So... what car do you guys drive when not flying?

[Muppet501st]

I've owned many Mazda vehicles during my life and always thought of them as a quality vehicle.
They may have had a couple of duds (RX-5 comes to mind) but the quality was still tops.

lol, RX-5 were released in 1976!! You try finding an original example now!!

 

[Happy Dude]

I thought I was a good driver.

Everybody does, except females. I did a driving course for (mine-related) work. At the start of the course which had about 60/40 male/female, the instructor asked everyone to rate their driving skills from 1 (bad) to 10 (good). During the course several males actually argued with the instructor - a man with 25 years experience and who was in a racing team with Peter Brock, apparently - about various and lesser known road rules and even what the safest course of action would be if an animal strayed onto a road. At the end of the course, the results of the poll yielded the men had given themselves an average rating of 8 and the women 4.

This "attitude" was borne out in the statistics shown at the start of the course which showed accidents, fatal accidents, driving infractions, speeding etc were heavily skewed toward males less than 50yo, with a large portion of those being less than 30yo. One dude was even arrogant enough to suggest that the "bad" women drivers were the cause of the accidents even if they weren't actually involved. Breathtaking stuff.

 

[JohnM]

and even what the safest course of action would be if an animal strayed onto a road.

As a matter of interest, what was his advice on that?

 

[Happy Dude]

As a matter of interest, what was his advice on that?

Don't swerve. Lose control on the road verges results in a worse outcome.

 

[oz_mark]

Don't swerve. Lose control on the road verges results in a worse outcome.

Same advice I got during a driver training course..

 

[JohnM]

Don't swerve. Lose control on the road verges results in a worse outcome.

That has always my intrinsic advice to self and explicit advice to others. Logical really - but have to overcome the innate urge to swerve.

 

[jb747]

At the end of the course, the results of the poll yielded the men had given themselves an average rating of 8 and the women 4.

The same thing is evident in a number of disciplines. For instance, shooting, women generally readily admit they know nothing, and are willing to learn. Males seem to assume they know all about it, and many just can’t be told. When teaching people to fly in the RAAF, it was the ones who already had a pilot’s licence who sometimes brought an attitude with them.

Don't swerve. Lose control on the road verges results in a worse outcome.

The skid marks on the highway up through the centre of Oz are testament to that.

Swerve and avoid is also one of the exercises that is covered with many of the driver training courses.

The basic lack of car handling that so many people display is amazing. The Woolworths car park can be a terrifying place, with all manner of skill, and its lack, on display. That’s why I park miles away....

 

[Buzzard]

lol, RX-5 were released in 1976!! You try finding an original example now!!

If you think that's old, a mate has a mint condition Cosmo in his collection.

 

[JessicaTam]

Was that before or after I drove the Troopy with you as pax out to Steep Point?...

I don't have to answer that.

Do I?

 

[JessicaTam]

As a matter of interest, what was his advice on that?

Brake! If the vehicle has ABS you may be able to steer around the animal whilst still braking. But of course "it depends".

 

[JohnM]

I don't have to answer that.

Do I?

It was after - and I passed with flying colours.

 

[JohnM]

Well, it's exactly 6 months since I took delivery of my Ford Everest and there's just over a lazy 23,500 clicks on the clock. That period includes about 5-6 weeks of the WA intrastate travel restrictions around May.

I haven't done any rock-crawling or sand-digging, nor towed anything, but there have been a lot of long stretches of cruising on dirt roads, many of which were fairly rough.

I'm happy with it. It's meeting all the objectives I set.

Overall average fuel consumption is 8.1L/100km, the powertrain (2.0L Bi-turbo; 10-speed 'box) is good and I'm particularly impressed with the rolling acceleration for overtaking in the country. Handling and general drivability is good on both sealed and unsealed roads. It eats up the kays.

A few minor niggles. For an ostensibly Australian-designed vehicle the dust sealing, while not bad, should be better - although I have given it a very hard hammering in that regard. I suspect that unitary lift-up tailgates generally are not really the best for a lot of dirt-road driving because they are subject to some scuttle shake.

The rear mudflaps should be probably about 30mm longer. Stone spray hits under the fender panel directly behind the rear wheels. That should have been immediately obvious to designers with even a modicum of dirt-road testing. Not an issue for the soccer mums, I guess...

For me, the seats could be more padded. I don't carry much padding of my own, so I rely on the seat to be a bit softer.

 

[Muppet501st]

If you think that's old, a mate has a mint condition Cosmo in his collection.

Theres a local guy here in SE Qld, he has 2!! and just about a every Mazda RE vehicle variant ever made!!

 

[jakeseven7]

Has anyone in general noticed the second hand car market is quite expensive at the moment? A friend in new car sales said international supply jam of new cars is jammed up hence good second hand cars are getting good prices....

 

[rogerkambah]

For those of us who can still remember carburettor induction cars do you ever think that you suffered an instance of carb icing?
I believe that a Renault 16TS I was driving around 40 years ago suffered this one cold wet and misty day in the SE of SA. I was just trundling along at the 110 kph speed limit and noticed that the car was slowing. More right wellie applied and then more slowing until the best I could do was about 80. Stopped and had a look under the bonnet but nothing seemed amiss. Continued further and as we exited those weather conditions engine went back to normality. Can't think of anything else that may have caused this and left no evidence.

 

[OZDUCK]

Has anyone in general noticed the second hand car market is quite expensive at the moment? A friend in new car sales said international supply jam of new cars is jammed up hence good second hand cars are getting good prices....

The article below claims that wholesale prices for used car prices are " precisely 29.9 per cent higher than 2019 prices."

It's officially the 'best time on record' to sell a used car, new data claims

Utes and SUVs are in high demand

www.caradvice.com.au

 

[DeKa]

For those of us who can still remember carburettor induction cars do you ever think that you suffered an instance of carb icing?
I believe that a Renault 16TS I was driving around 40 years ago suffered this one cold wet and misty day in the SE of SA. I was just trundling along at the 110 kph speed limit and noticed that the car was slowing. More right wellie applied and then more slowing until the best I could do was about 80. Stopped and had a look under the bonnet but nothing seemed amiss. Continued further and as we exited those weather conditions engine went back to normality. Can't think of anything else that may have caused this and left no evidence.

Was the air temp around 0-5 deg C? You were probably driving at light throttle due to just cruising right?
I remember from light aircraft flight training that air temps just above zero, and light throttle were risky due to throttle icing. Aircraft have/had carbie heat to increase the induction air temp to resolve this .. cars don’t.

PS awesome car the Renault 16 TS!

 

[rogerkambah]

Was the air temp around 0-5 deg C? You were probably driving at light throttle due to just cruising right?
I remember from light aircraft flight training that air temps just above zero, and light throttle were risky due to throttle icing. Aircraft have/had carbie heat to increase the induction air temp to resolve this .. cars don’t.

PS awesome car the Renault 16 TS!

Temperature would have been probably < 10 maybe 7-8. I wouldn't have thought of carb icing if I hadn't been working in air safety investigation at the time.
Agree with you about 16TS. Great and very versatile cars at the time.

 

[John in Melbourne]

See my avatar for my favorite car: 1967 Pontiac Parisienne. Now I drive a Kia Sportage, a heaps better car but not nearly as much fun as the Pontiac.

 

[Buzzard]

Theres a local guy here in SE Qld, he has 2!! and just about a every Mazda RE vehicle variant ever made!!

My mate too including quite a few that never came to Australia like RE Utes and the very rare Mazda Roadpacer, perhaps the only one in Australia. In magnificent condition it is. He has now also started collecting rotary engine motorcycles.