Automobiles

[j44ke]

This lane assist stuff is absolutely maddening.

Agree. Lane assist was the first thing I turned off.

[davids]

First, save the wagons! I’m totally with you Jorn.

Second, this self-driving tech… My wife, who would be totally happy with a chauffeur (and who mostly has one. That would be me.) looked at the suite of features in Mercedes’ “driver assistance” package and scoffed. She’s got absolutely no interest in the car helping her out. I was surprised at her rationality around this, but she rightly thinks that if she’s driving she should be driving.

The only things I like are the surround cameras and blind spot/backup warnings.

[robin3mj]

At the same hotel as my conference in Phoenix:

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds?auction_id=1078

[72gmc]

I always like to see a 23-window VW bus, but I wouldn't ever want to own one.

[darkmother]

I always like to see a 23-window VW bus, but I wouldn't ever want to own one.

First one I have seen. I can imagine that rust and leaks would be an issue. Glad to see one all the same.

[rec head]

Speaking of driver assist, isn't the cruise control on those old busses a brick on the gas pedal?

[gt6267a]

Speaking of driver assist, isn't the cruise control on those old busses a brick on the gas pedal?

probably very few speeding tickets in that vehicle.

[SeanEasley]

I think we might get a new car if this:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/v/cars/v60-hybrid

came set up like this:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/v/cars/v60-cross-country

Instead Volvo wants us to buy this:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/v/cars/xc60-hybrid

or this:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/v/cars/xc40-electric

Hmm, a $63k wagon with no options...I sorta want to keep loving my V60 after the lease is up in May but the 25K payoff that was figured out before the pandemic shortages etc makes it likely worth several thousand more than that this summer. Will likely sell it and keep driving the F-150 until it dies. That and my brother-in-law had his 5-cylinder V60 XC start burning through a quart of oil every 1000 miles, with less than 80K on the odo. Volvo told him it was 'within acceptable parameters' or something like that...that line of BS alone makes me not want to buy another new car from them ever.

[Too Tall]

Hmm, a $63k wagon with no options...I sorta want to keep loving my V60 after the lease is up in May but the 25K payoff that was figured out before the pandemic shortages etc makes it likely worth several thousand more than that this summer. Will likely sell it and keep driving the F-150 until it dies. That and my brother-in-law had his 5-cylinder V60 XC start burning through a quart of oil every 1000 miles, with less than 80K on the odo. Volvo told him it was 'within acceptable parameters' or something like that...that line of BS alone makes me not want to buy another new car from them ever.

I had a bad break up with Volvo. The "good ones" that had engines made to power saw mills were amazing. We used to say "Volvos are fantastic, they last as long as you care to own them". True enough until they got fancy. If I ever get a shot at someone else's nicely restored 14X it would be hard to say no.

[VTMike]

burning through a quart of oil every 1000 miles, with less than 80K on the odo. Volvo told him it was 'within acceptable parameters' or something like that..

Buddy did a holiday road trip with his high-zoot euro-born SUV and was shocked to see some low-oil indicator come on...
Dealer told him the same thing.
Relevant to note that the vehicle is less than a year old with less than 10k miles.


At least when it's blowing out of seals it's rust-proofing for us in New England. I have no use for this variation.

[j44ke]

So far so good on our Volvo. It is the FWD model with the 2.0L 4-cyl. engine. Fingers crossed.

[Tom]

Interesting. I traded a C30 with 75k on it, it never had any problems despite me driving like a 12 year old.. The XC40 has essentially the same motor with a different chip, since I bought the thing to be the last car I buy (4000 miles a year times 30 years, about the time I should be surrendering my license) I'm going to be steamed if it wears out prematurely.

[SeanEasley]

So far so good on our Volvo. It is the FWD model with the 2.0L 4-cyl. engine. Fingers crossed.

Same as mine Jorn. I like the driving experience for the most part, great styling and front seats to die for, but mine has had a couple minor electrical glitches in 2.5 years that required service visits, and at 12k the front rotors had become warped and had to be replaced. Service tech tried to charge me calling it a 'wear item' despite the fact I drove it usually un-loaded and on flat roads the whole time. I dug in and called BS. Never had rotors die that fast and on a $45K up-market brand that's just in-excusable.

