Loves Ford Steering
I don't understand why you object to the Ford's
steering response (in the VE Berlina article - VE Commodore Berlina).
I absolutely *love* the responsive steering in the Ford (I have a BA Fairlane
G220) - it gives the car a nice sporty feel, and in my opinion it requires less
effort than a Holden (or a 7-series BMW which I drive regularly), because of the
simple fact that the wheel does not need to be turned as much. I hope they
retain the existing response! I've actually written to Ford, complimenting
them on the Fairlane steering, in fact. I'm assuming that the current Fords have
the same steering as the BA - not sure. If they've made it more responsive than
the BA then perhaps that would be excessive.
Greg Sullivan
Australia
Car Strength
I found the article on cracked windscreens
very interesting but must put in my two cents worth about the strength side of
it being with the glass. Being a former vehicle builder from Chrysler/Mitsubishi
days it is in fact the A, B & C pillars that hold the strength in the upper
area. This is because if you do what many have done in the past and cut the roof
off a two door Valiant you'll find without strength bars under the floor pan, it
will just bend and crack in two as many of the Valiants did in those days. So I
disagree not only with you but with Windscreen O'Brians if they say that the
front and rear glass hold the strength as they do not.
Russell Sharp
Australia
In modern cars the bonded-in front and rear
glass certainly contribute to structural stiffness, especially in
torsion.
Heavy Knob 1
Re: Driving Emotion
& Heavy Knobs... I personally keep away from the rating system unless I
think something is REALLY good, or REALLY bad... and unfortunately find myself
reading AutoSpeed less and less, but I do agree with the comment you made about
simply running out of things to talk about as there are only so many ways you
can go over how most normal modern cars work etc so I’m not going to whinge
and moan and 'leave' it.
As for the gear knob article, I actually did
this mod over Christmas but didn't plan it as I was given a replacement gear
knob as a present as my current one was worn out. The giver went all out and got
me a really nice stainless steel Subaru STI gear knob which was easily 2-3 times
heavier than my standard Legacy knob. Straight away I noticed that shifting was
different BUT an even more significant improvement was made by taking apart the
entire shift mechanism and replacing each and every bush in the linkage, now
THAT was a transformation.
I respect the knowledge and effort that was
put into your article, but I think this one has worked well on your particular
car and suits the way you think it should work. As for it making every gear
shift faster/better/smoother in all cars? I’m not too sure... Personal preference
perhaps. For the record, my favourite article series on
AutoSpeed? Driving Emotion...
Martin Mulholland
Australia
Re your first paragraph... more people are
reading AutoSpeed than ever before – our readership stats are at all-time highs
and are still growing.
Heavy Knob 2
Although I probably will not get to try the "heavy
gearshift knob" trick myself (circumstances in my life make it is almost
impossible for me to get to a wrecking yard), I thought it to be a clever and
creative idea.
Andy Miller
United States
No Such Thing
Re "Screen
Saver": There is no such thing as a "lead ball bearing". A spherical ball of
lead would be called simply "lead shot" since shot is always spherical anyway,
and I know of no bearing which uses lead shot. A decent-sized ball, say 5mm or
bigger, would be buckshot.
Mike Triggs
Australia
Article now corrected.
Diesel Economy
Any possibility in doing an article on how the new
common rail diesel engines are able to get such amazing fuel economy?
Paul Donovan
Australia
We have done a number of articles on common
rail diesels - do a site search under 'diesel'.
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