cars and how they get that way

[dhex]

One of the cool things about moving out to California from New Orleans for me is that out here, cars will stop for you if you're in the street.

nola has the bravest/stupidest pedestrians (tourists and locals) i've ever seen. they'd be dead in three days in nyc.

[Dangerman]

2002 Honda Civic DX

Battery light is on, but goes off at higher RPM. Example: battery light is ON cruising in 5th gear, but if I downshift to 4th at 50mph the extra RPMs turn the light off.

I went to NAPA on my break yesterday, and the car wouldn't start after sitting for 5 minutes. I bought a new battery and installed it. Car started immediately with the same battery light behavior.

Car wouldn't start this AM, so I wiggled the terminal wires and got a contact, she started. So that may have been my bad not tightening up the new battery. But the light is still on, still behaves the same.

My question: Bad ground somewhere, dying alternator, or loose alternator belt maybe?

[Highway]

I'd be guessing alternator, given that you run it harder and it brings up the voltage enough to turn the light off. If you're not hearing the belt slip, it's probably not the belt (and I don't know that alternator belts really slip much?). And while you're replacing that, check to make sure the wires aren't corroded, and also the battery terminals.

[Andrew]

A friend is looking at getting a new hatchback, so I went along on some test drives. The Mazda 3 hatchback with the 2.5 engine was impressive. It felt like a driver's car and not just a transportation appliance for someone who hates cars. The digital screen in the center of the dash was not a good design move, but I guess that crap is pretty hard to avoid now.

[lunchstealer]

A friend is looking at getting a new hatchback, so I went along on some test drives. The Mazda 3 hatchback with the 2.5 engine was impressive. It felt like a driver's car and not just a transportation appliance for someone who hates cars. The digital screen in the center of the dash was not a good design move, but I guess that crap is pretty hard to avoid now.

That's what I drive, and I like it. Enough power without enticing me to go nuts. Great gas mileage on mine with the energy recapture system that charges a supercapacitor while coasting/breaking and uses that to turn off the alternator during acceleration/cruising and saves some gas in moderate city traffic. Apparently it's still quite good without that. At least as of 2016, you could get a manual all the way up to the highest trim level, and only had to go with the automatic if you wanted that energy recapture system and crash-mitiagation / radar cruise control / etc. The auto is really good, though, especially compared to the 4-speed auto in my '08 Outback that this replaced. That transmission was a dog.

None of the ones in that price range that I looked at didn't have the touchscreen. The nice thing about the one on the Mazda is that it's not just a touchscreen, but can be operated by a set of controls on the center console. Works pretty well for the limited stuff I do with it.

The drawback on the 3s (the 2.5L trim levels) is that the ride is super harsh, and it's pretty road-noisy. You really feel it on a poorly maintained street. That and it's not super generous on cargo space behind the back seats, and a tall person can't fold them down without removing the headrests, or they get stuck on the back of the front seat at about 30 degrees.

But it looks good, drives as well as my Volvo C70 from back in the day, probably a little better than my Audi Allroad from also back in the day.

[JD]

That's what I drive, and I like it. Enough power without enticing me to go nuts. Great gas mileage on mine with the energy recapture system that charges a supercapacitor while coasting/breaking

But does it have enough power to tow a lion?

[lunchstealer]

That's what I drive, and I like it. Enough power without enticing me to go nuts. Great gas mileage on mine with the energy recapture system that charges a supercapacitor while coasting/breaking

But does it have enough power to tow a lion?

[Andrew]

None of the ones in that price range that I looked at didn't have the touchscreen. The nice thing about the one on the Mazda is that it's not just a touchscreen, but can be operated by a set of controls on the center console. Works pretty well for the limited stuff I do with it.

The drawback on the 3s (the 2.5L trim levels) is that the ride is super harsh, and it's pretty road-noisy. You really feel it on a poorly maintained street. That and it's not super generous on cargo space behind the back seats, and a tall person can't fold them down without removing the headrests, or they get stuck on the back of the front seat at about 30 degrees.

But it looks good, drives as well as my Volvo C70 from back in the day, probably a little better than my Audi Allroad from also back in the day.

