DCT's achilles heel is low speed operation. The clutches have trouble getting the car underway and working smoothly at walking speeds. Torque multiplication is not their strong point. Honda makes torque-converter DCTs which completely solve the problem since the torque converter does all the...
There's nothing worse than getting shut in at an airport when your flight is delayed/cancelled. Suddenly, you realize you could have driven in less time and not be treated like cattle. I'll drive from now on.
I have a 2002 Acura RSX with almost no HFC 134a loss in 17 years. I know this because I recently tried to recharge it and it was not low. Of those 17 years I rarely used the AC for 14 years because I lived in the central coast region of CA and just didn't need it. In Idaho I use AC two or three...
Mazda's skyactiv-x engine is a remarkable achievement. I remember decades ago that Honda was experimenting with compression ignition gasoline (HCCI) engines in a motorcycle test mule. HCCI engines held a lot of promise and all the major auto manufacturers had big R&D efforts underway to bring...
The Mazda marketing folks are certainly going to put on their tap-dancing shoes and tout the benefits of their new k-mart rear suspension. It does save cost and space, but the cost savings are certainly not passed on to the customer (!) and the space savings are unrealized in the hatch. The...
Mazda has said they're doing it to meet NVH goals, but there are too many quiet cars with fully independent multi-link rear suspension and too many noisy cars with the el-cheapo torsion beam suspension to give that excuse any credence. The rear suspension has negligible effect on NVH. This is a...
The new mazda3 hatch is a tough sell for the following reasons:
1. skyactiv-x engine a no show
2. major cheap-out on the rear suspension. Mazda is trying to market the car "upscale" when it wears the same rear suspenders as the Nissan Versa.
3. Less cargo room than even the tiny cargo space of...
Been waiting waiting waiting for the new Skyactiv-x engine since it was announced. Last year, they said spring of next year. It's now shaping up to be fall of next year in the US and that's only for states that have extra stringent pollution laws (i.e. CA). Hope my aging RSX makes it.
The N600 sedan was my first car. I bought one used in college for $300. I think they sold for $1300 new which is less than the front seat of my Acura RSX. It was the funnest car I've ever driven. I didn't have to slow down for turns. I just turned and the car would fly around corners. I got...
I'm trying to think of a car for you that would be better...something that wouldn't have excruciatingly annoying problems like a cruise control setting 1 mph off.
hmmmm...still thinking....
It's not San Diego that "doesn't believe in manual transmissions". American Honda is playing upsell games with the manuals by holding them off the market. Their hope is that you'll settle for the CVT which has a higher profit margin for them.
Transmission engineers sometimes "tune" the MT fluid by adjusting viscosity or friction reducers so the synchros mesh perfectly. The Honda fluid is custom made for your transmission. Why would you buy off-the-rack clothes if you can get custom-tailored ones?
Mazda is saying that the torsion beam is being used to address NVH. I think that's BS, though. They're doing it to cheap out. I'm still hoping they'll give that idea up. As far as space, the 10th gen Civic hatch and current Mazda3 hatch have very similar interior dimensions and seat-down cargo...
I backed out of a Civic Hatch LX 6MT order that was taking too long to get here. I'm betting that Mazda is going to rule this segment with an iron fist when the next gen Mazda3 comes out next year. It's going to be the prettiest, most powerful, and most fuel-efficient hatch ever with Skyactiv-X...
I had wheel locks save my wheels. Some thieves tried to get my wheels when I was parked in a parking lot shopping. I came out to my car to discover 4 out of 5 lugnuts gone from one wheel. They didn't even notice that the one lugnut was a locknut, apparently. Locknuts are not going to stop a...
Remote start is the triumph of marketing over good sense. Engineers cringe but if there are a lot of dumbshits that want it and brand x offers it, we gotta offer it too.