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PT Cruiser to live on

wrong with them: the basic model

great car. I hope that you get more than we

150hp engine. I thought that that much

that got the lousy mileage. As I

41 Windsor around all day!

My Aunt has had 3 of them. She really likes them but she has had some really odd ball problems. One of them would refuse to stop running when she turned the key off. Modern cars have too many things under computer control just to save $50 in wiring costs. Her first was non-turbo Touring, the second was a limited with turbo. She complained that the second on didn't get nearly as good of mileage as the first. Based on her experience (and others I've heard) I would not get the turbo because I want halfway decent mileage. Her third was a basic model because she was out of money and that was all she could afford. My Dad is on his second Pontiac Vibe (same as Toyota Matrix) and he has really liked them. If it were not for their satisfaction with these fairly small yet versatile vehicles I doubt I would have considered the PT or similar.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher
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Sounds like the old "dieseling" effect. I thought that was gone at the end of the '70's when all the engines were strangled on emission controls.

"What do you mean there's no movie?"

Reply to
CountFloyd

the '70's when all the engines were

Dieseling was. But when the act of turning off the key only "suggests" to the PCM that it needs to shut the engine off, odd things can happen.

At least the PT isn't throttle-by-wire. I've never heard of anyone having problems with a TBW car thinking they were flooring it when they just barely touched the accelerator, and TBW cars tend to have a very nice "feel" to them (especially since the PCM can throttle back the engine seamlessly when the transmission is in the act of shifting). But I still have to wonder what will happen when those potentiometers moved by the accelerator pedal get old and gritty....

Reply to
Steve

No doubt part of the firmware looks for signs of such problems - like instantaneously jumping voltages (from a dirty or worn potentiometer) rather than continuous changes that have to occur no matter how rapidly you move the gas pedal with a 100% working sensor. But I agree - it is scary to have too much direct control of something like acceleration by a computer designed by people who *think* they have anticipated every possible failure mode.

Reply to
Bill Putney

Google "Prius big hand syndrome"

Reply to
Daniel Who Wants to Know

I'm sure it does look at that, just like firmware has looked at the output of throttle-position sensors for years and set a code when they get glitchy... but even still I've had a TPS render a car miserable to drive before the computer figured out it was dead and started ignoring it. The problem with fault detection like that is that it changes the odds of a fault causing something unintended from something like 1 in 2, to 1 in . But it doesn't make the odds *zero*. I guess if they can get the odds comparable to the odds of a stuck throttle cable on an old-tech engine, then they're good enough. The difference is that a stuck throttle cable always happens after the driver has *intended* to apply big power in the first place (though it always comes as a shock that the power continues after release), whereas a TBW fault could conceivably apply high power just as the driver intends to barely touch the pedal.

Reply to
Steve

Geeez, I wish I could find those goodies for a C-Body.

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

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