I can't help think of nitwits who think buying an X make/model and/or adding "performance" components improves their driving skill.
I'm reminded of a mud run I attended many years ago. All the big dogs lost by a large margin to a HS girl driving a stock 2WD F-150.
My friends had to hustle/half carry me out of there because I was laughing so hard and loud an ass kicking seemed imminent. -----
- gpsman
I have seen a lot of cars over the years, and I have never, ever seen one that used anything approaching quality wire.
And that begins with the '72 Datsun I had, where all of the insulation turned to goo and every foot of wire in the body had to be pulled out and replaced.
Just take a look at what goes into airplanes vs. what goes into cars and you'll be staggered.
--scott
The price per foot will probalby do the same.
you're spoiled if you work on aero-spec stuff.
car quality goes in cycles - for some manufacturers anyway. in the late
80's, hondas used a higher grade under the hood - fine wire high count high temp high flex [though not silicone], and it's remarkably reliable. in the mid 90's they changed to lower flex, smaller cross-section, lower count, much more akin to the wire used in the rest of the vehicle- it still just about hangs in there, though i doubt it's million mile material. i'm pretty sure copper prices had a big influence on this.
planes cost a /lot/ more!
true dat! double true dat!
for the bmw humorists, i had a guy come up to me in a parking lot one time and start enthusing about my crx. "best car i ever owned - i really regret selling it" he said all misty eyed. we chatted some more, then he left. he drove away in a new m5. true story.
??? dude, brake dust is /two/ components:
if your wheels aren't being stained, it's because #2 is not present, or at least, not to the extent that "bmw spec" [high silica] pads have.
i don't understand this equation - y'all are starry eyed about something that is completely unreliable /and/ expensive to maintain. sure, it's better than a buick, but really?
if you like fixing stuff and are serious about rwd's with handling, race-prep a miata. if you want something that handles from new, buy an elise.
don't pay bmw's "advertising beats engineering" tax.
Did they tin it? The lack of tinning is one of the things that annoys me about many of the cars of that era.
Silicone is actually a problem for cars because if you nick the insulation the cut will propagate until it becomes a break.
It wasn't failing enough, so they had to downgrade it.
--scott
no, it's not tinned.
there are two schools of thought on that. on the one hand, surface oxidation resistance is a good thing. on the other, there may be a problem with tin in fatigue environments. i don't know this for sure, so if you know someone at work who does, it would be good to check - but tin has a weird deformation mechanism called "twinning" which changes the surface of the metal where it's occurred. given that almost all fatigue initiates at a surface, that /might/ be a fatigue initiator. how much it might be worse than oxidation, i can't say, but i know a lot of mil spec wire is silver plated, not tin, so i think it might not be simple cheapness preventing its use.
indeed, but that's not unique to silicone - many elastomers have the same problem.
maybe. it was was bullet proof - never failed unless abused.
Wow, it's amazing the way you managed to leap to conclusions there.
There's driving skills, and then there's the capabilities of the vehicle being driven, and when and where did *anyone* ever say that the two were related in any way?
nate
Surprisingly, I apparently got one of the first '55 Studebakers that used the plastic-insulated wire rather than the cloth-covered wire that was used previously. It was still intact and flexible when I pulled the harness for repairs 5-6 years ago which made me happy as I was not looking forward to laying out for a new one.
nate
I could actually say the same about my '84 Scirocco.
But you'd hate it because it not only uses struts but a twist beam in the rear.
nate
N54, but same principle.
