aiboart

Notwithstanding the fact that this is a group buy, would it be possible to have the word 'Oil' machined into the cap. Some people have their cars serviced at the dealerships you know ... Regards, aa

The earlier iterations of the current incarnation of the BBC Gear had frequent islands of brilliance, but those early shows were nothing like the pioneering genera creating epic entertainment that the more recent shows have become. The Aus show has successfully imported the format and technical style of BBC TG, and done fine job in casting. Casting two pro drivers and a pro communicator was an neat touch. When the Aus presenters loosen up and start gibbering from the heart as opposed to slavishly following the script or character type the result is rather good. The happy ramblings of the presenter in the RHD Ford GT40 review was on the mark, as good as a mid range BBC TG segment. A key structural difference between the BBC TG and the SBS TG seems to be with SBS forgoing the relentless flipping of perception used by the BBC TG when dealing with almost any subject. '...you might think that, but you's be wrong...' It is common for the BBC TG to switch direction several times during segment, even in a 'serious' review, and then segment will complete with a nonsequitur, something like, ' it is technically brilliant and a great drive, but it is complete rubbish of course, because...'. By forgoing this technique SBS blew it because this BBC TG signature makes the show interesting, thrilling and illogical, hence utterly human and thus universal. The BBC TG has now refined the technique so that there is very little clue as to where the more inspired segments are heading or where they will ultimately end up. These segments hold one in wide eyed incredulity for the duration of the segment, watching it build in absurdity and or audacity. It is enthralling story telling. It takes balls. Everything of course in the BBC TG of course is infused with Clarkson, a towering cultural figure. Seriously, we would need to mate Jennifer Hawkins with Bradman to get that degree of cultural resonance over here that Clarkson has earned over the decades in the UK and around the world. The other thing of course is that a politically correct cultural straitjacket like SBS is never going to let the program off the leash enough to let the light shine through. Great humor at its core usually illustrates a great truth or exposes a great hypocrisy. Part of the joy, the relief of BBC TG program is that it exposes and humiliates the vast hypocrisy of the so called liberal movement, that oxymoronically insists of 'Political Correctness'. In this respect the BBC program functions much like the cutting humor of the 1970's and 1980's which tackled the entrenched hypocrisy of the then church and establishment. Regards, aa

I have the very new Goodyear F1 Asymmetrico in 17". (This is not the previous Goodyear F1 GD3??? whatever.) This new tyre has won rave reviews all over the world. The previous tyres on the car were Dunlop Sports Maxx's. I found these an excellent tyre with linear responses and high limits in both wet and dry. I liked them so much I bought two sets in succession. The F1 assymetrico's are all that plus something else. They have the ability to generate staggering (it seems) lateral transients and almost as impressive sustained lateral grip at medium and especially high legal speeds. Amazing really. With just the right weight management and torque transfers, at moderate speeds it is possible to generate an impression of go kart like response, in both wet and dry. YMMV. The tyre has somewhat of an uncanny but brilliant feel and response at the higher legal speeds. Forward longitudinal grip is also superior to the Maxx's in cold weather during high boost up changes, however, as the TC is always on there is little more that I can add here. Braking may be slightly superior to the Maxx's in wet and dry, however the Maxx's already had high limits in this respect. I paid $315 per tyre fitted and balanced for the 17". Car is standard power 2005 BAT A4 Regards, aa

Zap, I think Suby are about to launch a new model. Flat six 3.7 litre TT AWD, $70K thereabouts, or so it is said. 400++HP, 4 Door and Estate, Brembo, Bilstein Target demographic S4 buyers Regards, aa

Ford service has broken down. The front of shop operation is quite slick, with coffee machines and fast bookings etc, however the technical ability and or drive to realize a technical solution is gone. It is a shame. The car is amazing. However, the Dealerships' lack the will and or the ability to keep these cars running in reasonable order. There is something seriously wrong when the Dealerships simply cannot repair a major problem the first, second... tenth or eleventh time... It is obviously a problem that affects multiple dealers. I cannot justify the purchase of another Ford, and that bugs me, a lot. Alas, Regards, aa

