The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Yep you clearly do have a bad attitude. Well done carry on and give em hell!
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What's made you grumpy today?
Yep you clearly do have a bad attitude. Well done carry on and give em hell!
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Clearly you need a twinair! Quite a decent turn of overtaking power.
Did manage a couple of overtakes, but not a road with many opportunities, whatever the power. Mostly single carriageway, busy in both directions, not many straight sections. One short stretch of dual-carriageway, but sadly, car at front was out first, and proceeded to gently pass the two caravans at a margin of about 3mph. Just baout got three of us past, with a very angry queue behind, all desperately trying to return to the nearside as the dual disappeared.
I encountered a rather large gentleman on a Harley Davidson the other day..
Quite happy to do 40 odd in a 60 for several miles..until I pulled out to overtake obviously at which point all the sound and Fury of the V-twin was released. It made no difference as I'd picked my spot and the combination of an extremely slow motorbike and a rider who was 20 stone if he was pound blunted the effect of his action into none existence.
Of course shortly after I encountered a convoy of people quite happy to follow each other in close formation at 40 odd mile an hour on a fairly open sweeping national in perfect conditions leaving no gaps to drop into. So unless I fancied making a 5 car overtaking maneuver that was it.
Sounds like I was having a similar time of it...
Quite happy to do 40 odd in a 60 for several miles..until I pulled out to overtake obviously at which point all the sound and Fury of the V-twin was released. It made no difference as I'd picked my spot and the combination of an extremely slow motorbike and a rider who was 20 stone if he was pound blunted the effect of his action into none existence.
Of course shortly after I encountered a convoy of people quite happy to follow each other in close formation at 40 odd mile an hour on a fairly open sweeping national in perfect conditions leaving no gaps to drop into. So unless I fancied making a 5 car overtaking maneuver that was it.
Sounds like I was having a similar time of it...
We crept up on a Prius doing 45 in a 55 last Saturday. We were also in the DeSoto, 3300lbs of Detroit steel with 109hp on tap on a good day and a semi automatic transmission. Floored it, and dropped into passing gear. The old broad hiked up her skirt and blew past the Prius at 70.:slayer:
Our daughter and son in law had been behind us in their 6.2L hemi powered pickup. When we stopped at the pooch rescue where they were going to get their puppy, our son in law said he didn’t think that the DeSoto was capable of doing what it did.
Might have to put his butt on the pillion of my 42 year old Honda CX500 and show him what we are both capable of.
Our daughter and son in law had been behind us in their 6.2L hemi powered pickup. When we stopped at the pooch rescue where they were going to get their puppy, our son in law said he didn’t think that the DeSoto was capable of doing what it did.
Might have to put his butt on the pillion of my 42 year old Honda CX500 and show him what we are both capable of.
3300lbs isn't alot these days the prius would only be 400lbs lighter. If anything it's about the average weight of a diesel hatchback.
I'm only packing 103bhp against 2936lbs or there abouts so probably actually not a huge amount of difference I terms of shove especially given you'll have a lot more torque than my 4 banger.
To be fair I've always thought on ordinary roads (at least in UK conditions and when you don't have to tow) 100 odd bhp will do as long you don't mind a bit of commitment occasionally.
Obviously more is faster but if you need a car to be able to effortlessly pull 45-100 mph to perform an overtake you'd have to question if the overtake was ever really on...
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I find I can have a surprising amount of fun with 77bhp in an 1100kg car. [emoji2]
Slow cars can be a lot of fun in isolation, I drove a 54bhp, 840kg Punto for 40k miles (and before that a 45bhp 700kg Uno) and given a long enough run up they would do most things. On a back road on your own you could convince yourself it was clipping along well, right until a 1.4 clio passed like you were standing still even though your foot was flat.
