[turbofever]

:thumbup:

[jimtash]

Agree.

[NigelM]

Originally posted by Paul LeDuc:
Mike, what I meant by 'choice' is when Big Brother no longer lets us drive ourselves and forces us to use autonomous cars in the name of safety and reduced highway fatalities. They already tried to make it illegal to modify new cars which would have killed racing.

'Cept it's not "big brother gubmit", it's the manufacturers that are going all auto-pilot & self-driving, self-parking, come-on-command (call your car to come get you using your cell phone), etc.. Cause that's what the buyers want.

( You're using "choice" incorrectly again. Your sentence above should be using "option". Ex: You may freely choose to renew your passport at any McDonalds even though the option to do so is not available at any McDonalds. But it's still your free choice. You have the same choice at any post office, where the option IS available. Still it's your choice. )

Speaking of big bro gubmit, just exactly when is Obama coming to take my guns?? Every Tuesday I cleans '& labels em, and stacks 'em neatly by the front door. And still he's a no-show.

No current autonomous driving cars (of which there ar exactly zero on the market now) force auto driving - it's ALWAYS an option (not a choice). We're not up to "I Robot" yet. FYI: There's five specified levels of autonomous driving with completely driverless being Level 5.. Nobody's reached an approved level 4 yet. NOTE: Test vehicles are NOT available for sale to the public.

ALL level 3 and lower REQUIRE The driver must still always be ready to take control of the vehicle, however.

Read more here:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/auto...fferences/

Current systems are little more than cruise control combined with emergency braking and limited lane control. VERY primitive. IMHO.

If you were paying attention, you'd notice that gubmit is saying "NO" to some of those projects/concepts. UBER in California, for example. AFAIK the Feds (the REAL Big Bro Gubmit) hasn't said squat about any auto-pilot or autonomous spec vehicles - only defined the levels of autonomy, and only the states (local, where some folks say all decisions should be made - which I think is wrong as a car that's street legal in say Nevada, isn't legal in CA or AZ, or CO, etc.) have said Yes or No to allowing them.

As an aside about 6-8 years back BMW had software for their upper class cars that would run them, full-out, around a racetrack. And the automated system beat the times of ALL the Top Gear drivers on their own track. Tell me - So who wouldn't want that feature??

BTW - "All-electric vehicles" make computerization/automation so so much easier. While the performance is far superior to petrol-powered vehicles. Ex: Lucid is mass-producing a 1000HP all-electric car with a 400 mile range soon. Quiet, no shifting, 0-60 in 2.4 seconds. Just tyre noise. And "mod'ing" electric cars doesn't mess with [tailpipe] emissions so it's a no brainer afaic.

Anyway - Dayum - I survived another year. I wonder how much longer that's gonna go on??

[ThunderFaux]

Happy new year!! Enjoy that Fiesta!!!

[bw_krupp]

I've had my Fiesta ST for a year now and its loads of fun. Removed the sound symposer, sound deadened the doors, trunk, and wheel well and upgraded all the speakers. Has enough power for now as its only to work and back. Only complaint is the ride, but I'm going to put a set of turbocoupe snowflakes on once the snow tires come off. Going from 17" to 16" wheels should help.

[ThunderFaux]

I'm not sure what to think of those symposers.. Much better than the kind that runs a noise over the speakers, but at the same time why not just make a car with a throaty intake and call it good?

[Mike Croke]

Congrats on the ST. They are a blast to drive.


And the all-electrics are coming. Fast. Economics will force the change to self-driving just for insurance reasons alone. Same as when the 55 speed limit came along and fatalities plummeted, so will self-driving cars chock full of data recording sensors demonstrate how infrequently they are the cause of accidents and the times will be a-changin'.

Originally posted by ThunderFaux:
I'm not sure what to think of those symposers.. Much better than the kind that runs a noise over the speakers, but at the same time why not just make a car with a throaty intake and call it good?

The sound deadening on modern cars is too good. So the OEMs have to pipe noise back in.

[booostalotopuss]

There's nothing like a Pocket Rocket. Cool ride .
I'm not crazy for fly by wire anything . When I want full throttle , I want full throttle . And I want it NOW .
Billy :cheers: :burnout:

[NigelM]

Originally posted by booostalotopuss:
I'm not crazy for fly by wire anything . When I want full throttle , I want full throttle . And I want it NOW .

I guarantee modern servo motors are faster than you are. Like the Twin-Clutch gearboxes being significantly quicker at shifting than any human. And never miss a shift. With full-throttle up and down shifts. Absolute heaven to drive on road courses.

BTW - throttle-by-wire completely eliminates any possibility of "IAC & dirt" [sticking] issues. One less monthly (yearly?) maintenance task.

[TurboRay]

Originally posted by NigelM:


I guarantee modern servo motors are <font color=navy><strike>faster</strike> <strike>than</strike></font> (as fast as) you are.

FIFY, Mike! :nono: