Unnecessary new tech in cars

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

satellite radio is the worst

[RM7]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

You'd never leave your driveway then because that's all there is. Speed is relative. If everyones going the same speed then theres no difference between 25 and 105. This is mostly on highways with exits every 20-40 miles so there's no exiting or merging cars at different speeds.

Sorry, I don't think you are cool because you endanger other people nor do I even believe you. I travel quite a bit for work and I've been to all of these urban areas where people on message boards claim that "everyone drives 84-90mph" and that you "have to drive that speed to keep up". It's complete BS, every time. No, not everyone is doing that, not even most people are doing that. You are doing that, but that's just you, and by following two car lengths behind, you are endangering other people too. There is absolutely a difference between 25 and 105mph, it's the stuff you can't and do not plan for, like a pothole, an animal that moves onto the highway, something that falls from a vehicle, a delay in your relactions, human error, in other words, reality. I'm not advocating never speeding, but what you are saying is equally ridiculous.

[Fundguy1]

Sorry but that's reality. On the turnpike the average speed is 80-84 Maybe 1 in 30 doing less. I do 84 with everyone else. No potholes yet in 10 years traveling it. Not one. Its Florida after all. Never seen an animal. I drive behind state troopers at 84 doing the exact same thing almost every week and usually at 80-84. Police do not pull you over for 0-15 mph over speed limit in Florida. I Did hit a big rig tire blowout in front of me at speed. Didn't slow down. Pulled over 10 miles later to survey the damage. I also had a vulture hit my windshield at 84. Put a dent in the windshield the size and shape of half a basketball. Again, didn't slow down even 1 mph till I got to a rest stop. Maybe if I can figure it out today I'll post videos of reality. And all these people who post this dangerous crap continue to not say where they live.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Sorry but that's reality. On the turnpike the average speed is 80-84 Maybe 1 in 30 doing less. I do 84 with everyone else. No potholes yet in 10 years traveling it. Not one. Its Florida after all. Never seen an animal. I drive behind state troopers at 84 doing the exact same thing almost every week and usually at 80-84. Police do not pull you over for 0-15 mph over speed limit in Florida. I Did hit a big rig tire blowout in front of me at speed. Didn't slow down. Pulled over 10 miles later to survey the damage. I also had a vulture hit my windshield at 84. Put a dent in the windshield the size and shape of half a basketball. Again, didn't slow down even 1 mph till I got to a rest stop. Maybe if I can figure it out today I'll post videos of reality. And all these people who post this dangerous crap continue to not say where they live.

For the love of god don't start making iPhone videos while driving if that's what you are thinking, although "figure it out" leads me to believe you were going a safer route.

Being in FL vs northeast does make a difference in road conditions I'll give you that. Less drastic temperature differences than someplace like northeast = fewer potholes and road surface issues. Another factor roads and infrastructure tend to be better in "newer" states just due to better infrastructure design as things were built later.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Sorry but that's reality. On the turnpike the average speed is 80-84 Maybe 1 in 30 doing less. I do 84 with everyone else. No potholes yet in 10 years traveling it. Not one. Its Florida after all. Never seen an animal. I drive behind state troopers at 84 doing the exact same thing almost every week and usually at 80-84. Police do not pull you over for 0-15 mph over speed limit in Florida. I Did hit a big rig tire blowout in front of me at speed. Didn't slow down. Pulled over 10 miles later to survey the damage. I also had a vulture hit my windshield at 84. Put a dent in the windshield the size and shape of half a basketball. Again, didn't slow down even 1 mph till I got to a rest stop. Maybe if I can figure it out today I'll post videos of reality. And all these people who post this dangerous crap continue to not say where they live.

Would definitely like to see "everybody" going 80-84 and you cruising behind a state trooper at 84. Of course, video can be edited to make 2 minutes look like "all the time", when in reality, it's just a fraction of all the time and not indicative...still, would be impressive to see.

