New wheels!

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

We collected this beast in September and have now just clocked over 1,000 miles. It's on a 3 year lease via Motobility.  We needed something that had a big enough boot for the scooter and luggage, and was high enough off the ground so that I didn't need to become a human origami to get in and out!! We've nicknamed it The Phantom Menace as the colour in the brochure says it's Phantom Black, It's also big enough to make it' presence felt when it needs to! LOL Either way we love it!

Edited October 20, 2017 by dodgy-alan

[allardjd 1,853]

A stick-shift - I'm impressed.  That makes up for the steering wheel being on the wrong side.

 

John

[brett 2,301]

Very nice Alan, best of luck with it and safe travels.

[Quickmarch 488]

Very nice, Alan

 

Didn't you get a red one just a year. or so, ago?

 

JA - I just got back from Ireland. For some reason, all the rentals have the steering wheel on the right side .

 

Of note; They are also predominantly standard shift cars. I believe this is a hold-over from the old thinking that automatics are less fuel efficient than standards. New cars with five and six speed automatic transmissions and lock-up torque converters are a viable alternative in North America and most get about the same fuel mileage. However, with British and European traffic the way it is, I'll bet the standard transmission results in better fuel mileage on an annual basis.

Fuel prices in the EU and Canukistan are similar. That said, I no longer drive a standard shift car. They're devilishly hard to buy here and their resale value is awful as the majority of Canadians (and I'll bet Americans) have never driven a standard shift car. My wife was the last hold-out as she's had several MX-5's and they are typically standard shift. But even sports cars in Canada are predominantly automatics as most are sold with paddle-shift transmissions these days.  Also Interesting: Honda Motorcycles have started marketing the first Paddle-Shift motorcycles with their new Africa Twin.

 

I'm feeling like a dinosaur. Who among us remembers "three on the tree"?

[mutley 4,493]

26 minutes ago, Quickmarch said:

I'm feeling like a dinosaur. Who among us remembers "three on the tree"?

 

Not on this side of the pond March! We've never had gear shift on the steering column.

 

My wife had a MX5 too but now she has a 5 door sedan, still with manual shift. My twin clutch automatic 5 door has paddles, but I rarely use them, the spec for fuel consumption was better than that for a manual shift, something to do with the ratios on its seven gears.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I had a Ford 250 van with 3 on the tree, no power brakes, no power steering. What a beast. It was a work out driving it around San Francisco or any busy hilly traffic.

 

And who remembers Honda's first automatic shift motorcycle...it didn't really catch on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB750#CB750A_Hondamatic

Edited October 21, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[allardjd 1,853]

I've never owned a "three on the tree", but have had stick shift on the floor.  My dad's cars were always column stick shifts and I drove any number of them in light trucks in my high school job.  It's been years since I've driven a manual shift but feel pretty confident I could jump in and do it in a heartbeat.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

8 minutes ago, allardjd said:

I've never owned a "three on the tree", but have had stick shift on the floor.  My dad's cars were always column stick shifts and I drove any number of them in light trucks in my high school job.  It's been years since I've driven a manual shift but feel pretty confident I could jump in and do it in a heartbeat.

 

John

 

A little like "riding a bike" - you never forget once learned.

[Quickmarch 488]

39 minutes ago, Captain Coffee said:

And who remembers Honda's first automatic shift motorcycle...it didn't really catch on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB750#CB750A_Hondamatic

 

I'd forgotten about that one.

[brett 2,301]

Over the years most of my vehicles had on the floor manual shifters, including for work box trucks, my first car was a manual so for me it was natural to like them. I did get a chance to drive a few old cars with column shifters, although I wouldn't say I was a fan of them but they did the job. My last two vehicles have been automatics, I still miss the versatility of a manual shifter, especially in certain conditions but the old knees don't miss them at all, especially in stop and go traffic.  

 

For the first year after switching to an automatic when I saw trouble ahead I would catch myself reaching subconsciously for the shifter lol.

 

Anyone remember the first time they had to do a standing start on a steep hill using a manual shift?

 

 

 

[allardjd 1,853]

Quote

Anyone remember the first time they had to do a standing start on a steep hill using a manual shift?

