck.

I've been to plenty of other places with snow and ice, and still haven't used chains but once - when they were required (for why?) going up to Big Bear one season.

It mostly comes down to knowing how to drive in the conditions, and knowing when to NOT drive in the conditions. EMMV (Everyone's mileage may vary) of course.

(PSA: Before you call it out, that was a premeditated use of a split infinitive, just to show that it can and should be done. An infinitive CANNOT be split in Latin, but trying to force Latin grammar on a West Germanic language is just stupid)
 
vini, vidi, vici... 3 yrs of Latin in high school and I don't remember much more. About Latin at least. German in college, I got 1,2, 3 (but hesitate to try to spell them). Me so edjumacated. :eek:o_O

I wonder, if you split infinity in half, do you have 2 infinities? Where does one start and the other end? I wish I still had a spleef to make sense of this.
 
blixet said:
vini, vidi, vici... 3 yrs of Latin in high school and I don't remember much more. About Latin at least. German in college, I got 1,2, 3 (but hesitate to try to spell them). Me so edjumacated. :eek:o_O

I wonder, if you split infinity in half, do you have 2 infinities? Where does one start and the other end? I wish I still had a spleef to make sense of this.
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Simple, really.

How high is up? Twice as high as halfway up. I took 4 years of German in "high" school. Ein, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben...I can still count to infinity in German. Latin, not so much.

But does a language (German, in particular) need 9 ways to say "the?" Does this lead to stagnation and national Darwinism???

Can the French cook?

I need another beer...
 
Only all wheel drive vehicle I ever had was a WRX. Loved driving it and took a bit to figure out rain didn't make much diff! Although was one of the most unreliable cars I've ever owned..subbies.. something will always break.
But is AWD needed? Not for what I typically drive in OC. And was able to get a nicer car for the money than my east coast coworker who had the same budget and needed AWD. hehehe...

And @blixet two infinities would warp my mind! Think about space and infinity for a bit and it really is a mind blower just to contemplate what could be there...

and if I know what you mean/meant good enough for me. My wife's English is not the best, and it's adorable to me. ( English as a second and all that..). She's tried to get me to learn to count in Farsi, but me not too bright, old dog new trick kinda thing...
 
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Danimal said:
She's tried to get me to learn to count in Farsi, but me not too bright, old dog new trick kinda thing...
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I know what you mean...my wife is a native Cuban, and at least in So Cal I've been exposed to enough Español to know uno, dos, tres, cuatro...etc. And my favorite expression "Por eso estamos como estamos."

We almost moved to Iran in 1977 - my dad worked for Hughes Aircraft at the time and there were contracts & stuff...thankfully that fell through because 1979 in Iran as an American would have just sucked.
 
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I've had AWD or some version of it since about ohhh 1987. I drove in snow A LOT! But during my college ski racing days I had a Ford Fiesta (front wd), a Volvo wagon (rear WD) and a Chevy Monte Carlo (rear wd). I also think I put chains on a total of maybe three times.

The biggest misconception people have about 4wd in snow is that it helps them on flat ground or downhill. Unfortunately, I saw many a Suburban or other SUV flipped in the ditch after the heavy vehicle broke traction going downhill. Weight is not your friend going down hill, and once you break traction, you're not getting it back. 4WD helps in deep snow and uphill. I giggle as I cruise past long lines of cars struggling to make their way up the hill - but one has to be careful not to get smug - otherwise, those you passed will delight in your misfortune, should you make an error!

Snow Car.jpg
 
CBone said:
Enhanced handling no?
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Kinda sorta, but also comes down to what it's being compared to. In a typical passenger car I'd say mostly so. In sports/sporty cars purists would say that AWD leads to understeer at the limit, adds weight in the front where it's not wanted, and dulls the steering feedback, at least when comparing to a RWD car.
 
mtbMike said:
I have an AWD Audi and a 4WD truck. We get snow in Prescott & sometimes the roads get icy. We have friends that originally moved here and did not have AWD or 4WD and they found out their first winter that they couldn't even get up their driveway on snowy days. I take the truck on multiple 8-10 day ski trips every season and use the 4WD every year.