I've not found it to be that unreliable (touch wood.) There *are* a lot of electronics to fail, and that scares me a little, but that's true of every modern car with a few notable exceptions worth having and none of mine have failed yet (good lord I hope I don't regret posting that.) So far I've paid for fluid changes, aforementioned OFH gasket, and a bunch of random upgrades (euro light switch, spare tire kit, winter wheels and tires, alarm, sat tuner, etc.) Despite the reputation for being hard to work on I was able to install the alarm and sat tuner in an afternoon in the driveway following excellent directions easily available online, and without any unusual tools that a moderately DIY-oriented enthusiast is unlikely to have. Really, no harder than changing a car stereo in any garden-variety car. The biggest challenge to DIY work is actually lifting the car to get underneath due to the very limited ground clearance, but that goes with the territory of pretty much any decent handling car, and if it doesn't, an enthusiast is likely to change that :)
Neither the Miata nor the Elise has a back seat or a usable trunk.
I think having a 3er for a daily and a Miata or Elise for weekend fun would be a great combination. My mom actually has a Miata for a "fun car" and loves it (as do I) but I don't have the space/funds to justify another vehicle purchase.
And where is all this BMW advertising? I must not pay attention to the same media that you do, BMW seems to really not advertise at all compared to other manufactureres; people buy them because of reputation/previous experience/glowing reviews in magazines and on enthusiast-oriented TV programming.
nate
What's amazing is your imbecilic vagueness and inability to snip what is irrelevant to your response (and operate a kill file, again).
How could they be unrelated...?
You seem to imply that you believe you could perform just as well as a licensed NASCAR driver if you only had access to a vehicle with the same capabilities. -----
- gpsman
did they drive away in a buick??? [rhetorical]
you're right about that at least!
what cognative dissonance trip are you on this morning? you catalog a bunch of completely unacceptable failures one day, then here you are the next saying it's not unreliable! are you not taking your meds?
dude, what is wrong with you this morning????
can we change who shows up with meaningless drivel on r.a.t?
ah, got it - you idea of a car that "handles" is an extended cab pickup. got it.
you sure won't have funds if you're driving a bmw.
nate, i'm sure that if you're nice to your mom, she'll let you out of the basement occasionally. you can have the tv on while she hoses you down and changes your depends.
What failures have I catalogued? I had a leaking oil filter housing gasket at the time the car was purchased, which was repaired and the car has been trouble free since. That is the ONLY issue that I've had in this car in about 6K miles/several months since purchase (car has 77K give or take.) There have been NO other repairs to this car under my care!
And you've always been wrong. All the typical driver needs for safety is the self-control to pay attention to his surroundings, not tailgate, not excessively speed, slow down when traction is at all questionable, and maintain his car. After that, it helps to know how to steer well enough so you don't knock a side-view mirror off getting in or out of the garage. But none of it - none of it - will help when some guy with "autocross training" slams into him. Here's the leading causes of accidents. You can dispute them, but it looks good to me.
you're partly right, but that won't save you when the typical DC-area driver who doesn't do any of those things decides to move into the same space you're currently occupying. that's when those car control skills become important - and that makes the difference between an adequate driver and a good one.
I don't know where the assumption seems to come from that teaching people how to drive safely at high speeds and/or on unfavorable surfaces suddenly makes them less safe on a public highway, and/or impacts their mindset or attitude towards driving on public roads in a negative manner which is what you and gpsman seem to be implying. I would be interested to see any statistics that address this issue, but it seems that in our current political climate it is far more politically popular to fund studies that "show" that simply driving slower and using automated enforcement is the solution to making our roads safer.
nate
No shit!
The BMW E46 M3 was the first normally aspirated production vehicle to make 100HP/Liter. PERIOD.
Don't mind JB. He just likes to rant on about how his choices are the right ones and can't admit that anyone other than his short list of approved manufacturers can make a decent car.
I'm trying to think if there are any reasonably mass-produced automotive engines that achieve 100 hp/l - I'm pretty sure Honda S2000 qualifies as well, FWIW. Not sure if there are any others. I'm not counting Wankels as similar to a 2-stroke comparing displacement isn't exactly fair as they have more power strokes/displace more air per revolution than an Otto or 4-stroke Diesel cycle engine.
At the end of the day, though, hp/l is not really what matters - it's hp/weight, and also BSFC if you are racing in a series with limitations on fuel use...
nate
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