I'm in love with my car

[johnep]

In the 70s, I loved driving in Ireland. Once out of Dublin area, roads were virtually empty.
johnep

[Defblade]

Indeed, I like sailing, it's a pity that I haven't enough time for, but I like driving too.
Deafblade, if I have to drive, than usually those long 4-5 hour distances across the country.
I can imagine that some sort of cruising has got something special with the right car.
So, just have fun deafblade.

I might start having fun again; as my recent Alfa post suggests If you've got long boring journeys to do then I can recommend my previous car, the Audi A6 with cruise control (but not the multitronic gearbox!).... but that car comes under your post - engine, wheels, brakes - no fun, no love.

Moving to Wales has helped too as the roads are twistier and go up and down a lot, and have a fifth of the traffic that I was used to around Oxford

Turns out motorbikes make even the dullest commute something to look forward to and encourage the long way home! Also, you lose that feeling of waste as you drag all those empty seats and boot around with you.

[Defblade]

Finally photos of the Alfa

Spent 3 hours - wash, clay, polish, wax - on bank hol Monday..... today it's raining

Oh well, I took some pics while the piccing was good

[Sinister]

Yeah, these alfas are quite nice. The only thing with them I think all their petrol engines are direct injections which means they can not be converted to run on autogas lol No good to me
Talking about audis I had the same problem (gearbox) with my a8. Apparently the gearbox oil was never changed and this is what gets them knackered as according to audi the oil is lifetime. Unfortunately the audi (independent) experts say it must be changed every 60k miles. (it cost me a fortune, i think 1ltr about £23) but was too late anyway..

[Defblade]

Talking about audis I had the same problem (gearbox) with my a8. Apparently the gearbox oil was never changed and this is what gets them knackered as according to audi the oil is lifetime. Unfortunately the audi (independent) experts say it must be changed every 60k miles. (it cost me a fortune, i think 1ltr about £23) but was too late anyway..

BMW say the same with their autoboxes Sadly, the CVT one I had was another beast again - even Audi recommend oil changes every 40k miles, indie specialists recommend every 20k But, hey!, it might just be a new gearbox ECU required, a snip a £1000 + fitting.....

Always sorta fancied an A8. And a 7 series. But never quite brave enough!!

[Sinister]

I didn't even know that some BMW have/had CVT transmissions.. (apart from mini cooper). I got my audi's gearbox properly checked @ £90/hour x3 though and had two options basically: fix it for £2.5k or get a new one for £3.8k+fitting.
Mine was slipping a bit and then kicking in quite hard so ECU wouldn't have helped. Things have improved after I flushed the oil through but the slipping was still there..
BMW E65 is even more scary beast and notorious for electricity problems.. Just use google if you start feeling brave enough
I'm looking for something simple built but looking cool. 300c is the one in my head at the moment The only problem is I just moved house which needs some furniture, etc

[Defblade]

I didn't even know that some BMW have/had CVT transmissions.. (apart from mini cooper).

They haven't. Audi are the only people using CVTs in cars at the moment (tho I could be wrong....).

A conventional auto has a torque convertor (transmission of power from engine to gearbox via, basically, 2 fans in a viscous fluid - so when one turns, it turns the other. hence the "slush box" nickname. But if the other's not for turning, it can slip, so you don't need to declutch). The power is then geared through a bunch of clever cogs and black magic, all operated by hydrualic pressure and more magic, resulting in the automatic changing of the gear ratios amongst those available in the box.

A CVT uses a (steel, in this case) band which runs between 2 pairs of cones. The cones can be moved together or apart, causing the band (which has a fixed width) to run higher or lower on the cones. The nearer the base it is, the wider the cone. So the cones become the "gears" but as they don't have a fixed number of teeth, the ratio can be varied without jumps - hence "continuously variable". Audi also have a series of set points programmed in, which feels more like an normal auto box. They also use a proper clutch, but the computer uses hydraulics to work it instead of you having a pedal.

Not all Audi autos are CVTs !!

CVT - what the Continuously Variable Transmission is and how CVT works

[johannes]

Not all Audi autos are CVTs !!

Do you mean those which comes as "Manumatics" (Tiptronics), derived from Porsches automatic used in their 911 automatic version?

[johnep]

Daf were first to use cone transmission. Used a rubber belt I believe.
johnep

[Defblade]

Daf were first to use cone transmission. Used a rubber belt I believe.
johnep

Thier's lasted even less time than Audi's!