Auto News
News volume 1: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/news/
News volume 2: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/news2/
A New Jersey man died in a crash on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New York during Saturday's snow when his Tesla slid off the road.
The crash ignited the car's lithium battery, requiring several thousand gallons of water to douse the flames.
https://nj1015.com/nj-man-dies-in-crash-tesla-battery-fire-takes-2-hours-to-put-out/
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1570469/diesel-changes-audi-v6-engine-renewable-fuels-hvo
"The company has now approved many of its current six-cylinder diesel engines for use with the renewable fuel HVO - hydrotreated vegetable oil.
Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is a sustainable fuel that enables CO2 reductions of between 70 and 95 percent compared to fossil diesel."
If this was Toyota I would be a happy camper. I don't know anything at all about Audi engines, but I hear modern common rail diesels have a hard time with just moving over to veggie oil. I'm not even sure you can just have the old diesels "converted" with a kit, like the 1HZ 4.2L inline six Toyota engine in the landcruiser. That was indirect injection as well.
The point being that I'd like Audi to explain how they filtered the hydrotreated vegetable oil first, so it doesn''t clog everything up. And how much it will cost in comparison to regular diesel.
Because lets be honest: we can't have nice things. But if a company like Toyota made a reliable veggie diesel engine, I'd be all over it. It's too much of a simple solution though.
Bear in mind this is what Rudolf Diesel intended from day one. Right up until they probably killed him at least.
Edit: Plus you know they'd want to prevent you from using your own fuel. They don't even want you to repair your own car.
https://www.cityam.com/cheap-chinese-tires-blamed-as-russian-convoy-unable-to-reach-kyiv/
What a hilarious way to demonstrate why you should always avoid Chinese tires.
Yesterday at my Auto 100 class I take at my college, I heard from my instructor that Hyundai and Kia dealer technicians are leaving because they had 6 hours to fix those problematic Theta engines and ONLY 6 hours. Do you know about this?
Hi Scotty,
Saw a video where you said report bad experience or issues, from almost 7 moths ago dealership crashes customer Ford Escape and denied responsibility.
Here we go again with Hyundai Motor Group.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just released a news bulletin with a “park outdoors” order for certain Hyundai and Kia models at risk of catching on fire. This applies to approximately 485,000 vehicles, including the 2014-2015 Hyundai Tucson, 2016-2018 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2017-2018 Santa Fe Sport, 2019 Santa Fe XL, 2014-2016 Kia Sportage and 2016-2018 Kia K900.”
So if you own one of these vehicles, park outside away from other vehicles and structures.
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/02/08/hyundai-kia-park-outside-orders-recall/
In other surprising news, from what I've been told the sun will rise in the east in the morning.
Hey @chucktobias - I went to the NEWS page and it does not say where or how to post anything, only search. Is there some trick to this? Thanks
So I thought car related stuff that also informs people might be handy if Scotty wanted to mention it in his videos as well. Get the word out there a bit. I mean, if it wasn't for Scotty I'd still be driving a pile of junk GM Vauxhall van over here in the UK. And throwing money into a bottomless pit. Like this poor guy that bought a Mercedes hybrid here: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1556002/Mercedes-Benz-car-new-battery-price-Auto-Trader-Knighton-Leicester
He bought the car for £27,000. It's now worth just under £13,000. And Mercedes want £15,000 just to replace the battery.
He said he bought it because he thinks Mercedes are so reliable: "I have always been a Mercedes customer and loved the cars they produce and we bought the car for its reliability."
More quotes:
"Any reasonable person wouldn't expect a car that costs £27,000 would have a battery that would die after eight years.
"It almost feels like mis-selling on Mercedes' part. Had we known this expense was possible at the outset, he would not have purchased it in the first place.
"This information is not readily available and I've only found people discussing it in online forums."
-See? If Scotty had more fans, and Mercedes need less, the world might be a better fairer place.
Edit: At the end Mercedes commented on another model (they didn't specify what car the guy had) but basically said it was the customer's fault:
"Without the background information, we are unable to comment on why the high voltage battery required replacement in this particular case."
"Outside influences can contribute to reduced battery life, for example, operating conditions of the car, accidents, repairs and general maintenance."
Toyota launches new miniature TINY suv thingy - the AyGo X.
It is 3 FEET SHORTER than a COROLLA.
It also has half the power (70bhp), although it weights the same (about a ton)
Powered by a 1.0L 3 cylinder mated to a cvt without a launch gear.
