Weird car facts...

[Cyder]

38911 said:

Most car radios have the volume knob on the left, as they are designed for LHD markets (volume within reach of the driver).

Indicator stalks are also mostly on the left, again for LHD markets so drivers can change gear and indicate simultaneously.

Most Manufacturers dont bother changing these for RHD markets. (1990s jap cars had stalks on right as their home market is RHD - no idea why they stopped doing this)

Qashqai (Dualis) in Australia has indicator stalks on the right but for UK it is on the left.

Confuses the hell out of me when driving the Aus spec about as I always manage to put the wipers on instead of indicate.

[Liquid Knight]

mat205125 said:

Liquid Knight said:

Urban Sports said:

mat205125 said:

my M3

You have no friends

Sorry.

There was a thread a few weeks ago about a chap getting stung for a job at a garage so I suggested he bought the parts, a coupe of Pizzas, some beer and got his mates round. When the job was done finish the beer whilst watching Love the Beast or Senna on DVD and make sure the Mrs is out. Does explain why I have had a replacement clutch for my Rover for six monthsnow.

[tali1]

Noesph said:

XitUp said:

Citation needed.

do a search on 106 owners, rallye register,saxp etc.

I have the Peugeot 106 brochure from July 2000 (issue 1538 if you care) if you read the small print on the back page it says "Performance - manufacturer's own figures at half payload (468kg)

106 gti (3 door) kerb weight - 950kg
gross train weight - 1886 kg
1886kg - 950kg = 936kg
936 / 2 = 468kg
45 litres of petrol = 32.9 kg**
5 people (who all weight 70kg to make it easier) 70kg * 5 = 350kg
350 + 32.9 = 382.9 kg
and that leaves 85.1 kgs to put in the boot.

figures from the 106 manual.

I guess this is where this legend comes from, but unfortunately I haven't got a saxo brochure. But they are the same car (same engine,gearbox,weight etc), but with different stats (106 0 to 60mph is 8.4 secs, vts is 7.5 secs) and with different insurance groups.

• I'm not sure if they include petrol weight into the kerb weight or not.

Edited by Noesph on Thursday 24th November 09:57

Heard some strange motoring theories and i simply do not buy this one
Insurance is not solely based on performance .There are other factors - parts,labour prices, car value , model accident risk

[mattmoxon]

Liquid Knight said:

When you run too much boost on a GSXR 7/11 Turbo number one piston is the one that goes first. If you run too much boost on a Supercharged GSXR 7/11 number four piston goes first and nobody knows why.

It will be to do with the position of the respective FI device relative to the intake ports, have a look at a top fuel dragster, the blower is pushed back over the rear of the engine to give an even air flow to help prevent that very thing happening

[LotusOmega375D]

Don't think this one's been covered before, but apologies if it has.

Despite having door mirrors on both sides, my wife's very early UK-supplied FIAT Grande Punto Dynamic only seems to have the heated wing mirror function on the passenger side lens. Does this seem plausible? Could it have been an oversight when tooling up for RHD production?

Of course, it might just be broken...

[tali1]

LotusOmega375D said:

Don't think this one's been covered before, but apologies if it has.

Despite having door mirrors on both sides, my wife's very early UK-supplied FIAT Grande Punto Dynamic only seems to have the heated wing mirror function on the passenger side lens. Does this seem plausible? Could it have been an oversight when tooling up for RHD production?

Of course, it might just be broken...

Haven;t come across a single heated door mirror but Merc 190Es had electric passenger mirror only -with driver's manually operated

[Negative Creep]

tali1 said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Don't think this one's been covered before, but apologies if it has.

Despite having door mirrors on both sides, my wife's very early UK-supplied FIAT Grande Punto Dynamic only seems to have the heated wing mirror function on the passenger side lens. Does this seem plausible? Could it have been an oversight when tooling up for RHD production?

Of course, it might just be broken...

Haven;t come across a single heated door mirror but Merc 190Es had electric passenger mirror only -with driver's manually operated

Makes sense, it's not like you really need an electric on on the driver's side

[smugglersvin]

Pat H said:

My 1987 Lotus Esprit:

Triumph TR7 wiper motors
Austin Princess steering column
MGB interior door handles
Morris Marina exterior door handles
Cortina steering rack
Citroen CX wing mirrors
Land Rover clutch slave cylinder
Rover SD1 rear lamps
Citroen Maserati transmission

Beat that.

No wonder why 70,s Lotus's are so bloody unreliable a mix and match of British Leyland and Citroen parts with a bit of Lots of trouble usually serious thrown in for good measure.

[smugglersvin]

The Austin ambassador had the same alloy wheels as a BMW and the Austin maestro had a Volkswagon Golf Gearbox

[Futuramic]

Cyder said:

38911 said:

Most car radios have the volume knob on the left, as they are designed for LHD markets (volume within reach of the driver).