[Fundguy1]

Its just normal. Troopers and officers dont care if you are 15 mph or less over. 0-15 mph is same ticket. 16-30 is a big ticket. 30+ is major. They don't waste their time on anyone in the 0-15.

[fbsm]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Its just normal. Troopers and officers dont care if you are 15 mph or less over. 0-15 mph is same ticket. 16-30 is a big ticket. 30+ is major. They don't waste their time on anyone in the 0-15.

This has been my experience as well......unless the officer is really bored/having a bad day or has to make quotas

[Fundguy1]

Different states have different protocols. In NJ it was 10 over you got stopped. Etc.

[Vigilante375]

I watched 3 police motorcycles get on the Interstate and IMMEDIATELY go to the "fast lane" and I drove behind them (once I was safely able to get to the left most lane) doing 70 MPH (speed limit 60 MPH) on I5 in Washington for 18 miles before they took an exit from the left lane on a 3 lane Interstate merely a couple hundred feet from the exit. While there was traffic all on the road. They had none of their lights on or sirens. And where the exit they took, I'm certain it was either to grab something to eat or to catch people speeding....probably both.

And it's a State law to NOT ride in the left most lane on a 2 lane or more road unless there is traffic or passing someone or taking a exit or street that is on the left side of the road/highway/Interstate.

[Fundguy1]

Cops pretty much leave you alone if you're not being a prick.

[MFore]

What about launch control? I dont have have it but I cant imagine if I did I would ever use it. Grand Tour did a very funny bit on LC. I do have a manual and am not a fan of hill assist. I wish I could turn that off.

[Feddersen]

I have a fully loaded 335i and use most of the options. I bought it used so I didn't choose the stuff and many of the things I thought I wouldn't use I use today.

However there is one thing I don't get. I have 300+ hp and yet the car has a "ECO PRO"-mode that essentially puts the car in limp mode. I simply don't get it. Was it just a matter of inventing just another feature to put on the feature list?

[Fundguy1]

Bmws way to say its enviromentally friendly. The C4 corvette did something similar to get around the gas guzzler tax. They made the manual transmission shift 1-4 and skip 2 and 3 if you kept the rpms under 4k. They also left a handy plug under the trans that if easily unplugged defeated this "feature".

[MalibuBimmer]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Yes and no. The above apllies if he for example slams into a cement mixer pulling out onto a side street. On a highway, unless you hit a car pile-up in the fog this doesn't apply. Worst case, if you actually are looking past the bumper in front of you, which you should always be doing as far as possible, he hits his breaks hard for no apparent reason,which never happens for any reason. You just need enough time to do the same. Couple car lengths is plenty.

Car lengths x speed = reaction time.

At 30 MPH a couple of car lengths is plenty. At 70 MPH your reaction time will be insufficient to prevent a collision if the car in front of you brakes unexpectedly and hard. Of course, you're looking in front of the car in front of you, so you don't have to worry. Unless the guy in front of you decides he wants to make a right turn just ahead and was lost in his daydreams. But that never happens in real life does it?

Good luck. I just hope you're never behind me.

[xQx]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Un i follow the same distance as every other car on the road. Where I drive thats 2 car lengths at 84 mph.

Okay. Here is why you leave 2 seconds distance between you and the car in front. Two seconds, a measurement of TIME, not DISTANCE. Feel free to follow the same TIME independent of speed, don't follow the same distance independent of speed. This was filmed on an autobahn, not near an exit:

I'm an aggressive driver, but tailgating is just plain stupid.

As for other tech mentioned previously, I'm a big fan of lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, radar-cruise control, auto headlights, auto wipers, cameras everywhere, heated seats and a steering wheel that electronically retracts up and in when you turn the car off. I appreciate people don't like a digital speedo, but I find the digital speed display on my JB4 to be the most useful gauge on it, because I can tell my exact speed at a glance, and it shows my _actual_ speed, not some value up to 10% higher than my actual speed like the OEM display. This means I can do 102km/h in a 100 zone without fear of getting a ticket.

