finding the signal in an industry filled with noise
Over 3 years ago, I posted on the benefits of using your spare tire before it aged…
Recently ABC picked up on the same story, as you can see here.
Ordinarily I take pride in being ahead of the curve, but this time I’m just despondent at the number of people who not having read my blog have inadvertently put themselves at risk.
Tell a friend…
Today I had to correct a field of experts that claimed that an adaptive suspension increased active safety. Not your self proclaimed armchair expert but one charging a sum with a number of zeros behind a 1 – 6 to be exact.
I disagreed, and minutes later – coincidentally – stumbled across one of many examples.
Mercedes limited chassis revisions to a light retuning of the adjustable Airmatic suspension system and a 10-percent quicker steering ratio. The results are a very heavy sedan that feels a little lighter on its feet. Still, this sport sedan is not as athletic as its rivals. Its test track performance numbers …are very good, but not great. Both the 550i and A6 4.2 S-Line outhandle and outstop the E550, but the more relaxed ride and handling compromise of the Mercedes feels better at anything short of the most fevered pace. Even in the stiffest of its three suspension settings, the Mercedes is sprung more softly than the BMW or the Audi, putting a higher premium on a smooth ride than ultimate agility. – Edmunds
(In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s not the hardware, it’s the software – or more specifically how it’s written…)
I’ve complained before about the ergonomic nightmare that occurs when you style a dash before you think about usability, about how there’s a sense that BMW designers are deciding what wheel size must be used or how low a car must sit and the consequences, and the inefficient packaging and poor visibility that’s stemmed from sketching a car that looks good on an autoshow turntable but cares not about visibility or ingress/egress.
Which begs the question: is the subpar side impact performance another example of the designer’s pen having disasterous consequences? Is the sharp tumblehome (or slant of the side glass) to blame for not only the sense of clausterphobia but the inability of the side curtain airbag to protect the driver as well as they’d be protected by other, less designed and more engineered BMW models?
Carmakers like SUVs for the same reason they like coupes, and more so – convertibles: they can charge a lot more for ‘em. Same goes for all wheel drive (cost: a few hundred tops, retail cost: thousands) or larger displacement engine in the same family (Someone explain why a 3.0L 6 cylinder costs more than a 2.5L 6 cylinder when they have the same number of parts? Some companies command $5K+ for the privilege).
The latest moneymaker: third row seating, in many cases right where the crumple zone was meant to be and no airbags either.
When cars get bigger, marketers cite growing waistlines. But as award winning L.A. TImes writer Dan Neil cites:
If the average family size in the United States is 3.84—so sayeth the U.S. Census Bureau—and the average number of children younger than 18 in those families is holding steady at 1.86, well, why the sudden pressing need for more seats? ...The rise of third-row seating, it seems to me, is a classic case of a manufactured need. Most people who spend the extra money don’t actually need a sixth and seventh seat; it’s merely that they have been possessed with the anxiety of not having them. My God, one day we might have friends, and then what will we do?
Reuters reports that Nissan has warned owners that its intelligent key can be rendered useless if placed in the same pocket as a cell phone. (For those of you who don’t know, this is Nissan’s version of the new generation of car keys that allow you to get into and start the car so long as the key is on your person). When your hotel room key forgets who you are, help is an elevator ride away – this might mean you’re forced to spend the night in a hotel.
No word on whether other brands’ similar keys are vulnerable but you might want to get into the habit of dedicating pockets.
Click here for more…
It’s not quite common knowledge yet but some people are starting to understand that tires – because they are made of rubber – have a certain operating range within which the rubber adheres to the road surface. Go above that and the rubber becomes greasy and is prone to tearing, go below it and it reaches its ‘glass point’ and gets hard and slippery.
For this reason your average ‘all-season’ tire gets slippery on a dry cold day below about 40 degrees and your average performance tire gets slippery below about 55 degrees until you warm them up. It of course varies from tire to tire but something on the TireRack website got me thinking – apparently once you expose tires to extreme cold permanent damage can occur!
Like the motorsports tires this Extreme Performance street tire has evolved from, the ADVAN Neova AD07 radial’s construction and compounds have been tuned to maximize the tire’s traction and performance within a specific range of ambient temperatures. Therefore, unlike less highly-tuned tires, Yokohama’s care instructions specify that due to its compound characteristics, ADVAN Neova tires must be used and stored at temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to maintain its performance and avoid tire damage.
Too many of today’s cars are styled to the point where function is compromised. The new 3 series’ rear seat is a perfect example; the rear wheel housings are larger than ever to make room for wheels that are larger than ever at the expense of rear seat comfort – your outboard shoulder is canted inward.
Same goes with window treatments – the last X3 I drove kept me thinking a driver had pulled into my blind spot because of the way the light would catch the inner treatment of the famed Hoffmeister kink in the rearmost pane, and you’ll note that when you get cut off or witness bad driving its often by the driver of a car that has windows designed for the auto show turntable, not the open road.
The S60 is a good example, the C30 is not:
Too many of today’s hatchbacks hem you in visually with their thick pillars and general air of bulk. The C30 avoids this, and it’s very refreshing. The base of the windscreen is low, despite the C30’s compliance with pedestrian protection rules, and the base of the rear window is even lower. The central pillars, though thick, are chamfered inside to help the view rearward for the driver and forward for the rear passengers, and the way the rear side windows angle inward makes for easy reversing with an excellent view. – 4Car
For the past ten years I’ve been trying to convince people that all wheel drives cars and SUVs need winter tires more than two wheel cars (due to the added mass the tires need to bring to a stop, and in the case of SUVs inherently inferior braking and handling and tires with hard rubber designed to take the punishment of off roading).
if a picture is worth a thousand words this video from Automobile is worth many times that.
Sure it’s spring again, but now you’ll be safer come next year…