The Tow Files - Back in Black, Gettin' Flak.

[drunkenwildmage]

Neither, I'm afraid, but they are edible as emergency rations in disaster situations.

Now that you mentioned it, I remember Steve1989MRE reviewing an Agrabucks ration not to long ago.

[Andrew B.]

Now that you mentioned it, I remember Steve1989MRE reviewing an Agrabucks ration not to long ago.

Now that you mention this, I am sure Ashens will do one soon.

[RealUnimportant]

Lavender tires are insufficient excuse to purchase a car.

Use them to make planters instead?

[Pixelated]

There are. Before lock-down, I used to see them all the time on the Google bikes around here. But they also make car tires in colors.


And you can buy solid colored ones now evidently from Alibaba.

Whooaaa ... If my current vehicle wasn't such a ramblin' wreck, I might consider getting something like that. We'll see what I get next -- hopefully before this vehicle actually disintegrates in the road.

I removed the images because ... I figured they'd been shown once, so ...

[Argabarga]

Lavender tires are insufficient excuse to purchase a car.

I'll be the judge of that.....

[Racket_Man]

There are. Before lock-down, I used to see them all the time on the Google bikes around here. But they also make car tires in colors.

And you can buy solid colored ones now evidently from Alibaba.

I thought that years ago the US Federal Gov outlawed that type of tires years ago cause of the gang thing marking territory

I did the same thing once, but luckily at the time, I was in the habit of keeping a spare key in my wallet. So the worst thing that happened was that I felt like an idiot for a few seconds.

I learned the hard way also. I put a spare in my wallet right after I had to call my parents for my spare

[Rosco the Iroc]

New Jeeps have"stop-start" and come with 2 batteries so they can auto turn off at lights and stuff and keep the radio on. Press the gas to go and it starts again and goes.

[RealUnimportant]

Stop-start generally uses a different system to just turning off the engine manually; due to advancements in sensors and electronics for fuel/ignition, they can now get it so that an engine stops with a full combustion chamber and a piston just past TDC where it would usually spark, and that's the impetus for getting it running again rather than turning the starter motor. Feels weird when it happens the first few times but you get used to it. 2 batteries isn't strictly necessary unless you have a lot of heavy electrical loads.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Yay for new Argabarga! I have missed the towing insanity!

[Dave1982]

TO A DEGREE, I can understand believing that idling doesn’t consume (much) fuel, because depending on how efficient the engine is, you can idle for an impressively long time even with the gauge on E.

One time, I got caught in complete gridlock immediately after leaving work. Didn’t even get a mile before traffic just stopped….for TWO HOURS. I did not move an inch in that time, and my gas light had come on halfway through the drive that morning. By the time we finally got moving I was in a genuine panic that I’d run out of gas before reaching a gas station, but I didn’t. To this day I still have no idea what happened to cause the gridlock.

HOWEVER, not using “much” gas is not the same as not using any at all. Anyone who thinks that is dumb.

And speaking of dumb, I’ve also locked my keys in the car with the engine running. But that was in the middle of winter and the lock had frozen. I had to climb over the center console to start it (stick shift so there was a clutch interlock), then climb back over it again to get back out and scrape the ice off the windows, and accidentally bumped the lock switch. Normally, the power locks would not close if the key was in the ignition, but because the drivers lock was already frozen in the locked position, the system detected a malfunction and thus didn’t unlock ANY doors.

[Sparklyturtle]

I read a lot and I've read about the Matoon Gasser. I've never even been to Illinois, though, except for having to run through O"Hare with undignified abandon once because our connecting flight to Sacramento was of course leaving from the absolutely furthest gate from where we'd landed, and we had 15 minutes to get there. We made it, but just.

[mjr]

Once...and only once...I rode with someone who turned off their (gas-powered) car at red lights. I'm sure he said he had some reason to do so (this was when I was too young to drive), buuuut >_>

I think this was one of those "hypermiling" things that people used to do. I think it was supposed to save gas or something. I think data showed that it actually used more gas, and was actually harder on the car's starter, as well as dangerous somehow. Other hypermiling techniques included "tailgating" (working off of the "drafting" principle), accelerating and then coasting, and things like that. All were supposed to save gas somehow.

I drive a Hybrid Accord, so mine has an "EV" mode that it switches back and forth from, depending on how I'm driving, speed, etc.

[Ironclad Alibi]

There are many ways to get high miles per gallon from your car. But in the end is it worth all the extra time and effort it takes? Not for me.

[EricKei]

My brother and I were driving home from college one day when he (intentionally or not) ended up rather close to the tail end of an 18-wheeler. He was driving a Geo Metro at the time. Within seconds, our widdle roller skate of a car was shuddering as if it were terrified; I concluded, aloud, that it was afraid of the higher vehicular life-form.

I have since read that some folks have been able to get the (already good) mileage on those things up to 45~50MPG by removing all of the seats save for the driver's seat and other unneeded interior bulk.

Another way people seem to try and squeeze extra mileage out of cars is to use gas with an octane rating higher than what the car was designed for. The overwhelming majority of info I've seen suggests that, while this can make a small difference, it's no where near enough to actually make up for the difference in price. Note that doing the opposite -- going too low -- can easily damage your engine over time, especially if it's done consistently.

[RealUnimportant]

Another way people seem to try and squeeze extra mileage out of cars is to use gas with an octane rating higher than what the car was designed for.

Yeah, although better gas can give better power, it relies on retuning the engine to take advantage of it. Modern cars with electronic everything will likely adapt automatically, but older cars would need to be manually retuned to benefit; running the engine out of tune with the wrong gas is a very simple recipe for damage!