Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

[beeb]

I drove my boss's current-gen Ranger on a ~4 hour round trip a while back. IMO it had a surprisingly high level of handling and roadholding given its underpinnings, and was adequately communicative about its limits at highway speeds (ie: it didn't turn all sudden death if you clipped or had to swerve around a pothole on a sweeping bend), but it was a bit sketchy at times at lower speeds around town without any weight in the back. Managed to accidentally flick the back out going through a roundabout at one point, and the stability control was unusual for this day and age, where it still required some driver input to correct it (actually my preference compared to overly-invasive/reactive systems on some cars), but I doubt it would've gathered the slide up all by itself too which a less enthusiastic driver might not have appreciated. Regardless, amazing how far the handling on a ladder chassis dual cab ute has come, but gotta respect the limitations!

 

[hifiandmtb]

Love the rooftop lowering kit in the first pic.

Kinda. It’s running on 50mm lower Eibachs and Koni dampers

 

[komdotkom]

I drove my boss's current-gen Ranger on a ~4 hour round trip a while back. IMO it had a surprisingly high level of handling and roadholding given its underpinnings, and was adequately communicative about its limits at highway speeds (ie: it didn't turn all sudden death if you clipped or had to swerve around a pothole on a sweeping bend), but it was a bit sketchy at times at lower speeds around town without any weight in the back. Managed to accidentally flick the back out going through a roundabout at one point, and the stability control was unusual for this day and age, where it still required some driver input to correct it (actually my preference compared to overly-invasive/reactive systems on some cars), but I doubt it would've gathered the slide up all by itself too which a less enthusiastic driver might not have appreciated. Regardless, amazing how far the handling on a ladder chassis dual cab ute has come, but gotta respect the limitations!

I just bought a new Amarok for one of my guys and thought the same, a really significant improvement over the last generation.

 

[Ultra Lord]

I drove my boss's current-gen Ranger on a ~4 hour round trip a while back. IMO it had a surprisingly high level of handling and roadholding given its underpinnings, and was adequately communicative about its limits at highway speeds (ie: it didn't turn all sudden death if you clipped or had to swerve around a pothole on a sweeping bend), but it was a bit sketchy at times at lower speeds around town without any weight in the back. Managed to accidentally flick the back out going through a roundabout at one point, and the stability control was unusual for this day and age, where it still required some driver input to correct it (actually my preference compared to overly-invasive/reactive systems on some cars), but I doubt it would've gathered the slide up all by itself too which a less enthusiastic driver might not have appreciated. Regardless, amazing how far the handling on a ladder chassis dual cab ute has come, but gotta respect the limitations!

I’ve just been given a new ranger, I’ll transfer stuff into it next week when time allows. It’s been in our workshop waiting for me for a week but I’m too busy getting whipped on site to do the car swap. The short stint I had picking it up from the suspension joint after getting it resprung was pleasantly surprising.

Electric steering is weird.

 

[beeb]

I’ve just been given a new ranger, I’ll transfer stuff into it next week when time allows. It’s been in our workshop waiting for me for a week but I’m too busy getting whipped on site to do the car swap. The short stint I had picking it up from the suspension joint after getting it resprung was pleasantly surprising.

Electric steering is weird.

Enjoy the random AEB panic braking when you try to drive past a car in a turning lane.

 

[Haakon]

Finally got around to pulling the engine on the Reno that’s been parked for … a long time.

This is why it didn’t run right. Low on power, wouldnt rev, hunting idles and pinging. Frankly I’m amazed the computer worked it out at all enough to even start - a very wrong crank angle sensor pulse and timing was being given to it!!!

 

[Ultra Lord]

Enjoy the random AEB panic braking when you try to drive past a car in a turning lane.

Already jabubu’d how to turn that and lane assist off.

 

[komdotkom]

Already jabubu’d how to turn that and lane assist off.

Watch out for the rear park "assist". If there's a shadow on the concrete 50m away it'll save you from certain death by immediately applying maximum brake pressure.

 

[Shredden]

Watch out for the rear park "assist". If there's a shadow on the concrete 50m away it'll save you from certain death by immediately applying maximum brake pressure.

Worst "feature" ever. I was driving a new Sprinter for work for a couple of weeks a while back and it would randomly do this while backing up - even if you were just backing along into a parallel park and a car drives past in the next lane over it would absolutely STOMP the brakes on. Scared the shit out of me the first time it happened in the Sydney CBD, I thought I had hit a shop canopy or something. Couldn't work out how to turn it off either.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Had the "pleasure" of driving the work ute to do a delivery today; Mazda BT50 turbo-diesel. Laggiest barge I have ever met, worse even than my old man's Toyota Hi-Ace van, and that's pretty laggy. And the bloody thing reminded me why I fucking hate auto transmissions.

 

[Cardy George]

Enjoy the random AEB panic braking when you try to drive past a car in a turning lane.

I've mentioned it before, but the best system I've used so far was in a little Hyundai Kona. So when I received the Toyota I was expecting that level of functionality, it's a Toyota after all.