It did seem like the stuff accessed through the screen was setup well for immediately doing the basics (music, cell phone) with the physical controls and that it could otherwise be left alone.

I didn't find the ride to be all that harsh, but it could be that I'm used to harsh rides. The sales guy knew what he was doing and directed us down all sorts of side roads to see how the car felt on curves, rough pavement, speed bumps, etc. I think we did about 8 miles and some of it was private streets that see pothole repair once a decade, and I thought the car handled it well (granted, I was a passenger).

Good to know about the cargo space and trickiness of folding down the back seats. I also noticed how small the rear window is and the back passenger windows, so the thing has some serious blind spots. Without a backup camera, backing it up would be very difficult.

I think the main competitor will be the Golf GTI. VW has improved their warranty quite a bit and my friend has had good luck with VWs in the past, so they might be leaning that way.

[lunchstealer]

My car history is mostly cushy to moderate rides. My history is pretty much: '69 Fairlane 500 wagon, ('84 Crown Vic wagon)*, ('90 Ford Ranger), '77 Caprice Classic wagon, '92 Taurus wagon, '00 Volvo C70 coupe, '00 Audi Allroad wagon, '08 Subaru Outback, ('08 Kia Rio). Of those the Kia, Ranger, and Fairlane are the only ones with even kinda bumpy rides, and not really even the Fairlane. The Mazda won't throw you around the way the Rio or Ranger did, but harsh bumps are transmitted to your lower back pretty harshly compared to the cushiness of the big wagons I've driven.



* cars that effectively belonged to someone else but which I drove moderately or extensively are in parenthesis.

[Dangerman]

My most recent former GF bought a Mazda 3 this summer. It drives nice, although I would describe the ride as "firm to hard". I chalked it up to large wheels and relatively low profile tires.

The center console controls repeatedly aggravated me, but I can't remember why. I think that the Volume/Search knob worked in an odd way that made me constantly miss clicks.

[Andrew]

My most recent former GF bought a Mazda 3 this summer. It drives nice, although I would describe the ride as "firm to hard". I chalked it up to large wheels and relatively low profile tires.

The center console controls repeatedly aggravated me, but I can't remember why. I think that the Volume/Search knob worked in an odd way that made me constantly miss clicks.

I drive a pickup with all-terrain tires, so I'm not a good judge of ride quality. Everything is smoother/quieter than it is. Also, I get suspicious if the ride is too smooth. I thought the Mazda 3 was reasonable. If that's firm to hard territory, then I'm now curious what most consumers consider moderate or smooth.

And I think my friend is going to go for a Golf GTI. It's been a while since I was in one of those, but I imagine the ride is about the same and I recall the visibility being better. Plus, the new VW warranty taint bad.

[Highway]

It'll be interesting to see if VW actually improves their quality to match the warranty (like Hyundai / Kia actually did) or if it's just a temporary measure to try to cancel out their reputation. And yes, I know that there are some (very limited number of) people who have had a trouble-free VW, but to me they're more than canceled out by the "7 coil packs in 3 years" people and the TrueDelta "135% of average repair frequency" rating.

[lunchstealer]

My most recent former GF bought a Mazda 3 this summer. It drives nice, although I would describe the ride as "firm to hard". I chalked it up to large wheels and relatively low profile tires.

The center console controls repeatedly aggravated me, but I can't remember why. I think that the Volume/Search knob worked in an odd way that made me constantly miss clicks.

I drive a pickup with all-terrain tires, so I'm not a good judge of ride quality. Everything is smoother/quieter than it is. Also, I get suspicious if the ride is too smooth. I thought the Mazda 3 was reasonable. If that's firm to hard territory, then I'm now curious what most consumers consider moderate or smooth.

And I think my friend is going to go for a Golf GTI. It's been a while since I was in one of those, but I imagine the ride is about the same and I recall the visibility being better. Plus, the new VW warranty taint bad.