Once you add in other traffic it starts to get a bit old, things like joining the motorway or travelling up a steep national limit hill without having a 2.0tdi inspecting your rear bumper at close quarters requiring a "fire everything" approach. Also having nothing in hand if someone decides to be a prat while you're overtaking is not my favourite thing either.
Add to that to adding 4 passengers pretty much halving the available speed and doubling the stopping distance and I just like a little more.
The green one with 108bhp versus 1090kg is more my thing as it's more than enough in most circumstances so joining hills or motorway etc. doesn't require brutality. It can be surprisingly quick but it's more you drive it at normal speed and have 50% of performance in hand rather than normal speed requiring you to be using 90% of the available performance or 130% if there's a hill.
I had a classic Panda 750 for two years and 45k miles. Needed work to pop along, but always a smile.
Overtakes needed notice in writing, although just moving out to an overtake position caused many drivers to add speed, so achieving better progress without the overtake. Repeat every few miles.
Overtakes needed notice in writing, although just moving out to an overtake position caused many drivers to add speed, so achieving better progress without the overtake. Repeat every few miles.
I agree with Steven above about somewhere in the region of 100HP in your average super mini - Ibiza, Polo, or any of the large number of similar offerings from other manufacturers - being adequate for most purposes. The Cordoba 1.9 TDI had 90HP and a useful amount of torque. Our existing Ibiza has 95HP and, being turboed, also has adequate acceleration from quite low revs. My younger boy's Astra has a bit more but is heavier so accelerates in a similar manner. The Jazz, Panda and Punto are all considerably less spritely with the Punto feeling positively sluggish but more comfortable than the Jazz and Panda if you are content to just "go with the flow".
Over the years I've owned many vehicles, quite a number being what you would call "underpowered" Daf 44, Daf 33 van, Citroen Dyane, Ford Anglia, Mini 850, - you get the idea I'm sure. Driving these sorts of vehicles is all about conservation of momentum and thinking well ahead but once you get your head round it I find it most enjoyable. "Going with the flow" becomes a way of life and once you realize that, most of the time, just keeping station with the other traffic gets you there in little more time than frantically "ducking and diving" the whole process becomes quite restful. I would add that I allow space for those wanting to press on past me if they want too - ie, I don't tail gate the car in front. We owned the Citroen for a number of years when we were "young and poor" and went all over the country in it on our holidays. Surprisingly it didn't take all that much longer to get us down into the west country than it does in the more powerful vehicles I've owned. Motorway driving in particular was always interesting, especially tackling Shap. You would be bowling along at near today's national limit, creeping past the heavies. Then they would all creep past you going up Shap and you would go bowling past again down the other side. Fuel consumption, even with the throttle flat to the floor, was very good indeed.
Over the years I've owned many vehicles, quite a number being what you would call "underpowered" Daf 44, Daf 33 van, Citroen Dyane, Ford Anglia, Mini 850, - you get the idea I'm sure. Driving these sorts of vehicles is all about conservation of momentum and thinking well ahead but once you get your head round it I find it most enjoyable. "Going with the flow" becomes a way of life and once you realize that, most of the time, just keeping station with the other traffic gets you there in little more time than frantically "ducking and diving" the whole process becomes quite restful. I would add that I allow space for those wanting to press on past me if they want too - ie, I don't tail gate the car in front. We owned the Citroen for a number of years when we were "young and poor" and went all over the country in it on our holidays. Surprisingly it didn't take all that much longer to get us down into the west country than it does in the more powerful vehicles I've owned. Motorway driving in particular was always interesting, especially tackling Shap. You would be bowling along at near today's national limit, creeping past the heavies. Then they would all creep past you going up Shap and you would go bowling past again down the other side. Fuel consumption, even with the throttle flat to the floor, was very good indeed.
I like a slow car in general as long as you don't feel vulnerable on a daily basis in common situations.
If anything I quite like the interaction and thought required to drive around something that is inherently a little flawed.
