car engine oil extended change

A German businessman used a Maclaren F1 to commute in, while checking the car Maclaren found what they thought was a problem - so they went for a ride with him - yes he was averaging 200mph while commuting

Reply to
Martin
Loading thread data ...

Lawrence Glickman (Lawrence snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

There y'go. You shoot like you drive.

Reply to
Adrian

Most US drivers are not used to those kinds of speeds. The roadways here in North America were _designed_ for 70 miles/hour, regarding the banking and crowning and etcetera. They were engineered for 70 miles/hour from inception. With the speed limit of 65 miles/hour outside of populated areas, most people drive at 70, which is *right* for the road.

There was never any incentive to build a higher rated tire because there was never any intention that the driving public should exceed the posted speed limits, which used to be 70 but are now 65 mph.

70 feels fine anyhow. Just about right. Some people go faster in the left lane, and take it up to 80 or 90. Sometimes they get caught by Highway Patrol and pay stiff fines and put their driver's license in jeopardy. Slower drivers stick to the right lane ( usually ). I drive the middle lane most of the time...the cruise lane, and 70 feels right.

I takes a certain amount of skill to drive that fast and avoid road hazards and other drivers in congested traffic. Most US people don't have the required training and road skills to pull that off.

If you want to learn how to drive at that speed, there are special schools you can go to here on your own dime, but only serious drivers like chauffeurs and security people are _required_ to go to those schools. The rest of the masses are left to their own devices.

A higher center of gravity in Sport Utility Vehicles makes them more dangerous from a rollover point of view than a *normal* car with a low center of gravity. Lots of people learn this the hard way. An SUV is no safer than any other vehicle, in fact it is probably less safe, because of the high center of gravity. But people buy them because they think they are a more safe vehicle. They really are not.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Lawrence Glickman (Lawrence snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Just remind us what the typical US "learning-to-drive" procedure is?

*Ding*
Reply to
Adrian

Not bollocks. I've watched an SUV/Truck tear apart a normal car. Damage to the SUV was a paint smear and a broken front turn signal. The car it broadsided was totaled.

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

No vehicle can outrun a police radio signal. That's how they catch them. And they fly helicopters and winged aircraft in those areas with *spotters* to alert patrols up ahead of what is coming at them.

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

You really are completely full of shit. Funnily enough, we have different sized cars over here too.

Again, absolute rubbish.

With the exception of the odd narrow city street, space for larger vehicles isn't an issue here either, thanks. How on earth do you think lorries manage?

Reply to
AstraVanMan

What it used to be...when I was trained by a private driving school, is quite different that what it is today, of that I am certain.

Today, the instructor just makes sure you can start and park the car, obey traffic signs and signals, and make it back to the parking lot without an accident. That's it. Nothing in the way of defensive/evasive maneuvering or recovery from a spinning out of control vehicle is covered. Zero, zip, nada. Nothing.

You have to go to special training school for this. Nobody does unless they are sent there as a job requirement, which means 99.99% of the driving public is living on borrowed time.

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Thanks for confirming this...

Having converted that to stones (which is how a large number of people commonly refer to their weights), that makes you about 15 stones. I wouldn't consider that all that much overweight at all. A little, but not massively, and yes, there are people that would dwarf you.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Of course. I know nothing. And that isn't easy to achieve when you've lived to be 60 years old as I have. No small feat THERE buddy.

They're small than our trucks. By quite a margin.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

To be honest I am surprised at this because there are some pretty strict safety legislation now, how heavy was the SUV ?

Reply to
Martin

Yes, it is very fast, but if the road's of sufficient quality, the conditions are fine, and visibility (the key) is ok, then there shouldn't be anything dangerous about it. And most cars over here have a speedo that goes up to about 150mph or more, and a lot of the more powerful ones are limited to 155mph.

Tyres fitted to cars capable of such speeds *are* rated for those speeds. It's the law.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Lawrence Glickman (Lawrence snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

OK. So - back in the '60s - what were the US manufacturer's cars of a similar size to the Fiat 500, Austin Mini, Renault 4, Citroen 2cv?

Over here we think that 56mph is quite quick enough for 40-ton of wagon. So they all have speeed limiters to stop 'em going any faster than that.

Over there, 40-ton wagons are the fastest bloody things on the freeway.

Now - here's a question for Conor and the other truckies - what sort of stopping distance would a fully loaded artic take from 85mph, bearing in mind the restrictions imposed by not wanting the load to break free?

Reply to
Adrian

Well done. I hope I live until at least 60 too. It's such a unique thing these days, after all.

I was, of course, referring to your above comments regarding complete lack of legroom, comfort, luggage space or choice in size of cars, from European manufacturers. That's one of the biggest loads of rubbish I've ever read.

What are? Our trucks? Quite possibly. My point is that the vast majority of our road network (certainly all major roads) are designed with lorry access in mind. They need to be. So if a lorry can get down there, so can most types of car.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

AstraVanMan ( snipped-for-privacy@whataloadofforeskinbollocks.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Except ones driven by Americans.

Reply to
Adrian

The worst things imaginable, the absolute worst being the Corvair. In fact a book was written about that one car called "Unsafe at any Speed"

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Lawrence Glickman (Lawrence snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight.

So.

Fiat 500.

117in long, 52in wide. 1000lb weight. 500cc, 18bhp, two cylinders. Four seats.

Mini.

120in long, 55in wide. 1050lb weight. 850cc, 37bhp, four cylinders. Four seats.

Corvair.

185in long, 70in wide. 2550lb weight. 2700cc, 110bhp, six cylinders. Four seats.

Yep, similar size. Could be twins, couldn't they?

Actually, no. The book was about Detroit as a whole, and their abysmal attitude to safety. Only the first chapter covered the Corvair. The Corvair's "faults" were mainly that it could be rolled, because of the geometry of the swing axle rear - minor geometry changes cured that, but the reputation was gone, so they killed the Corvair - then ignored the rest of the book and built the Pinto.

Reply to
Adrian

You think that's bad? Where I work, the departmental vehicle is an old K-Car. I keep a bottle of starting ether in the flammable materials cabinet just for the damn thing. Everything has fallen off.

If you think the Town Car today is bad, you should have seen what it was like in the seventies. Given the quality of the vehicles Detroit was making at the time, it's a wonder there is any US car industry left.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Oh dear no wonder there are so many accidents.

I'm glad you were better trained

Reply to
Martin

Years ago one used to be parked a couple of agrages up from my car.

Rather strange beast - however Porsche perfected rear engined cars

Reply to
Martin

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.