Short Journeys

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Wed 14 Feb 2001 21:28
Short Journeys - Roger Keene
Further to your recent comments about car use in the Daily Telegraph, that modern cars with ECUs should not be used on short trips:

Short journeys are a fact of life in today's motoring.
It is not up to the Motorist to change his lifestyle; rather it is for the car manufacturers to design their vehicles to cope with the demands of their customers. It is nonsense to suggest that one should keep a mileage log for every journey. Modern vehicles should be designed for today's usage.

Your comments are naive. It is akin to saying that you should avoid using your car in the wet. After all, mild steel will rust on exposure to water and salt.

Car companies generally do respond to market needs; multi-grade oils and sealed for life bearings are good examples.
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Thu 15 Feb 2001 06:43
RE: Short Journeys - Andrew Moorey
I agree that it does seem to be the case that it is neccessary to change your lifestyle to fit in with the constraints of a modern engine management system. It has become apparrent to me that unfortunately engine management design is now led by the beurocrats and their ill informed efforts to pander to the alarmists and "environmentalists". Whilst I support the need to reduce the effects of emissions from cars I believe that the "lean burn" route should have been adopted rather than trying to clean up the emissions with catalytic converters. However we are stuck with the cat for years to come and I think it is time that the public were educated on how to run their cars properly to give this technology a chance to work. For example: Shorter service intervals foroil changes. Using the best quality fuel and also giving the "cat" a clean out of 20 miles once a week are just a few ways we could improve the way that we run our cars.
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Thu 15 Feb 2001 19:12
RE: Short Journeys - Andrew Hamilton
Buy a diesel and you do not need a cat. No ECU , all mechanical on older diesels. Short journeys handled with great fuel efficiency.
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Fri 16 Feb 2001 12:56
RE: Short Journeys - honestjohn
Who has Roger Keene addressed his e-mail to? Obviously not to me because e-mails to The Backroom are not to me.

HJ
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