 

There's an old Bill Cosby routine from an old party record (remember those?).  He's in a VW in San Francisco and has to stop near the top on a steeply sloped  hill.  I think he ends up setting the brake, getting out and putting a For Sale sign on the car.

 

John

 

EDIT:  Found it!  Not exactly like I remembered, but close.

 

 

[hifly 925]

Now here's the car of my dreams, I've had a few Classic 900s but never the Aero. 

 

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

6 hours ago, mutley said:

 

Not on this side of the pond March! We've never had gear shift on the steering column.

 

 

We most certainly did mate, Vauxhalls and Bedfords had them for many years. I've driven dozens of them, Also most Toyotas through the 70s had them as well, By boss had a Crown Custom with one of the sweetest gearboxes i've ever come across.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Vauxhall+Victor+column+shift&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj96va_4oLXAhWJDsAKHXahCwUQsAQIJw&biw=1280&bih=893#imgrc=r8MSKSNM8FVv8M:

 

Bedford CA Van with column change, 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by dodgy-alan

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

7 hours ago, Quickmarch said:

Very nice, Alan

 

Didn't you get a red one just a year. or so, ago?

 

 

I'm feeling like a dinosaur. Who among us remembers "three on the tree"?

I got the Red Fiat 3 years ago and under the terms of the lease we renew the car every three years.  The Fiat was a pretty good car although as time went on we found that A,the boot was too small to hold my scooter plus luggage. (only one or the other) and B, the semi-auto gearbox was bloody hopeless under certain conditions, In some places we had to drive it as a manual as it wouldn't go up some of the hills we threw at it.  Other times you'd go to pull away at a roundabout for instance, and the car would just sit  there mumbling to itself whilst it decided what gear it wanted to be in! All this whilst there was a truck bearing down on me etc! It had a lot of good points, it was roomy, quiet, comfortable and a good cruiser, but in the end I was glad to see the back of it. 

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

2 hours ago, brett said:

Over the years most of my vehicles had on the floor manual shifters, including for work box trucks, my first car was a manual so for me it was natural to like them. I did get a chance to drive a few old cars with column shifters, although I wouldn't say I was a fan of them but they did the job. My last two vehicles have been automatics, I still miss the versatility of a manual shifter, especially in certain conditions but the old knees don't miss them at all, especially in stop and go traffic.  

 

For the first year after switching to an automatic when I saw trouble ahead I would catch myself reaching subconsciously for the shifter lol.

 

Anyone remember the first time they had to do a standing start on a steep hill using a manual shift?

 

 

 

Hill starts are piece of cake with a stick shift, You just need to have good clutch control and know where the biting point was.  (even more fun doing it in 17 ton bus!)

[CAT3508 341]

http://fs-snaps.com/image/PMhX4

 

My latest vehicle, Mitsubishi Triton, handy out here in the bush. Will be doing a 6,000 KM, round trip to Perth, Western Australia, early in the New Year. 

 

Edit: Thought the picture would show up in the post, but it does through fs-snaps, sorry about that. 

Edited October 21, 2017 by CAT3508

[Quickmarch 488]

The recent trip to Ireland saw us renting a Renault Clio - really cool car. It (seemed to) had some sort of arrangement where it held the brake for you if you were on a slope. Didn't matter if it was uphill or downhill. So this gadget allowed you to start off without having to use the handbrake.

It had a regular cruise control, where you set the thing to do a specific speed - pretty much normal, all cars have them, don't they? But it also had a "speed limiter". This is a really great gadget. You click it on and set the speed that you don't want to exceed. That's it. No matter how hard you push the Go Pedal, the car won't exceed the set speed.

I think this is a good gadget. I'm a pretty safe driver from a speeding point of view (either that or a very lucky one). I haven't had a speeding ticket in 20 years. However, the speed limiter seemed a good idea. I've no idea why you would need one in Ireland. It's scary insane driving down a (seems like) 5M wide roadway at 80Km/hr with a rock wall on the left and a tour bus on the right. Then; in a blind left hand corner there's a gaggle of bicycles stopped in the roadway looking at a map! Someone is going to die!!!