I have something similar. A loud metallic bang on suspension rebound. Triggered only by sharp irregularities, small and large where the wheel drops, such as the overlap of new and old bitumen. Even tiny 1-2 cm irregularities will cause the problem provided the irregularity enables wheel to drops suddenly. This will even occur at speeds of less than 10kph. Smooth waves in the road at any speed have no effect whatsoever and the suspension is silent, brilliant. At freeway speeds on a small irregularity such as the overlap of bitumen, the problem becomes an explosively loud metallic bang that seems to emanate anywhere from the top of the shock tower to directly under the throttle to behind the speedo. In such instances there is an impact coming through the floor directly under the throttle pedal. A slightly larger depression in the road surface at speed gives the impression that something in the suspension is about to depart from the car, very scary. So far the dealer had have tightened all the bolts, checked the exhaust for witness marks, replaced the almost new Bilstein shock with a brand new Bilstein shock, replaced the lower ball joint and replaced sway bar drop link. This has had no effect whatsoever on the problem. I think the dealer has had 10 goes at it to date. They paid only for the ball joint and drop link replacement under warrantly I paid for the other parts and work. Now they are saying it is normal... That's fine boys, I have serviced this car like an aircraft and all the money, including the shock mods went into the dealership. No more, also cancel the family's pending second car, an FG F6, I will go Evo X or 135i. Unlike your problem, my problem is not related to braking. Regards, aa

What are the steps in the power curve? Regards, aa

Little smart Car"]Smart Car see 0:45+ sec

The cars, the add, is CGI. Regards, aa

The oxide coats on iron and aluminum, unlike rust on steel, are self limiting processes and act to protect the host metal once formed. The oxide coat on aluminum is invisible, it is however there and forms exceedingly quickly on fresh metal. Iron takes longer to form its oxide coat and the distinct reddish color is visible to the eye. There is no need to paint a iron block. In applications such as this, where it is advantageous to conduct heat to the atmosphere from within the engine, there are distinct advantages to not painting the block. Rust on steel is altogether a different proposition, it is a self propagating, often exponential process that eats away at the host metal. Iron manhole covers on the other hand last centuries exposed to elements... Re HSV brakes... I think you will find Ford currently have the more potent setup with the 6/4 pot configuration. Regards, aa

:hiwelcome: Yours could very well be the most significant technically related posting in a very, very long time. One imagines it would point to the future mainstream viability of the existing XRT fleet, the nature of the future model releases and quite possibly the future of the entire Australian (built) car fleet. I think it is now somewhat clearer why Ford and GMH are not falling over themselves for diesel and hybrid. Regards, aa

98 RON is better, a lot better. This is one of the world's great, large car, rear drive chassis, irrespective of price. It is equipped with a similarly brilliant engine capable of realizing a perfectly flat torque delivery in an superbly refined manner. You have probably the best auto box made, which is then matched perfectly to the engine. You can sulk now if you want to Or you can go for a drive. This is a large RWD car, it is also a highly agile car. Anything resembling an attempt to set up a corner will result in sheer joy. Hauling on lock in an already under steering condition (al la 4WD chassis) will likely convince you that this car is a pig. Factoring in the car's mass and the turbo nature of the engine into your planning will have you convinced that it is a fighter jet of a car. Highway cruising with all the family on board and a full boot will yield fuel consumption of <<10 liters/100km. Mods and upgrades. Fit the best quality tyres you can afford. When replacing the discs use the best model of DBA disc then available for your car, say DBA4000's, ideally DBA5000's As for mods, just fit some Bilsteins, that is all. Regards, aa

I am not sure that there are even in the country as yet. A pre the Australian release set was flown into the country for the recent Motor evaluaton. It won. There is a definite buzz around the world about these new tyres and the technology they represent. Short Popular Mechanics Review Goodyear site linking to media reviews Let me know if you find them. Regards, aa

I love them too. I love them so much I want the technology to be able to vote for the pollie of my choice on a daily basis. Regards, aa

Guy's it's good technology. There is clearly no reason why honest people should fear someone looking over their shoulder. So how about turning the system around and doing something useful with it? I think we need a secure online voting system that alloys you to throw the government out of office, for non performance ,on a daily basis. That will ensure that the govenment does as it is supposed to do. Clearly, no govenment has anything to fear from the public watching their activity. I would vote for that. Regards, aa

A proven upgrade path is to simply copy one of the excellent high performance factory brake setups. The good news is, you seem to have the required parts. Fitting the 4 pot Brembo's whilst keeping the existing rear caliper will provide essentially the factory Brembo 4 pot setup and will therefore conform to the factory brake balance settings etc. Slotted DBA5000's in the front and slotted DBA4000's are much superior to the factory supplied discs and will only improve performance. I think you will be astounded as to how good this setup can be. Braided lines are typically reported to improve performance, however they are not a factory fitment on any of the factory packages, even the 6/4 pot combination. There are experts on the form that will advise about braided lines. Regards, aa

