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There are some things that make sense, and then there are some that....
If you see any features that you have found in a car that are difficult to make sense, share them here. I am kicking off with the 2016 Honda Civic Touring. It has dual exhausts (tiny ones) that are hidden behind the bumper. Typically, when a manufacturer provides dual exhaust they try to make it visible and an attraction. Any ideas what these guys were thinking?
Is it a TRUE dual-exhaust system.......or don't you know? To cut costs, automakers sometimes play tricks underneath the car, using one main exhaust-pipe that branches into two, and sometimes even four, outlets.
I have never really understood why Toyota has a C-channel frame in their Tundra when their competition and every half-ton truck on the market has a full boxed frame.
Is it a TRUE dual-exhaust system.......or don't you know? To cut costs, automakers sometimes play tricks underneath the car, using one main exhaust-pipe that branches into two, and sometimes even four, outlets.
I believe Toyota does this on their cars such as the Avalon and ES while the RX and Highlander do not get the set up.
I have never really understood why Toyota has a C-channel frame in their Tundra when their competition and every half-ton truck on the market has a full boxed frame.
C-channels aren't necessarily weak, flimsy, or used to cut costs. Take the Ford line of trucks, for example....a line that has been very well-respected for decades. The lower-line trucks (F-150, F-250, etc....) use a full-boxed frame, but when you get up into the really heavy-duty commercial-grade trucks (F-450, F-550, etc.....), they use C-channels.
Somewhat off-topic, but C-channels aren't necessarily weak, flimsy, or used to cut costs. Take the Ford line of trucks, for example....a line that has been very well-respected for decades. The lower-line trucks (F-150, F-250, etc....) use a full-boxed frame, but when you get up into the really heavy-duty commercial-grade trucks (F-450, F-550, etc.....), they use C-channels.
Well, Toyota trucks around the world all use fully boxed frames. The Toyota trucks in the 80s and 90s sold in the USA were fully boxed. All the competition use it no excuse for Toyota to not.
If you see any features that you have found in a car that are difficult to make sense, share them here. I am kicking off with the 2016 Honda Civic Touring. It has dual exhausts (tiny ones) that are hidden behind the bumper. Typically, when a manufacturer provides dual exhaust they try to make it visible and an attraction. Any ideas what these guys were thinking?
Why did they even bother with a dual exhaust setup when that car has only 4 cylinder engines??? A single exhaust flows better on inline four and inline six engines, costs less to produce, and weighs less(big factor now days). I know some cars do dual tips to make it look cool like my SC300, but you'll notice on the higher performance Supra with the same engine its single exhaust to promote better flow and reduce weight.
The one that kills me are parking sensors and backup cameras on a Mini Cooper. A lot of them have them, for the simple reason that options are how BMW makes a profit on their cars. Its crazy how much a price spread there is on just the basic 3 cylinder Mini vs a fully optioned 3 cylinder Mini. Just out of curiosity, I ran the tab up on a base 3 cylinder Mini from $20,000 to $35,300 on the Mini configurator. That's one hell of a fat profit margin for BMW on those options IMO.
Here's something else that doesn't necessarily make sense to me......why pickup trucks typically have a full-set (or almost full-set) of gauges for the engine, and most other vehicles don't, except for a few high-performance sports cars.
(I'm a firm believer in gauges myself...preferably of the analog type)
Here's something else that doesn't necessarily make sense to me......why pickup trucks typically have a full-set (or almost full-set) of gauges for the engine, and most other vehicles don't, except for a few high-performance sports cars.
(I'm a firm believer in gauges myself...preferably of the analog type)
Still nice to have though, provided they are real gauges that actually read a value. A lot of gauges are idiot lights with pointers, ie an oil pressure gauge will read dead even unless the sensor flips the switch and makes it read zero, its the same as the sensor turning on an idiot light. Same thing with temp gaugues, a lot of them the sensor just tells the gauge to point cold, then in the middle when the engine is up to temp, then to the far right when the car is overheating, they don't actually display a real value.
Still nice to have though, provided they are real gauges that actually read a value. A lot of gauges are idiot lights with pointers, ie an oil pressure gauge will read dead even unless the sensor flips the switch and makes it read zero, its the same as the sensor turning on an idiot light. Same thing with temp gaugues, a lot of them the sensor just tells the gauge to point cold, then in the middle when the engine is up to temp, then to the far right when the car is overheating, they don't actually display a real value.
I believe Toyota does this on their cars such as the Avalon and ES while the RX and Highlander do not get the set up.
My 2016 RX350 has the fake duals. Single all the way to first muffler forward of rear end, then single again to a sideways-mounted huge barrel-like second muffler with dual outlets pointed into those chrome diffusers.
My 2016 RX350 has the fake duals. Single all the way to first muffler forward of rear end, then single again to a sideways-mounted huge barrel-like second muffler with dual outlets pointed into those chrome diffusers.
Must be new for 16. The 16 RX did get a power boost
I disagree. Although it is true that engines, in general, are more reliable than in the past, they still don't stop overheating, oil pressure doesn't stop dropping, and batteries don't stop discharging just because it's 2016. Idiot lights, even those that flash before going steady, still don't give you as much advance warning of trouble underhood as most gauges.
05-31-16, 02:27 PM
There are some things that make sense, and then there are some that....
