auto industry discussion

[LeftieBiker]

Until 2013, we always drove old cars - except when I bought the '86 Civic Si new. A 10+ year old Camry, a 10+ year old Volvo, the suddenly-old Civic... In 2010 I persuaded my housemate to test drive and then lease a Prius II. In 2013 I sold both my Si and a 10+ year old Civic EX, and leased my first Leaf. That year was the first one in which we had no old cars, other than the corpse of my first car in the garage, a '67 122S. Now she drives a 2020 Leaf SV+, and I drive a '21 SV 40. I also have a 2009 Vectrix that I need to get back on the road, if I succeed in changing the flat rear tire (no local shops have the right machine to do it).

[jjeff]

.....other than the corpse of my first car in the garage, a '67 122S.

I had one of those
Dual side draft Solex? carbs, and I believe the B18 4 cyl engine if memory serves me. Not a bad car, 4 door and actually looked more like a car of the late 50s than mid-60s but was bulletproof. Not the best MPG, low 20s on the road I believe but one of my first Volvos, which I had several after that. Volvo was known for its reliability and build quality. The carbs were their slight downfall as they didn't really have a choke AFAIR but rather just gave a richer fuel mixture in the cold, which IMO wasn't as good as a true choke. Kind of wanted to find a P1800 like The Saint(Roger Moore) drove but ended up with a Sabb Sonnet which was a cool little 2-seater with a V4 engine, fiberglass body I believe but I never got it running. Sat in the garage for quite a few years and finally sold it for around what I paid, kind of a rare car as was the P1800.
I too always had older cars, before my brand-spankin' new Geo Metro, 50MPG on the road and not much worse in town, mid 40s with its 5-speed stick and roll-up windows! After that was my new Scion Xb(first gen) that got significantly worse MPG than the Metro but was much more comfortable to get in and out, had excellent visibility and a nice automatic. After that was my new '13 Leaf S and if we ever get it, our Rav4 Prime which could possibly be the last car we buy.
Oh forgot about actually my first new car, a '86 Fiat X-19 that I still have tucked in the back of the garage. Never been driven in the winter so it has no rust and still looks very nice but just too hard for these old bones to get in and out of for more than every couple of years driving it around the block, not sure what I'm ever going to do with that........was a nice car and drove it quite a bit during the time, mid-30s MPG and a decent little 4cyl. I drove it during the summer and my old Volvos and such for my winter beaters.

[LeftieBiker]

Dual side draft Solex?

Dual side draft SU carbs. I think that the 121 version used a single down (or maybe side) draft Solex. My father's 544 drag car had dual double barreled side draft Webers. It did NOT idle well. I briefly drove a '70 P1800E with EFI and a whopping 130HP. It was a fun car, but badly rusted. My father drove several of them during my childhood, though, so I got to ride in the back "seat", and got to drive one occasionally for a couple of years after getting my license. I remember outrunning a Cadillac on the interstate in it. (The ones without OD were actually faster because of different final gearing.) The Caddy just couldn't seem to do 120...

[jjeff]

^^^ you could be right and my memory is failing me. I do know for sure it had the dual-sidedraft carbs and was somewhat hard to start in the very cold without plugging it in, otherwise, it was a great running car, I believe it had something like 200,000 miles on the clock when I purchased it and a quarter million when I sold it. Volvo sure made long-running cars!

[LeftieBiker]

The US spec 122 definitely had SU carbs, as did the 544 and P1800S. The 164 also had SU carbs (HIF6) but they looked like Strombergs, IIRC. I had trouble starting mine is sub zero weather, but that was because the battery was a little weak. If it could crank, it would start. The SU carbs could be a PITA if they were dirty or adjusted wrong, though. I briefly had a P220 wagon (loved the wagons!) that just never ran right, even with the carbs re-synched.

[cwerdna]

Hyundai Motor Group becomes world's No. 3 automaker in sales volume
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2 ... 34434.html

[jjeff]

Hyundai Motor Group becomes world's No. 3 automaker in sales volume
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2 ... 34434.html

Not sure if my city is in the minority but both Kia and Hyundai have been getting LOTS of bad rap about their lack of anti-theft measures in their cars. Hardly a day goes by without a local TV station(and even national news last night) where they are talking about the rash of thefts and the #1 brand getting stolen is Kia followed by Hyundai.
I went with my daughter yesterday to get her "free" oil change at a local Hyundai dealer on her Ionic PHEV which is kind of a scam. First off they really push for 3750 mile oil changes but Hyundai only pays for 7500 changes so they want you to pay the roughly $70 extra every other oil change, I'm telling her to skip the extra and just go with what Hyundai pays for. The second scam is the relentless upsell, now I know this is common practice but for people like my daughter who doesn't like to say no, the "free" oil change turns into nothing but free! Because of this, she's wanting me to come with to suss out what might really need to be done(most likely nothing) vs what might truly need to be done on a basically new vehicle driven in optimal conditions.
Anyway, why I brought this up, while waiting for the oil change I was thinking of looking at the latest Hyundai small SUVs similar to the Toyota Rav4 Prime I've been waiting on for almost 2 years and while Hyundai apparently does sell a couple of PHEVs(pretty sure not in my state but I might be willing to drive like we did to get my daughters PHEV Ionic) I decided to not even look at their new offerings, their recent thefts top of my reasons to not even look. Look if they are so cheap they can't make a car that can't be easily stolen by a 12-year-old, I have to wonder what else they can't manage to do! Nope, I scratched them right off my list and will continue to wait for a Japanese car.

[cwerdna]

Hyundai Motor Group becomes world's No. 3 automaker in sales volume
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2 ... 34434.html

Not sure if my city is in the minority but both Kia and Hyundai have been getting LOTS of bad rap about their lack of anti-theft measures in their cars. Hardly a day goes by without a local TV station(and even national news last night) where they are talking about the rash of thefts and the #1 brand getting stolen is Kia followed by Hyundai.
...
Anyway, why I brought this up, while waiting for the oil change I was thinking of looking at the latest Hyundai small SUVs similar to the Toyota Rav4 Prime I've been waiting on for almost 2 years and while Hyundai apparently does sell a couple of PHEVs(pretty sure not in my state but I might be willing to drive like we did to get my daughters PHEV Ionic) I decided to not even look at their new offerings, their recent thefts top of my reasons to not even look. Look if they are so cheap they can't make a car that can't be easily stolen by a 12-year-old, I have to wonder what else they can't manage to do! Nope, I scratched them right off my list and will continue to wait for a Japanese car.

I've definitely heard stories in national news (not so much local) about that. Example (not my local news) at https://www.kmbc.com/article/lawsuit-fl ... d/40747875. It seems to stem from HyunKias that still has physical metal keys that don't have an immobilizer chip in the key (and sensor in the steering column). My last 2 Nissans w/physical metal keys for ignition (02 Maxima and 04 350Z) had such a chip in the key and sensor around the key hole.

AFAIK, it doesn't affect those w/push button smart and their equivalent of Intelligent Key. This is what all Niro EVs come with. I have the cheapest '22 Niro EV, the EX trim w/o any packages or options.

Update: Found a better story at https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-thiev ... -usb-cable.

[Triggerhappy007]

It's crazy who would sign off on a design that lets you start the car without the key. This is worse than hotwiring to start a car. SMH.

[cwerdna]

Stellantis and Renault halt Spanish assembly lines as chip shortage persists
'The supply shortage could mean more shutdowns in any moment'
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/09/16/ste ... -shortage/