Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

In our e46 we just lob bikes in the back. Rear seats down. Little bit of handlebar tetris and that’s it.

In other news , did you get recall notice on the air bags? Yours is newer so maybe don’t have the dodgy ones

Most remaps seem to result in improved fuel efficiency but tuners don't like to quote it because if you get a remap and then drive like a tit you're unlikely to see the improvement...

It is a grey area, depends on the remap. If the remap is to your engine there can be some difference but the thing is not to look at the BHP as that is just a figure what you want is a smooth fueling graph and a smooth torque graph.

Lots is in the drivers head as has been mentioned by others on this thread when working with commercial stuff and they are always looking at ways of saving money.

I seem to remember checking when I bought it and it wasn’t on the recall list.
I would chuck bikes in the back with seats down but that’s where my wife and baby will be!

I have a Thule Outride doing nothing on the roof my my C-Max, yours for £40 if you want it?

@Dammit - I recollect you stuck a Blaupunkt Bremen in your Porsche and rated it bar some fiddly controls/menus.

Wandering whether you considered the Porsche PCCM as well?

A little, but: it's a million pounds, it's got a lot of well known faults that Porsche seem very slow in addressing, and its only got pre-amplified outs and no sub out.

Honestly, I'm less of a fan of the Blaupunkt the more I use it as it's UX is terrible, but I don't know what I'd replace it with, other than maybe something from the late 90's that has a bluetooth upgrade.

ah yeah. see your problem there. ours is basically used like a small van. house refurb means constant trips to the tip too.

but the recall was great. sorted both airbags but as was at main dealer and needed parking on their forecourt for me to come pick up they gave it a complimentary valet. car never looked so clean. so was nice result.

It is a price that beggars belief. I didn't realise its also not that well regarded.

Something like this is presumably subpar to the Bremin in terms of sound/functionality? Guessing yes given the price differential... but simplicity might help address the UX issues.

I'm in the market for a dab / bluetooth one as well, the only other I've seen is the Continental ones that look reasonably OEM. I've been tempted to just keep the existing head unit and get a bluetooth / dab aux adapter and hide it somewhere out of sight

That Blaupunkt looks a pretty good contender.

Some do a little due to maybe increased high pressure pump pressures on worn injectors giving a slightly cleaner spray pattern?
Other half the numbers on the dash look better as more is injected in reality then the ecu thinks us being injected (certainly for older diesel when larger nozzles are fitted. Mine says it does 60 to 65 mpg. Reality is 48 to 52 which is still sweet really for what it does.

Over in the sweede land.
Trick of hiring the absolute cheapest car and then just hoping they didn't have it worked out well. In gothenburg so obviously it's a volvo.
Xc40 with higher spec diesel, 7 or 8s auto, auto pilot assist and very good adaptive cruise.
Basically drove 200km itself on motorway, a road and tourist twisty coast roads. Only a few times it tried to drive itself between metal barriers into at speed, but easy to feel it thinking its going to drive that way.
Still on winter tyres, handling was, slidey and vague. A ps3 mid price steering wheel had more feedback than this car.
Heated steering wheel and well shaped seats a plus, but not really keen on anything else that it did, terrible visibility, not enough physical buttons, had to fiddle with climate every 20 mins as it couldn't maintain a constant temp. Have found that's a theme with a lot of new cars? Also engine would do some harsh shaking for no obvious reasons at partial load 20 to 30 mph, assume gearbox not the smartest.

Borrowed a tesla s and a 3 and both of those were quite bad for climate control.

Turn around corner headlights a winner though, all cars should have these!

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Round the corner headlights....yeah the citroen DS had that...;)

My C5 has them. So cool.

Turn around corner headlights

Is this why so many cars now have one fog light come on when they're turning?

It’s a cheap (and shit) version of actual steering lights.

More random mechanical woes- this time on a R56 mini cooper 1.6 petrol, I had stupidly let the coolant get a bit low & now I think there's air stuck in the system somewhere, heater isn;t as warm as it usually is & the fan comes on for 5 mins or so after stopping the car.

Tried bleeding it via the thermostat bleed screw with the engine warm & a bit of air seemed to escape before the coolant started dribbling out but same issues still there - should I try bleeding again in case there's more air in there (does it ususally take a couple of goes?) or shoud I just bite the bullet & get the garage to bleed the sytem properly?

Something like this is presumably subpar to the Bremin in terms of sound/functionality? Guessing yes given the price differential... but simplicity might help address the UX issues.

Honestly I don't know, I'll admit that one of the key things for me is "can it colour match the dials/display?", followed by "does it have un-amplified outputs that my amplifier and sub require?". The Valencia you picture may well hit those targets - I've not looked at it.

Any recommendations for a decent garage around Poplar/Canning Town? Just need an oil/filter change on a work van for now but would be good to know of somewhere reliable nearby for the future!

I fitted this Continental unit in my R53 and it was excellent. It was also only about €125.

True story - a great uncle was one of the designers responsible for the first car with a tracking headlight.

/csb

Probably off topic but has anyone used JustPark? I need to bring my car to London for two days and am staying near Regents Park. I don't really want to use an NCP or QPark but have also no recommendation for JustPark. Obviously no hotel has actual parking round there either...

Yeah - used it a few times for work and parking near Wembley in the past. Always been good though I've made sure I've picked places with good reviews.

Yeah, I mean it's probably going to be very dependant on location. Next to my work the locations covered by JustPark are a mix of regular on-street parking and some outdoor car parks.

Did use a QPark down in Dublin for a day and it was perfectly fine, though it was a proper indoor/underground carpark which is really the main thing for me. As opposed to who I'm paying/how I'm paying.

Though in saying that, the QPark was just a regular ticket/machine deal and the machine stopped working which lead to quite a queue forming to pay. While JustPark is all done via their app (probably best to register your car/payment method with the app prior to finding a spot of course).

Park it near someone house on the street, preferbly with free parking. Can no one offer you that?