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What is your ride?

Discussion in 'Safety valve' started by need_for2, Nov 7, 2005.

  1. tucker001

    tucker001 Regular member

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    my ride is a bicycle with "2" wheels
     
  2. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    to revive this thread a bit, tell me, what do you all prefer: front-wheel or rear-wheel drive? personally, i love my AWD, but when i was driving both i found FWD better on pavement and RWD off the pavement. any opinions or thoughts?
     
  3. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    i used to have a 3.5litre sports BMW (not a crappy 3series but a big 5series) - classic BMW rear wheel drive (with limited slip differential) , scary as hell even in the dry, absolutely lethal if even just one single drop of water on the road; many years before i had a Ford Capri, rear wheel drive and those cars had a tendency to spin out from the back. I must say that 2 of the least scary cars i've had were front wheel drive; whenever the front tyres start to skid you just let off the gas for a second, tyres grip again, then back on the gas. Far less un-nerving than rear wheel drive anyday; have never driven all-wheel drive, probably never will; i guess front wheel drive wins every time for me..
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  4. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    the classic argument that i've heard in the past is that with big-power cars, it's too much to expect the front tires to steer, provide most of the braking power, *and* deliver the go-power. with my little 85 horsepower Hyundia Accent, i never had the ability to dispute this. it seems to me that if a big car is properly balanced, i.e. battery in the trunk, fluids like fuel stored at the far rear, etc, then the rear would be able to function was as the source of power. unfortunately, the weight distribution on many modern cars is as bad as 70/30, not the ideal 50/50.

    my Accent was probably at 65/35, but it was FWR so it worked well. my truck is probably at about the same (small v-8), but i drive fairly well under all conditions and thus am normally able to save myself from too much danger.

    with my AWD 'buru, the whole car is a bit heavier, but it's distributed at about 55/45, and i must say it feels almost 50/50 (probably is with the BOB equipment in my trunk). whenver the rear feels loose, the front pulls me through. if the front loses grip (normally just on ice), the rear pushes me along. best car i've driven, when it comes to grip, lol.


    *edit*
    with my current experience, i would have to say that RWD is great on the track and fairly good offroad, when you don't have 4WD or AWD. from what i'm told about offroad driving,you really need to learn to drive with only two wheels pulling along offroad before you get the real benefits of all the tires going.

    however, it seems that for daily driving, in most vehicles save trucks and cargo vehicles, FWD is the way to go: lighter, more efficient, and very dependable these days. plus, it allows for more cabin room (no drive shaft raising the floor).
    */edit*

    any other thoughts?
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  5. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    my 535i Sport (incredible car) had 208bhp, weighed about 1.5 tonnes

    some stuff i found on the net
    - i do about 150miles a day, guess why the BMW had to go
    :) and :(

    It's still parked up on one of the drives, one day i aim to drive it again (but a darn sight slower, there's about 61,000 speed cameras popped up around the UK since i got rid of that car)
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  6. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    my car weighs about 2800 pounds empty, a little over 3000 with me in and my gear in the trunk. 165-horsepower (under-rated, closer to 180) through 5 gears to all the wheels carries me to 60 in about 7.8 seconds, topping out at 135 mph. fortunately for me, i can get as much as 31 mpg, only averaging 25 here in the city.

    it had that kind of weight distribution and still tending to spin around? that sounds weird. i know RWD will *always* have that tendency, but it shouldn't have been as bad as you describe. it's not that bad in my big ol' dodge ram. well, okay, it is, but so far i've been lucky.

    were the tires in good shape, aired up, etc? i wonder if you got a fishy car....
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  7. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    wheels were amazing, real deep dish things with incredibly low profile tyres, more than sufficient tread; when i say scary i mean i only ever spun it from pulling away from stop, ie if i booted it a little too much in the wet (that car's a monster, it's gonna slip a bit), but out on the road it never spun, not even in the ice (luckily the worst that ever happened was when it got grounded in the ice once in our cul-de-sac, no surprise as it's a tank).

    In the dry i always drove it to the max, (bear with me i'm no gearhead so don't know the lingo), 2nd gear had a speed limiter or something, i'd always hit the redline in 2nd (phenomenal acceleration in 2nd gear, no car ever came close), after the g-forces threw me back in the seat, the speed limiter would kick in and restore common sense and gravity :p
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  8. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    with that power and weight, i bet those tires would spin ^.^ that ice is a pain, though. i bet you don't get stuck as much now! ^.~

    i must grin when i say that (knock on wood) i've never been stuck in the 'buru yet. :)

    i bet you could have burned a little less fuel if you drove more conservatively...but who wants to do that! XD

    think you might have anything to add in the revival of the CB Radio Thread? yes, it's a shameless off-topic plug, but no one who's posted in there seems to be alive anymore.