[rwsaunders]

So I received a notice the other day from HONDA that I needed to update the Garmin software in my Pilot’s navigation system…no big deal, right? This 3 hour event required wiping and formatting a 16GB jump drive, downloading the upgrade from the Garmin site to the jump drive (1.5h), deleting the map software on the Pilot, transferring the update information from the jump drive to the Pilot via a USB port near the radio (1h) and leaving the car running outside while the update took place. The other 0.5h was me reading and shaking my head at the instructions the whole time and saying, “really…in 2022?”.

[vertical_doug]

So I received a notice the other day from HONDA that I needed to update the Garmin software in my Pilot’s navigation system…no big deal, right? This 3 hour event required wiping and formatting a 16GB jump drive, downloading the upgrade from the Garmin site to the jump drive (1.5h), deleting the map software on the Pilot, transferring the update information from the jump drive to the Pilot via a USB port near the radio (1h) and leaving the car running outside while the update took place. The other 0.5h was me reading and shaking my head at the instructions the whole time and saying, “really…in 2022?”.

This is like the fight between Gates and GM back in the day. Bill said why couldn't cars advance as fast as computers, and GM shot back because when you need your brakes, you don't have time to control alt delete and reboot.

The whole list is still really funny.

In response to Gates' comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn, would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT". But then you would have to buy more seats.

6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only work on five percent of the roads.

7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.

8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

9. The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.

10. Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grab hold of the radio antenna.

11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.

12. Every time GM introduced a new model car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

13. You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.

[j44ke]

Same as mine Jorn. I like the driving experience for the most part, great styling and front seats to die for, but mine has had a couple minor electrical glitches in 2.5 years that required service visits, and at 12k the front rotors had become warped and had to be replaced. Service tech tried to charge me calling it a 'wear item' despite the fact I drove it usually un-loaded and on flat roads the whole time. I dug in and called BS. Never had rotors die that fast and on a $45K up-market brand that's just in-excusable.

Our car has a 3G based communication system. 3G is being phased out. Volvo has promised a replacement cellular unit, but that seems to be more difficult to develop that expected - plus covid supply chains etc. So it was supposed to be here last year.

Also the mapping program stopped accepting new maps, even manually, which might be related.

[j44ke]

So I received a notice the other day from HONDA that I needed to update the Garmin software in my Pilot’s navigation system…no big deal, right? This 3 hour event required wiping and formatting a 16GB jump drive, downloading the upgrade from the Garmin site to the jump drive (1.5h), deleting the map software on the Pilot, transferring the update information from the jump drive to the Pilot via a USB port near the radio (1h) and leaving the car running outside while the update took place. The other 0.5h was me reading and shaking my head at the instructions the whole time and saying, “really…in 2022?”.

You are going to need to upload new maps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...idge-collapse/

[Saab2000]

These nav stories are a good example of why something like Apple CarPlay is so nice. The apps aren’t native to the car, they’re just played through the car.

That said, some are better than others. The car I drove in Europe last summer had a very laggy system and that really kills the user experience.

[rwsaunders]

You are going to need to upload new maps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...idge-collapse/

It’s amazing that nobody was killed in the collapse as that bridge is on a bus route….my nephew just sent me this image.

[SeanEasley]

Our car has a 3G based communication system. 3G is being phased out. Volvo has promised a replacement cellular unit, but that seems to be more difficult to develop that expected - plus covid supply chains etc. So it was supposed to be here last year.

Also the mapping program stopped accepting new maps, even manually, which might be related.

Interesting...so you have a wifi hotspot or something? I don't think I have that, or at least I've never used it. I also don't have Navi activated and just connect carplay for my phone's navigation.

My issues have been that the head unit had to be re-flashed once or twice. One time only half the screen was showing...may seem like a minor inconvenience until you realize they sacrificed all the button controls for things like climate control etc. in favor of the slick tablet interface...having any second thoughts about that yet Volvo?? This is why I may be stuck buying used cars from now on, until they bring back buttons and knobs.