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Funny new car story

REMINGTON700

REMINGTON700

Well-Known Member
One of the neighbors bought a new car with all of the latest bells and whistles. I saw her fiddling around with the car for the longest time - going backwards and forwards in the driveway etc. Couple days later, curious, we chat. Turns out the car would not go deeply into the garage without stopping short due to all of the collision avoidance safety 'features'. I see she eventually got it into the garage and the door closed! So I suppose all is well.
 
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I was wondering if there was a way to turn that off so you could park the car. Sounds like she found it.
 
Some things are useful, like a backup camera on my car. Some things are annoying, like the stupid lane assist and stability control, which does not allow me to take spirited turns on a Honda Pilot. Some things are idiotic, like fake engine sound. And some things can be fatal, like joysticks and buttons instead of a good old transmission selector (quoting an old story, I bet everyone knows about it, but anyway):
Anton Yelchin, a Russian-born actor best known for playing the starship navigator Pavel Chekov in the rebooted "Star Trek" movie franchise, was killed at age 27 when his 2015 Cherokee rolled backward down the driveway of his Los Angeles home, pinning him between a mailbox and a security fence. "Anton Yelchin was crushed and lingered alive for some time, trapped and suffocating until his death," the lawsuit stated. The Cherokee model was among 1.1 million vehicles recalled about two months earlier when regulators said its gear shifters were confusing drivers, causing the SUVs to roll away unexpectedly and leading to dozens of injuries. The Yelchins' lawsuit alleged those gear selectors were the cause of the actor's death.
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The GTI I traded off had all those bells and whistles. The proximity warnings never kept the car from moving but they were very annoying. The Taos doesn't have them and I don't miss them. What I do miss if the blind spot monitoring. Good thing the Taos has great mirrors and is the best car I've had for seeing to the rear.
 
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I was surprised that a 2 liter echo Ecoboost Escape was just as fast as my GTI and I owned a Escape EcoBoost. Just one tenth of a second difference between the two in the quarter mile. It also handled very well and never felt sketchy when pushing it. I can see somebody with one of the smaller SUVs enjoying it around curves.
 
sanford12 said:
I was surprised that a 2 liter echo Ecoboost Escape was just as fast as my GTI and I owned a Escape EcoBoost. Just one tenth of a second difference between the two in the quarter mile. It also handled very well and never felt sketchy when pushing it. I can see somebody with one of the smaller SUVs enjoying it around curves.
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Tune it and put it in a 3100lb Focus ST. Motor Trend called it possibly the best handling FWD car they’d ever driven.

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nolasally said:
Also push button tranny’s have been around since the 50’s.
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Edsel had one too, buttons in the middle of the steering wheel.

I also seem to recall there being a push to make that go away in favor of a standardized selector with the gear positions in the same order for every vehicle. Now we're back to assorted manufacturers each with their own idea of how to shift a vehicle.

see this goofy thing that modern Mercedes uses for example

 
Amazes me how anyone can steal a car nowadays, at least in a timely manner. Would love to see the baitcar tv show again, with the camera in the car. Hey man how u start this thing?
 
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nolasally said:
Also push button tranny’s have been around since the 50’s.
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And I think history shows clearly how absolutely bad of an idea that was, in terms of safety.

As mentioned- those, and some other non-standard shenanigans on shifter gear order, were the reason for the standardized "PRNDL" quadrant being made an industry standard, way back then. And accidents from cars being left in the wrong gear, leading to injury, demonstrably decreased as a result.

It's sad that we're having to re-learn those painful lessons, now...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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Boss at work had his garage door driven through by his daughter's boyfriend recently. Jeep, wasn't in park, same sort of deal that killed Anton Yelchin. Not sure if it was the same model.
 
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