New England B.S. Thread

Morning all

 

The Mrs. and I owned a couple of S70s. Always had a blown bulb somewhere on them.

We check out Volvos when out and about and see at least half with a light out. Reason to chuckle...

Might not seem like a big deal but it’s a PITA to keep changing then out.

Never owned a Mercedes but have heard servicing horror stories from my neighbor. He loves the vehicle but can’t swap out his battery..

 

She wants to be able to drive through the post office lobby in maximum posh comfort during her dotage.

My grandparents went through a similar phase during their early retirement; it was all big Lincolns or Mercurys (see: Crown Vic with a nicer interior and softer springs) for years, until they realized that they were spending pretty decent $$ on RWD boats that half the time got stuck in their own driveway (RWD sucks when you're 80 with an unreliable plow guy and no close relatives) After that it was all mid-trim Subaru's

 

Not sure, i saw a commercial the other day that was mainly about seat belts and how seatbelts/safety/ volvo go together like flies on shit. But then at the end they mentioned something about putting speed limits on all cars in the future for safety too. They didn't expound upon the point, but i'm imagining a gps speed limit based upon the indicated limit on any given road. I could be wrong.

Either way it's d-u-m dum.

Edit,. just googled it, and yes it's a 112MPH speed limit.

 

The ASL reads signs and sets a limiter based on it, which can be disabled. It’s no different than lane departure.

A 112 mph governor is no different than any other car that is governed, either by tire rating or with a lot of high performance German cars, the 155 MPH cap.

I don’t like nannies as much as the next person, but I don’t see this as any different than lane departure or auto stop.

 

Ever heard of a slippery slope? One after another after another non stop forever. This is why things are expensive and people have 10 year loans on a car.

Edit:
In your, and VOLVO's defense. These ones are voluntary, not government mandated like most are becoming.

 

Conspiracy theory time!

https://landline.media/court-denies-rhode-islands-bid-for-judgment-in-ata-truck-toll-lawsuit/

Okay, let's get into RI. RI decided "You know what we need? Tolls. BUT only on trucks, because they're heavy, let's hit them with tolls", knowing full well that it would be shenanigans and challenged in court. So they built all these gantries in record time for roadworks in RI. Why? Well, once it gets challenged and deemed as "illegal", if there are no gantries, well....no gantries go up, no tolls, easy. But we already have the gantries up...so what will the solution be? I guess using the toll only for trucks is no go, BUT we have the tolls up so why not just apply them to everyone, to be fair to all, right?

Bunch. Of. Bullllllllllshit.

Point is, that's what I see happening with Volvo and these shenanigans. Lay the groundwork using something absurd - who on god's green earth would want to go 112 or more? In a consumer Volvo!? That's the point. Nobody will stand up and challenge it, because then the response is: Why do you think you should be going twice the normal speed limit? Do you typically drive that fast? That's dangerous, you're dangerous, maybe we shouldn't listen to you.

Now, I'm at work - but the same thing is happening in the UK with porn filters, I will not be searching for that news article at work....

BUT the point is - the ban came into effect for some raunchy shit. And that's the point. Who is going to stand up and say "NO, that's not okay, I want to be able to watch that, it's within my rights". So, they use that as the vehicle to get in, put up the framework for monitoring and censorship, and that can then be expanded upon.





and like @Bridge4 just pointed out - it's expensive to add to a car. Even the Tacomas - you cannot get a base model Tacoma without adaptive cruise control, etc etc. That's mandatory. Hell, 2019 Frontiers had a trim level with crank windows! There's a reason they were so much less expensive, they didn't have all this modern jazz.

 

Its not a conspiracy, our government HATES US and the proof is in the stimulus bill. ALL they want is money and power, every single one of them.

 

The "girlfriend" has an S60 Polestar supercharged and it's the most fun car I've ever driven. It also cost her $4300 for tires and brakes. A regular shop can't do the brakes they have to be mechanically calibrated by Volvo factory tech software or something. And they aren't regular tires either.

 

IIRC some of the VW's are like that too. They need to be hooked up to a computer to re-calibrate or some nonsense when doing a brake job.

 

It’s all about seeing how much they can get away with without general public getting really pissed off and saying no. There was a good deal of backlash on the truck tolls, but still made it through, but with legal challenges. So they’re close to getting away with it.

As @GarlicFarts said, the writing is on the wall for all vehicles being tolled in RI on 95 and 195. If the tolls are fed to the public on the news in a positive light probably 90% of people will buy in and say “well they do it in other states, now we’ll have more money to fix muh roads and bridges”

100% guarantee you RI will still have dogshit state roads and bridges perpetually under construction no matter how much $$ they collect on tolls.

 

I'm pretty quick to take issue with overreaching, but it isn't like this is a new or recent thing for typical consumer vehicles. My first car was a 1995 Maxima and most of those were governed to 116.

 

I had a Jeep Liberty that was governed about there too. Have a ticket with the proof

 

That Maxima was not an ideal car for a teenager. 190 HP doesn't sound like a lot but it only weighed 3000 lbs so it was surprisingly quick. Somehow I never got a ticket with it.

 

I'd love a V60 Polestar.

I actually had an XC70 for a little while that I bought cheap to fix up. Put some time and money into it then got to the failed AWD which was a bizarre system that consisted of an "angle gear" off the transmission that powered a rear driveshaft all the time. There was an electric pump in the rear diff that would pump fluid and activate the clutch when slipping/accelerating hard. Angle gear was shot and I did not want to deal with it, so I sold it for what I paid plus the parts I put into it.

I really liked it for the little bit I drove it, though. The turbo 5 cylinder was surprisingly strong from a stop and it had by far the most comfortable seats of anything I've ever driven. I'd like to get one of the last XC70s in a T6 with the Polestar tune, but they've held their value pretty well. I like the lifted wagon look.

 

There was a dude who posted on the east prov facebook page (which, let me tell you, that page is a wonderful place............) that he was going down a normal road, normal car (wasn't lowered), and it clipped his oil pan, and split it open. Just a normal f'in road.

My theory with RI roads is that we see the same freeze/thaw cycles, and plow abuse as northern states (NH, ME, etc). However....we are "south of that rain snow line" so the general consensus is "we don't have to worry about our roads as much, down here in the south!"

No, but it sounds like they're working with adaptive limiting - using posted speed limits, etc.

 

I agree that it's a slippery slope and a big reason why I buy low trim vehicles. I hate all the nanny systems on the new vehicles, especially the ones that allow the vehicle to turn or stop itself. People are becoming way to reliant on these systems and that's why it's a damn shit show when it rains or snows because people don't know how to actually drive their cars anymore! I'm not a fan of tech in vehicles, put your phone down, stop fuking with the infotainment system and pay attention to controlling the 4k lb heap of metal you have hurdling down the road at 70 MPH. /rant

Great... I'll try to kill the Volvo so I don't end up having to become a Volvo technician...

 

You lost me at Polestar.

If I knew a girl who drove a car named "Polestar" you can be sure that there would be many, many jokes of an inappropriate nature

until I ended up with a black eye, most likely.

 

@jethro you didn't lose me at Polestar but you did have me intrigued at the quotes "girlfriend". Uhhhhh

 

Read as, friend with benefits.