Rumoured to cost 15k pounds in the UK ($20k usd) over twice the price of a Dacia Sandero.
Adjustable head rests are not included. The rear sides of the the rear seats are painted metal, the doors have exposed metal, the rear windows don't lower, the rear bench looks like it's just a piece of foam without any rear contours, ...
Quite honestly, the only thing wrong with it is the price, it costs as much as a regular car like the Fiesta. But that being said - Toyota's pricing is generally meh IMO. the Corolla costs the same as an i20N T-GDI hot hatch.
A Bugatti Chiron hypercar was seen driving on the German Autobahn at speeds approaching up to 259 mph! Wow - imagine being on the highway and seeing that vehicle go past you.
i don't understand why they don't just go to a track
Probably because they can't drive so fast for so long there.
VW Jetta VS. Toyota Corolla head-on collision crash test -
Do crashworthiness test results translate into real world performance?
This test shows us how safety tests don't really tell us much about crash safety in the real world. Both of these cars have the EXACT same safety rating (95% on the EuroNCAP) but their real world performance turns out to be quite different (both weigh the same).
Interesting seeing them pitted against each other seeing as how they were allies during the war. Some progress has been made in crash safety over the last 50 years though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gqXoftZMtk
The Jetta obliterated that Corolla!
It's too bad the VW's are such junk otherwise. (in N.America at least)
@chucktobias it would be interesting to see that Ambassador up against a modern car. The weight of it would probably do some significant damage, but there might have been more "intrusions" and stuff like that since crash safety wasn't as big of a priority back then.
@mmj, I have a '71 Ambassador and it's not bad as far as keeping damaging intrusions to a minimum. Nash and AMC had active safety programs going way back, within the limitations of the available technology. AMC's predecessor company Nash was the first American manufacturer to offer seat belts back in 1950 and included crumple zones in the basic design of its cars.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/collision-course
@mmj @chucktobias
Ambassadors weighed around 3,700 pounds - that's only 400 pounds over the Curb weight of some Toyota Corollas, speaking of those: Here's the progress Toyota has made just in the last 17 years (The Corolla shown there is European Auris version - structurally identical to the the US spec, just different styling and powertrains)
https://youtu.be/zkxq2pPw0Uc
https://youtu.be/xidhx_f-ouU?t=105
-
Also, here's the cheapest 2015 Nissan sedan in Mexico vs. the cheapest Nissan sedan in the US
https://youtu.be/85OysZ_4lp0
I guess some parts of the world never got to enjoy the safety progress at all...
oof. what a stark difference.
@mmj, @dan - Of course a lot of progress has been made, technology marches on. That Gremlin though really didn't do too badly for that era considering the difference in the cars' sizes. The front got scrunched up real good but the passenger compartment remained pretty much intact, though it looks like the roof buckled a bit.
There's a similar video between a Pinto 1971 and a full sized Ford Galaxie. The Pinto did not fare nearly as well. The same video includes Vega vs. Impala, and likewise the Vega didn't do all that well. (Of course the Gremlin was basically a cut-down Hornet and was of heavier construction than the Pinto or Vega.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ9GIzaXxk0
That Tsuru definitely looks like a car to avoid. Absolute death trap!
@mmj @ChuckTobias
The funny thing is that all of the “progress” we are seeing is just everyone mimicking what Volvo did 20 years ago.
Those things were already indestructible, they just would total other cars without any harm to the driver.
Even in collisions that shouldn’t be survivable the XC70 / XC90 would just have 0 passenger compartment intrusion - while a new Corolla can’t handle a Jetta, an older XC70 can handle a truck head-on (also 50% overlap)
https://youtu.be/6prtCtxk1ho
https://youtu.be/jGHsoF5F57s
https://youtu.be/g3UES_f3Bno
@dan, it started long before 20 years ago. The old rear-drive Volvos were tanks even 50 years ago. Really nothing like them is made today.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/the-stack
@ChuckTobias
Safety wise they have definitely improved, I own a P1 Platform FWD Volvo C30 (with a Mazda built engine) and although the automatic is a nightmare, the rest feels like a tank.
They've demonstrated it in front-end Tree collisions at 30mph, Rear impact at 51 mph, pole to the door at 18 mph (instead of the regular test where it hits only the b pillar) and that's impressive.
https://youtu.be/iZD1itKATso
And on their latest ones they've began to drop them from 100ft cranes to test these scenarios, although that is getting quite unrealistic.
