HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mills@athena.lkg.dec.com (George Mills)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Mini-van or utility vehicle...4WD vs gas mileage
Date: 5 Jan 93 16:36:09 GMT
Distribution: usa

des@helix.nih.gov (David E. Scheim) writes:


>  
>>I'm also thinking about purchasing a general purpose vihicle like a 
>>suburban or a van to pull a boat and take on trips, etc.   I was intrigued by 
>>one person's comments about gas milage not being so important.  I'll have to 
>>put  pencil to it.  Obviously, the real cost issue is total cost over the 
>>life of the vehicle:  depreciation + maintanence + insurance + fuel   
>>+ (frustration - happiness w/ vehicle :).

>Please also consider environmental pollution and resource utilization when 
>looking at gas mileage figures.  One does not have to be an activist, simply 
>a responsible global citizen, to know that the costs to all of us in gas 
>consumed are more than the current American price of the gas.

>Your comments on 4WD are helpful and are steering me back to a regular small 
>station wagon.  I just wish there was something with a little more ground 
>clearance than my old Honda Civic so I don't damage the exhaust system every 
>time I drive on a rough country road.

I'm glad to here your point of view about resourses. It also makes me sick
when I hear folks changing oil at 1k-2k miles. That's just a plain a waste
of resources. Too long is just as bad, a poor ruuning engine will not burn
clean.

One other thing you might consider that we did and never regreted it.
Which is a 2WD (rear wheel) utility vehicle. The only ones I know that
offer this are GMC-Jimmy/Blazer and Jeep. They are fairly cheap. You
can also buy posi-traction and maybe ABS. That with 4 snows will keep it on the
ground, High clearence, Maximum tow capacity (our reason) and VERY reasonable
gas and reasonable cargo area. They are very rare to see on the lots and you
have to order them. You can get one for around 14-15k (depending on options
and discounts). Currently our 2.8 litre blazer gets 24mpg (easily on highway
at 100k miles). It used to get close to 30 mpg when new. Also DON'T buy MONSTER
tires if you go this way, they will KILL your mpg.

The only thing that tics me off on these is the "engine litre" wars. They have
gone from 2.5 litre to 4.0 litre standard engines. That does not hurt mileage
as much as you might think though.
From: kucharsk@solbourne.com (William Kucharski)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Car dealers
Date: 5 Jan 1993 16:10:09 -0700
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc., Longmont, CO
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: anthrax-fddi.solbourne.com

While reading article <1993Jan5.010044.10439@tandem.com>, I noticed that
ratan@stationd.storage.tandem.com (Ratan Tipirneni) said the following:
>	For those of you who live in the Bay area and may be interested, the
>dealership that I am reffering to is Steven's Creek Toyota.  The funny thing is
>that 4 out of 5 friends to whom I narrated this incident to, complained of similar
>problems with the SAME dealer.  I wonder how they are still  in Business?

Because the Bay Area is large.  For every person that they piss off, there are
most likely hundreds who do buy from them because they don't know better.  It's
been my experience that most Bay Area dealers are slime.  My favorite example
is Oak Tree Mazda.  Not only did their salesperson ask "who wears the pants in
the family" when I mentioned I needed to consult my wife on something, the
sales manager went so far as to make several comments about what the sex life
between my wife and I must be like.  Likewise, I found the sales folk at
Sunnyvale Ford to be more than a little slimy as well.  Don't even get me
started about service departments in the Bay Area.  I think it's because these
dealers know that with the size of the Bay Area even if they completely piss you
off and you tell everyone you know not to give them your business it won't hurt
their sales one little bit.

Granted, I haven't purchased a car here in Colorado yet, but the local Mazda
and Ford dealership service departments are absolute models of how I'd not only
expect to be treated, but also of how I would dream of being treated.  According
to them, it's because when you're a dealer in a town of 30,000 people if you
screw someone over word gets around, and then you no longer have any business.
Definitely no complaints about them whatsoever.
-- 
| William Kucharski, Solbourne Computer, Inc.     | Opinions expressed herein
| Internet: kucharsk@solbourne.com   Ham: N0OKQ   | are MINE alone, NOT those
| Snail Mail: 1900 Pike Road, Longmont, CO  80501 | of Solbourne Computer, Inc.
| President, "Just the Ten of Us" Fan Club        | "Dittos from Longmont, CO"
From: tsmith@cerritos.edu
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: 300zx steering vibration
Date: 5 Jan 93 15:05:09 PST
Organization: Cerritos College, Norwalk CA

