Conceptions/Misconceptions Over Cars

[niky]

All that weight won't help you if you don't have the restraints to keep yourself from dying from being impaled on the steering column, from a skull fracture from hitting the dash or pillars, from internal injuries from having your organs crushed by the lapbelt...

Weight is not a prime factor in survivability. Proper crush space and crash structure is. Which is why SUVs are not as safe in an accident as a good midsized car like a Camry or Accord.

 

[homeforsummer]

I think it depends on what you hit, how you hit it, and how hard you hit it. Older cars were deadly in offset collisions, but the weight of an old barge could probably give you an advantage in other types of collision, and when hitting a stationary object that can break or move. Relying on that would be pretty chancy, but remember... the 64-66 Chryslers are to this day banned from most demolition derbies for being too tough.

If I were, I dunno, a police officer pulling a PIT maneuver on someone or Jeremy Clarkson ten years ago piling into a brick wall in an old Volvo (while wearing a helmet, incidentally), then a big car with lots of metal around you is pretty good.

But when you're having a road accident with another vehicle or something immovable like a tree, I'd take the modern car with airbags surrounding you, seatbelt pretentioners, and bodywork that can absorb some of the impact any time. It's no use your car being relatively unharmed in an accident if you've left a head-shaped dent in the steering wheel in the process.

 

[Famine]

I get the feeling some folk never did the egg drop challenge in school.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I get the feeling some folk never did the egg drop challenge in school.

Whatever happened to Prof. Heinz Wolff (apologies for possible mis-spelling)? He cost my parents a LOT of eggs and various mechanical parts of domestic items.

 

[Famine]

Still lecturing at Brunel last I heard.

 

[Tornado]

I get the feeling some folk never did the egg drop challenge in school.

That just taught me that all of the elaborate attempts at 9th grade engineering regarding internal safety framing, purposely cut packing foam and deformable outer casing can't compare to the kid who just put the egg in a 2/3rds full Kleenex box and chucked that off the roof.

 

[Gallade4751]

I guess this guy isn't a real race car driver since he drives an "automatic"
Torque converter = Automatic. This car does not have a torque converter.
Would you tell this man that his skill is moot because he does not race with an outdated, gated Manual transmission?


EDIT: I KNOW this car is manual. I was pointing out that people are so quick to say that these cars have automatic transmissions.

 

[niky]

http://www.topgear.com.ph/features/...ure-wet-road-safety-with-these-practical-tips

Amazing how people love to hold on to their habits, even when the law, recommendations by safety experts and common sense tell them they're wrong.

I love posting articles like this, because you get extra hits and comments (though most of ours are on Facebook) from the people who can not only not accept they're incorrect... they're adamant you're absolutely WRONG.

-

Two of the things we cite here: new tires always go in the back and keep your hazards off in the rain... are surefire clickbait due to this effect.

 

[Grayfox]

I guess this guy isn't a real race car driver since he drives an "automatic"
Torque converter = Automatic. This car does not have a torque converter.
Would you tell this man that his skill is moot because he does not race with an outdated, gated Manual transmission?

Paddle shifter on that car.

 

[Liquid]

@niky Who on earth drives around in the rain with their hazards on? It sounds like something you would do if you were drunk.

 

[homeforsummer]

@niky Who on earth drives around in the rain with their hazards on? It sounds like something you would do if you were drunk.

In the UAE drivers go around with their hazards on in anything that isn't full sunshine. A few years ago there was an enormous pileup in the fog as drivers' only reaction was to travel their normal speed (80+ mph) and bung their hazards on.

 

[Liquid]

That's astonishing. Ridiculously dangerous and stupid.

 

[homeforsummer]

It also amuses me to note that the comment at the top on that article is a driver from the UAE advocating the hazards thing. What a prat.

 

[Liquid]

What a prat.

Let's examine:

Just to add something, using the hazard light during heavy down pour, is also the right thing to do especially when you are on a express way. By using the hazard lights doesn't mean you totally take away the ability to use your signal lights but rather, you let other drivers at your rear to know that there is a hazard due to zero visibility (heavy downpour) and that you are only staying in your lane while maintaining a safe speed. Why would you change lanes (use signal lights) if the rain is heavy. Usually if your just driving in a city road with many intersections, your tip about proper usage of the hazard lights is applicable. But in other roads, ie. Expressways, inter-state hiways, this is how we use the hazard light. - gcc driver's license holder.

Hm, yes, agreed. Showing off he has a driver's licence as if that makes him an authority on the issue too. Prat.

 

[Greycap]

The misconception: old Volvos, especially estates, are hopeless gas guzzlers.