[xQx]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

Here's a philosophical question: Does the computer that drives autonomously have "to be flawless 100% of the time" or just better than a human driver who does not have that 100% record?

It has to not kill me, or not put me in a position where it might kill me 100% of the time. I expect the same of a limo driver, I don't care that I drive in a way that means I have an accident about once every three years, I expect when I'm being driven around, the driver / driving computer will be held to an entirely different standard.

I don't mind if I'm involved in an accident when my wife is driving, but I would be pissed if a taxi driver had an at-fault accident while I'm in the car.

Now, that said, I'd accept there is a risk of computer / equipment malfunction or failure due to people with malicious intent. Same as I do with an elevator, Boeing 737 or a drive-by-wire (steer-by-wire) system.

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

Car lengths x speed = reaction time.

At 30 MPH a couple of car lengths is plenty. At 70 MPH your reaction time will be insufficient to prevent a collision if the car in front of you brakes unexpectedly and hard. Of course, you're looking in front of the car in front of you, so you don't have to worry. Unless the guy in front of you decides he wants to make a right turn just ahead and was lost in his daydreams. But that never happens in real life does it?

Good luck. I just hope you're never behind me.

Yes, but you forget
#1relative to other traffic. Unless a car stops dead because someone builds an instant brick wall, they're moving same direction and speed as you. Even if they have an accident.
#2 you can see a mile or more in front of you so you can slow down if needed
#3 there is no traffic entering or exiting for 20 mile stretches. So unless the guy decides to make a right turn into a field...

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by xQx

Okay. Here is why you leave 2 seconds distance between you and the car in front. Two seconds, a measurement of TIME, not DISTANCE. Feel free to follow the same TIME independent of speed, don't follow the same distance independent of speed. This was filmed on an autobahn, not near an exit:

I'm an aggressive driver, but tailgating is just plain stupid.

As for other tech mentioned previously, I'm a big fan of lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, radar-cruise control, auto headlights, auto wipers, cameras everywhere, heated seats and a steering wheel that electronically retracts up and in when you turn the car off. I appreciate people don't like a digital speedo, but I find the digital speed display on my JB4 to be the most useful gauge on it, because I can tell my exact speed at a glance, and it shows my _actual_ speed, not some value up to 10% higher than my actual speed like the OEM display. This means I can do 102km/h in a 100 zone without fear of getting a ticket.

That was the autobahn. The cars stopped because he hit a guardrail which is nonexistant where i drive. The cars would gave been in a swamp on the side of the road. And you can see he had extra time to stop. Was way back. Sorry. You're selling but I'm not buying. Different road. Different conditions. Different traffic.

[xQx]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Yes, but you forget
#1relative to other traffic. Unless a car stops dead because someone builds an instant brick wall, they're moving same direction and speed as you. Even if they have an accident.
#2 you can see a mile or more in front of you so you can slow down if needed
#3 there is no traffic entering or exiting for 20 mile stretches. So unless the guy decides to make a right turn into a field...

Dude, you're driving a 335, not an SUV. If you're 2 car lengths behind someone you can't see "a mile or more in front of you". If you're following a SUV with tinted windows, you'll be able to see exactly two car lengths in front. If you're lucky you'll be able to see through their windows to the arse of the car in front of them - maybe 30 meters.

But if if there's no cars in front of them, WTF are you doing up their arse - drop back and relax, or step on the gas and overtake them!

Cars stop dead for no reason, traffic banks up for no reason, people decide to turn right into a field because they need a piss - these UNLESS's are the reason you leave a gap. They do happen, because drivers are idiots.

If you're in an X5 following a Toyota 86, sure, you can see right over them to what's ahead - but if they have a front-wheel blowout and you're up their arse, you'll still be part of their accident. If you'd left a 2 - 3 second gap, you'll be able to stop or swerve around them.

Seriously, you're backing yourself into a corner here - unless you're a serial tailgater I expect you actually do leave a bigger gap on the highway than at 40km/h - if you don't, why are you lagging so far behind traffic when it's going slow?