I have a question regarding a small problem with my steering wheel vibration.
I own an 85 nissan 300zx, a great car, no problems what so ever and it has
over 125,000 miles!!!  I guess i'm kind of lucky.  Anyways the only problem
that I am encountering is that when ever I slowly brake to get off an off
ramp or just come to a slow stop the steering wheel tends to vibrate.  I have
very low profile tires plus I have been told that I need new shocks and or
struts.   The tires are in great condition and balanced and I'm not sure if the
shocks are causing the vibration because the car sits a few inches shorter
that if the shocks were new.  Or because the tires a low profile and the car
was not designed for them?

Note: I didn't have the springs cut or lowered.
Would the vibration be caused by bad brakes or its calipars (sp?)?.  Or ???
Thanks!

Tom.

From: leonglaw@hpsgm2.sgp.hp.com (Lawrence LEONG)
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 11:03:15 GMT
Subject: Re: dodge shadow - fuel problem
Organization: HP Singapore
Newsgroups: rec.autos

In rec.autos, mcostell@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Malcolm G. Costello) writes:

[fuel tank problem deleted]

| By taking off the cap when you fill up you're "fixing" the problem.
| The vapor cannister sometimes gets messed up if you're in the habit
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                 ^^^^^^^^^
| of overfilling the tank. When the automatic nozzle cuts off, don't
| try to squeeze in more gas.
| x
|

How does this happen?

Thankx
Lawrence
From: andrew@frip.WV.TEK.COM (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Isuzu to stop selling in the US?
Date: 6 Jan 93 21:19:19 GMT
Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix Color Printers, Wilsonville, Oregon

The Wall Street Journal says that Isuzu will stop making cars and will
concentrate on trucks.

The same article says that Nissan continues to absorb Fuji Heavy Metal
Industries, who make Subarus.

(The thrust of the article is that car sales are *way* down in Japan,
and the car manufacturers there are in big trouble.  Lots of unused
manufacturing capacity.  They hope to stimulate the market in Thailand
and Malaysia.)

  -=- Andrew Klossner  (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com)
                       (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew)
From: tegan@cup.portal.com (Terry Michael Egan)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Is there a Toyota Landcruiser group or mailing list?
Date: Thu,  7 Jan 93 14:21:06 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: usa

Hi.

	When I bought my 92 Landcruiser, the saledroid went on and on
about a group of 'cruiser owners that sponsored trips, had a magazine,
and Ghod knew what else.

	It has now been almost 10 months and nary a peep do I hear.
Was the salesdroid, shall we say, misinformed ?  Or, perhaps there
was such a group at one time, but has since become defunct ?

	On a related note,  is there a Usenet mailing list concerned
with 'cruisers or possibly Toyota vehicles ?  ( I already get the
offroad list, thanks )

Thanks for your time,

Terry Egan
Newsgroups: rec.autos
From: sankar@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Sriram Sankar)
Subject: BMW318i vs. Accord EX vs. Infiniti G20
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 22:40:18 GMT


I'm interested in a comparison between the BMW318i, the Honda Accord EX,
and the Infiniti G20.  The 318i is about $3000 more expensive (seemingly)
that the other two.  I'm interested in buying one of these cars (manual
transmission).  So I'd like to here good and bad things about them, as
well as what you consider is a good price on these cars.

How expensive are these cars to maintain, how safe are they, and also
is it true that the BMW will outlast the other two cars - thus (at
least to some extent) justifying the price difference?

Thanks,

Sriram.
Newsgroups: rec.autos
From: RVB@ECL.PSU.EDU (Ramarao V Bandaru)
Subject: Question on Nissan Sentra : Engine Oil
Organization: Penn State Engineering Computer Lab
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 93 16:39:03 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24



        I recently bought a '87 Nissan Sentra. I changed the oil about
1500 miles back, but it already has a black color. Could the problem be that
some coolant is leaking into the oil? I don't know much about cars. I would
appreciate it if some netters could give me some clue as to what the problem
might be. ( The coolant level has reduced quite a bit since I last topped it).
Overall the car seems to run OK.

