Ontopic The new car-seching thread

Technology caught up.
Computer control of nearly everything. Autos with 6, 7, 8 gears instead of 3 or 4, etc.
Yeah, it used to be a choice of a 5 speed that would last forever if you drove it right and be good on gas, or a 3/4 speed crappy automatic that got worse gas mileage, required fluid changes, and would probably die and cost you a bunch of money at some point.

Now the damn autos have better gas mileage than the manuals. And they're reliable - like the ZF 8HP transmission that's in our Q5 is in damn near everything these days and is pretty much proven reliable. Coulda got the dual clutch S-Tronic thing instead but it would have cost more and given zero benefit.
 
Yeah, it used to be a choice of a 5 speed that would last forever if you drove it right and be good on gas, or a 3/4 speed crappy automatic that got worse gas mileage, required fluid changes, and would probably die and cost you a bunch of money at some point.

Now the damn autos have better gas mileage than the manuals. And they're reliable - like the ZF 8HP transmission that's in our Q5 is in damn near everything these days and is pretty much proven reliable. Coulda got the dual clutch S-Tronic thing instead but it would have cost more and given zero benefit.

Yup. Bunch of my old autos would've been better as sticks but modern ones it's really just personal preference. No other real advantage anymore though I still prefer a stick.
Even my folks explorer has paddle shifters you can just hit and take control. Downshift and make it hold there like for mountain driving, etc. Then if you don't touch one for like 20-30 seconds it reverts back to full auto.
 
  • Gravy
Reactions: adi
That explorer is the first vehicle my folks have been able to buy brand new outright for cash since at least 1972. But, they still had to finance it, make a payment one month, then pay off the loan the next month because they'd give them a better total price when the sales guy could get his commission for selling the financing instead of just the car, lol.

Part of the buying process was a class over an hour long just to show them how to operate all the tech in it, and once in a while it would still do something they had to figure out what or why.

One time the alarm started freaking out while they were standing outside the car because the weight sensors said they were out of the vehicle but it was left running with the doors open and the key fob was too far away or something weird like that. Had to dig out the book and adjust more things.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: adi and Jehannum
Yup. Bunch of my old autos would've been better as sticks but modern ones it's really just personal preference. No other real advantage anymore though I still prefer a stick.
Even my folks explorer has paddle shifters you can just hit and take control. Downshift and make it hold there like for mountain driving, etc. Then if you don't touch one for like 20-30 seconds it reverts back to full auto.
The Q5 has the 'slapstick' you can move to the right and push forward/backward to manually shift.

I use it for gearing down and engine braking on highway offramps, or holding it in one gear if I'm hooning the thing in a parking lot or something, but that's it. Manually shifting an auto is just disappointing.
 
The Q5 has the 'slapstick' you can move to the right and push forward/backward to manually shift.

I use it for gearing down and engine braking on highway offramps, or holding it in one gear if I'm hooning the thing in a parking lot or something, but that's it. Manually shifting an auto is just disappointing.
they used to call that tiptronic or something
 
Yup. Bunch of my old autos would've been better as sticks but modern ones it's really just personal preference. No other real advantage anymore though I still prefer a stick.
Even my folks explorer has paddle shifters you can just hit and take control. Downshift and make it hold there like for mountain driving, etc. Then if you don't touch one for like 20-30 seconds it reverts back to full auto.

I like a manual transmission for the lower cost of maintenance and the ability to get better gas mileage. It's a huge bonus that I have never had to have someone give me a jump since I can bump start it. Huge time and hassle saved.
 
  • Gravy
Reactions: adi and HipHugHer
I like a manual transmission for the lower cost of maintenance and the ability to get better gas mileage. It's a huge bonus that I have never had to have someone give me a jump since I can bump start it. Huge time and hassle saved.

That is the other advantage. Can still push start the car, park on an incline, etc. That Has saved a lot of time and expense and bullshit.
 
  • Gravy
Reactions: adi
210212368image0000001.jpg
Co-worker got a new WRX, so I made him a couple of keychains.
 
Apparently the headgaskets were a major issue back in the '00s and "it's all fixed now"... and going LOL HEADGASKETS to a new subaru owner is wrong and annoying.

Which is why I made these.
I found it on thingiverse and made one for my friend Peter who's got the motor out of his Subaru currently.
 
I found it on thingiverse and made one for my friend Peter who's got the motor out of his Subaru currently.
The model scaled impossibly small when I loaded it into Cura, I sized it up to 45mm long, 32mm-ish wide and 1mm thick.

I made these out of Taulman 910. PLA will probably last 0.01 seconds on a keychain.
 
  • Gravy
Reactions: Jehannum
The model scaled impossibly small when I loaded it into Cura, I sized it up to 45mm long, 32mm-ish wide and 1mm thick.

I made these out of Taulman 910. PLA will probably last 0.01 seconds on a keychain.
I saw the same thing.

And I did mine with PETG, because I assume it'll probably just become a tool box ornament (also none of my nylon is anywhere near dry).