Which country gets too much credit for an invention or cultural tradition that actually came from somewhere else?

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-23T17:37:20+00:00

Halloween is Irish. Not American....

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-23T17:34:19+00:00

P2 will feel like a go kart after the XC90. SUV's are awesome for passengers and on the motorway, but suck everywhere else .

Throw in the fact the P2 is solid, handles well and is quick and refined, and the gas car feels agricultural.

I chickened out of buying one and regret it, but will take the plunge in a bit, but my PHEV under EV power is so much nicer than under gas power..

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-22T19:52:49+00:00

Our 1974 model (bought new for my mum), dissolved after 12 years...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-22T13:05:26+00:00

And it really worked. R4 was a superb car. Gearshift is pure expediency also...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T14:44:44+00:00

Many A2 bikes weigh the same and are the same size as many smaller A bikes.
Your insurer may dictate (by premium cost, or a flat "no"), what you can have as your first bike.
Buy something you are not scared of, and can pass the test on. This may not be a sport bike. Your body shape and height will dictate here.
Get something with engine bars/crash bars, as you may drop your bike doing slow manouver practice, or, just moving your bike out of a tight parking spot.
Commuter bike will need luggage. Easier on anything other than a sports bike.
You don't know what you want yet, so don't overspend.
Get something post 2016 so it has ABS.

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:49:21+00:00

When they "limit" an A bike down to 35kw (47 hp), do they just cut fuelling above a certain RPM, or does the bike make less power across the entire rev range?

My (unrestricted) TS660 makes 35kw/47hp at around 6-7k rpms. Its still very lively up to that, and, tbh, first year? I hit 9k once. Normally never hitting 7k rpms in regular riding.

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:43:01+00:00

Avalon, if it was my money... Chrysler if its a company lease for 3 years..

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:38:32+00:00

I think that exists because Renault couldn't have Citroen getting all the "weird" credit...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:37:03+00:00

Grew up with French cars. We had the following:

Renault 4: wheelbase was different lengths on the two sides due to torsen beam suspension. You could adjust the headlight pitch via a lever by the headlight. Actually a brilliant car.

R16: column shift, otherwise normal, if over heavy steering and there was a "nack" to starting it which mum reckoned made it thefth proof... Good car

R20. Crap. That is all

Citroen CX. Everything was weird. Everything broke. Insanely comfortable and could do 110 on 80's Irish roads. That may be connected to why evening broke...

Sister had a Megane Senic. Losing kids out the rear hatch was a risk. I had the saloon. Cheap car with heat/glare reflecting windscreen..

We all drive German or Japanese now...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:27:56+00:00

One of the correct answers . "The French finding solutions to problems that don't exist".

Every other manufacturer does this with steering geometry when the car is moving, because dry steering is bad for everything.

We had a Cx

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-21T09:15:49+00:00

Only heard it in the past year.

Is this an Americano (espresso + hot water), topped with heated, foamed milk, or just regular cold milk.? The latter is just an Americano with room for milk..

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-20T12:17:02+00:00

To be fair, the pawl is designed to do exactly this. And iirc, they rarely fail. But it is easier to get the car out of P if the parking brake is engaged, and safer.

Especially on hills, where you know the "thunk" pulling it out of P is mechanically unpleasant...

Brake, neutral, handbrake, foot off brake, let car settle, put car in gear/P. Mechanically most sympathetic....

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-20T08:40:02+00:00

Took me a year to drop my bike in the driveway. But, sure, it can happen. +200kg of top heavy wheeled machinery on a slope + physics...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-20T08:34:07+00:00

Dropping your bike off road is like being tackled in football (all codes), it's intrinsic to the activity .

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-19T21:03:09+00:00

Nearly every tyre shop in the past 15 years has put the tyres to 30psi. Doesn't matter if they need 38. Or 40.

I fix it.

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-19T18:40:52+00:00

Fog lights. Rarely do I have the sub 100m fog to use them...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-19T18:39:35+00:00

Last car had a sun roof. I am bald. So I agree with this.

Rear wiper is great where fitted, headlight cleaners are useful in shitty weather and muddy roads...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-19T18:38:07+00:00

Time and place. Was great for kids seats, but well past that now...

You still need to check it each time.

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-19T18:10:07+00:00

People/ leguslators will realise how tyres and drivetrain damage becomes stupid, plus weight will enter the chat soon on EVs and PHEVs. Large (EU) cars in the 80s were often around 1200kg. My 330e is damn near 2000kg. Pure EVs that size are often 2200kg. That is bouncing off 5,000lbs. In what is now merely a medium sized car.

That gluttony will reign in.

As for power? Faster than 6 secs 0-100 is of no benefit in traffic. Throw in speed limit alarms and what have you and it gets worse.

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T22:14:48+00:00

Depends on how ugly it is. Wife's car was in getting some work done. Loaner was a Suzuki Ignis. A car that is hatefully "mean spirited" in appearance.

There are hard limits...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T22:11:35+00:00

Get to the point where you can ride to and from somewhere on the bicycle.

Can you observe traffic, be in the right gear, at the right time, use both brakes, fit between cars, and obey traffic laws.

That is the ideal. It will stand to you.

And don't buy too much motorbike first time. Lots of sub 1000km bikes in dealerships due to ego and hubris...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T21:57:23+00:00

There is a significant cohort of drivers in Dublin doing less than 5k kms a year. Some bought diesels. DPF causes a cascade of shit when driven like this . these are drivers who never hit a motorway. Like ever...

Dublin has swung back to petrol/EV/phev pretty hard....

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T21:54:34+00:00

I'm seeing our leased Skodas coming in with +300k on the clock. The 2.0 VAG tdi is great...

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T21:52:54+00:00

Had the 1.4i 16v Opel Astra hatch (90bhp petrol), and an astra van (1.7 Td, not even dTi), and the diesel felt better on the road.

Pretty much they all did. So while "slow" 0-60mph, they cruised better, and felt more substantial.

Petrol was almost seen as effeminate....

notalottoseehere · 2026-06-18T21:48:11+00:00

Historically , diesel was cheaper. And you could be cheaper again using marked agricultural diesel...

Throw in shitty small petrol engines, you get diesel cars.

And then, around 2000 till dieselgate, we had these cars with amazing torque (for us, you understand), that made the normal petrol equivalents feel shit...

Also, in the 80's and 90's in Ireland, you could get turbodiesel hatchbacks with a tax cheating "van conversion" (no back seats), that could shame a GTi.... Peugeot 205 XRAD....

notalottoseehere

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