I was also hoping to get my car on a hoist tomorrow, somewhere, to track down a large bang that seemed to occur only when the car and or drivers side front wheel drops rapidly. At first I thought it was strictly confined to wheel rebound, but now it appears to require body motion to induce the noise. When the noise occurs it sounds just like the body is hit with a metal rod. The origin appear to vary from in the wheel well immediately under the left foot (you can feel bang originate there... or so it seems), to quite high in the shock tower, to in the bottom of the drivers door. The dealer has had a go at it twice now... torqued bolts, charged me for it, etc etc. I have checked the strut top mounts and all is sound. The car is running Bilsteins and in all other respects the suspension is utterly refined and silent. It is possible to drive hundreds of km without the slightest noise, however, you can predict exactly when the banging will happen. The perfect trigger is when the road drops away at the end of a small bridge and the suspension rebounds and the body drops slightly. Sometimes the road conditions generate a constant stream of bangs. I am starting to think that it could be the exhaust system of a mount of some type... Any suggestions? Regards, aa

No idea. case 1 auto in 3rd (manually selected) and manual in 3rd, engine is below 1500rpm auto torque convertor is not locked. case 2 auto in 3rd (manually selected and manual in 3rd, engine is above 1500rpm auto torque convertor is locked. case 3.0 If manual is in 6th and auto is in 6th and both are required to shift into third case 3.1 auto shift - auto is in adaptive mode and points are low case 3.2 auto shift - auto is in adaptive mode and points are high case 3.3 auto shift - auto is in performace mode case 3.4 auto is in adaptive mode (this affects the shifting required) and is shifted into 3rd manually case 3.5 auto is in performance mode and is shifted into 3rd manually case 3.6 auto is in manual mode and is shifted manually Regards, aa

Enjoy your quality vehicle, and, dont forget to e-mail this the link to any non Ford driving friends. Link to Fairfax 'Drive' article, US Quality Survey Porsche claims pole position in US quality survey Richard Blackburn, drive.com.au, June 6, 2008 Porsche has been ranked the best quality brand in the United States for the third year running, but some of its European rivals were left red-faced. By RICHARD BLACKBURN. Porsche has come out on top in an influential quality survey in the United States, but other European luxury brands have fared poorly, falling below the industry average. The annual J D Power and Associates Initial Quality Study, which tracks customer problems in the first 90 days of ownership, ranked Porsche ahead of Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti (not on sale in Australia), Toyota’s luxury arm Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota. But while the survey was good news for some luxury car makers, Volvo, BMW, Saab and Land Rover continued to lag behind the industry average. Volkswagen and Mini also finished down the order in the survey of 36 brands, while Audi was the biggest improver, jumping 16 places from 26th to 10th. The other big improvers in the latest survey were US brands. Ford was the highest ranked of the big three, finishing 8th in the survey, while General Motors brands also showed big advances. Cadillac, which will launch in Australia later this year, jumped 14 places to 11th, while Pontiac, which now sells a rebadged Late model camira in its range, improved from 22nd to 14th. Korean car maker Hyundai continues to perform strongly in these surveys, finishing above the industry average in 13th place. But some Japanese brands saw their reputations for quality take a battering in the latest survey. Mazda finished 23rd, while Subaru was 26th, Mitsubishi 30th and Suzuki 32nd. Some of those problems, however, relate to vehicles built in US plants that are not imported into Australia. In J D Power’s first survey of Australian customers, commissioned by the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia, Mazda and Subaru both ranked in the top five for quality and customer satisfaction. Land Rover’s promise of better-quality vehicles also appears to have been an empty one. The brand finished in the bottom three in the survey, just ahead of Mini and Jeep. Overall, the industry improved its quality performance, with the average number of problems reported per vehicle dropping from 125 to 118. Almost three-quarters of the manufacturers reported an improvement in quality over 2007. The survey looks at two areas of customer dissatisfaction: quality of design and defects or malfunctions. In a statement accompanying the figures, J D Power’s vice president of automotive research, David Sargent, says 86 per cent of the improvement has come from reducing defects and malfunctions. He says reducing customer dissatisfaction with design elements of their new car is a bigger challenge, particularly with the array of new technology such as navigation systems and entertainment devices. “As consumer demand for new and more advanced wireless communication, navigation and audio technology continues to grow, manufacturers face challenges related to how well these systems are integrated into their vehicles,” he says. “In particular, issues with difficult-to-use audio and entertainment controls and voice command recognition failure are among the top 10 problems most frequently reported by customers.” The survey also singles out individual models that have performed well. Honda’s CR-V won the best compact soft-roader segment, while the Honda Civic beat the Toyota Prius and Hyundai Elantra in the small-car segment. Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class won the mid-size premium-car class, while the Lexus LS was ranked ahead of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the large-premium-car segment. The Lexus RX took out the mid-size premium-soft-roader class. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rank Brand last year problems per 100 cars 1. Porsche (1) 87 2. Infiniti (9) 98 3. Lexus (2) 99 4. Mercedes Benz (5) 104 5. Toyota (7) 104 6. Mercury ( 109 7. Honda (4) 110 8. Ford (10) 112 9. Jaguar (6) 112 10. Audi (26) 113 11. Cadillac (25) 113 12. Chevrolet (15) 113 13. Hyundai (12) 114 14. Pontiac (22) 114 15. Lincoln (3) 115 16. Buick (14) 118 >>> Industry average <<< 17. Acura (17) 119 18. Kia (13) 119 19. Nissan (19) 124 20. Volvo (16) 124 21. BMW (21) 126 22. GMC (18) 127 23. Mazda (34) 127 24. Volkswagen (31) 128 25. Hummer (33) 132 26. Subaru (24) 133 27. Scion (11) 138 28. Dodge (30) 141 29. Chrysler (27) 142 30. Mitsubishi (29) 149 31. Saab (23) 149 32. Suzuki (28) 152 33. Saturn (20) 157 34. Land Rover (35) 161 35. Mini (n/a) 163 36. Jeep (32) 167