Do you need in it OC? Highly doubtful.

There was an article years ago about snow driving. It was about a winter driving school/course in Steamboat Springs. The instructors point blank stated that *most people* are better off in a front wheel drive vehicle WITH quality snow rated tires than they are with AWD. They said quality tires are the most important part of the equation and too many people thought the AWD was going to save them from their poor driving skills which led to them actually being more likely to be involved in a collision.
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I took that course in about 1989 or so.
Taught by a French rally racer who was exactly what you think of when you hear French rally racer.
ABS was still really new, only in a couple of the vehicles and they had switches to turn it off.
Spinning around on the ice and snow was fun.
We got to use a Quattro coupe(maybe the only Quattro at the time?), a Cherokee, a F150, an LTD, an Escort and a Merkur(maybe AWD?)
 
mtbMike said:
That's why lots of folks recommend having at least one "old school" vehicle....If they can't do it already, we're probably not far off from Big Brother being able to shut down today's computerized vehicles
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They have been able to do that for years. Hackers have proven that.

Only thing Not perfect about my van is the diesel is EFI. If it was a mechanical pump (and manual transmission), it would be perfect.

I get emails from Jeep letting me know what my tire pressure is and when it's do for an oil change, and I don't like that. My primary dislike.
 
I had a 2005 GMC Duramax K2500 2 wheel drive truck. We had gone to Big Bear in the snow for the weekend with friends. We were going down a snowy road and my truck would hardly move slipping on the ice. One of my friends got out of their 4 wheel drive truck and hopped in the bed of ours bouncing it to help get traction. Just then a piece of crap red faded colored Yugo drove right on by pretty as you please. The laughter coming out of the Yugo! Moments one never forgets. :rolleyes:
 
Stkx66 said:
I had a 2005 GMC Duramax K2500 2 wheel drive truck. We had gone to Big Bear in the snow for the weekend with friends. We were going down a snowy road and my truck would hardly move slipping on the ice. One of my friends got out of their 4 wheel drive truck and hopped in the bed of ours bouncing it to help get traction. Just then a piece of crap red faded colored Yugo drove right on by pretty as you please. The laughter coming out of the Yugo! Moments one never forgets. :rolleyes:
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But the Yugo broke down just out of your sight...hehehe.
 
Sidewalk said:
I get emails from Jeep letting me know what my tire pressure is and when it's do for an oil change, and I don't like that. My primary dislike.
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Yeah, I'd call jeep and make them disable the big brother tracking crap. Most likely they enabled it when you bought it and didn't tell you because the sales guy got a $10 commission for tracking u.

That's the one main reason I'll not buy a ev. Old school for the win.
 
Sasquatch9billion said:
I totally agree with that. I wish I didn’t need a car.
My best friend has never owned a car in his life and I’m jealous of that.

Those who’ve sold cars recently, what’s the best website or place to do so?
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There's a stretch of public road in La Verne in front of the Lighthouse Baptist Academy (White Ave. between 6th Street and 8th Street) that is known for parked cars with "for sale" signs with good results. Next time you are in the area, we can meet there and go for a ride.
 
Derkderkall said:
Thoughts on AWD? How many of you have it? If so how often do you think you actually need it? Is it worth the extra cost up front. Neither of our cars have it. Even back in the snowy north east we didn’t. Tires are obviously the most important.

Just curious
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Can't find it now but I read an article recently that said drivers of AWD vehicles can be ticketed in National parks for driving on roads designated 4x4 only. That will put a damper on Subaru bros.
 
Wife's 2011 Bimmer has a recall (VANOS bolts), so it's in the shop for a couple days. They gave us a 2024 230i as a loaner.
It's a nice car, smoothly fast while providing good mileage (28mpg so far). Waaaaay too much tech for me (screens, how do they work!), unengaging motor (yes, fast, but not visceral), and floaty electric steering which her 2011 already had. Pretty much what I was expecting so maybe confirmation bias. I just don't care for modern cars :-/ My car is an '06 with a straight six, a manual transmission, and no screens. It has 235xxx miles on it, and apparently I need to keep it going till 300k!

53918756762_853e6900a0_b.jpg
 
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