    *edit*
    did you ever top it out, creaky? can you vouch for that speed? :p
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  9. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    back then i could afford a tanker-full of fuel for driving that uneconomical monster even more uneconomically every day to and fro on shift; these days (luckily) i can get around 500miles to a tank in a week as it's very expensive, around £55 a week in fuel. and it looks like i only do about 100miles a day after all, my maths is crap.

    anyways, nope, i never got into CB radios myself, it was all the rage when i was a teen but just never got one.

    edit- as far as i remember, the UK model was limited to something wierd like 143mph top speed, i tried just the once to top my average daily cruising altitude of 120mph and hit 140, but that was all i could reach, plus i was actually a bit nervous by then; car was stable as hell at 120 as i did it so often but never did go above that again
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  10. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    wow, do you guys have really high speed limits or are you just a crazy speeder? interstate limits here are 70-75 mph, so i normally don't do over 95.

    *edit* highest i've driven was 116...i would shoot for higher, but there's lots of mean police on these highways, and the backroads aren't long enough to really get highspeeds there.

    *re-edit*
    driving is even cheaper for me now. i only go about 4 miles a day (average), and drive the 135 miles home every 2 weeks to a month.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  11. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    our "A roads" are something like 60mph or is is 70, can never remember, and motorways are 70mph. there were big sweeping roads on the way to and from work in those days, but i've mellowed one helluva lot since then :p

    there's like speed cameras (of various types) bloody everywhere now, we even have 'average speed' cameras on motorways now, when there's roadworks, Bus lane cameras, cameras out of the wazoo, oh and don't forget the ultimate in camera tactics, Police vans down the bottom of hills or sat on bridges overheard, that can cop you from like a mile away, sneaky buggers those are. </end rant>
     
  12. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    you could always tint your windows very dark and make a motorized device to rotate your license plates to fake plates when you're on the motorway. speed like a demon, press a button when you're near your destination and have the plate rotate to your legit ones (like james bond) ^.^
     
  13. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    nah, my current car only does 110mph tops, something like 92bhp, 1.9Diesel Turbo, not very quick off the mark anymore, it's getting quite old now, but i only open it up (to 110) the odd time, in very short bursts) to clear out the cobwebs. generally i have to (rigidly) keep to 70mph for economy and get-out-of-jail-free cards
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  14. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    bwahaha...my Accent topped out at 96 mph. wanna race? :p drag style, not rally, as you'd take me for sure on the long stretches. by the time we hit 60 mph, the sun will be down...and by the time we hit the end of the track, it will be back up! XD
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2006
  15. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    LOL. there's one real steep stretch uphill i use where i cane it up there and virtually nothing comes close. it's a tank but it sure moves uphill like a rocket, overtaking a whole row of cars each time. No-one expects that up this hill as it's sooo steep. I just get sick of driving, i spend 3hours a day in the car (not good when you get up at 5am), i desperately need to find a new job locally, i really am sick of the traffic, truth be told. Anyways, time to get off the PC methinks, movie time, in fact eldest is going thru my movies cases now, creaky over and out :)
     
  16. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    ah, the raw power of a diesel. ^.~

    later, creakster.
     
  17. The_Fiend

    The_Fiend Guest

    You call them things Rides ?
    Now THIS is a ride.

    You ride your cars to work, i'll ride my skateboard.[​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 14, 2006
  18. Auslander

    Auslander Senior member

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    LOL, i don't have the balance for skateboard, or at least when i was interested in them i didn't. i just use my feet and my car.
     
  19. thecraigc

    thecraigc Regular member

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    this is my ride... erm... sometimes... when im walkin' --
    [​IMG]

    ¦¬D
     
  20. tjedwards

    tjedwards Regular member

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    here's a pic of my current ride to work.

    '99 S10 Xtreme

    i also have an older S10 thats all been re-done also lowered with a smallblock 350 V8, that has 400 horsepower. it is WICKED. no pic as of now, will rty to get one up soon. i only get it out a couple times a year.

    [​IMG]
     

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