Wife's new vehicle....

[Big Muddy]

.
I traded in that p.o.s., sorry-azz, gas-guzzling '14 Nissan Pathfinder, with only enough leg room for a one-legged midget.....got her a 2017 GMC Acadia, with the bells and whistles, and plenty of leg room, too.

The salesman failed to mention the engine-stop/economy feature at red lights....on the way home, I pulled up to a red light, and the mofo went dead....I released the foot brake pedal, and it re-started.....I'm still trying to figure out, if I like that sheeit or not.

Any of you guys got a vehicle with that feature???

[BarryBobPosthole]

Is that a golf cart or a car?

BKB

[johnboy]

Congrats on the new wheels. I think you can turn the on/off feature OFF if you want.

[quercus alba]

They've got red lights in Mississippi?

[Big Muddy]

They've got red lights in Mississippi?

Yep, got only one, but we don't pay much attention to it.

[Big Muddy]

Congrats on the new wheels. I think you can turn the on/off feature OFF if you want.

Gonna leave it on for now, just to scare the sheeit outta the passengers.

[Chicken Dinner]

I'd leave it on. The technology is very widespread in Europe and was in all the cabs and my rental car when I was there last summer. It takes some getting used to, but why wouldn't you want to save on gas and emissions?

[Trav]

He will need to change his diet to save on emissions at least that is what everybody else says.

[Thumper]

Yeah, I ran into it in Europe where it's very common these days. It's just now rolling into the states and will only grow from here. TBH, it drives me bonkers personally. Every dang vehicle I was in in Copenhagen had the damn system. Wait until you're in heavy, stop & go rush hour traffic when the dang engine cuts off and restarts every 7-seconds! I can see those goofy Californians in their rush hour freeway traffic going Postal on their way to work before too long. The fun part? Try getting stuck in heavy rush hour traffic, or even an accident on the road ahead where you're moving 2-feet at a time. Try driving like that here in Florida in mid-August when the a/c constantly cuts off! (the fan, radio, etc stays on, running off your battery, but if the engine is shut down, the compressor ain't turning!) I think there might be some sort of override, but what's the point? Conventional batteries won't hold up to that many starts, so although I'd imagine most of us cheapskates here would change our own battery, plan on a $350.00 tab at an independent shop ... a dang dealership could hit you up for $500.00 depending on what part of the country you're in. Now, what about that starter going through elebenty-bazillion start cycles? I'd have to assume they're installing starters from Mack trucks in these cars to hold up to all those starts! Then there's the flywheel (starter) gear ... how long will those teeth hold up? BUT ... I believe some models are getting around that by installing starters on the front of the motor and using the serpentine belt to turn the engine over. Hmmm, I wonder how many starts you'll get before you start puking belts?

Another pet peeve ... having to have your GD'ed foot on the brake to start your car! On cold days, I go out and start Lynn's car (anything under 75 is FREEZING to her) and let it warm up a few minutes before she leaves for work. I drive with the seat all the way back ... SHE drives with the seat all the way forward. I cannot get into the car unless I move the (power) seat back. I turn myself into a frigging pretzel in the morning trying to lean in (with a bad back), push on the brake pedal with my hand, snake my free arm around and through the steering wheel to try pushing the dang starter button ... which I CANNOT see due to the pretzel position I have to maintain to cover all the steps. (Same procedure to cool the car down a bit in a/c weather) GRRRRRR!!! Dang, I think I'm turning into an old curmudgeon!

I can't wait to buy a new Corvette and find myself a street race. Both cars pull up to the line and while I'm getting ready for a hole-shot, my &$!@#$%&()&^% engine shuts down!!

That said, it's something that will be around for quite some time I'm afraid.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yoxu have to wonder when performance of electric motors is going to outpace gas motors?

BKB

[Trav]

I think the motors pretty close to surpassing the gas motors, the only thing holding them back is batteries. The Tesla Model S P100D did 0-60 in 2.28 seconds which is right up there with all the super cars.

[Thumper]

True, if you can afford a Tesla, they're bad-ass mofos!

[BarryBobPosthole]

I'm working on a eco vehicle myownself.

BKB

IMG_0518.JPG

[Chicken Dinner]

I remember with my rental car there was a way, some combination of tapping the brakes or something, that would stop it from shutting down on an isolated basis. You may want to check the owners manual.


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[johnboy]

What Thump said. Not something I would want in my vehicle. Same with cylinder deactivation. Sounds like a good idea until you think of all the wear and tear on complex, expensive parts. I long for more simple not more complex drive trains.

[Chicken Dinner]

You sound like my Pop complaining about those new-fangled automatic windows being just something else to go wrong...

What Thump said. Not something I would want in my vehicle. Same with cylinder deactivation. Sounds like a good idea until you think of all the wear and tear on complex, expensive parts. I long for more simple not more complex drive trains.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Birddog's truck has that cylinder drop out deal and he loves it. Hasn't had an issue yet far as I know.