Survived it - really glad to get back to our North American (wide) roadways where you don't have to fold your outside rear view mirrors when driving through a town. I didn't take pictures (should have, but I was too busy), but suffice to say that Irish rural roads are a bit narrow. Has to do with the age of the roads. In Western Canada, there's nothing over 150 years old. Many of the hotels I stayed in in Ireland were 2 or 3 hundred years older than that. The cars were narrower and slower 300 years ago, so no need for wide roads.

[J G 927]

I have only ever had one automatic car. I hated it and couldn't wait to get back to a manual box. I like to tell the car when to change gear and not to have the car do it when it feels like it. There is no fun in that at all.

 

I have driven a lot in Europe, USA and Canada, these places drive on the wrong side of the road.  I have also driven in Ireland, Australia, India, Thailand, Malaysia  and just a few days ago, Malta, all of which drive on the correct side of the road. Other clever peoples, most of which were good enough to be part of the British Empire also drive on the proper side.

 

So the sun never sets on us right hand drivers don't you know. Being dominated by the British was not all that bad. When asking "what did the British do for us... apart from the railways, roads, unity, sanitation, law and order, fresh water, Gin and tonic, technology, the chance to be killed in not one but two world wars (buy one get one free), the answer must be right hand drive cars. An incredible feat when, despite the USA's occupation of Japan post WW2, the Japanese still drive on the left. Cunning devils sneaking that one past Uncle Sam.  

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by J G

[J G 927]

On ‎22‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 02:02, Quickmarch said:

The recent trip to Ireland saw us renting a Renault Clio - really cool car. It (seemed to) had some sort of arrangement where it held the brake for you if you were on a slope. Didn't matter if it was uphill or downhill. So this gadget allowed you to start off without having to use the handbrake.

 

 

I have this on my Nissan Qashqai, its a great feature.  In Malta last week we hired a Peugeot 107. A nasty little under powered tin can with no bells or whistles on at all. It had an old-fashioned manual hand brake, which I forgot to release on a number of occasions. Not that it made much difference.

[wain 879]

the wife recently got her new wheels, Merc C220D AMG, got loads of added gizmos and gadgets, has that hill assist thing to which is very useful. I get to drive it a lot as she prefers to be pax, I personally wouldnt spend that much on a car, very happy with my 4 year old window cleaning van....

 

remember in the 80's borrowing whilst in the Army borrowing a Honda bike that was auto geared, cant remember what it was but it felt really weird to drive...

 

best I drove for gears was an Actros Mecedes lorry, sequential gearbox for going up the gears, automatic for coming down....so easy....

[Quickmarch 488]

Years ago (early eighties) I had a friend who drove long-haul trucks for a living. I asked him one day to show me how the transmission was used in his cab-over International. I don't recall which motor he had in the thing, but I do recall the trans had 13 gears somewhere in the box. You needed to be a Mensa grad to remember the shift pattern and the sequence of splitting between the hi-lo ranges. The clutch was optional, used for starting and stopping mostly. I had a lot more respect for the skills involved in driving those beasts after one parking lot driving session.

 

Airplane transmissions are much simpler 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Heh...speaking of.

 

My Honda Odyssey van was in the shop a few days, and I was forced back into my trusty ol' mule Pepe...my first ever New Vehicle, a '97 Ford Ranger short cab, 4cylinder, 4sp with overdrive (5 speed is rarely used). It's a bare bones zero power anything/no radio/no AC... basic truck truck. Despite being a hella cheep storage box for a long time (thanks to a good watertight cap installed shortly after buying it...it sat for around the last 4-5 years only started and rolled a bit around the parking lot once in a great while...), It went right back to work and I only stalled it once.

 

FORD: Flies On Roads Dependably. (at least the Ranger series... )

[allardjd 1,853]

55 minutes ago, Quickmarch said:

Airplane transmissions are much simpler 

 

+1 

 

There were some aircraft superchargers that had 2-speed transmissions.  I recall a story from a guy who flew in C-119s in an ANG unit about how they routinely safety-wired the Hi-Low switches on the panel to the Low position because inadvertently shifting it to High while at a low altitude was a quick, easy way to cause an engine failure and a heavily laden C-119 was not a joy on one engine.

 

John