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Brigdh
Nov 23, 2007

That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.
To be fair, the manufacturers are not helping. Every time I pickup my rental for business travel, I have to spend 10 minutes finding the damned headlight switch since it seems like putting it on a stalk in a standard location has become passe.

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General_Failure
Apr 17, 2005

Brigdh posted:

To be fair, the manufacturers are not helping. Every time I pickup my rental for business travel, I have to spend 10 minutes finding the damned headlight switch since it seems like putting it on a stalk in a standard location has become passe.

On the dash is a really common location in Australia too. But generally speaking it's a big knob just to the right of the instrument cluster in plain sight.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin

Brigdh posted:

To be fair, the manufacturers are not helping. Every time I pickup my rental for business travel, I have to spend 10 minutes finding the damned headlight switch since it seems like putting it on a stalk in a standard location has become passe.

:stare: Really? You literally spend 10 minutes looking for the headlight switch on a new car? If that's true then its you, you are the guy in the op.

As an aside why should it be easy on cars for people to find stuff? Outside of a HMMWV or postal truck cars are generally not designed for random assholes on the street to jump into and immediately know how to do everything, because when you buy your car, you figure out how to do everything in the first day and the for the rest of your three year lease you know how to change the radio channel and turn on your loving headlights. It's basically a problem that only exists for magazine car reviewers.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

.

Krakkles fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Feb 22, 2018

Brigdh
Nov 23, 2007

That's not an oil leak. That's the automatic oil change and chassis protection feature.

Throatwarbler posted:

:stare: Really? You literally spend 10 minutes looking for the headlight switch on a new car? If that's true then its you, you are the guy in the op.

As an aside why should it be easy on cars for people to find stuff? Outside of a HMMWV or postal truck cars are generally not designed for random assholes on the street to jump into and immediately know how to do everything, because when you buy your car, you figure out how to do everything in the first day and the for the rest of your three year lease you know how to change the radio channel and turn on your loving headlights. It's basically a problem that only exists for magazine car reviewers.

loving seriously? Yes, I expect that the standard controls of a vehicle to be in standard places, especially since I've driven hundreds of vehicles in the past of varying makes, models, and years, and until recently they've all had the lights on a stalk within easy reach of my left hand. If its not where I expect it to be, then yes, I have to loving hunt for it, and sometime that does take time. If you hopped into a new car and found that the gas and brake pedals were reversed, wouldn't you be more than a little annoyed? What is there was a lever instead of a steering wheel? You want to distinguish your car from your competitors? Limit yourself to what the industry has been doing for decades to stand out. Body styling, paint colors, options, new tech, etc. Don't start loving with the controls that are considered vital to operating your product.

If I were the "guy in the OP", I wouldn't be looking for this poo poo, I'd hop in the rental car, drive off, and probably end up on the highway with my lights off. At least I'm actually trying to familiarize myself with the vehicle I'll be using for the next 1-5 days.

So far, I've found the headlight controls on the drivers door, practically under the dash, just below the arm rest, and mixed in with the radio/hvac controls.

dissss
Nov 10, 2007

I'm a terrible forums poster with terrible opinions.

Here's a cat fucking a squid.

Throatwarbler posted:

Women do notice your car, but low slung 2 seater sports cars are largely a turn off. A Range Rover, on the other hand, :getin: It's a near perfect signal for "My boyfriend is both financially secure, or at least willing to invest in my lifestyle, and/or is a ASE master tech."

Source: Go ask your women friends or SOs.


I think that depends more in your social circles than anything else. I couldn't imagine a vehicle worse for impressing woman than a full size Range Rover - it'd be seen a hideously wasteful choice, and in the case of a new one an astoundingly bad financial decision on top of that (I don't think anything depreciates faster than a RR and everyone knows it)

dissss
Nov 10, 2007

I'm a terrible forums poster with terrible opinions.

Here's a cat fucking a squid.

Brigdh posted:

So far, I've found the headlight controls on the drivers door, practically under the dash, just below the arm rest, and mixed in with the radio/hvac controls.

Got an example? I'd love to look up some weird dashboard layouts.

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.
I got caught out by a Citroen AX once. No handbook, and all the markings rubbed off the stalks. Headlights are activated by rotating the entire stalk, there's no separate knob on the end. Took me fifteen minutes to work it out.

NoWake
Dec 28, 2008

College Slice
I rented a newer Subara Legacy and spent a good 5 minutes at a gas station poring over the owner's manual trying to find out how to open the drat fuel door. Turns out the latch to open it was just hidden under the driver's floor mat. I had a similar experience with the Chevy Cruz I'd rented a week before, you have to 'click' the fuel door to get it to release so you can open it. Not very intuitive.

NoWake fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Sep 9, 2013

Devyl
Mar 27, 2005

It slices!

It dices!

