Car Talk 6: Best of times and Worst of Times

[CaleDeRoo]

It's funny, the 328i has a toggle for the HVAC compressor but even when turned off it just turns itself on if it thinks you're too hot. It's no wonder Brad switched away from German cars, they have this socialist approach to HVAC.

My wife's Touareg is a nightmare, regardless of auto setting on or off, it will tell you how cold and/or forceful the ventilation system needs to run.

Ze German ac kicks ass though. My Audi will blow cold in about 6 seconds, and my friend's e46 blows 38° air when on max cool.

[Tar]

My wife's Touareg is a nightmare, regardless of auto setting on or off, it will tell you how cold and/or forceful the ventilation system needs to run.

Ze German ac kicks ass though. My Audi will blow cold in about 6 seconds, and my friend's e46 blows 38° air when on max cool.

There's some cooling powahh on tap for shizz, just seems very antiquated in that specific vehicle.

Also, it seems to be the only manufacturer that I've ever dealt with moldy sock smell to date. Easy enough to burn out, just gotta run full fan + full heat + A/C for a 10 minute drive or three. Admittedly, I don't change the cabin air filter within 3x the recommended interval frequency, so that may play a roll.

[max225]

Back seat wise... I just find most four door things sans slopey roofs are fine. I am over 6' and can fit fine in the back of a MINI, an E36, MK6 GTI, etc. Some people are just whiney.

No they are not. E36/Mini do not have usable back seats if you have tall drivers. Same goes for a E90. F30 does have a usable back seat and so does a GTI. Anything under 35" of rear leg room is not usable for 6' adults. You can't just cross compare vehicles that are tremendously drifferent in size.

My mini has 1" between my seat back and the rear seat. How the FUCK are you going to put a human into that space?

[CaleDeRoo]

Back seat wise... I just find most four door things sans slopey roofs are fine. I am over 6' and can fit fine in the back of a MINI, an E36, MK6 GTI, etc. Some people are just whiney.

No they are not. E36/Mini do not have usable back seats if you have tall drivers. Same goes for a E90. F30 does have a usable back seat and so does a GTI. Anything under 35" of rear leg room is not usable for 6' adults. You can't just cross compare vehicles that are tremendously drifferent in size.

My mini has 1" between my seat back and the rear seat. How the FUCK are you going to put a human into that space?

Their legs wrapped around your torso, or over your shoulders piggy back style.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Ze German ac kicks ass though. My Audi will blow cold in about 6 seconds, and my friend's e46 blows 38° air when on max cool.

There's some cooling powahh on tap for shizz, just seems very antiquated in that specific vehicle.

Also, it seems to be the only manufacturer that I've ever dealt with moldy sock smell to date. Easy enough to burn out, just gotta run full fan + full heat + A/C for a 10 minute drive or three. Admittedly, I don't change the cabin air filter within 3x the recommended interval frequency, so that may play a roll.

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

[CaleDeRoo]

I've also never changed a cabin filter

[Tar]

There's some cooling powahh on tap for shizz, just seems very antiquated in that specific vehicle.

Also, it seems to be the only manufacturer that I've ever dealt with moldy sock smell to date. Easy enough to burn out, just gotta run full fan + full heat + A/C for a 10 minute drive or three. Admittedly, I don't change the cabin air filter within 3x the recommended interval frequency, so that may play a roll.

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

I haven't even thought about maintenance on our family hauler for a while. Good chance that it's overdue.

[max225]

I am disappointed by the lack of maintenance done by my fellow brethren here.

[CaleDeRoo]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

[Johnny_P]

There's some cooling powahh on tap for shizz, just seems very antiquated in that specific vehicle.

Also, it seems to be the only manufacturer that I've ever dealt with moldy sock smell to date. Easy enough to burn out, just gotta run full fan + full heat + A/C for a 10 minute drive or three. Admittedly, I don't change the cabin air filter within 3x the recommended interval frequency, so that may play a roll.

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

It’s also $10 and like 2 minute tool free install in an AutoZone parking lot. Dealer would gladly do it for $89.99 after coupon.

[Johnny_P]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I miss my Subaru

My motto is, if it is broke it’s probably more of a pain in the dick to try to get it fixed than just deal with it staying broke.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

It’s also $10 and like 2 minute tool free install in an AutoZone parking lot. Dealer would gladly do it for $89.99 after coupon.

One of my past cars, and I can't remember which one now, took an amount of disassembly to get to the cabin air filter. The entire glovebox had to come out. Might have been the Colorado?

[Johnny_P]

I need to get new wipers for the short bus. Maybe I’ll get a cabin air filter too. After all this air filter talk. I bought one with charcoal layer for the GTI that worked pretty well and lasted longer.

[Johnny_P]

I also need to get a hitch and bike rack for it.

[CaleDeRoo]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I miss my Subaru

My motto is, if it is broke it’s probably more of a pain in the dick to try to get it fixed than just deal with it staying broke.

I share this

[Desertbreh]

There's some cooling powahh on tap for shizz, just seems very antiquated in that specific vehicle.

