Bad Weather And Today's Cars — Pianoconcerto Forum

Administrator

Posts: 4,504
City: Ariccia, RM

February 7, 2012, 19:30

Bad weather seems to be assailing all of Italy this past week. In Rome, it has created many traffic problems, especially in North Rome; here in South Rome where I am, however, fortunately little to nothing. Last Friday I went to Cesano (North Rome) to pick up my girlfriend: left home at 2:00 PM, returned home at 9:00 PM with a total of 7 hours of driving for barely 100 kilometers of travel between going and returning... Having suffered through several evenings of traffic jams and skidding on snow with friends in past years, I immediately opted to leave my Alfa 147 at home and take my mother's old model FIAT Panda. An unstoppable car! Yes, truly unstoppable since many cars with chains were getting stuck in areas with a lot of snow, while I, without chains and without snow tires, went like a sword. On the ring road (GRA), trucks and latest-generation cars were stuck in the middle of the road because of a 5-centimeter layer of ice, but the Panda knew no obstacles and climbed easily over those occasional bumps on the GRA without showing any difficulty. It was funny to see the stunned faces of those people who, with 100,000 euro SUVs with automatic transmission, 4-wheel drive, differential lock, stability sensors, ABS, ASR, and more, remained bogged down without any possibility of moving and saw me pass them by as if it were summer... I almost felt like tying them to my mythical little Panda with a rope to help pull them out of the mud. But then I wonder. Is it possible that we are no longer capable of making cars? Is it possible that today's cars are designed only for one climate and cause problems at the first snowfall? In this way, the end user base also shrinks. Okay, it rarely snows at low altitudes in Italy, but what about Russia? We have lost a huge slice of the market! I have the impression that these new cars are built to cause problems later on. They are flooded with electronics—okay, that's a nice thing—but if an ECU breaks, you don't repair it, you replace it for the modest sum of 3,000 euros; if the injection pump breaks, if you go to a specialist it's 400 euros, buying a new one costs 1,200. Oops, the turbine is gone, 1,000 euros and the fear is gone; after 100,000 km the clutch arrived, no problem, just change the clutch kit and flywheel for the modest sum of 1,200 euros—whoa, hold on! It has a dual-clutch automatic transmission, but then it's 3,000 euros. My mother has that Panda that today they give away for free on Porta-Portese or subito.it, for 20 years... To remind you, she has only changed the shock absorbers once and the oil maybe every 5 years, it has never caused problems! Those were cars, not today's ones which represent nothing but an expense of money. Then perhaps I am biased; for me, a car must get you where you need to go. The last problem I had with my 147, I wanted to take 5 euros worth of gasoline and set it on fire to get myself an old 2,000 euro car. You can't work just to maintain a car! Ahhhhh, what a beautiful vent!!

Gennarino

February 7, 2012, 21:31

Simone,

what you described stems from something called operations research, and I don't think it only happens in Italy.

The underlying theory has given rise to several business models: one is the one you identified (the so-called 'hope nothing happens, otherwise you're f***ed' model; another is that of telephone companies - you pay very little many times for absolutely nothing, etc.).

By analogy, however, I tell you that last week here in Busteni it was -27 degrees (yes, you heard right, minus twenty-seven!) and a meter of snow fell in half a night, and your - no, actually my - Panda kept going and going, except here they call it a Dacia Logan!

See you soon

Thesimon

Administrator

Posts: 4,504
City: Ariccia, RM

February 7, 2012, 21:36

I know, dear Gennarino, operations research was a subject I studied at university. Maximizing returns while minimizing corporate costs. What doesn't add up to me in today's companies, however, are the maximized returns; instead, the minimization of costs makes perfect sense to me, since machines all do crap when it comes to quality....

Gennarino

February 7, 2012, 21:47

Ah, anyway I forgot to tell you that I had a phenomenal PANDA (the previous type, the all-square one), which I then gave to my niece and I can confirm, it went everywhere. Anyway, even the Dacia Logan makes quite an impression (later I'll tell you where a cursed Romanian taxi driver sent me during my first year here, telling me it was an easy shortcut to Sinaia, and how I made it through thanks to the faithful Logan!)

Thesimon

Administrator

Posts: 4,504
City: Ariccia, RM

February 7, 2012, 22:08

Exactly, and I am talking specifically about the Panda one, the boxy one, my mom's is 20 years old! Indestructible! A massive machine! Not like these ones today!

torrese

Member

Posts: 242
City: casorate sempione varese

February 8, 2012, 10:19

It's like they say, the other side of the coin............... not everything that is innovative means it's better than what was LEFT behind.........

greetings

saverio

GnazzJazz

Member

Posts: 63
City: Raiano

February 8, 2012, 13:16

Even the Diane worked marvelously on deep snow! I think it depends, however, on the shape of the wheels and also on the weight and height...

hi

Ignazio

Thesimon

Administrator

Posts: 4,504
City: Ariccia, RM

February 8, 2012, 13:49

The shape of the tires without a doubt, in fact snow tires have a particular shape that allows them to move quite easily. The weight certainly but the height... Cars are more or less the same height and anyway they all have a more or less very low center of mass, excluding trucks obviously...

GnazzJazz

Member

Posts: 63
City: Raiano

February 8, 2012, 17:57

by height I simply meant the empty space between the ground and the bottom of the car, and by wheel shape simply the geometry of the wheels (tall and narrow) and not the specific tread pattern...

the Diane was high and crossed deep snow better; of course, the center of mass also rises, and this, along with the other praised parameters, does not reconcile well with the high speed and power that modern cars "want".

In essence, it is not a matter of technology, but of culture...

hello

Ignazio

p.s. All in all, so-called winter tires can truly make a difference on snow!

Gennarino

February 8, 2012, 21:39

Yes sir,

I confirm that the height from the ground is beneficial, with high snow, as it prevents the car from bottoming out on the snow and the wheels from losing traction.

Finally, winter tires, at least those currently mounted on the Dacia Logan that I have on rent, allowed me to cross - last week - a snowstorm with crosswinds of over fifty km/h without any problems.

It is truly another world, compared to the chains I used in Italy for many years.

sisifo1987

Moderator

Posts: 368
City: castellammare di stabia

February 9, 2012, 00:05

I had a very old Golf and it never gave me any problems either. Then I had to change it for a Seat (same Volkswagen engine) with electronic assistance that was almost non-existent on the old one, which allows for greater comfort, but which left me stranded suddenly due to an ECU failure (even though the mechanics were working perfectly).

Electronics have made an enormous contribution in terms of safety and comfort, but perhaps I am a dreamer or just obtuse, I prefer mechanics (after all, I don't need to enter grand prix or race somewhere like the others).

To the words of one of my automation professors, who says: "mechanics are not enough, there is a need to know intelligent mechanics," I respond smiling 😃 and thinking about the piano and a possible automated model of its mechanics ahahah.....

Long live the "Panda" and its kind 😉