Indicator stalks are also mostly on the left, again for LHD markets so drivers can change gear and indicate simultaneously.

Most Manufacturers dont bother changing these for RHD markets. (1990s jap cars had stalks on right as their home market is RHD - no idea why they stopped doing this)

Qashqai (Dualis) in Australia has indicator stalks on the right but for UK it is on the left.

Confuses the hell out of me when driving the Aus spec about as I always manage to put the wipers on instead of indicate.

The Botnar era Bluebirds, T72 and U12 types, had the indicators moved from right to left in 1988 or thereabouts at the time of the facelift. It was possible to get one with the newer plastic front grille and right hand indicators although mine was fully modernised with conventional controls. I've always thought that the answer would be standardisation. Most people are used to left hand indicators thus prefer them. In other countries, such as Australia, where LHD converted imports are rare then right hand indicators are still the norm. I was a passenger once in an Australian Ford Falcon limousine; that had RH indicators.

[Negative Creep]

AFAIK all Falcons have right hand indicators. Mine certainly did

[Light n Hairy]

The Porsche 928S4 had the gearbox of a standard W124 Merc.

[Jez0099]

Ford ka radiators have to be taken out from underneath the car

[XitUp]

smugglersvin said:

The Austin ambassador had the same alloy wheels as a BMW and the Austin maestro had a Volkswagon Golf Gearbox

fk OFF!

Light n Hairy said:

The Porsche 928S4 had the gearbox of a standard W124 Merc.

fk OFF!

[sebhaque]

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but the Mercedes 190E had different-sized door mirros on each side.



You can just about see it in this picture - the passenger side mirror is a square, whereas the driver's side mirror is the traditional rectangular shape.

Anybody know why?

[Waugh-terfall]

sebhaque said:

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but the Mercedes 190E had different-sized door mirros on each side.



You can just about see it in this picture - the passenger side mirror is a square, whereas the driver's side mirror is the traditional rectangular shape.

Anybody know why?

Generally a Euro thing, lots of older VWs and Audi's are the same. Narrow German city streets apparently. It was still normal to be without a passenger mirror on cars here in the early 80s.

My Grandparents have a RHD 190D as a runabout in rural France where the roads a massive and they can get right over to the verge, yet they're lost two stubby mirrors...

[Camoradi]

The part number for a Ford Granada 3.0 litre engine and a Ford Fiesta Mk1 window winder handle are only one digit different




It took about 4 hours one Saturday morning in the early 1970s to work this one out

[aw51 121565]

smugglersvin said:

... the Austin maestro had a Volkswagon Golf Gearbox

Not all of 'em . And GOLF 'box? Same 'box as the Scirroco of the time. And, I suspect, the Polo.

Anyway, the Maestro... It was just the 1.3s and 1.6s had the VW 'box; 2.0s had the Honda PG1 box - as did all Montego 2.0s, as well as Montego 1.6s from 1989 (earlier 1.6s and all 1.3s had the VW 'box a la Maestro 1.3 and 1.6). Meanwhile, the 1984-89 Rover 216, despite having the same 1.6 S-series engine as the Maestro and Montego, had the Honda PG1 'box from scratch...

You are not alone with an unhealthy BMC/BL/Austin-Rover fascination !

[NadiR]

The original Aston Martin Virage used the same tail lights as the VW Scirocco! And the headlights were from the Audi 200. I'm also pretty sure that the DB7 used the tail lights of the Mazda 323.

[tali1]

Negative Creep said:

tali1 said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Don't think this one's been covered before, but apologies if it has.

Despite having door mirrors on both sides, my wife's very early UK-supplied FIAT Grande Punto Dynamic only seems to have the heated wing mirror function on the passenger side lens. Does this seem plausible? Could it have been an oversight when tooling up for RHD production?

Of course, it might just be broken...

Haven;t come across a single heated door mirror but Merc 190Es had electric passenger mirror only -with driver's manually operated

Makes sense, it's not like you really need an electric on on the driver's side[/quote

Trouble is the handle can get stiff over time and fine tuning correct position is tricky
Think it was more penny pinching then logic -as Merc never used it on other cars and neither did other car makers

Waugh-terfall said:

sebhaque said:

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but the Mercedes 190E had different-sized door mirros on each side.



You can just about see it in this picture - the passenger side mirror is a square, whereas the driver's side mirror is the traditional rectangular shape.

Anybody know why?

Generally a Euro thing, lots of older VWs and Audi's are the same. Narrow German city streets apparently. It was still normal to be without a passenger mirror on cars here in the early 80s.

My Grandparents have a RHD 190D as a runabout in rural France where the roads a massive and they can get right over to the verge, yet they're lost two stubby mirrors...

The Merc W124 also had the stubby mirror- BUT NO other Mercs did. NEITHER am i aware of other Euro cars ever having them.