The Mazda balances a lovely gearbox and handling with about 30bhp less than it needs for the weight from an engine that is strong and happy to rev. As a result you spend a lot of time playing tunes on the gearbox to make good progress and carrying speed as much as you can but it's enjoyable work and the end result is enough speed.
The Citroën has more than enough speed, but a terrible gearbox/clutch combo and handles like a sofa with seats to match. The trick with that is not extraction of speed but doing it in a way that allows passengers to keep their lunch. Any loading in any direction be it turning or front to back must be smooth as any sudden moves will cause the lack of damping to give up entirely.
But for me there's a satisfaction in getting them to do what I want to do be it goading one into speed or keeping the worst qualities of the other in check.
Think my worst car would be something automatic, 4wd, 300bhp with sky high limits, where you don't get to drive other than to hang on and steer. Unless I had a track to play on...at which point I'd happily have at it until it did something interesting.
If anything I quite like the interaction and thought required to drive around something that is inherently a little flawed.
The Mazda balances a lovely gearbox and handling with about 30bhp less than it needs for the weight from an engine that is strong and happy to rev. As a result you spend a lot of time playing tunes on the gearbox to make good progress and carrying speed as much as you can but it's enjoyable work and the end result is enough speed.
The Citroën has more than enough speed, but a terrible gearbox/clutch combo and handles like a sofa with seats to match. The trick with that is not extraction of speed but doing it in a way that allows passengers to keep their lunch. Any loading in any direction be it turning or front to back must be smooth as any sudden moves will cause the lack of damping to give up entirely.
But for me there's a satisfaction in getting them to do what I want to do be it goading one into speed or keeping the worst qualities of the other in check.
Think my worst car would be something automatic, 4wd, 300bhp with sky high limits, where you don't get to drive other than to hang on and steer. Unless I had a track to play on...at which point I'd happily have at it until it did something interesting.
You just about described my pickup. 300bhp, check. Automatic, check. 4wd, half check because it’s not full time. Boring as all get out to DRIVE. Perfect for an all day, mind numbing 500 mile slog.
Over the years I notice that manufactures have increased the power of cars to match the weight but the overall speeds of “average” cars seems to remain the same.
My old 1993 Mondeo with a 1.8 zetec would manage a respectable 0-60 in about 8-9 seconds and had about 115hp. Then as time has gone by cars got heavier and now my golf and my wife’s mini and my Punto Evo diesel all still do a respectable 0-60 in 8-9 seconds the very heavy golf and mini both have 150 hp the Punto is a good 3-400kg lighter and has 120hp though in the real world the punto doesn’t have the torque and I’d dispute the claimed 8-9 seconds in the Punto, still much quicker than my old Grande, even the mk2b with 70hp and a 1.3 diesel with the added torque of the Diesel engine managed a respectable sub 10second 0-60 and would happily do 60 but after 60 you’d notice a bid decrease in fuel economy. So “average” cars and their manufacturers all seem to aim for an average performance. The smaller cars aim for a similar performance up to a point but with lower hp either have to compromise on the speed or the economy. These days everything is about economy so smaller engines = much slower acceleration. The 1999 mk2 puntos used to go like a rocket in first gear all the way up to 30, no manufacturer would do that now, they run out of puff very quickly.
As for fast cars, I don’t suspect I’d notice too much difference getting into something with a 300hp engine, the only thing it affects is the acceleration and if you have a brain you don’t then travel everywhere at 150mph just because you have the extra power.
Talking to some pilot friends recently they where telling me the difference from flying something like a propeller driven Dash, is like night and day when they then started flying something like an Airbus a320 or a boring 737, they find themselves planning things a lot further ahead because otherwise the speed and performance means they blast way past there target before they would have even started a manoeuvre in something a lot slower. Is the difference of doing 200mph versus 500mph
We have a difference in scale if I drove 556 miles...I'd be in Paris. So as long you can do a couple of hours and maybe 5 or 6 at a push it's fine.