BKb

[Chicken Dinner]

Here's a pretty good write up on Edmunds. I think "stop and then creep up a bit" thing is what I happened on my accident while driving my rental car. Basically, stop short by a foot and then ease forward and the engine won't cut off again until the car has reached a minimum speed. Once you get used to it, it allows you to game the system if you need a quick start on a hill or something.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/...save-fuel.html

[johnboy]

GM has had lots of issues with it's cylinder deactivation system and I think there is a class action lawsuit about it. Sometimes I think we have solutions that are more costly in the long run than the issues they were intended to resolve. Supposed to save fuel but at the expense of added weight and long term maintenence issues. I'm also curious how these new 8 and 10 speed trannies will hold up in pickups. Seems to me that the more gears you stuff into a limited space the smaller thay have to be. Smaller seems less robust to me. Direct injection is another one that sounded great until people started having major problems with carbon on the intake valves. Even airbags (that were introduced because people wouldn't use their seatbelts) are proving to cause more harm than they prevent. Great ideas at the initial implementation but not so great over the long term. My rant for the day. ;D

[Thumper]

Heck, I had to live with the cylinder deactivation thing way back in 1981 on the Cadillacs. It was the biggest flop they'd ever had, only one step above the pos diesels converted from Oldsmobile gas engines. We were averaging about 18,000 miles before the diesels puked their guts out! The deactivation deal was the "8-6-4" and I'd spend half my day showing people how to disable it. It only took a few seconds (unplug a connector under the hood). The owner could do it, but if I did it, I could be fined $100,000! It seemed silly standing there with a customer pointing to the connector and telling him to disconnect it. BTW, the 8-6-4 only lasted for one year before it was scrapped. '81 only, it was that bad. I think '81 was the worst year ever for Cadillac. Engine options were a pos 6-cyl (trying to propel a bazillion pound vehicle), the bigger pos diesel and the 8-6-4. What a choice to have to make! Problem is, being the Service Manager, I'm the one who caught hell for it. Customers acted like I was the one who designed that crap! That said, I'm sure major engineering improvements have been made in the last 36 years. I hope!!!

[BarryBobPosthole]

I know someone who owned one of those 80s era GM deisel engines. It was a lemon too. Something about gas with parafin caused a major problem for them. Or maybe it was gas without parafin, I can't remember. I think it effed up their injectors.

BKb

[Big Muddy]

My mechanic buddy made a small fortune off the farmers around here, who got duped into buying those p.o.s. diesel trucks.

[Thumper]

They were ALL lemons P-hole, from the minute they rolled out of the factory. It wasn't even a diesel to begin with. They took the Oldsmobile (gas) V-8 and converted it to diesel. NOT a good idea! You mentioned the fuel. In those days, diesel fuel was basically for trucks. Big trucks, which had a water separator about the size of a 55-gallon drum. The GM cars just used a little, standard sized fuel filter. They clogged constantly. Problem is, the filter in the tank would clog and suck itself closed, which meant draining/pulling the tank! We'd "secretly" take a cigarette and burn a hole in the new filter when we replaced it, basically providing a "by-pass". Then (and here's where we made a small fortune) we'd install a large water separator. I think we were getting $300-$400 for those things way back then, plus labor! To add insult to injury, "contaminated fuel was NOT covered under warranty. Problem is, after doing all that work to keep the fuel flowing, that weak-assed gasser block would twist and the head gaskets would blow, usually overheating the engine and warping the already POS block and/or heads. As mentioned above, we seldom saw one of those diesels get more than 18,000 miles before they'd grenade. Ha! And that was when warranties were 12-months/12,000 miles! Don't you know I had some pissed off customers in my office every day? Those GM engineers should'a been horse-whipped.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Weren't those Cummins Deisel engines?

BKB

[Thumper]

Ha! I wish. The diesel was a converted (gas to diesel) 350 cid Oldsmobile abortion. The 6-cyl. was a Buick V-6, and the 8-6-4 was a Cadillac creation. Car people refer to those years as Cadillac's "Trinity of Trouble"! ('80-'82)

[Thumper]

BTW, I had been a total GM man up until that time in their sordid history. Although I always had a new Cadillac company car, my first Toyota was an '81 SR5 pick-up, and Toyota is all I've driven since (as far as personal cars are concerned anyway).

[BarryBobPosthole]

Maybe they went with Cummins to try to fix the issues then.

I think Ford has the best product in that line of pickups. The Ford Super Duty is an impressive truck.

BKB

[johnboy]

I do love my Super Duty and the 6.7 diesel! Real nice truck (almost as good as my 2001 GMC 8.1 big block) but the complexity of that motor and exhaust plumbing makes me a bit uncomfortable. They seem to be pretty good over the long haul but any major repairs out of warranty is a ball breaker. Not sure I'm gonna keep it too much longer.

[Thumper]

Maybe they went with Cummins to try to fix the issues then. BKB

Sorry P-hole, I've been busy getting ready to get out'ta here for our trip. I'll admit, I don't know squat about GM's history with diesel engines. I'm pretty sure Ford and Dodge used Cummins. I know the GM truck lines (Chevy/GMC pick-ups) ran a few diesel options in the 6-liter class. I think they were Detroit Diesel engines (not sure). They later came out with the Duramax, but I don't know for sure which units used diesel. I know light trucks and probably the biggies like Suburban's etc. I'm not really sure GM used Cummins in their car/light truck lines, but as I said, I've never followed the diesel lines and I left Cadillac in 1988 to start my own business. The GM POS diesel in the early 80's Cadillacs were also used in the Oldsmobiles and both lines shared the same exact problems ... their engines would grenade around 18,000 miles with many other problems occurring shortly after they rolled off the showroom floor! Many, many, MANY of those early 80's diesel powered cars were converted to gas (engine swaps).