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Old October 4th 17, 05:37 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy[_2_]
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Default Is Elon Musk ready for the straitjacket ?

StarDust wrote in
:

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 7:04:05 PM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:
:

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 2:51:58 PM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:


On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 10:43:11 AM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:


On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 8:27:48 AM UTC-7,
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:

On Monday, October 2, 2017 at 3:11:17 PM UTC-7,
Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 13:01:24 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Monday, October 2, 2017 at 6:26:55 AM UTC-7,
Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 03:54:55 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

With electric cars, if it breaks down, I don't
think there's a mechanic at every corner, who
can fix it.

Electric cars are mechanically simpler and
therefore easier to repair (although like all
electronics, these days that essentially means
board swaps). When there are enough electric
cars, there will be more mechanics who can deal
with them than mechanics who know what to do
with a gasoline vehicle. In 20 years most of the
cars on the road will be electric.

Mechanically simpler, but lot of electronics and
software involved to make the them thing running.
I talk to mechanics, even garage owners, said-
diagnostic equipment is very expensive to buy than
train employees too! One guy said - he spend $30K
for software to locate parts nation wide! EV cars
still have some way to go!

Well, most cars these days needing anything more
than trivial repairs require the dealer or a
specialist. Your corner mechanic who can deal with
everything is pretty much a thing of the past.

Most corner mechanics are specialized also. German
cars, Japanese cars etc... Changing tires, fixing
breaks, anyone can do it! Even me! I have an old
BMW,

They key word there being *old*.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

Yes, old! 91' BMW , 26 years old, 160K miles, runs like
a Swiss watch! What's wrong with that?

Cars have changed quite a lot in the last two and a half
decades. In 1991, mechanics did tend to specialize, but
any competent mechanic could easily work on any car, if
they had the right manuals (and the manuals were mostly
printed on paper at that point). Specialized tools were
helpful, but not generally necessary. Now, you can't even
duplicate keys for all cars with the same equipment[1],
nor can you even diagnose what's wrong without tens (or
more) of thousands of dollars worth of specialized
hardware and software - and it's different hardware and
software for different manufacturers. It's not longer
*possible* for a mechanic to generalize, unless they have
the backing of a dealership, and dealerships don't
support multiple brands. (And most carmakers these days
won't sell that equipment to anyone but a dealer anyway,
if they can get away with it.)


[1]Some car makers use completely different technology.
Japanese and US carmakers use "chip keys" for everything
now, keys that have a small RFID-ish chip in the head,
which forms a necessary componenet to the ignition
system. The engine *can't* run without it. Mercedes, on
the other hand, doesn't use a radio based system, their
keys (at least, in 2000, when mine was built) had a laser
in the dashboard, that interacted with a chip in the key,
to do the same thing. The advantage was that the ignition
key would work regardless of the battery status in the
remote. The disadvantage is that the replacement keys
cost over $300 each, and nobody could reverse engineer
them to compete (Go to a dealership for a US or Japanese
car, and the chip key will cost you well over $100, but
if you go to your local Ace Hardware, it'll probably be
more like $30). And that doesn't even touch on the
sidewinder keys, which require a specialized mill to
duplicate. On top of the chip programming.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

(o: When the engine computer ECU went out on my BMW, fuel
injectors wasn't firing right, bought another one on Ebay
for $80. Plug it in, it was a 15 min job, car ran good
after. Some one told me, can't do that with newer BMW's,
because dealer has to flash the new computer ECU and key
security code has to be installed too. They work together.
New computer cost $1500 + flashing and key install another
$600! LOLOLOLOLOL! Some times it's worth to keep a good
old car! (o:

I have a friend who drives a 30 year old diesel Mercedes,
and is unlikely to ever drive anything else until it is no
longer possible to repair it. It is 100% electro-mechanical
in all critical functions. (It doesn't even require
electricity to *run* the engine, once it's started.) I see
his point.

(On the other hand, I am driving a brand new Toyota now,
because it was far more cost effective than repairing my 17
year old Mercedes, and because I'm not inclined to deal with
a car that needs regular reapirs, as any old car does. My
seven year warranty includes rental coverage if it's in
overight, for enough to pay for a better car than I own.
Said warranty will outlast the payments. And I get over 40
mpg on the highway. Convenience is worth the extra expense.)

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

You right, if I would drive a lot, commute etc... would buy a
new car or a slightly used one, but I'm not. I get insurance
break, because I drive less than 5K millage!


I don't drive that much more myself. But in southern
California, it's nearly impossible to survive without a car for
whatever driving you do.


Same here in the Bay Area! Traffic is crazy!


So to me, a good
old car, no payments, fits the bill! I think, BMW's are
better cars than Mercedes!

BMV vs Mercedes is like Monty Python vs Benny Hill. Some like
one, others like the other, but you're not allowed to like
both.


Like apples and oranges!


Heh.

Mercedes is luxury and BMW's are
performance cars.


That's what their advetising wants to imply, sure. My 2000 C class
was the most basic car they made, and had better performance in
every respect except mileage than any other car I've ever driven.
The supercharger helped, I suppose. The real differences are not
large, and haven't been for a lot longer than 10-15 years.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.