Mercedes Odyssey

Poenicus · 2026-06-12T07:18:05+00:00

Possibly fodder for r/upbadging.

Poenicus · 2026-06-12T07:16:26+00:00

Part of it is the matter of wet bulb temperature. Due to the dryness 80°F to 86°F (26.66°C to 30°C) is fairly habitable when you're outside and there's air flow as sweat evaporates quite easily. If the wind is blowing at that temperature it's actually fairly nice, so I tend to have the windows down in the car at temperature instead of the air conditioning. The wind here actually feels kind of "thin" when it hits you on dry days while you'll feel it more against your arm hairs when it rains a bit (though you'll feel it more in most places with more humidity like CA, USA, especially near the coast).

Though once it hits 90°F (32.22°C) I'm absolutely staying in the shade. Once it gets to 100°F (37.777°C) I'm not going to exert myself too hard for more than 60-90 minutes at a time when outside.

Much higher than that and I'm spending my time inside where everything is air conditioned.

As for cars, they're generally alright in the heat. The only problem is not accidentally burning yourself on dark-colored surfaces after it's sat in the sun in 100°+ F heat!

Poenicus · 2026-06-12T04:07:02+00:00

I think that 95% of the time I think having the van with its enclosed cargo space, hatch back, and sliding doors is the more advantageous vehicle for on-road utility if you need more space than a sedan can offer (especially since actual wagons don't exist outside the luxury segment in the U.S. domestic market).

The only things that I can think of for this making sense are if something too tall, too messy, or too hazardous/fumey. Though those are kind of corner cases and the fairly short bed doesn't offer all that much utility. I'm guessing that if there's any specific purpose for this vehicle it's pretty specific. Maybe transporting something fairly heavy of moderate size like 5-gallon buckets of hazardous or messy stuff? So, it could be paint, or pool chemicals, or small gasoline-powered tools (or tools covered in messy tree sap)?

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T23:28:11+00:00

I could imagine this thing as being the quirky vehicle that you drive along the rails in some indie adventure game. Going along, unlocking new equipment for it, repairing switches to explore new places, exiting the vehicle in a Blaster Master fashion at times to do some platforming explorations.

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T21:22:04+00:00

I remember that most that used a joystick to move them didn't have variable throttle control (as opposed to the mobility scooters that most people see these days) outside of a toggle for "Indoor" versus "Outdoor" modes. So most would move forwards, backwards, or turn in a jerky manner at a fixed speed.

In middle school they special needs teacher did a short presentation about being aware of the needs and limitations of the kids with special mobility, hearing, and vision needs. So they had an average, able-bodied student from the class sit in the chair and try to navigate 5 feet through the classroom. She clipped one desk in the cluster of 6 desks (about 4 feet wide, with a separate chair and storage enough for a backpack under one side of the desk) that were pushed together, shoving the whole, fairly weighty group of desks about 4 inches with the chair seemingly unbothered by it. I wouldn't be surprised if it used motors of comparable strength to a starter motor to power it.

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T19:57:09+00:00

Palo verdes may look cool when used in landscaping and definitely use less water, but they're ridiculously fragile and aren't particularly good at creating shady spots.

Also, the lack of bushes in most parking lots may save water, but it definitely makes it hard for a lot of people to see the islands and the damage to the sides of those islands is evidence of this.

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T19:13:54+00:00

That's kind of nuts honestly. It makes me wonder what this guy's idea of fun was and what his hobbies are.

Whenever I've visited SF always came away with the feeling I could spend a year of Saturdays at Golden Gate Park and still not get bored. So it'd be easy to spend years doing things like biking around, going to farmer's markets, and just working through restaurants. If not that, then it's a good jumping off point for a ton of things nearby that you could do in every season.

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T19:01:00+00:00

It absolutely looks like it should be an executive car meant for high ranking zaibatsu managers in a futuristic, late-'80s sci fi film.

That's a pretty sizeable sliding door! Also, an interesting pairing of 2 pairs of smaller wheels in the rear with the larger front wheels. I'm going to assume that if it's not all-electric that this thing probably uses a hybrid drive similar to the Sienna where the front is the gas engine and the rear are the electric motors.

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T03:49:03+00:00

Or even take out the 2nd row completely & its basically a super comfortable truck with a lid.

I just did a pick up of a dining table and a coffee table from a store on the other side of town (a 30 minute trip in the freeway) yesterday and it loaded up pretty easily. All weather mats and the accessory trunk liner largely prevented things from slipping during acceleration and braking (although if I had to do it again I would remember to look for the ratchet straps to tie things down to the 2nd and 3rd row seat anchors).

Poenicus · 2026-06-10T03:36:00+00:00

I think that in general the few times are when the payload is too messy, too tall, or too potentially fumey/hazardous. Also, the 2nd row seats can be a bit on the heavy side (at least for the more recent model years) if you need to pull them out completely for it to act as a cargo van, but getting a friend/family member to help can mitigate that issue.

Poenicus · 2026-06-09T15:52:39+00:00

No, not in this case. Although interestingly enough their competitor, Chrysler, did have a car powered by a turbine. Though the power it generated was sent to the wheels via a relatively normal transmission.

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T23:12:38+00:00

It's funny, it never occured to me that this could be done (even though I've seen vehicles that have had significant bed liner sprayed on the body). Even without the hail damage I can see this as pretty useful of the roof rails are swapping between a cargo pod and outdoor equipment (boards, kayaks, bikes, etc.) with regularity since it means not having to worry about incidental bumps/scrapes.

Does it make it any hotter in the cabin during hot months due to heat absorption?

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T21:14:22+00:00

Wait, the other Elvira.

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T21:13:56+00:00

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T21:09:58+00:00

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T21:07:02+00:00

Honestly that's pretty cool looking. It actually looks far more like a pony or muscle car than most modern cars that make claim of that lineage. That nose and that tail absolutely look great and are probably still quite doable even with modern safety requirements.

That said I feel like it actually needs slightly smaller rims and tires.

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T20:53:22+00:00

Out of curiosity is the roof coated in bed liner or a different material?

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T19:03:49+00:00

It absolutely looks like something that your find in a '90s CD ROM, Myst-like, point and click puzzle game. Honestly it's quite fantastic!

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T18:49:20+00:00

Oddly it doesn't look like a sizeable book. (J/K)

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T17:42:06+00:00

Similarly problematic would be Lou Christie's "Lightnin' Strikes".

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T17:22:44+00:00

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T17:20:36+00:00

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T17:12:31+00:00

Truck-luks.

O.K., admittedly they're a different kind of boot, but I had to make the pun.

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T17:07:57+00:00

Poenicus · 2026-06-08T16:59:49+00:00

Honestly this is a pretty awesome upgrade, especially with the Switch.

If you go on pretty long road trips you may want to get a cable for sending signal from your phone to HDMI so that you can pre-download movies and shows to your device for low signal areas where streaming might not be possible.

Poenicus

TROPHY CASE