My car just passed its MOT - I'm not impressed.

Never been into automatics, tooooo risky.

 

I think this is what you want then @pete Non of them new fangled gizmos on this Ford beauty

 

ABS and traction control are trying to do the same job - provide traction. Lock the front wheels and they no longer steer. The big misconception about ABS is that it decreases stopping distances when in actual fact if you can brake right on the edge without locking the brakes you'll stop quicker than a car with ABS.
Traction control is a pain in rear wheel drive cars as you loose the option of steering with the throttle.
Auto every time for me as I only have two legs and feet!

 

No, I've never had the pleasure of a 360 glt FC.

I know what you mean though. I suspect all the old bricks were surprising. I saw some chavs showing off their clios and corsas once, attempting unsuccessfully to do power slides and donuts in a local car park. I took Helga in, drove in like the stereotypical grandma, stopped near their gathering, then full lock and pedal to the metal. Massive donut, then Istopped for long enough for them to get a good look at the 17 years old brick that had just done something their shopping cars couldn't manage, then left them to it, giving them a little power slide as I left, just as a little finale.

 

That Ford plant is about 7 kliks from me. I have been on trips in both the T and A model fords. I have been in some truly unique and rare vehicles over the years and do very much miss the old technology.

I used to enjoy changing out distributor caps or adjusting the choke etc... Miss that...

 

@CanadianLori , you mentioned kliks. I hear this term a lot on American telly. I've never been quite sure what it means, but suspect it might be colloquial for kilometre. Is that right?

 

Forgot to mention that those trips were not fresh off the dealership lot

yes, klik are kilometers but it is more of a sci fi term than a geographic one. All hail Clarke, Verne, Welles, Assimov....

 

Had a quick flick through this tonight. Did you say the brakes were binding on the wheel? Surely that should have been picked up in the MOT? Don't they hand spin the wheels when checking for movement in the wheel bearings?
As for ABS, I wouldn't be without it. I have had to stop quick a few times at roundabouts due to people not indicating that they were coming around it. Brilliant in the wet due to water constantly being chucked out from under the wheels, preventing aquaplaning.
ESP is the system used in the Astra, for balancing out wheel lock/braking on bends etc (I think). An ex took a bend a bit too quick in the ice, and I don't know how the car didn't go down the ditch. I am sure it must have been down to ESP/todays modern tech.
Apologies if I have misunderstood any previous statements.

 

Here is a shocking ESP demo

 

Here they manually spin to also check the joints etc...

But that is only compulsory when selling a vehicle.

To get a new sticker we only need emission tests. The mecahically faulty ones are watched for on the roads in between ownership changes. Very slack.

I keep up with every check that I feel needs doing.

I am so anal I keep a binder per vehicle with the paperwork for every oil change etc....nothing remains undocumented....

 

And I bet those modern features (ABS/ESP) have saved loads of lives, so that's gotta be good hasn't it?

 

I must take my friend's CTS-V out once awhile for a spin. I was terrified as I don't like driving standard . But what the heck, maybe the corners need more rounding.....