Sifaan

How did you go from wanting to buy a used Volvo/Pug to buying a new Panda?

When talking of computer memory, GB = 2^30, so 4.096GB is nonsense; 4GB is the address space of a 32 bit processor, but there's other stuff that use the address space other than RAM, which is why you can't get 4 GB of usable RAM.

I thought it was a vanity issue and/or a superstition (lucky/unlucky numbers)

ABS only "kicks in" (releases brakes on wheel) if it thinks the wheel is locking; and then once it detects the wheel is spinning again, it again applies brakes, and it keeps doing this (release, apply) as long as needed; so it certainly isn't as simple as the way you describe it

to be precise, you only get 3GB with 32 bit Win 7

the lower viscosity numbers probably apply for synth/semi-synth oils... e.g. for my car, the recommendation (even in hot countries) is 5W40 fully synthetic or 15W50 semi-synthetic. afaik there is no unsuitability of such oils in Sri Lanka, except for the price premium of fully synth oils.

Hmm... didn't know about that... I guess it could refer to 1 of 2 things 1. the weight of the wheel (more precisely the moment of inertia) and the brake force needed to stop it. But in that case the threshold is unlikely to be based on the increase in circumference (and indeed the moment of inertia can be increased without increasing circumference). 2. the ABS measures the speed of each wheel. Maybe the calibrations can get messed up if the measured speed is too different from the actual since you already have the tires, I would suggest you test how well the brake performs and see if it is good enough (if someone really familiar with the car can check it, might be better)

if your calculations are correct, the new tire circumference will be 5% more than the stock size. so when your car travels 105 km it will "think" it has gone only 100km; so if you calculate fuel efficiency from the odo it will look 5% worse than it really is. Also your speedo will show 5% less than your actual speed (well, not exactly, because speedo's are usually calibrated to show a little higher than your actual speed)

If you do 30km/day, 5 days/week, 52 weeks/year, that's 7800km/year; let's say even 10,000km/year with some leisure travel... A car that does 13 km/l will cost Rs. 96,000/year on fuel A car that does 9 km/l will cost Rs. 140,000/year on fuel For saving less than 50,000/year on fuel it's not worth to chase after a car that can do 12-13 km/l. Especially because "fuel efficient" cars command a premium price, so the 13km/l car will probably be older than the the 9km/l car you can buy for the same price, which generally means more maintenance costs (although of course that depends a lot on how the individual car has been taken care of)

Interesting... if he had indeed tampered with the odo, he was "smart" enough to do it months before he sold the car (or it might have been tampered before he bought the car) and it seems that you've managed without ABS for 50,000 kms? if there is indeed a fault with the ABS, you've been lucky to not have an accident!

Why a new thread..? you've even posted on the old thread

just wondering... how did you find this out?

Generally automotive paint was either solid or metallic. metallic looked nicer and was more expensive. more recently, there is a "improvement" of metallic that is pearlescent, which is even more expensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_paint BTW I don't know if this is the correct explanation for "pearl white" in Sri Lanka

actually, he didn't say there's logic in what you said. He did say "I would explain the logic in it" but "it" referred to the preceding "Also I highly doubt the "almost all" hybrid owners will take their cars to the agents."

The first response is correct; beyond that is just details. Also the wiki link on the first post on 2nd page explains the various modes in more detail

Interesting, I'm not even 5'8" but never was comfortable in the K11. Maybe it's just individual anthropometry differences; hard to imagine how the Euro version had more foot space than the JDM (unless the Micra front seats were moved back compared to March)

Interesting point; never thought about it from that angle. What purpose does it serve in a cold country? Help the engine to come to ideal operating temperature quicker? BTW doesn't it also have a noise muffling role?

If it's only sold in Korea then you are going to have a bit of a problem because they drive on the other side of the road. Maybe life is simple with Hyundai, and the parts are indeed matchable either from a petrol car or the Tucson, but in my experience (a Citroen) it's not as simple as that. For example, I have the EW10J4 engine which is also available on the 406, but there was some engine part (can't remember which) that actually was destined for the 607 (which wasn't offered with the EW10J4) So you really need to check this in detail; e.g. do the fuel delivery systems (fuel pump, high pressure pump (presuming it's common rail), etc) match the Tucson as well? And BTW I would be very surprised if the wiring / ECUs are the same for petrol/diesel.

The 3M windscreen tint has (or is supposed to have) 70% visible light transmission; so it could be argued that the light from the headlights should reduce by about that amount. However, glare is more complicated than just light intensity - e.g. is worse with dirty windscreen, if you are wearing glasses (esp. with fingerprints) so I don't know if the glare reduction will be more or less than 30%. In my case, maybe the glare is less, but it is not by so much that I have even thought about it until now And BTW it wasn't part of the decision making process for me, and I was not even aware that it was marketed/considered as a benefit of tinting.

Interesting story of how different countries evolved to drive on the left or right http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm (sorry if this has been posted before)

well... that would be engine in sports mode rather than transmission in sports mode From an electronics perspective I don't see why they can't build a ECU with 2 maps in the ROM (even if it means a bigger ROM) and have it switch, but mechanically I don't know what the impact would be of the ECU pushing a different set of parameters on an engine that is already running. Since the technology for variable valve timing and lift exists, maybe even that is possible... perhaps the cost of engineering all that is more than it would cost to just have a bigger engine?

what do you mean? of course the transmission has to shift up at some point (unless we're talking about a single-gear tesla roadster) if you mean not having "fixed" cut-offs, I was only using fixed numbers to illustrate the difference; I don't know if it was the case in the past, but I doubt if any modern autobox uses fixed rpms for shifting. e.g. in my manual it says the ECU selects the appropriate gear based on "style of driving, route profile, and vehicle load". Sports mode then "influences" that decision-making to shift up later (and down earlier)

huh? Let's say (taking a simplified case) that an autobox in normal mode will shift up everytime the engine reaches 3000 rpm (and the rpms drop to 1000), and in sports mode will shift up everytime the engine reaches 3600 rpm (and rpms drop to 1200) Unless you are happy to drive slowly in 1st gear, how can you stop the engine exceeding 3000 rpm if the transmission is permanently in sports mode?

I'm not exactly sure how this works... but now I've referred my engine (PSA EW10J4) specs and it says max torque of 190 NM @ 4100 rpm and max power of 100kW @ 6000 rpm. I don't think the ECU allows it to go upto 6000 rpm even on Sports mode (except of course on 4th gear). Next time I have a clear run I'll take a look at which rpm's it shifts up on Normal, Sports and Manual modes (or for everybody's safety, get my wife to hold a camera while I keep my eyes on the road!) because then you have more vibration, more noise, more engine wear, more fuel consumption; and most people don't want to pay that price for the benefit of reaching 60mph a little sooner. (autoboxes already take a bashing for being less fuel efficient) the throttle position (I presume you mean accelerator pedal position) determines what speed the driver wants to go at; it doesn't determine how fast the car can respond to that need. well, it does increase the effective power of the engine by shifting the power band to the right.

I think I understand your confusion... One of the ways of talking of car performance is the 0-60mph time (and IMHO it's a more useful way than just talking of the engine HP (which is anyway only at a particular rpm), because the real application of that power depends on the car weight, transmission, aerodynamics, etc.) On Sports mode, the car will deliver a better 0-60 time than on normal mode. And it does it (in the case of non-CVT autoboxes) by exactly the same means as you would in a manual car if you wanted to reduce the 0-60 time: delay upshifts. However the ECU won't redline the engine like is possible with a manual