[Fundguy1]

When you drive where i drive then comment. I've also been where you guys drive. Totally different. Night and day. I grew up in Nyc area. I know the difference. I've driven Florida to Vermont too many times to count. Midwest hundreds of thousands of miles. California, Arizona etc. Each place is different and you need to do different things to be safe. I never drive without an out, or escape plan in case i have an idiot in front of me. I've never been in an accident in highway traffic. I've seen plenty in front of me. And yes, 2 lengths here is plenty, even generous, and normal. I get pissed when guys follow 4 feet behind. See that hourly.

[xQx]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

I never drive without an out, or escape plan in case i have an idiot in front of me. I've never been in an accident in highway traffic. I've seen plenty in front of me. And yes, 2 lengths here is plenty, even generous, and normal. I get pissed when guys follow 4 feet behind. See that hourly.

I guarantee you you're more than 2 car-lengths behind. It might feel like two car lengths, but my bet is it's _at least_ four to six.

Sorry for the metric units below, but you're correct - I don't drive the same roads as you.

At 55mi/hr, you're travelling at 24 meters per second. The average car length in the USA is between 172 and 177 inches - so lets say 5 meters. That means if you're 2 car lengths (10 meters) behind the car in front, you've got just under a 1/2 second gap.

So, a quick google search about reaction times says:
Reaction times vary greatly with situation and from person to person between about 0.7 to 3 seconds (sec or s) or more. Some accident reconstruction specialists use 1.5 seconds. A controlled study in 2000 (IEA2000_ABS51.pdf) found average driver reaction brake time to be 2.3 seconds.

Just to back that up, here's a nice test where you can test your reaction when you're on the ball, waiting and expecting something to happen: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudl.../redgreen.html

I average 1/4 second in that test, in which time I'd have closed the gap by 6 meters. Which would then give me less than 1/4 second (4 meters) to either stop, or move the car at least a meter sideways into the other lane. Google says most people take 1/4 to 3/4 of a second after their initial reaction time just to get their foot on the break.

In other words, if you're only travelling 2 car-lengths behind someone and they unexpectedly slam on the brakes, you're up their bum before you have a chance to do anything about it. The only reason you haven't is because nobody directly in front of you has unexpectedly stopped, which is luck, not skill.

(Yes, people don't got from 55mi/hr to a dead stop, so you do have more time than that. At full-anchors most cars pull up from 55mi/hr in about 30 meters giving you up to an additional two seconds.)

I expect your "two car lengths" is more like 25 meters (30 yards) at 55m/hr. Which is a 1 second gap - which in flowing traffic does seem "even generous, and normal." - but that would still only give you about 50/50 odds of being able to avoid an accident that involved the car ahead of you.

EDIT: I do accept that in some parts of the world it is acceptable or normal to travel in convoy at speed down a highway. Which is cool, and that's what you're doing when you're ten meters behind someone at 55mi/hr. Trucks do it all the time to save fuel and energy and don't have accidents. BUT, when you do that, you're putting your life entirely in the hands of the driver in front. If they don't see something big & solid (like an overturned truck, some wildlife or a large fallen tree) - you're going to end up decelerating at the same speed as them. I just don't think it's a great idea to put that level of trust into someone you don't know.

[MalibuBimmer]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

When you drive where i drive then comment. I've also been where you guys drive. Totally different. Night and day. I grew up in Nyc area. I know the difference. I've driven Florida to Vermont too many times to count. Midwest hundreds of thousands of miles. California, Arizona etc. Each place is different and you need to do different things to be safe. I never drive without an out, or escape plan in case i have an idiot in front of me. I've never been in an accident in highway traffic. I've seen plenty in front of me. And yes, 2 lengths here is plenty, even generous, and normal. I get pissed when guys follow 4 feet behind. See that hourly.

I forgot. You're a Florida Man. And live in a state where the laws of physics have been repealed.