It's a shame that these latest models have these tiny supercharged and turbocharged oil burning engines paired to complex hybrid systems. but I'm already seeing some of these reach 150k miles without any major issues and Volvo still states all Volvo cars are built to last 200k miles...
https://youtu.be/WA10onqrZzw
But it's always fun to see their stunts, like the truck stack
https://youtu.be/0F2GrIuSgZ8
They used to be designed to last nearly 20 years.
Pelosi is considering this person, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), for the position of chairwoman of the Transportation Committee. 😆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Ym-kk1tRw
This is why we can accurately describe this administration's policy agenda as WAH Wah wah.
haha yes, we had a pretty big snowstorm in a lot of southern Ontario.
A crowd of people stopped traffic on the I-880 in Oakland ... for this. Just watch the video.
This is America today. Unbelievable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RMfvlu6ibE
Why didn't somebody call a social worker?
Yes, it's happening in cities from coast to coast in the US.
Entire city intersections are shut down, dirt bikes and offroad 4-wheelers riding by the hundreds on city streets, highways etc.
The police are stretched too thin to respond, and city leaders are too weak to do anything about it. Even if a few of them are caught, they receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
The US general population has also become too weak and complacent to respond as well.
Canadian woman drove her car into the Rideau River today.
People kill me. Why take a photo of your own stupidity to keep with you for a lifetime? {black}:idontknow:
Auto News: 3G networks will disappear this year - and that's bad news for your car:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/16/3g-networks-shutting-down-in-2022-could-affect-your-cars-gps.html
So basically, features you paid for now become obsolete (if the manufacturer does not offer an upgrade).
Does anyone know if the aftermarket has or is working on solutions to upgrade your systems yourself?
My guess is there currently just isn't any demand.
You could always use a standalone GPS and free yourself from dependency on the car manufacturer providing updates. Some people elect to use a smartphone.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/not-wild-about-waze-try-one-of-these-top-gps-devices
Yes, if someone owned one of the affected vehicles that would be a good way to go.
Not a question but after seeing this I couldn't help but remember when Scotty talks about bad quality cars and uses a picture of a Tesla in the junkyard.
Apparently GM Ecotec 5.3L oil pumps are known to explode below -10C (14F). It’s probably a good idea to use a block heater if the temps dip, before starting up.
Clear the snow off your cars, people!
They'll probably find some sucker to buy it. What was the rip off price?
It’s dumb. I looked all over the car, and it wasn’t listed. They had all the specs, but no price. Probably want you to engage them so they can throw out an obcene number.
No doubt, they want some fool to walk right into their target zone.
So I was taking a stroll through the Toyota dealer showroom and low and behold, they have a brand new Used Tesla for sale.
My guess is a Tesla owner got fed up with it and traded it in for a Toyota. There could be other reasons as well.
I don't see a question here.
We are finally number one! I guess people are wising up thanks to Scotty.
(WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE)
Scotty gonna love it also warning for all the future buyers for Mercedes
Good luck
if it's not a question, then please post it in 'News'
Sorry
Also, our rules say no profanity. So if you're going to post videos like this with, let's call it "New York dialect" then please at least post a warning. Thanks.
Here’s one for the (Lexus) books. One of the most expensive used Lexus to exchange hands recently sold for $1,137,968: this particular example was a Lexus LFA (less than 500 ever made), 2-owner with 12,000 miles, but what made this one special was it had the ultra rare Nürburgring Package (less than 64 built).
https://www.motortrend.com/news/used-lexus-lfa-nurburgring-package-sells-for-over-1-million/
Hi Scotty,
Can you comment on this?
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59818800
Can't wait to hear what you have to say!
Thank you,
Gus
More crazy "Market Adjustments"
Lawsuits seem to go nowhere with GM.
"OH that was the OLD GM. We are the NEW GM." Its how they sidestep those issues every time as you can't sue old GM as they are defunct and have no money.
Back when I was working for them and issues were raised about the AFM system, I remember clearly being told, "That's why we have lawyers." So that tells you how much they care.
Scotty have you heard about the lawsuit against GM filed on 20-Dec-2021? It has to do with lifter failures and the specs and materials used. You are always saying how the quality keeps going down and the cost of vehicles keeps going up. These auto makers keep looking for cheaper and cheaper ways to built them to increase their margins but the quality suffers so much and the end user usually pays for it all. Just wanted to let you know that at least some pressure is being put back on them, the auto makers that is. Wondering if you were going to do a video on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgNlRzsJXaQ
This was already posted. Please use the search box before posting new questions. Thanks.