As for cars vs planes...erm I think the whole thing comes down to in car there's a minimum safe line of sight and the faster you go...the more the brakes don't matter as big component becomes reaction time. At 70 you sneeze and you've covered a football pitch with your eyes shut pretty much.
I imagine at hugely faster speeds this effect would be significantly worse but your line of sight is much further and augmented by radar and ATC and the likelihood of seeing anything unexpected in it is much lower.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Clearly its not German then. Most of these seem to do just that. I know half of it is the ease with which these things go, but they need a new driving test to ensure drivers read and follow your thoughts.....
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Kitchen fitter left without connecting the dishwasher months back. "Would I be OK just connecting up and fitting the door"? I must be thick not spotting this ruse. Now I know why, I hope he rots in the fires of hell in a vat of boiling pooh.
Sink fitted 3/4" off centre. Now just not enough clearance to connect the drains. I have now got around that after 3 hours of improvising. All I have to do now is re do his plumbing as you cannot connect anything to a pipe where he put it.
Time to do it right before fixing the whole thing in..... at worst 2 hours and that includes going out and buying the bits. Now, half a day and a lot of swearing as well as lots of bits that have to be replaced due to his total lack of brains. Its all push fit so I may have to cut out a slab of the supply pipe so I can start again. It just pisses me off that people like this get away with being so unprofessional over a career apparently!
If his name was MUD he would ahve been promoted quite a long way. Hey ho it reminds me why I do things myself when its done it will be neat, correct and with facility to do all foreseeable maintenance as easily as is possible. It would have been quicker to fit the whole B kitchen myself.
Sink fitted 3/4" off centre. Now just not enough clearance to connect the drains. I have now got around that after 3 hours of improvising. All I have to do now is re do his plumbing as you cannot connect anything to a pipe where he put it.
Time to do it right before fixing the whole thing in..... at worst 2 hours and that includes going out and buying the bits. Now, half a day and a lot of swearing as well as lots of bits that have to be replaced due to his total lack of brains. Its all push fit so I may have to cut out a slab of the supply pipe so I can start again. It just pisses me off that people like this get away with being so unprofessional over a career apparently!
If his name was MUD he would ahve been promoted quite a long way. Hey ho it reminds me why I do things myself when its done it will be neat, correct and with facility to do all foreseeable maintenance as easily as is possible. It would have been quicker to fit the whole B kitchen myself.
Very true. 556 miles from home gets me to N. Minnasnowta, the Canadian border, and wolves.
While visiting friends in Iceland, we let them know that our next stop was 180km away. His wife thought that was too much to drive in one day. Surprisingly, my wife said that 300 miles a day was nothing in the US. Surprising, because she's never driven more than 2 hours at one time. Me, on the other hand, have done 16hr slogs from NYC to Chicago in my younger days. Most anything over 8 hours for work is now a plane ride.
Central Edinburgh is waking up quite a bit now with the relaxation of covid restrictions and limited Festival activities seeing a lot more people on the streets and driving. The recently installed cycle lanes and cordoned off road space for walkers, which has effectively reduced many roads to just one lane in either direction, is making driving across the city to go visit our boys who both live south of the city a bit of a nightmare. Consequently we've been traveling east along the sea front, out onto the A1 and then cutting south on the A68 - It's adding about 7 miles to our journey but the going is considerably easier now that two way traffic has been restored through the tram track laying operation at the Leith Docks. Yesterday we made that journey to collect our granddaughter who was spending the night with us to let Mum and Dad have a night away to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Traveling east along the sea front in two lanes of traffic (40 mph) I thought I noticed the O/S/R wheel on a rough looking Vauxhall Corsa wobbling a bit. It was about 6 cars in front of us but at the next set of lights some cars turned left and we found ourselves only a couple of cars behind it. The road then narrows from two lanes into one with supposed filtering in turn. After the usual aggressive push shove and cutting up by the "idiots" I was back to 4 cars behind it but then another two cars turned off at the trading estate and I got a good look at it as we went along the slightly curving 40mph single lane road past the trading estate - Harry Lauder Road for anyone who knows Edinburgh - The O/S/R wheel was definitely wobbling. At the next lights the road goes back into two lanes and I found myself directly behind him. We didn't actually come to a halt as the lights went green as we approached and I followed him onto the next section of dual carriageway. I got a really good look at what was going on. The wheel was leaning in quite a bit at the top (negative camber) and was going through a cyclical building up to a vicious wobble then settling into a smooth running and immediately going into the wobble again. The car was also crabbing quite badly with the rear displaced to the right and the front and rear wheels noticeably not running behind each other. This must have been very noticeable to the driver but he was carrying on regardless. In my opinion, of the several possible causes, I think it likely that either the wheel bearing had collapsed or the stub axle nut which retains the bearing was in the process of undoing itself!
