You know you're an ecomodder if/when...

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by tumnasgt

Won't they let you go from M to E to N without jumping gear? In my family's Sonata (auto with "manual" gear selection) I can jump from manual to drive to neutral faster than the computer will change gear (I use it engine brake down a slope then coast to a stop sign). I know it's not quite the same, but I would think if anything the lag would be longer, allowing for neutral from any gear.

I don't think so, its not a conventional auto but a computer controlled manual - think VW/Audi DSG but cheaper. It has 3 modes, lazy, sporty and F1 - the first two are auto and the last one is flipper stylee manual. In F1 mode its a sequential box, so to go from 4th to Neutral I assume you have to flick 3-2-1-N and do the reverse going back, but there is no clutch pedal to disengage. I haven't driven it yet to find out though.

Since then I've had a chat with a Toyota dealer and he has suggested the best approach with MMT is to avoid it.

[Piwoslaw]

YKYAEM if...
... Your rear tires have umpteen thousand kilometers on them, but they still look like new.
There is really nothing to wear down my rear winter tires: they hardly see any brakes (almost all engine braking, plus no hand brake since it likes to stick in the winter), and less weight than most cars (rear seats removed).

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

YKYAEM

when you are picking up friends to go out for dinner and your loved one asks you if you could please drive normal, just for tonight.

We feel your pain, buddy

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

YKYAEM if...
... Your rear tires have umpteen thousand kilometers on them, but they still look like new.

Rotate them front <-> back periodically or they'll wear out from old age.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Rotate them front <-> back periodically or they'll wear out from old age.

Isn't the ageing related to exposure to sunlight ? He has spats

[Piwoslaw]

I will rotate the tires, since the car now parks (for weeks at a time) with one side getting sun for most of the day, and the car shelter we had planned to build this (actually last) year didn't work out. Until recently I had my tires changed at a shop and the tire guy said that each tire should always be mounted on the same corner, no rotating. Now that the summer tires are on the ultralight wheels I will be mounting them myself, so I'll make sure to rotate them (both front <--> back and left <--> right). Plus the new wheels stick out more, so Svietlana is skirtless for the moment

I read somewhere that tires should be replaced every five years, that older tires are dangerous, etc. Of course, I plan to use them for longer than that, especially with my driving style and frequency, though I wouldn't mind wearing my summer tires down enough to justify buying a new set of LRR's.

YKYAEM if...
... You want to wear your tires down to replace them with a set of LRR's, but your driving style is such that that won't happen for quite a few more years.

[Weather Spotter]

Ykyaem, when on your way home a car passes you taking pictures. yawn

But when they pull off at the next exit and wait for you to pass so they can take more thats when you know you drive an eco modder car

[Piwoslaw]

Weather, try to play with them: If they pull over and stop, you pull over and stop. If they're nice, they'll come over and ask about your mods. If they're not, they'll sit inside waiting for your next move. Either way, it really gets your adrenaline going. Oh, wait! In the US anyone can have gun on them, right? Well now your adrenaline is squirting out of your ears

I've played with "paparazzi" before. Once I stopped behind the car, the driver sat inside for 1-2 minutes, opened the door, stuck his head out and looked back at me, closed the door and drove off. It turned out (much later) that the guy was a local mafia member. Talk about playing with fire!

[Kodak]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Weather, try to play with them: If they pull over and stop, you pull over and stop. If they're nice, they'll come over and ask about your mods. If they're not, they'll sit inside waiting for your next move. Either way, it really gets your adrenaline going. Oh, wait! In the US anyone can have gun on them, right? Well now your adrenaline is squirting out of your ears

I've played with "paparazzi" before. Once I stopped behind the car, the driver sat inside for 1-2 minutes, opened the door, stuck his head out and looked back at me, closed the door and drove off. It turned out (much later) that the guy was a local mafia member. Talk about playing with fire!

I only know of one state with unrestricted conceal and carry, and that's Vermont. Maybe there are a few more. Most states have some restrictions (license requirements), which vary in strictness.

[aero84]

Originally Posted by Joenavy85

maybe it's my dirt track experience talking, but i'll still stick with RWD

I have driven both front- and rear wheel drive cars in the winter and I will always prefer FWD.
RWD on snow is much more fun - that is, if you can afford to get out in the snow and play with the car.
But if you HAVE TO drive, especially long distances, in the dark, in adverse conditions, in the mountains, than boring FWD just is the way to go.
When driving my two Mercedes (w123) in the winter, going uphill wasn't that funny.
When moving to the Eifel region I organised scandinanian-spec winter tires - only then was I able to get up the steep slopes to the village where I live. Unfortunately these tires were next to undrivable on anything else but snow and ice - rolling resistance as if someone had put glue to them, the rubber beeing so soft and profile so extreme. They did not really work on dry or wet roads either. But that was the only way I could get up that hill...

With the front wheel drive Saab one year later I was surprised by winter: 20 cm now in a single night and ice underneath (at least on the slopes, where all the other vehicles had been skidding and sliding).
As I had just bought the car it still stood on old tires (new ones had been ordered, but not fitted yet): seven year old Michelin Alpin with less than 3mm left.
On an 8% grade with snow and ice underneath I had to stop several times, as the hill was blocked with trucks and cars whose drivers had first run out of traction and then out of talent and were littering the road in a pretty chaotic way.
And you know what? The little FWD Saab just did not care. Ancient winter tires without profile, soft accelerator and clutch feet and no problem at all.
Nop way I could have made that with my Mercedes or BMW. Perhaps with studded tires, but they're illegal in Germany...

RWD is the only way to get traction when accelerating and having lots of power. (In the summer, that is.) RWD is great for big, heavy sedans and for powerful sport cars. RWD is great for fun.
But in winter, if just HAVE TO GET THROUGH, than nothing beats FWD. OK, all-wheel-drive will be better still.