The reality: easily 30 US mpg on the highway, 22-23 in the city. Sure it's no economy miracle but far from hopeless.

 

[niky]

@niky Who on earth drives around in the rain with their hazards on? It sounds like something you would do if you were drunk.

This:

In the UAE drivers go around with their hazards on in anything that isn't full sunshine. A few years ago there was an enormous pileup in the fog as drivers' only reaction was to travel their normal speed (80+ mph) and bung their hazards on.

Is basically what Filipino drivers are like. Hazards on at even the slightest drizzle... while maintaining the same, steady highway cruise even in blinding rain.

 

[Gallade4751]

Paddle shifter on that car.

That's the point. People like to say that every car with paddles and no clutch pedals are Automatic.

 

[Turbo]

Time to bring back an old, dead thread.

Here are few misconceptions about cars I have seen in the Cool Wall threads.

• FWD= uncool
• All V8's= cool
• Honda= ricer= uncool
• Hybrid/electric= ultra liberal eco-hippies= uncool
• Non V8 American cars= uncool
• The more horsepower a car has, the cooler it is.
• The less horsepower a car has, the less cool it is.

 

[CSMDuty11]

• All V8's= cool
• Non V8 American cars= uncool

Wait, hang on a second, something ain't right here...
..Eh, actually, i wouldn't consider that paradox too much of a stretch.

 

[synchromesh]

Time to bring back an old, dead thread.

Here are few misconceptions about cars I have seen in the Cool Wall threads.

• FWD= uncool
• All V8's= cool
• Honda= ricer= uncool
• Hybrid/electric= ultra liberal eco-hippies= uncool
• Non V8 American cars= uncool
• The more horsepower a car has, the cooler it is.
• The less horsepower a car has, the less cool it is.

The cool wall is so messed up.

 

[Wolfe]

Since when is it possible to misconceive the completely nebulous, undefined, subjective, and ultimately meaningless concept of "coolness"?

 

[Downhill Dino]

Only when you think it means the same thing as 'like'.

 

[Grandea GTR]

Why are we going back to the cool wall as a source for conceptions/misconceptions?

 

[Ken]

Why are we going back to the cool wall as a source for conceptions/misconceptions?

Because those misconceptions are so prevailing there.

 

[niky]

The only misconception about "cool" is that you can put a formula to it.

You can't. The moment you try to make a cool product by consciously copying another product widely considered cool, the result is almost always uncool.

 

[synchromesh]

To cut the cool wall some slack, I learned in economics that there is no formula for the behavior of human beings. You can't plug numbers in an equation and get a cool wall result.

 

[Wolfe]

The misconceptions that exist in the cool wall threads are errors like this:

• FWD = cannot be enjoyable to drive to anyone
• V8 = minimum for a performance car
• Honda = the only brand that suffers from cosmetic wannabe modifications
• Hybrid/electric = never driven by car enthusiasts
• Non-V8 american cars = cannot be fast
• More horsepower always makes for a faster car
• Less horsepower is "dangerously slow" on any highway

These and other presumptions are behind the sort of kneejerk votes @WeThePeople is referring to, but the votes themselves cannot be wrong. Some of my favorite cars are FWD and I enjoy driving small FWD cars, but for me, as a general rule, FWD is uncool.

 

[Legro]

Honestly, there's only one serious misconception about the Cool Wall that repeatedly comes up with some people's posts, and it's that the Cool Wall results actually mean something. Because they don't, as it's just a bunch of car people clicking one of certain five options with numerous different reasonings from simply liking the car to some really complicated explanations about how they presume the general public thinks about the driver.

That's extremely uncool, if you ask me.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Here's one (I think):

Horsepower per liter matters in a car. I've seen this particular on "Car Throttle" when they did a "Top 10 worst hp/liter" list. That alone annoys me.

 

[Wolfe]

@RandomCarGuy17 -- It doesn't make a difference to performance, but specific output offers a quick approximated insight into the attributes and character of an engine. Peaky high-revvers are found near the 100hp/L mark, while <50hp/L implies a broader torque curve or workhorse design. A turbocharged engine isn't working too hard at 100hp/L, but you can reasonably expect uneven boost delivery in a 400hp/L tuner car. Two-stroke engines seem to produce roughly twice the specific output of a similar four-stroke, so a 100hp/L two-stroke would not be as strung out as a 100hp/L four-stroke.

I guess I'm in a minority in that I find it useful and even admirable, but that doesn't mean it'll help a 160hp 1.6L Civic beat a 400hp 8.0L Viper in a drag race.