It makes Julienne fries!
With LED lighting making great progress in the automotive industry, why can't we have constant-on lights all the time? You can't really say "well the bulbs would burn out faster" because LED lights last dramatically longer than other types of bulbs. I hate people that drive at dusk/dawn/night-time with only DRLs on almost as much as I hate people who refuse to turn their lights on when it's raining. With always-on lights you'd kill two very dangerous birds with one stone.

Viggen
Sep 10, 2010

by XyloJW
People out this way are still scared and confused by a Diverging Diamond Interchange.

INCHI DICKARI
Aug 23, 2006

by FactsAreUseless
I feel like that's some sort of hosed up joke played by a traffic engineer.

Hugh G. Rectum
Mar 1, 2011

Devyl posted:

With LED lighting making great progress in the automotive industry, why can't we have constant-on lights all the time? You can't really say "well the bulbs would burn out faster" because LED lights last dramatically longer than other types of bulbs. I hate people that drive at dusk/dawn/night-time with only DRLs on almost as much as I hate people who refuse to turn their lights on when it's raining. With always-on lights you'd kill two very dangerous birds with one stone.

While the LEDs themselves have a really long lifespan, the boards that they are connected to don't. I've seen tons of stop lights and cars with partial or total failures of the entire driver board. The problem is always lighted gauge clusters. When people can see their gauges at night they assume the lights are on. I'll bet if you asked the people driving around at night with their lights off most of them would tell you they thought their car had automatic lights.

Falken
Jan 26, 2004

Do you feel like a hero yet?

West SAAB Story posted:

People out this way are still scared and confused by a Diverging Diamond Interchange.
If I ever drove on that road, I'd get flashbacks of playing Scalextric with my friends shortly before I end up getting in a collision and rolling into a tree on fire.

Project M.A.M.I.L.
Apr 30, 2007

Older, balder, fatter...

NoWake posted:

I rented a newer Subara Legacy and spent a good 5 minutes at a gas station poring over the owner's manual trying to find out how to open the drat fuel door. Turns out the latch to open it was just hidden under the driver's floor mat. I had a similar experience with the Chevy Cruz I'd rented a week before, you have to 'click' the fuel door to get it to release so you can open it. Not very intuitive.

The petrol flap for one of my cars was behind the rear number-plate (license-plate). After I bought the car I went to fill it up before driving home and was stumped. Looked all over the car twice before getting crafty and looking in the boot in case I could see the filler pipe. Nope. Looked under the car for the tank and then saw where the filler went! Such a mission. It was a used car with no manual handy that I could look at at the time.

Oh and as for lights, that car had the low/high beam switch operated by a button on the floor to the left of the pedals. You stamped on it for high/low operation. The light switch itself was on the dash, a kind of knob that you pulled out.

Renting a car in Italy, it was a Fiat and we were in the car park for 5 minutes trying to get into reverse before realising you had to sort of lift a plastic ring that was attached to the boot on the gear shifter before you could move it back into the reverse position.

And one car, I forget the make, it took ages to figure out how to get the lights into high-beam. I can't remember the eventual solution but it wasn't one I was familiar with.

Math You
Oct 27, 2010

So put your faith
in more than steel
Seconding the always lit gauge clusters.
I'm pretty good at most things cars, but I recall at least once getting home (very short trip in a well lit area), going to turn off the lights and feeling way too much resistance. Whoops!

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep

Devyl posted:

With LED lighting making great progress in the automotive industry, why can't we have constant-on lights all the time? You can't really say "well the bulbs would burn out faster" because LED lights last dramatically longer than other types of bulbs. I hate people that drive at dusk/dawn/night-time with only DRLs on almost as much as I hate people who refuse to turn their lights on when it's raining. With always-on lights you'd kill two very dangerous birds with one stone.

BMW was way ahead of the curve on this. In 1993 when they built my car mandatory DRLs had just been phased into Canadian law. Their solution was to wire all the lights to stay on all the time regardless of switch position. I buy lightbulbs in bulk.

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
What's so confusing about roundabouts? They keep traffic moving as long as there are no idiots floundering around in there. And the best part... miss your turn? gently caress drive in a circle and try again.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


8ender posted:

BMW was way ahead of the curve on this. In 1993 when they built my car mandatory DRLs had just been phased into Canadian law. Their solution was to wire all the lights to stay on all the time regardless of switch position. I buy lightbulbs in bulk.

I have three settings for my lights:

1) Low beam on, cluster lights off
2) Parking lamps on, cluster lights on
3) Low beam on, cluster lights on

If the engine's on, at least some kind of outside illumination is happening. Originally position 1 is supposed to turn everything off, but this is the EU, son! We can't allow that kind of thing!