By now we were going round the roundabout where the main A1 dual carriageway starts and I was going to try to pull alongside him and try to make him aware of the danger this posed to him but I was prevented from pulling out immediately by several Audis and a BMW who were intent on trying to break the sound barrier as we pulled away from the roundabout. Incredibly the Corsa just went for it and was soon exceeding the 50mph speed limit on this section of road by a fair amount and I wasn't going to risk a ticket to catch him up. He was soon completely out of sight and we turned off to join the ring road and ultimately the A68 so I've no idea wher he went.
What an absolute prat! He must have been aware there was something seriously wrong. The wheel wobble must have been half shaking the car to pieces and the steering to counteract the crabbing must have been putting the wheel way off centre. Idiots like this should have their licenses taken away and banned permanently from driving.
Traveling east along the sea front in two lanes of traffic (40 mph) I thought I noticed the O/S/R wheel on a rough looking Vauxhall Corsa wobbling a bit. It was about 6 cars in front of us but at the next set of lights some cars turned left and we found ourselves only a couple of cars behind it. The road then narrows from two lanes into one with supposed filtering in turn. After the usual aggressive push shove and cutting up by the "idiots" I was back to 4 cars behind it but then another two cars turned off at the trading estate and I got a good look at it as we went along the slightly curving 40mph single lane road past the trading estate - Harry Lauder Road for anyone who knows Edinburgh - The O/S/R wheel was definitely wobbling. At the next lights the road goes back into two lanes and I found myself directly behind him. We didn't actually come to a halt as the lights went green as we approached and I followed him onto the next section of dual carriageway. I got a really good look at what was going on. The wheel was leaning in quite a bit at the top (negative camber) and was going through a cyclical building up to a vicious wobble then settling into a smooth running and immediately going into the wobble again. The car was also crabbing quite badly with the rear displaced to the right and the front and rear wheels noticeably not running behind each other. This must have been very noticeable to the driver but he was carrying on regardless. In my opinion, of the several possible causes, I think it likely that either the wheel bearing had collapsed or the stub axle nut which retains the bearing was in the process of undoing itself!
By now we were going round the roundabout where the main A1 dual carriageway starts and I was going to try to pull alongside him and try to make him aware of the danger this posed to him but I was prevented from pulling out immediately by several Audis and a BMW who were intent on trying to break the sound barrier as we pulled away from the roundabout. Incredibly the Corsa just went for it and was soon exceeding the 50mph speed limit on this section of road by a fair amount and I wasn't going to risk a ticket to catch him up. He was soon completely out of sight and we turned off to join the ring road and ultimately the A68 so I've no idea wher he went.
What an absolute prat! He must have been aware there was something seriously wrong. The wheel wobble must have been half shaking the car to pieces and the steering to counteract the crabbing must have been putting the wheel way off centre. Idiots like this should have their licenses taken away and banned permanently from driving.
A certain adorable little **** flushed a toilet roll tube...last week might I add so had some fun this afternoon extracting it and everything that had backed up behind it.