There is no doubt Evo is a an brilliant thing, as is an xr6t/f6. The Evo requires some serious commitment wrt servicing and depending on the model ride. The torque delivery and style of chassis of the two cars is poles apart, and this detracts from neither experience. Evo is brilliant, but a very different style of brilliant to xr6t/f6. Regards, aa

It's pretty well balanced decision. Amongst other things, you are trading DSC for Brembo brakes. DSC is a way good thing, so are good brakes. Good luck! Regards, aa

This is more than likely a Clarkson setup designed for… not sure yet, After the targets charge out of their trenches with their bayonets fixed screaming from blood they may just find that they have run into a machine gun, or a mine field, or a bunch of TV cameras… There will be a puch line. I don’t know if Clarkson will make PM. I am almost certain however that they will put him into the House of Lords. Regards, aa

They may look cool, they don't, but the 19" wheels come in at 20 odd KG and the dia is larger than is needed for the brakes. The penalty for that wheel geometry and weight is, The loss of wheel and suspension compliance causing loss of grip and loss (FWIW) of comfort, also increase of NVH. (lux pack indeed...) This is what the magazine review identified. Excessive energy storage by the driveline causing loss of perforance and loss of braking (not much of a performance option either) As the FG series now offers a choice of wheels designs, one wonders why the options list does not inclide the choice of a true lightweight rim...that would constitute a true Handling Option... The big wheel fixation is not a Ford issue, all the carmakers do it, compelled by the current perceptions of the public. Personally, I think they should bring back tail fins. At least these have a far less negative impact on the car. Regards, aa

I spoke to the DBA technical people. Tthey highly recommend Hawke pads http://www.hawkperformance.com/ It seems that the idea is that as the thermal capacity of your braking system increases, via the use of higher quality discs (in this case DBA4000’s) it becomes possible to exploit higher friction coefficient pads. The colour codes on the DBA 4000’s latch to the highest temperature attained by the disc to inform appropriate pad selection. A mate of mine does the engineering for a Porsche cup team and he drooled at the mention of Hawke pads, however from what I have seen, motor sport is no more immune from the whims of fashion than the rest of the motor industry. I see Hawke are now in partnership with NASA, which certainly speaks to their technical proficiency. I use DBA5000’s and Ford OEM pads. The performance, smoothness and fidelity to inputs of the system is so high that there I have not bothered seeking a higher pad performance. Regards, aa

Many of the body's senses respond to change rather than steady state. People in general are far less sensitive to continuous pressure than they are to the onset (or cessation) of pressure. The XR6T and F6 automatics have near perfectly flat torque profiles. This results in nearly perfectly constant acceleration. In turn this results in a constant pressure in the back. (digram below - note the lack of curvature and near constant gradient of speed denoting near constant acceleration. BAxr6t-4A) Constant acceleration is an exceedingly efficient means of gaining speed because it minimizes peak stress on the cars contact patch for any given amount of energy being routed through the patch. A similar idea applies to the engine and driveline where high average and low peak component velocity produces lower overall friction loss and lower mechanical parasitic losses. However, as far as your body is concerned the experience of constant acceleration is not that interesting. The result is that for any given amount of speed gained it would be difficult to imagine a car with less 'push in the back factor' than the automatic XR6T/F6 variants. To put it another way, for any given amount of perceived stuffing around the automatic XR6T/F6 variants have gained more speed than almost any other car you care to imagine. What you see out the window of an automatic XR6T/F6 variant is somewhat disconnected from the experience being reported by the bumometer, the B-meter. A jet takeoff is an interesting analogue, the body perceives the initial throttle up more than it does the near constant acceleration that follows. The manual transmission cars are altogether different.These undergo frequent and large changes in the acceleration vector do to the effect of gear changing. This results a much higher 'push in the back factor', however the process is not as an efficient means to gain speed. Regards, aa