Pretty much everything I've driven has been better than the 3 in terms of hammering your lower spine with one hard jolt. The Ranger with street tires and base suspension was worse in terms of lurching you about, but it didn't transfer a manhole straight to your lower back the way the 3 does. Apparently the 2.0L trim level is better, with a slightly softer suspension and higher-profile tires. An Outback is probably moderate. You can take a corner at better speed than almost anything made in the US before 1988, but you have to be in some really shitty streets for it to be very uncomfortable. There's one below-grade manhole that I sometimes hit in the middle of a turn close to my house that feels/sounds like I hit an old-school VW bug.

The GTI will definitely perform better than the 3 and probably feel a touch more luxe on the interior. It felt a bit too midlife-crisisy for me to actually go with, but I thought long and hard about it.

[Kwix]

The GTI will definitely perform better than the 3 and probably feel a touch more luxe on the interior. It felt a bit too midlife-crisisy for me to actually go with, but I thought long and hard about it.

Really? All Golf/Jetta I have seen post 2011 have gone with that hard plastic crap used in most domestics. The pre 2011 stuff was sweet thought, all cushy and leather-like.

[lunchstealer]

The GTI will definitely perform better than the 3 and probably feel a touch more luxe on the interior. It felt a bit too midlife-crisisy for me to actually go with, but I thought long and hard about it.

Really? All Golf/Jetta I have seen post 2011 have gone with that hard plastic crap used in most domestics. The pre 2011 stuff was sweet thought, all cushy and leather-like.

Really? That's disappointing. I guess I haven't been in the recent ones.

Mrs lunch got impatient about getting dragged around for test-driving and dieselgate was still raw, so I didn't end up test driving the GTI or the Sportwagen. Kinda wish I'd held out to test the wagen though, because a hatchback just doesn't quite have my preferred level of cargo space.

[Kwix]

I hadn't seen anything since 2016 so I was kinda hoping they'd reverted back to former levels of kush and it was just another ding on the 3. But yeah, the cheapness of the interior was one of big criticisms when the new "under 15k" Jetta's appeared on the market.

[lunchstealer]

Yeah, the 3 is fine. You won't mistake it for an Audi, but the upper level trims are about as good as you can reasonably expect from a non-luxury badge, especially if VW is dropping the ball there.

[Mo]

I'm haven't decided if I feel that the Ford announcement is brilliant corporate focus or short-term thinking gone awry. I am currently vacillating between the two. Either way, it's a ballsy move by execs.

[Fin Fang Foom]

I'm haven't decided if I feel that the Ford announcement is brilliant corporate focus or short-term thinking gone awry. I am currently vacillating between the two. Either way, it's a ballsy move by execs.

Ford: we admit that it doesn't make any sense not to buy a Kia or a Hyundai at this price point.

[JasonL]

Focii are not bad cars.

[Fin Fang Foom]

I wonder if this is just Ford's DNR if there is a gas supply shock that goes the wrong way.

[Highway]

It's just gonna be redefining what a "crossover" is. And it's not at all a question of whether sedan sales are dying (they are).

Personally, I can't imagine anyone would want to punch themselves in the face daily by driving a Ford. I loathe their whole user interface language. And their vehicles look like poo. And most of them feel totally cramped inside.

[Fin Fang Foom]

It's just gonna be redefining what a "crossover" is. And it's not at all a question of whether sedan sales are dying (they are).

We all got SUVs, which are finally okay vehicles. SUVs, known as station wagons to the Australians, an honest people.

[Painboy]

It should be a good thing. They should have stopped making cars, and specifically small cars, decades ago. Concentrate on what their good at.

I am surprised they can do this though as I thought the CAFE standards pretty much mandated car companies produce a certain number of vehicles each year capable of a certain level of efficiency. I'm wondering if this a way around it.

[Highway]

It should be a good thing. They should have stopped making cars, and specifically small cars, decades ago. Concentrate on what their good at.

I am surprised they can do this though as I thought the CAFE standards pretty much mandated car companies produce a certain number of vehicles each year capable of a certain level of efficiency. I'm wondering if this a way around it.

No, it's not a way around it. It's a combination of ignoring it / Trump changing the rules, and making the CUVs better. It's not like it'll all be Explorers and Flexes. It's gonna be EcoSports and other relatively small vehicles.