        Thanks

Ramu.
From: jrd@po.CWRU.Edu (John R. Daker)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Need an address for PIAA
Date: 7 Jan 1993 17:19:03 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: jrd@po.CWRU.Edu (John R. Daker)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



I believe that is the name of the company, PIAA.  They make auxiliary
lighting.  I can't remember where I saw their ads, only that I saw many
of them.  I would like their phone number, and if possible an magazine
where I can find their ad.

Also, any other suggestions for high quality, high intensity driving
lights.

-- 
-------------------->DarkMan<--------------DoD #650-----------------------
BSME no longer seeking employment: Found it.  Who would have ever though that
I could get paid to live a childhood dream?
From: cr415@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Adam S. Wang)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Mitsubishi Truck Speaker
Date: 7 Jan 1993 23:33:35 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu



Hello, I hope this is the proper group...

I bought a 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, which is the same as the
Dodge RAM 50.  Does anyone know how to remove the dashboard-
speaker grilles so that I can install my own speakers?  Do I
need to remove the entire face of the dashboard?  I have no
plans to install a traditional head unit at this time.  Thanks.

-Adam

Newsgroups: rec.autos
From: slip@cupid.cc.bellcore.com (mahoney,robert s)
Subject: Re: Laforza - What is it?
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 18:50:56 GMT

In article <ofFDDFS00iV4M26Fsl@andrew.cmu.edu> dh3q+@andrew.cmu.edu (Daniel U. Holbrook) writes:
>If I remember correctly, the Laforza was an attempt by some (swiss??
>Italian??) folks in the late '80s to make a top-class 4x4.   They
>apparently made a few (don't know how many) but didn't cut the mustard
>financially. One of the car rags did an article/test a few years ago,
>and, again if I remember correctly, liked it a whole lot.  Don't
>remember any more. Where'd you see this thing?

The LaForza, as I remember, was made in Calif. for a few years using
Ford powertrain(5.0l engine). Looks alot like today's explorer.
From: stecz@pencom.com (John Steczkowski)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Braking techniques
Date: 7 Jan 93 19:17:05 GMT
Reply-To: stecz@pencom.com
Organization: Pencom Software

In article <1993Jan7.145421.12768@mtu.edu> vetter@mtu.edu (STEVEN J. VETTER)  
writes:
>   This is great if you can perfectly match RPM's all the time.  However, even  
if
>   you match them pretty well, there will still be some slippage, even if  
minimal.
>   My point is, except for the obvious long hills and such, why do it at all?   
Engine
>   braking does not brake as well as the brakes do, it is less controllable,  
and if
>   it wears on the clutch even the tiniest bit, why do it?

I downshift so that  I'm in the proper gear before I begin accelerating out of  
a turn, and I can match up perfectly almost everytime, it's not hard.  Most of  
the autocrossers I've ridden with can do it perfectly almost everytime also.

--
--
  John Steczkowski                        stecz@pencom.com
  "Achilles raised his spear, took careful aim, and hurled."
  					    from the Iliad
Newsgroups: rec.autos,rec.autos.antique,rec.autos.tech
From: gcagle@dracula.mentorg.com (Greg Cagle)
Subject: STOLEN Collector Cars Alert
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1993 19:38:08 GMT
Reply-To: greg_cagle@mentorg.com
Organization: Mentor Graphics
Keywords: 
Followup-To: rec.autos

The Oregonian reports that sometime over Xmas, two collector cars were
stolen from a local (Tigard, Oregon) warehouse. They were:

1934 Ford three-window coupe, VIN 18973026. Silver and Black 1934 Oregon
license plates, 227-909. Cordova gray (tan) with red wire wheels and red
pinstriping. Flathead V-8 with aluminum heads. Mohair upholstery. Rare
"ashtray" radio. No rumble seat; full rear trunk. The owner claims it
is a high 90 point car and has had it at national V-8 meets.

1967 Corvette roadster, VIN 194677S122449. Marina blue, Oregon plates
JFA 529. 427/435 tri-power with factory side exhaust. White top, blue
interior, whitewall tieres. 56K miles on the odometer. The black
"stinger" stripe on the right side of the hood scoop has faded, the
alternator has been polished, and there is slight damage on the
left front corner where a previous owner dropped a wrench.

