June 2007
Scientists at the University of Portsmouth, UK, have developed an Artificial Intelligence system to build the world?s first thinking car wheel. The steering wheels use microcomputers which perform 4,000 calculations per second and communicate with each other. Then the wheels use AI to learn as the car is being driven, making calculations and adjustments according to travelling speed and road conditions.
These intelligent tyres mark the first time AI has replaced fundamental mechanics within a motor vehicle. This means that we might some day ride safer and driver cars. But don?t panic! If the system doesn?t work properly, the driver remains in control of the car.
blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=607
www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/frontpagenews...l
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Our Hyundai has three years free servicing. The servicing regime is 10,000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. It was last serviced in April 2006 at 18,800 miles and has now done 29,000 miles. So I think it shuld have been serviced in April 2007 and if not then, then now.
I have spoken to my Hyundai dealer twice about this. He says that the free servicing regime only permits servicing one month either side of the anniversary of the purchase or 600 miles either side of the 10,000 mile points. So, I wait until 29,400 miles or until 1st August 2007 (car registered 1st Sept 2004).
In my opinion, this is contrary to the servicing schedule recommended by the manufacturer. If the engine blows today and the cause is down to not changing the filter in time, who's to blame? Read more
TANSTAAFL-there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
A pre-MOT check of my wife's car last night revealed worn out N/S front wishbone bushes and wheel bearing. Last year this car had new NSF track rod end and bottom ball joint and new NSR damper as the bottom bush was worn out. Whilst I accept that some wear and tear is inevitable, this car has only done 82k total, and only 7k since last MOT. The road my wife goes to work on is abysmal - severely damaged on the inside edge for about 5 miles, and I'm sure this has contributed (significantly!) to the wear in these components.
So, has anybody successfully claimed against a council, or know how to go about it? Even if I did not manage to get anything out of them directly, getting the road resurfaced would be a result!
--
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen.... Read more
Yes HJ, but I didn't think much of the standard of repair, did you? No cutting back the ragged edges of the hole - just a temporary fill to my eyes.
Having just been home from university last eve, I was meandering through the roads and without realising found myself in excess of the 60mph limit, despite the twisting nature of the country roads...I believe my mk 1 Focus used to be doing 50-60mph on the route, yet the mk 2 is handling that bit faster - both journeys of comparison are on dry roads, at about 1am. I was wondering whether other people's experience of cross-country roads perhaps suggests that modern cars are more than capable of handling the "limit" and perhaps such a limit is a tad redundant in areas as desolate as these? Read more
[driving within the distance that you know to be clear]
>> I'd have said the same thing but I simply don't believe that I do it
I agree Vin. No one does it all the time. Life's too short.
Doing anything else is stupid. Foolhardy, if you feel "stupid" to be too strong a word, which I personally do not. Life's too short, as you say - especially too short to make one's own, or someone else's, even shorter.
See:
The Highway Code
RoSPA
Police driving instruction
Safespeed
High Performance Club
Being able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear is one of the very basic tenets of good driving.
Right, some of you may remember I was asking about the C3 Pluriel last week, well after seeing one at the weekend with (surprise surprise) a leaking roof, I finally managed to make the g/f see sense and look for something else.
We are now considering the Ford Ka 1.3 Style or the Grande Punto 1.2 Active.
There is about £800 difference in the price, but more toys on the punto for the extra.
Not drove either yet, but both look like nice little cars.
She thought she had decided on the Ka for less money, but I have just discovered that the Ka only gets 2 year warranty but the Grande gets 3 years....
With all the extra little quirks and the extra year warranty, I am thinking the Grande might be worth the extra £800... any thoughts?
M Read more
is now a good bad or indifferent time to buy a Ka?
Difficult question. Some possible factors
1) o/h may prefer appearance of current Ka to new one - but I don't know whether we know what the new one will look like.
2) new Ka will probably be better in several respects
3) new Ka will be an unknown quantity in terms of reliability - and there may be early bugs that need sorting out
4) price of new Ka is an unknown, but in early months, discounts on it will be minimal.
5) There may be discounts on the current Ka when the new one is introduced, but I personally doubt that the discounts will be any better than those that are currently available.
6) The introduction of a new model may mean that residuals of current Ka may suffer a little - but I doubt that it will make much difference.
