Nutek

I had an old TR7. Mine was the most unreliable car in history. They used to say it had a heated rear window to stop your hands getting cold when you were pushing it.

Scouse Express

Are you implying that a British Leyland product was unreliable........How could you?


Him.

Nutek

They could be relied on for a few things.....

sir_eccles

For a moment there I though you were referring to a Lincoln Towncar.

Hangs head, yes I drive a Lincoln Towncar. It was an inheritance car so I can't complain too much. Gets terrible mileage in town (low teens probably) which is ironic given its name. Cruising long distance at silly speeds it creeps up to almost 25 mpg though.

Scouse Express

Break out the Marching Band

Mind you, I probably get that with my Crew-Cab Chevrolet S-10.


Jim.

sir_eccles

I keep telling myself that US gallons are smaller, but it doesn't make me feel much better.

Steerpike

+1 !

I 'grew up' driving manuals in UK, where you were laughed at if you had an automatic. When I got here, I tried to buy a manual but ended up buying an automatic because a) it was easier to find a used car with automatic, and b) everyone said it would be easier to sell. After driving it for a few months, I knew then I would never go back to manuals.

My current car - Acura TL - has what I would call a full manual mode; in that mode, you can floor it in first and the thing will red-line without shifting. I can switch gears at a flick of the 'stick' (newer models have the 'paddle' shifters on the steering wheel). In 5 years, I'ved used this mode exactly once, making me think it was an expensive feature I didn't need, but it gives you all the control of a manual if you want it.

One minor advantage of automatics - allows you to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. Driving around a series of tight curves on a grade, requiring constant shifting, requires to you be driving with only one hand on the wheel at key times ... I was reminded of this while driving on highway 1 in Marin County last week!

MostlyYank

Nutek, LOL! They used to say here, British cars are for folks who like to drive, and like to walk. On the same outing! I loved that car though, out of the TR7, a MR2, RX7, & X1/9 it was my favorite, so fun to drive. Sooner of later I'll get another.

sir eccles, yes, a baby blue 85 Towncar, my baby. I'm about to commit infanticide though. My other car is a 03 Grand Marquis. Bulletproof old 'American' style cars, largish, body on frame, V8, RWD. Room for 4 bodies in the trunk. 5 if you mush'em in.

Btw, if you ever need mech help on yours I know a little, and know folks who know a lot, just drop me a line. I've owned 7 full size Fords.

Pete

fatbrit

I'd call it male hairdresser mode.

sir_eccles

Ah real old school. Ours is a 99. We've had 7 seated in ours once, 3 in the front 4 in the back. And yes that trunk can really hold a lot, that was a memorable road trip to Napa.

Talking of road trips, this was a fun road in the Towncar. It's called the Moki Dugway:

MostlyYank

That sounds awesome!

Pete

Bob

FIL's new Silverado gets a smidge over 25mpg on the motorway and about 20 in town...but might be just him because he doesn't drive it anywhere now that he's pimped it up so much.

He uses a works Ram, it's shit, but he's able to use free petrol, the farmers stuff as he travels 2-3 hrs one way to work in it...about 100miles, so it's not distance, it's just up log mountain roads and it has the shit standard suspension.

The new Chevy, off road, feels so much better than his older one too and it gets the same mileage as the diesel version, but about $10K cheaper

Steve_

The best anti-theft device for your car is a stick shift, or standard transmission as they're called here.

I can't really see much point to stick shift here, endless sets of traffic lights make them pointless. You're not going to achieve better fuel efficiency and upshifting and downshifting is just annoying.

Steve_

There are lots of other types of transmission, e.g. Tiptronic and the paddle shifters and so on.

Still can't see the point. Can never see the point to a car that can go faster than 85mph, which I think is the highest speed limit in North America.

I've never really understood why they don't just put speed limiters on cars, they do on trucks in Europe.

Used to be various stupid arguments that they didn't work properly but BMW, Audi etc have been using electronic speed limiters to limit their cars to 250 km/h for ages now, why not set them to 140 km/h?

What is the purpose of being able to drive faster than 85mph? Wastes gas, get bigger fines, roads aren't designed for it.

But I digress.

Scouse Express

.....and Canada, too.

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/tru...cklimits.shtml

They're slowing spreading through many of the Provinces.


Jim.