Also taken was a red 1986 Chevrolet 1-ton stakebed dually truck,
registration T455470 with a "Poly-Cast" logo on the side, and a
Camaro 327 engine with 4-speed transmission. The thieves may have loaded
everything on the truck and driven it away.

A $5,000 reward has been offered for the return of both cars.

-- Greg
____________________________
Greg Cagle
Platform Technology Division
Mentor Graphics Corporation
greg_cagle@mentorg.com
(503)685-1570
Newsgroups: rec.autos
From: luk@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (richard.luk)
Subject: oil filter advice sought
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 18:06:15 GMT
Keywords: Honda Accord LXI, oil filter


Happy New Year to everyone!

I'm looking for oil filter advice.
I have a 1988 Honda Accord LXI, can I replace the oil
filter with ones NOT made by Honda?  I know I can use
other brands, such as Fram,etc., but are they
recommended.  Someone once told me that he had used
a third party oil filter in a Toyota and the oil
pressure light stays on.  It turned out that there
was an oil pressure regulator inside the filter, I
forget on which.
Anyway, I'm looking for advice on which oil filter
to use, Honda or third party.

Please respond via e-mail, I'm not a regular reader
of this news group.

Thanks in advance.
Rich
From: dbernard@clesun.Central.Sun.COM (Dave Bernard)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Taurus #1 in US
Date: 7 Jan 93 12:56:01 GMT
Reply-To: dbernard@clesun.Central.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: clesun.central.sun.com

According to last year's sales figures, Taurus edged out the Accord as 
the US's top-selling car model, and Ford wasted no time in giving itself
bouquets.  Honda, which had enjoyed the spot for the last 3 or so years,
sour-grapedly replied that Ford sells lots of Tauri to fleets, and Honda
does not, thereby accounting for the higher figures.  On the other hand,
could not Ford just say that in fact they had held the position all along,
if you include Taurus clone Sable?  But probably not, brand twinning is
a sacred cow.

	Dave
From: stecz@pencom.com (John Steczkowski)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Bill Gates 959 for sale?
Date: 11 Jan 93 22:09:18 GMT
Reply-To: stecz@pencom.com
Organization: Pencom Software

I thought I'd start a rumor...

I saw an ad in Autoweek for a 959 for sale in California in the 408 area code.  
(I realize Gates is in Washington), but it looks suspicious to me.  Isn't the  
rumour that Bill Gates has his 959 in some customs warehouse in California?

--
  John Steczkowski                        stecz@pencom.com
"Racing is life. Whatever happens before or after is just waiting."
                                         --Steve McQueen in Le Mans
From: lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Why is US engine technology so retrograde?
Date: 12 Jan 93 02:01:43 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corporation

In article <1993Jan11.171333.28720@newsgate.sps.mot.com> mark@wdcwdc.sps.mot.com (Mark Shaw) writes:
>
>I suppose you are talking about a '60s Z-28, in which case the 290 hp
>was gross and not the 290 hp NET from the Northstar engine.  The older
>measurement method was way off from reality.  When Detroit changed over
>in 1971 to net hp ratings they all dropper by 30-50% depending on the
>engine.  GM was the only one with enough guts to give both before and
>after ratings in the trade press.   

   I wish I could attribute such a high motive to GM on the Z's
   horsepower rating.  Maybe I'm just cynical enough to recall that
   at the time the insurance companies all had a rather nasty
   attitude about insuring any car with 300 hp or more.
From: andrew@frip.WV.TEK.COM (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: Opinions: 4runner, Explorer and Pathfinder
Date: 13 Jan 93 01:37:19 GMT
Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix Color Printers, Wilsonville, Oregon

[]

	"[In the Jeep Grand Cherokee] ... you lose a significant amount
	of space with a full-size spare tire."

You sure do.  I'm not in the market for a sport-ute, but if I were, it
would be for on-road use only, and I would consider driving without the
spare.  Perhaps one of those new tires that will go 50 miles after
blowing out would be of use here?

