20 years car development - huge leaps and small backward steps

[Zak33]

If it has central locking already you can add a little box of tricks that'll give you remote central locking.

One of the first things the boy did to his for the same reasons you've described.

are you mad? ;-)

I'm not spending any money on it!

[mycarsavw]

are you mad? ;-)

I'm not spending any money on it!

PM me your address.

Merry Christmas

[DanceswithUnix]

There is the alternative from when I ran old cars: Don't lock it.

The car wasn't worth enough to steal, I didn't leave anything expensive in it. Occasionally I would get in the car and realise someone had been rummaging around the parcel shelf. If I locked the car, the difference would be I might find the £100 side glass smashed to steal the £30 stereo. I did once give someone a lift who locked the passenger side door when they got out. On return, that glass had been smashed to get to the stereo ignoring the other three unlocked doors Modern integrated stereos should stop that nonsense though.

[Butcher]

UPDATE!!

I miss remote central locking.

I really miss it.

Cos in the dark I keep missing the keyhole. In fact, remote central locking has probably, globally, saved a million driver side door resprays ;-) cos my keys rub on the paint work EVERY DAY!!, and the faffing about with a bag to carry, key holes and pouring rain means that...

I MISS REMOTE LOCKING!!

Using a key? How archaic. I lock the car with my knee if my hands are full.

[Zak33]

Well, April 2018 dawns bright and clear... and the Polo experiment continues.

Once a fortnight I drive my Honda CRX Del Sol VTEC, and also the Subarua Forester diesel at weekends, but its Polo for the daily commute.

I'm enjoying the old girl, but I'm now gonna slag off the headlights. They're always clean and they have glass fronts, so no acrylic frosting from age. But the fact is... they're crap. Nothing is wring with them, not even age wear... it's just that... headlights 20 years ago were ... sh1t.

Winter 17/18 was tougher on country lanes than it's possible to explain. Brown headges fade into brown roads with yellow headlights. You get used to it..and then drive a xenon lamps car and think "bloody hell.... I can SEE"
Then it snows and things get a bit easier.. until the slush... and then its back to "use the force, Luke" on sme of the twisty stuff.

The pattern is spot on as per factory ... ie .. it's crap.

BUT... the Honda .. a 1991, so 27 years old, is just as bad.

Time has improved lighting

[DanceswithUnix]

I got some 50% brighter bulbs for my 2001 Alfa and it made a massive difference to the headlights. The 1995 and 1989 cars I had before that didn't need them. Personally, I think dip beams are getting worse as they illuminate beautifully for about 10mm in front of the car. My 2014 car is really bad on dip, but fine on main beam. It has an adjuster so from the comfort or the cabin I can make them even worse. I would have thought modern LED lighting would have made it a non issue by now but I guess not.

The Audi laser headlights sound nice.

[kalniel]

Does 'not spending any money on it' include consumables like bulbs? You can almost certainly get some very bright filament bulbs these days (150+% brighter for about £20*) as a drop in, and there might even be the possibility of self contained LED transformer bulbs one day (not currently).


*https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/p...vision-h4-twin and use code FRESH25

[Zak33]

Does 'not spending any money on it' include consumables like bulbs? You can almost certainly get some very bright filament bulbs these days (150+% brighter for about £20*) as a drop in, and there might even be the possibility of self contained LED transformer bulbs one day (not currently).


*https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/p...vision-h4-twin and use code FRESH25

if I were to spend lets say... a tenner on bulbs.. it would be a 10% increase to its value

so.... no bulbs, no

[DanceswithUnix]

if I were to spend lets say... a tenner on bulbs.. it would be a 10% increase to its value

so.... no bulbs, no

Is it annoying or a safety issue? When I swapped bulbs I did it when a bulb blew so I had to buy one bulb anyway, but afterwards I realised I should have bought better bulbs before as it made a huge difference and I drove home from work down windy country lanes. I just didn't know it would make a worthwhile difference.

[Tumble]

Well, April 2018 dawns bright and clear... and the Polo experiment continues.

Once a fortnight I drive my Honda CRX Del Sol VTEC, and also the Subarua Forester diesel at weekends, but its Polo for the daily commute.

I'm enjoying the old girl, but I'm now gonna slag off the headlights. They're always clean and they have glass fronts, so no acrylic frosting from age. But the fact is... they're crap. Nothing is wring with them, not even age wear... it's just that... headlights 20 years ago were ... sh1t.

Winter 17/18 was tougher on country lanes than it's possible to explain. Brown headges fade into brown roads with yellow headlights. You get used to it..and then drive a xenon lamps car and think "bloody hell.... I can SEE"
Then it snows and things get a bit easier.. until the slush... and then its back to "use the force, Luke" on sme of the twisty stuff.

The pattern is spot on as per factory ... ie .. it's crap.

BUT... the Honda .. a 1991, so 27 years old, is just as bad.

Time has improved lighting

My 3 year old Mondeo has bloody awful lights I think it's because of the way the front end has been designed - the only way I can think to describe it is the lights are like a pug's nose.... too small and squinty to be much use to anyone.

[kalniel]

There's % increase in value.. and there's how much you value your life Like tyres and brakes, lights are a safety thing for me and I'll always get the best I can - and for £20, it's not really much to complain about (you can always take them out of the car again when you scrap it, so no value loss )

[Butcher]

My 2013 car has excellent dipped headlights (HID). The previous car (2014) had LED headlights and they were disappointing. The crappy dipped beam on them was a contributing factor to the car's demise.

[watercooled]

Sorry for straying off onto the topic of headlights (great OP BTW, only just noticed it, a really interesting read) but would y'all recommend those 'brighter' halogen bulbs then?

I'm reasonably impressed with the stock dipped beams on the 2013 Focus (standard halogen reflectors) but having done some night-time, unlit motorway driving, a tiny bit more visibility ahead would be nice, but oncoming traffic kinda rules out main beam.

[Xlucine]

I didn't see much improvement with dipped beam, and they don't last as long. I replaced high and low beam on my car a couple of years ago or so, and the low beam wore out after a year or so. High beam was a bit brighter, and I don't use it as much so those bulbs should last a while, but I've gone to extra-life dipped beam without much change in the light projection.

[DanceswithUnix]

Certainly worked well for me on country roads. Might try some on the new car if I find myself doing similar trips again, though I do wonder if I can tweak the lights upwards a little.

There are led and hid conversions but sounds like they can wreak the light pattern.

[watercooled]

I could be wrong, but I did some research into legitimate conversions and for the most part I don't think there's really a way to do it besides replacing the whole headlamp assembly for another approved one. Given how precisely they're designed to get the filament in the focal point of the reflector, a different type of light source would likely throw it way off and ruin the light pattern like you say.

Regardless of whether it would pass a pattern test, what I also concluded is that you'll effectively void the E mark by installing any non-standard lamps; even if the lamps you install happen to come with their own E mark (as some sellers claim, implying they're 'legal'), the assembly as a whole will not be compliant as they were not designed to be used together - headlamps are rated as a whole, not as a sum of parts.

I've also just found this, apparently the DVSA has removed some of the ambiguity and outright said it's not permitted to convert halogen units: https://greyhead.co.uk/other-things/...ights-legal-uk