Also, I can't turn on my rear fog light without turning on the front fog lights as well :france:

steady
Feb 28, 2011
Pillbug
Regarding light stalks and similar things... I found that Japanese cars have a pretty standard layout so a margin for error is pretty low when trying to figure it out. GM and Ford let their imagination run wild when it comes to control placement.

Seizure Meat
Jul 23, 2008

by Smythe
No, there's no excuse. I work at an auction, we get everything from Kias to Ferraris, and I've been in thousands of cars. If it was made in the last 3 decades, I've been in an example of it, and finding controls isn't hard.

Here's a hint: They are all located within arms reach of the steering wheel.

Vindolanda
Feb 13, 2012

It's just like him too, y'know?

BrokenKnucklez posted:

What's so confusing about roundabouts? They keep traffic moving as long as there are no idiots floundering around in there. And the best part... miss your turn? gently caress drive in a circle and try again.

People seem to be under the impression that you NEVER stop at one - not even if there's a car you'll hit.

Nodoze
Aug 17, 2006

If it's only for a night I can live without you

West SAAB Story posted:

People out this way are still scared and confused by a Diverging Diamond Interchange.

I have never seen anything like that :stare:

Corey Plumper
Nov 22, 2008

Midget Fist posted:

Oh and as for lights, that car had the low/high beam switch operated by a button on the floor to the left of the pedals. You stamped on it for high/low operation. The light switch itself was on the dash, a kind of knob that you pulled out.

I love floor mounted dimmers, wish they stuck around.

CovfefeCatCafe
Apr 11, 2006

A fresh attitude
brewed daily!

Vindolanda posted:

People seem to be under the impression that you NEVER stop at one - not even if there's a car you'll hit.

You know how you get that line of people at a 4-way. Then when someone goes, the guy right behind him just decides to say 'gently caress it' and goes through the intersection, courtesy and traffic laws be damned? When you change that "STOP" to a "YIELD", suddenly it isn't just the 2nd guy, but basically everyone behind him goes as well until someone almost has an accident with somebody who is going through the roundabout. Or you get that idiot that doesn't understand you don't stop in the circle, and will stop. at. every. exit. to wave the drivers through, which leads to the first point, so now you're stuck in the middle of a traffic circle, behind someone who was being "nice" while a train of cars fly by because "YIELD means if the guy ahead of you is moving you can just follow him through and never at anytime means STOP."

CovfefeCatCafe fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Sep 9, 2013

Jared592
Jan 23, 2003
JARED NUMBERS: BACK IN ACTION
I turn my headlights on every time I start my car, and haven't had to replace a headlight bulb in over 3 years thus far. This also gets you in the habit of trying to flick off lights in any car you're in when you turn it off, so you're less likely to leave them on in any car.

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.

VikingSkull posted:

If it was made in the last 3 decades, I've been in an example of it
:allears:

Seriously, though, when the markings rubbed off the controls years ago, it's pitch black at night and you're twenty miles from home, you do discover that "ergonomics", "commonality" and "familiarity" aren't necessarily words in every designer's vocabulary.

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester
Oct 3, 2000

BrokenKnucklez posted:

What's so confusing about roundabouts? They keep traffic moving as long as there are no idiots floundering around in there. And the best part... miss your turn? gently caress drive in a circle and try again.
Where I live, there are a few traffic circles, and I get the feeling they were designed by a civil engineer who thought he was hip and international but never saw a traffic circle anywhere in the real world. They're all pathetic frankensteins of the wrong shape or size and with traffic lights inside them and poo poo. One near me is so small, like 10/15 feet across the grass in the middle, that it's impossible for anyone to be IN the circle, therefore it's impossible for anyone outside it to yield to the people in it. So it ends up getting treated more or less like a 4-way stop. Some people go around it the wrong way because it's poorly marked, too.

Seizure Meat
Jul 23, 2008

by Smythe

InitialDave posted:

:allears:

Seriously, though, when the markings rubbed off the controls years ago, it's pitch black at night and you're twenty miles from home, you do discover that "ergonomics", "commonality" and "familiarity" aren't necessarily words in every designer's vocabulary.

If you're driving a car built long enough ago that the markings are worn off, the controls are more or less standard. It isn't until very recently that things have started to deviate. From the early 60's to the late 90's basically every car had the same setup.

Also why are you waiting until you're on the road at night to learn the controls?

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


YF19pilot posted:

You know how you get that line of people at a 4-way. Then when someone goes, the guy right behind him just decides to say 'gently caress it' and goes through the intersection, courtesy and traffic laws be damned? When you change that "STOP" to a "YIELD", suddenly it isn't just the 2nd guy, but basically everyone behind him goes as well until someone almost has an accident with somebody who is going through the roundabout. Or you get that idiot that doesn't understand you don't stop in the circle, and will stop. at. every. exit. to wave the drivers through, which leads to the first point, so now you're stuck in the middle of a traffic circle, behind someone who was being "nice" while a train of cars fly by because "YIELD means if the guy ahead of you is moving you can just follow him through and never at anytime means STOP."