  -=- Andrew Klossner  (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com)
                       (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew)
From: eliot@stalfos.engr.washington.edu (eliot)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: 4-valve heads in Corollas vs. VWs (was Re: AudiWatch Update (Tm) #8)
Date: 7 Jan 1993 19:49:27 GMT
Organization: clearer than blir
NNTP-Posting-Host: stalfos.engr.washington.edu

In article <19930107.113129.343@almaden.ibm.com> lcheng@watson.ibm.com writes:
>... <various posts re: 4-valve heads in Corollas being earlier/later
>than Sciroccos deleted> ...

>Come on people!  Four-valve heads were not first introduced into the
>automotive world by Toyota's FX-16, nor by VW's Scirocco, nor by Lotus.
>In fact they appeared much earlier ... something like in the 1920's
>by Peugeot (my memory fails me on this).  Taking this argument only
>in the context of 1980's cars is simply ridiculous.

in a sense, yes.  but you should also give credit to manufacturers who
can market successfully an otherwise dead idea.  audi gets almost all
the credit for bringing all-wheel drive into the public consciousness,
but how many people know about the 1967 Jensen FF with ABS, viscous
coupled AWD that never survived the marketplace?  audi certainly
deserves credit for reviving a dead idea and making it relatively
widespread and self-sustaining.

i don't know who is responsible for the current widespread use of 4
valve heads (perhaps everybody), but to give exclusive credit to its
inventor only is also quite ridiculous.  4 valve heads were relatively
rare until quite recently.

but then i don't buy the argument that company A is better than
company B just because company A came out with 4 valve heads *before*
company B.  that is simple-minded silliness.


eliot


Newsgroups: rec.autos
From: bqueiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Brian J Queiser)
Subject: Re: Why is US engine technology so retrograde?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 14:57:33 GMT

c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) writes:

>james@koko.csustan.edu (Jonas Grumpy) writes:

>>For what its worth to the argument, we already have had an engine
>>hit our shores, 50 state legal from the manufacturer that put out 170 hp/ltr
>>The Ferrari F40 was under 2.9 liters and put out over 500hp EPA certified.
>>If Ferrari decided to build a 2 liter Version it would probably put
>>out over 350hp 50 state legal. It would not /should not cost
>>                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>astronomical amounts of money to build such an engine. When you
>>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>buy the F40 your paying alot for the *opportunity* to buy it.
>>The current best from the Japanese is about 100hp/liter. btw
>>the F40 put out as much power per unit of disp as the little
>>model airplane engines running 15% Nitro!!

>That (and much of Izza's comments earlier along with it) are classic
>symptoms of no experience or knowledge of how the real world operates,
>and in a subject in which you are probably not trained on.  From what
>I've seen in various TV programs and read in books, (i.e. without
>going into internal details) mostly anything in a Ferarri is
>hand-built. As in by HUMANS (or even better, Italians :-) who are a
>bit strange when they build cars and actually enjoy working two and
>three generations deep in Ferrari, apprenticing their way for years
>before doing anything important to an engine block/panel/whatever).

To take the Ferrari hand-built thing a bit further:

I know a guy who bought a '91 348.  He could've been BS'n me, but he
said that his engine has a plate on it engraved with the name of the
guy at Ferrari's engine shop who built the engine.  The mechanics at
the dealer in Chicago where he bought it told him that the engine parts
are hand-picked by a single assembler and put together at his own pace.
The engine may sit around for an unspecified amount of time, torn
down, rebuilt, etc. until the assembler _feels_ like it's ready to be
put into a car.  Then, if problems develop with the engine, the mechanics
here in the states may actually contact the guy in Italy who put the
thing together.

Even if the story is BS, it sure sounds cool to me.  :^)
Anyone know if there's truth to it?

Regards,

Brian

bqueiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am the engineer, I can choose K.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Engineering Mechanics
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
From: ps296au@sdcc4.ucsd.edu (Steven Cobb)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: SAAB (900) mailing list?
Date: 6 Jan 93 03:34:51 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

Does anyone know if there is a SAAB (preferably 900 series) mailing
list, and how to subscribe?  

Thanks and regards,
-- 
  \________/\      ______________________    __________________________________
Steven Cobb  \    /   scobb@ucsd.edu     \__/                Graduate School:
              \  /                                           It's not a job...
         UCSD  \/ ision Lab                                  It's an indenture.
From: leonglaw@hpsgm2.sgp.hp.com (Lawrence LEONG)
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 11:32:01 GMT
Subject: Re: Tires of the Integra
Organization: HP Singapore