Nope. The Hilux lane guidance is woeful. The AEB is also panics at it's own shadow, and there is just enough lag in the cruise control system that it feels like you're attached to the car in front by a rubber band.

 

[beeb]

I've mentioned it before, but the best system I've used so far was in a little Hyundai Kona. So when I received the Toyota I was expecting that level of functionality, it's a Toyota after all.

Nope. The Hilux lane guidance is woeful. The AEB is also panics at it's own shadow, and there is just enough lag in the cruise control system that it feels like you're attached to the car in front by a rubber band.

It's somewhat surprising that, most of the current Hyundai/Kia offerings seem pretty infamous for their "enthusiastic" use of chimes and alerts. Maybe it's just like getting way too much icing on a nice cake?

The Hilux cruise is tedious like you say - the radar cruise is a little unresponsive and whilst I never felt endangered by it, it must hammer the fuel economy... I do love that Toyota allow 1km/h increments on the cruise target speed though, and that the target speed is actually visible.

 

[link1896]

Enjoy the random AEB panic braking when you try to drive past a car in a turning lane.

As bad as ZB Commodores(2020 Opel)?

I was driving a hire car on a straight road in Tassie with a gravel shoulder at night, going the back way to Burnie, lane assist fucked up and I almost ended up with all 4 wheels on the gravel shoulder at 80-90km/h while the cluster was going fucking mental and screaming at me. Solid double centre white line, no edge line. Went back and checked out the section of road, nothing I could see.

Googling doesn’t produce many hits about it going troppo, unlike say googling VW engines cutting out, so never really worked it it and put it down to 40,000 lines of code on the control system getting itself messed up.

 

[beeb]

As bad as ZB Commodores(2020 Opel)?

I was driving a hire car on a straight road in Tassie with a gravel shoulder at night, going the back way to Burnie, lane assist fucked up and I almost ended up with all 4 wheels on the gravel shoulder at 80-90km/h while the cluster was going fucking mental and screaming at me. Solid double centre white line, no edge line. Went back and checked out the section of road, nothing I could see.

Googling doesn’t produce many hits about it going troppo, unlike say googling VW engines cutting out, so never really worked it it and put it down to 40,000 lines of code on the control system getting itself messed up.

Yeah, I really hate all the autonomous crap on cars now. It's a bunch of added cost and complication for something that's still too much in its infancy to be on public roads (IMO). It's a crock of shit to tie it into vehicle "safety" ratings when it has the potential to cause major accidents unless overridden in a fraction of a second, and it makes people so fucking complacent on the roads. The amount of people I see (in oncoming traffic) up this way with their heads down texting for literally hundreds of meters while lane-keeping guides their 2.5t projectiles is mind-blowing. Some don't even pop their head up as they pass you!

 

[Haakon]

Bench strength test - ghetto pressure plate adjuster resetting

 

[Cardy George]

Yeah, I really hate all the autonomous crap on cars now. It's a bunch of added cost and complication for something that's still too much in its infancy to be on public roads (IMO). It's a crock of shit to tie it into vehicle "safety" ratings when it has the potential to cause major accidents unless overridden in a fraction of a second, and it makes people so fucking complacent on the roads. The amount of people I see (in oncoming traffic) up this way with their heads down texting for literally hundreds of meters while lane-keeping guides their 2.5t projectiles is mind-blowing. Some don't even pop their head up as they pass you!

That was the biggest shock in the Hilux. The Kona kept itself dead centre no matter what. The Hilux only acts once the wheels are on the line, and only a couple of times. More than that and it says fuck it, you're on your own

 

[Dales Cannon]

That was the biggest shock in the Hilux. The Kona kept itself dead centre no matter what. The Hilux only acts once the wheels are on the line, and only a couple of times. More than that and it says fuck it, you're on your own

The M2 was a gentle vibrate on the steering wheel but the Tojo is a violent opposite direction lurch even if the lines it senses are old ones that have been tarred over. So we switch that shit off. Luckily the nannies are all bye byes with a twist of a button and a push of another.

 

[link1896]

Yeah, I really hate all the autonomous crap on cars now. It's a bunch of added cost and complication for something that's still too much in its infancy to be on public roads (IMO). It's a crock of shit to tie it into vehicle "safety" ratings when it has the potential to cause major accidents unless overridden in a fraction of a second, and it makes people so fucking complacent on the roads. The amount of people I see (in oncoming traffic) up this way with their heads down texting for literally hundreds of meters while lane-keeping guides their 2.5t projectiles is mind-blowing. Some don't even pop their head up as they pass you!

I’m on the same page as you.

Fully automated self driving, or the human is 100% responsible, this half way house is bullshit, as you say it enables terrible behaviour.

 

[Haakon]

So having found the cause of running problems on the Reno, am thinking about the few thousand kms I did with the timing all messed up and a fair bit of pinging if I didn’t keep the throttle light and use revs.

While I have the engine on a stand waiting for a flywheel from Estonia, am I jsut being paranoid or would it be worth pulling some big end caps to see if the shells got a hammering…?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Are the main and bigend bolts tty? If not have a look. Bolts are usually cheap but who knows with a Nissan from the EU. I would be surprised if there is any damage though.