Walking in to uni this morning witnessed someone starting their car in the cold (-1 IIRC). Seemed to start OK, but owner then revved the nuts off it for the next five minutes. This was at 7.30am, and I don't imagine the neighbours were thrilled with the noise or the black smoke....
Felt sorry for the car, though. :)
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Some people have no idea...
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David,
the last time the in laws visited, FiL goes outside at about 08:00, temperature was about -2C. Starts car "to defrost it" but he's not leaving until about 10. 3 doors and hatch wide open, so how is the heater going to defrost side windows and so forth? He's chipping rather than scraping at the frost on the screen but it's a Mondeo - why don't you switch on the leccy windscreen defroster?
Then he drives it just enough to turn it round to face the other way, switches it off and walks away!
When he sells it I'll post the reg if you like so you can avoid it! (Dear mod - not serious!).
John
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The people over the road from us had friends over to stay. They parked their brand new Mondeo on the drive, but later that evening (when it was about -1 or 2) they decided to go out. I was getting into mine, so could hear everything. They tried to start the thing, and when it finally fired, I thought, mmm, must be a diesel.
When It was running properly, it turns out to be a petrol!! All that clacking and knocking was very painful indeed. I got in my 12 year old Polo, it started within 2 seconds, with out any fuss, and I was off.
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I wince whenever I hear the lady across the road manouvering her car,first start of the day,engine screaming away,clutch slipping like mad and moving at 2 mph.
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lol. We came across an old lady, in her 205 diesel, outside the main post office. Waiting at the lights, everything normal, thinking nothing of it. Then lights turn to green, slams throttle open, engine thrashing away, but letting the clutch slip just enough to give a walking pace. With it being an old 205 Diesel, it made enough racket to make everyone on the street (and in the PO) turn around and look. Pure agony (for my ears and her clutch)
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I get about 10 letters a week complaining of premature clutch failure, usually "first time it has happened in 60-70 years of driving."
HJ
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I get about 10 letters a week complaining of premature clutch failure, usually "first time it has happened in 60-70 years of driving." HJ
Heh heh!!
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And yet "last owner was an elderly gent" still seems to be an attractive selling point for many a buyer!
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But why do old people find the need to rev the engines of their cars so much, especially when trying to park? I've witnessed this several times in the supermarket car park, the noise is incredible, heaven knows what damage it must be doing to the poor car.
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Because they can't hear as well as us youngsters.
My wife went to the local supermarket for some shopping yesterday. Walking through the car park she sees an old dear trying to park. My wife was in the shop for about 15 minutes and when she came out the old dear was still trying to park - she appeared to be measuring the extent of the space by driving in to the car parked in front!
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They lose feel and the ability to make fine adjustments to the position of their feet. And hearing too which can't help.
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I'm not too sure hearing has that much to with it.
I'm as good as deaf, and recently too, so I used to hear ok. I must admit I vastly prefer driving a car with a rev counter, but in honesty to normal driving it does not make that much difference. All the manual cars I driven you can feel the vibration of the revs to an extent, and my car that does not have a rev counter has an almost digital clutch and does not like any slip either.
Moving off with stacks of revs and mucho clutch slip apart from mechanical sympathy actually requires more, not less control.
I've seen a middle aged lady get stuck in a works car park in snow - cos she had no grip, she said. Demanded us lads (a while ago) recover her car and the boss set us to it. We didn't care and he knew it. Needless to say the car was not stuck at all. One chap got in and gently drove in to a car park space with probably no wheelspin.
Goodness knows what she'd be like now!
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I was driving out of my (very narrow) garage this morning only to hear a loud and scary scraping noise. So, I came to a sudden halt to prevent worse damage.
It then dawned on me that the noise was not metal on garage doorframe but an elderly Transit-based pick up truck starting up at -2C....
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My Gran Has Peugeot 106 and she has already burnt out two clutches !! she has only owned the car for 6mths, she can drive for 10 mins in first gear, pull away in 4th gear and drives down the middle of the road no matter how wide it is, and always a constant speed of 40mph.
I went out with her once the screen was becoming misty but she wouldn't use the blower to clear it !!
Her hearing is 20/20 as she plays in an orchestra on the obo and clarinet, not at the same time though.
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They lose feel and the ability to make fine adjustments to the position of their feet. And hearing too which can't help.
Could you re-post this message in bigger (and preferably bold) font so that I can read it? ;-)
--
L\'escargot.
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An uncle was well-known locally for driving his Morris Minor everywhere in 2nd or 3rd gear; you could hear it coming from a long way off. He was very deaf, a result of service in WW2.
He also played the violin, loudly!
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I knew an art director many years ago who drove a Honda auto but never put it in Drive, only ever 3. He used to say the dealer told him he?d never need Drive (they probably said you only ever need Drive) but nothing would convince him. Screaming down the M4 you might just convince him to shove it into D but when you weren?t looking he?d put it back in 3 again.
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Interesting thread.
It explains why people like me, who don't have much mechanical expertise, are right to have a preference for buying new instead of 2nd hand.
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Watched an old man manoeuvre his 1957 Morris Oxford in a petrol station last week at very high revs... and then wheelspin away from traffic lights due to his lack of clutch control.
(The driver was so old he looked like he could have bought the car new when he retired... I actually reg checked it on the DVLA and it had had one owner since new). Obviously that car's not likely to be a risk to anyone on the second hand market but it's hardly a sympathetic or sensible driving style.
My elderly neighbour, who was driving until he was about 87, used to adopt much the same style, moving the car at walking pace in first at about 4000 revs with the clutch taking up the slack.
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I'm only 50, but when I recently hired a Toyota Echo (Yaris?), I had some initial difficulty. The engine was very quiet (and small), it had no tachometer, and the clutch pickup point was at the opposite end of the travel to the one on my Mini. I didn't commit any of the horrors mentioned above, but getting the revs, clutch and navigation sorted late at night after a long flight did test my powers of concentration. Added to that, it was severely underpowered, being just usable around town, but with no acceleration in 5th, a little in 4th. My classic Mini (1275) would run rings around it. Again, with no tachometer and a near-silent engine, it was hard to tell, on first driving it, whether it was stressed or not. The next day, it was much easier, and I soon got used to it. Years ago, I'd probably thought nothing of it and adapted instantly. I hope I don't turn into one of those clutch-destroyers as I get older...
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