On the whole, I have to say that I have been enormously impressed by the capabilities of my Tom tom One. I have, however, been rather less impressed by its readiness to shut down and not start again - but I think I've solved the problem.
When it shut down, the screen showed the SD card with a red cross through it - Tomtom's answer was that it needed a new download. But ..... although my pc showed Tomtom as a removable drive, Tomtom Home could not recognise that the device was connected. When we tried my mate's Tomtom sd card in my machine, it worked perfectly. I fiddled about with the write-protection switch on my card, squeezed it a few times and re-inserted it ..... and it worked perfectly again! Obviously an intermittently faulty sd card - which I hope Tt will replace as it isn't 6 months old yet.
Does this story sound familiar to any other Tomtom users? Read more
I've done this with my TT One. >>
What spec/size card did you use, please, Ravenger?
Ok so it should be TomTom's responsibility but at least this way you get a
working unit for minimal hassle.>>
This is the conclusion that I've reached.
VW are finally replacing the tractor like pd engines in it's range with new common rail types.
It looks like there are also introducing the diesel combustion process in petrol engines (wot no spark plugs ??).
(PS I do jest a little about the pd engines - I do appreciate how thermally efficient and torquey they are)
www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=226038
{please do not post direct links to 'What Car' , ie, leave off the http part of the link - DD}
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As long as the new VW engine has the same amount of low-rev torque as the PD engine, it should be a winner.
My Golf TDI estate (140 bhp) is only really noisy when it's giving its all in acceleration: the rest of the time it's perfectly acceptable, and far, far more refined than the Mercedes B200 which preceded the Golf.
It may also be helpful to say to anyone who - as I did - wondered about the suddenness of the shove that you get with VAG diesels, that (a) you get used to it and can avoid it with light pressure on the accelerator, and (b) you can make it work for you when it's needed. And mine's done only 2,000 miles so far - given that VAG diesels take up to 10,000 miles to give of their best, there's an even better time coming.
For now it's having a break, as SWMBO and I are - greetings to you all from South Africa.
Stopped by my Diesel-repairer mate today. He told me he's got three cars booked in this week with suspected hydraulic damage from ingesting water over the last few days. One is a Mondeo TDCi towed in off the motorway and they already know that the head has cracked! One is a BMW 320D - don't know for sure what's wrong with it yet but it drove through a deep puddle, cut out, and now its dead! Third one is a Renault Espace and they think con rod(s) bent. All sounds very expensive - I think he's looking forward to a bumper set of accounts this year! Read more
Years ago,I was driving thro' a flood at an appreciable speed in a 2.5 D Turbo Scorpio,Peugeot not VM-A Land Rover came the other way,also at a good speed-my window was closed-unfortuneately for him,his wasn't.
Just had a glossy 28 page booklet from a company called The Garage Door Team put through my letterbox. According to their website (www.thegaragedoorteam.com ) they're a franchise, but I've not heard of them before.
As a new garage door is on the agenda later in the year, I would be grateful to know if any Backroomers have experience of this company.
Thanks.
Clk Sec
Got it onto one posting for you - PU Read more
I have a Wessex door, except mine came from Wickes and cost a little over £200 about three years ago. Excellent value for money. If you are just replacing one door with another and you are a reasonably competant DIYer, I'd say fit it yourself. It's a very straightforward job.
I have just dug this rack out of the attic, last used a couple of years ago on a Laguna. I can't find any instructions but figured it must go something like this ( see link ). There are some plastic dumbell things that you trap behind the door hinges. I assume the straps on each side reduce left - right movement. The rack is about five years old from Halfords. I'm not anticipating going more than ten miles or so.
Q1 - Is this sort of right / safe ?
Q2 - Would it be legal assuming you can see the rear lights and registration plate.
Q3 - Which bit of the car is bearing most of the weight ? Bumper or door hinges ?
tinyurl.com/3csrjp
thanks.
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Thanks
Bottom straps go right under the car, I remember writhing about in the gutter trying to find a suitable anchor - these are galvanised hooks so wouldn't attach to anything with paintwork. I'm more concerned with the general shape of the whole thing, there's a near infinite number of combinations this can be made into.
Browse
a slight tangent here ..pro,s and cons, verses the otto cycle (typical 4 stroke) agen the atkinson cycle (completes in one half of the otto cycle with clever cranking design) but still 4 stroke ... why wasnt it ever taken up?..