Ugh, 4-way stops are the worst invention ever for basing right-of-way on "who was here first?".

You should change it so that everyone would have to give way to traffic coming from the right, like it is in civilized countries (such as here :smug:). It works so much better (as long as people are actually aware of the rule).

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.

VikingSkull posted:

If you're driving a car built long enough ago that the markings are worn off, the controls are more or less standard. It isn't until very recently that things have started to deviate. From the early 60's to the late 90's basically every car had the same setup.
Did you not see the AX example I posted about earlier?

quote:

Also why are you waiting until you're on the road at night to learn the controls?
Because I've sat in a wide variety of cars from all kinds of manufacturers, and always found the basic controls to be fairly similar. Sound familiar?

Fo3
Feb 14, 2004

RAAAAARGH!!!! GIFT CARDS ARE FUCKING RETARDED!!!!

(I need a hug)

Nodoze posted:

I have never seen anything like that :stare:

Neither have I. Now down here, that's something you would use roundabouts for if traffic was evenly flowing, (or traffic lights if not)

Edit: VVV I have no idea how 4 way stop signs work either (again, down here, it's roundabouts or traffic lights)

Nodoze
Aug 17, 2006

If it's only for a night I can live without you

KozmoNaut posted:

Ugh, 4-way stops are the worst invention ever for basing right-of-way on "who was here first?".

You should change it so that everyone would have to give way to traffic coming from the right, like it is in civilized countries (such as here :smug:). It works so much better (as long as people are actually aware of the rule).

4 way stop intersections loving suck, ask me how I know :haw:

I'd rather just have an intersection with traffic lights instead

Fo3
Feb 14, 2004

RAAAAARGH!!!! GIFT CARDS ARE FUCKING RETARDED!!!!

(I need a hug)

YF19pilot posted:

You know how you get that line of people at a 4-way. Then when someone goes, the guy right behind him just decides to say 'gently caress it' and goes through the intersection, courtesy and traffic laws be damned? When you change that "STOP" to a "YIELD", suddenly it isn't just the 2nd guy, but basically everyone behind him goes as well until someone almost has an accident with somebody

That's what happens here when the traffic lights go out completely or are flashing, no one knows what to do. Someone just edges out and risks it, and then everyone follows, until someone from another direction has had enough waiting and then edges out and pushes in, and then everyone behind follows, until someone else from another direction has had enough and pushes out risking a crash, and then everyone behind them blows though, and so on and so on.
You don't want to be on Australian roads where the traffic lights are out and we are supposed to treat it like a 4 way stop...

At least for us, roundabouts are safer, even though they are often full of idiots as well.

Fo3 fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Sep 9, 2013

freelop
Apr 28, 2013

Where we're going, we won't need fries to see



Coming up to a single lane roundabout last week at night I saw rapidly approaching headlights and was overtaken by 4 black hatchbacks going way over the speed limit. The fourth one didn't have enough space to get past me so they turned out their lights and went the wrong way round the roundabout. I could see up the road the lights of other road users swerving out the way.

Driving in Coventry is often a terrifying experience, especially if you hit the ring road.

johnny sack
Jan 30, 2004

One day, this team will play to their expectations...

Just not this year..

Jared592 posted:

I turn my headlights on every time I start my car, and haven't had to replace a headlight bulb in over 3 years thus far. This also gets you in the habit of trying to flick off lights in any car you're in when you turn it off, so you're less likely to leave them on in any car.

Me too. I got in the habit of doing this after riding motorcycles. Additionally, in my area, there is a highway that's apparently so deadly that they have signs telling you to always drive with your headlights on for safety. I haven't been on that highway (8 near Chisago) in quite a few years, but I assumed that if it made a deadly highway safer to use headlights, then I might as well keep headlights on everywhere.

Just last night, we were driving home after 8, and its quite dark by that time now. I saw probably one on twenty cars driving along without headlights. If you flash your lights at them it never gets the point across, they keep driving oblivious.

Disgruntled Bovine
Jul 5, 2010

The TVR Tuscan 2 was so confusing Jeremy Clarkson bet people 20 pounds they couldn't get into it and start it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sCuvWlheco

DrPain
Apr 29, 2004

Purrfectly priceless
items here.
There was that one time I had to move a Porsche for the first time ever and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where the gently caress that key went.

:negative:

Das Volk
Nov 19, 2002

by Cyrano4747

dissss posted:

Got an example? I'd love to look up some weird dashboard layouts.

There are hundreds here: http://carinteriors.tumblr.com/



what are all those buttons for :byodood:

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IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Being what appears to be a Fiat / Abarth of some sort... different ways to make the car catch fire.

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