Also, it seems to be the only manufacturer that I've ever dealt with moldy sock smell to date. Easy enough to burn out, just gotta run full fan + full heat + A/C for a 10 minute drive or three. Admittedly, I don't change the cabin air filter within 3x the recommended interval frequency, so that may play a roll.

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

If it's super stinky though changing the filter will not solve the problem. You need to run a few cycles of Ozium through the vents while the filter is out.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I miss my Subaru

My motto is, if it is broke it’s probably more of a pain in the dick to try to get it fixed than just deal with it staying broke.

I share this

I do...to an extent. Filter changes are pretty much why not if it's easy.

But bigger things?

My boat, for example, the water pump impeller should be inspected every 3 years and replaced as needed according to Mercruiser. It requires separating the outdrive and removing the lower unit. I've got a receipt showing that the part was replaced 3 years ago this month, the boat has temp stability either cruising or idling, so seems like the hassle of getting to the thing to replace what's likely a perfectly good part just isn't worth it. Worse, it could probably introduce even more issues with so much disassembly.

[max225]

The cabin filter absolutely plays a role in the HVAC smelling musty/moldy. You can improve it by drying it out like you mentioned, but changing the filter has immediate improvement in smell.

If it's super stinky though changing the filter will not solve the problem. You need to run a few cycles of Ozium through the vents while the filter is out.

My brand new Tacoma actually had a smelly ac issue which was shocking to me. I changed out the air filter early because of it and I would never run the ac 2min or longer before parking the truck. It solved the issue.

[D Griff]

I am disappointed by the lack of maintenance done by my fellow brethren here.

I have been too poor for most of my life to own a car that had such a feature. I have a detailed maintenance spreadsheet for the BMW, the Corvette, etc. I guess I should probably do the filter on the current cars but I’ve just really never even thought about it.

[D Griff]

I also need to get a hitch and bike rack for it.

The 1up is so

[goIftdibrad]

I share this

I do...to an extent. Filter changes are pretty much why not if it's easy.

But bigger things?

My boat, for example, the water pump impeller should be inspected every 3 years and replaced as needed according to Mercruiser. It requires separating the outdrive and removing the lower unit. I've got a receipt showing that the part was replaced 3 years ago this month, the boat has temp stability either cruising or idling, so seems like the hassle of getting to the thing to replace what's likely a perfectly good part just isn't worth it. Worse, it could probably introduce even more issues with so much disassembly.

lol, gross. you are in fresh water so it will last longer. Those used to be made of rubber and would get shitty fast, but we also had lots shitter rubber way back when. I recall helping my dad pull the lower unit more than once to change water pumps on the old outboard. After that boat he got a new suzuki and that thing was rock solid and never really need much that i remember.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I do...to an extent. Filter changes are pretty much why not if it's easy.

But bigger things?

My boat, for example, the water pump impeller should be inspected every 3 years and replaced as needed according to Mercruiser. It requires separating the outdrive and removing the lower unit. I've got a receipt showing that the part was replaced 3 years ago this month, the boat has temp stability either cruising or idling, so seems like the hassle of getting to the thing to replace what's likely a perfectly good part just isn't worth it. Worse, it could probably introduce even more issues with so much disassembly.

lol, gross. you are in fresh water so it will last longer. Those used to be made of rubber and would get shitty fast, but we also had lots shitter rubber way back when. I recall helping my dad pull the lower unit more than once to change water pumps on the old outboard. After that boat he got a new suzuki and that thing was rock solid and never really need much that i remember.

It's weird, I read all the time about people having issues with boats, how they're holes in the water to throw money into, and blah blah. My boat is 21 years old... 5.0 Mercruiser (small block Chevy) and Mercruiser Alpha 1 gen II outdrive. Carbureted, but that's pretty much the only "old" part of the boat. Maintenance records since new, I've gone through it myself and will before it goes in the water this season. Last season was flawless, and I want to make sure future seasons are equally flawless, but reading about how much "preventative" maintenance people do to these things (like the water pump) makes me slightly nervous that I'm trusting the thing too much. It's just not that complex and I think often people are scared of the things and go overboard and/or don't recognize how simple these are.

[Johnny_P]

I also need to get a hitch and bike rack for it.

The 1up is so

That’s a nice one. I don’t think you can lock the bike on it. The Kuat one seems decent as well. They’re all so expensive.

[D Griff]

The 1up is so

That’s a nice one. I don’t think you can lock the bike on it. The Kuat one seems decent as well. They’re all so expensive.

They are, like $600 for both of those when I was looking last year, so probably $769 now...

I tried a couple of cheap ways - an Amazon one that worked but just kind of sucked, and a used Sarris that was pretty dece but weighed like 100 pounds and took up way too much space. It was also old so modern MTB tires were too wide for it. Easily sold it for what I paid for it though, which was nice.

The 1up is well worth the price, IMO. It does come with a lock to lock the rack to the car, I think they also make some sort of locks for the bikes, you could also just use a cable lock to attach it to the rack base, which is locked to the car. I just don't really leave my bikes on it though, so I don't worry much.

[coogles]

GR86 is supposed to be here by the end of May.

I told the I'd take Trueno or Neptune, I got Trueno. Pretty okay with that.