What do you Drive?

[Reinier]

Bjørn Nyland agrees:

[Gareth]

Bjørn Nyland agrees:

That's an impressive system. 

[gregozedobe]

Let me add one feature that has blown me away: the pixel LED headlights. Each headlight features 84 individual LEDs that are controlled individually. You can always use the high beams: approaching vehicles and cars driving in front of you are "shaded out" automatically. It works really, really well.

https://www.polestar.com/uk/polestar-2/safety/

My wife's car has halogen lights which are OK. I owned a Volvo with xenon headlights that swiveled around corners: those were very good. Then I had auto-dimming, swiveling LED headlights on my previous car and I thought those were genius. But the Polestar's headlights are just ridiculously well engineered

My VW Golf R wagon also has these fancy matrix LED headlights.  It is really, really neat how it blanks out individual segments of high beam to avoid dazzling cars in front of you but still gives good illumination elsewhere which gives me a fighting chance of seeing any kamikaze kangaroos and wandering wombats in time to avoid hitting them. If they just had a bit more throw (distance) they would be perfect, but I suppose It is too much to expect from a semi-budget car.

[Altis]

A250. None of these are my actual photos but car looks identical (except the night shot has a black interior).

Absolutely love this car. Only wish they gave it a bit more ground clearance for Canadian roads/winter.






And the second vehicle, CBR500R:

[glenfiddich1983]

My Polestar 2 just arrived

(Image removed from quote.)

My charging station was installed a few weeks ago so the car is charging as we speak

Very nice! 

Not jealous at all! 

[Mechanickal]

Very nice! 

Not jealous at all! 

And, can it reach my place on a single charge?

[kkokkolis]

The Francoromanian penny car miracle, Dacia Duster 2016.

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[enki_ck]

The Francoromanian penny car miracle, Dacia Duster 2016.(Image removed from quote.)

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If that's the Black Shadow edition, we have the same car


Mine is just a year jounger.

[kkokkolis]

If that's the Black Shadow edition, we have the same car


Mine is just a year jounger.

I'm sure you're a happy customer like I am. I don't remember the Edition, it is Gen I, after the face-lift, full extras, 1.2 Tce 2x4.

[Mechanickal]

I had a promotion.
I'll have to hand over my company van in February and take a car instead.

Sadly, it's seen quite some distance already, so I'm hopeful they'll replace it with a new one soon.

[enki_ck]

I'm sure you're a happy customer like I am. I don't remember the Edition, it is Gen I, after the face-lift, full extras, 1.2 Tce 2x4.

Yup, full extras alu rims, just a different engine, diesel. 1.5

[Hevy (CT-782)]

Yup, full extras alu rims, just a different engine, diesel. 1.5

That's a good and reliable car.
It's sold here as Renault Duster.

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[Reinier]

And, can it reach my place on a single charge?

Barely!
In the summer perhaps

[Reinier]

I had a promotion.
I'll have to hand over my company van in February and take a car instead.

Sadly, it's seen quite some distance already, so I'm hopeful they'll replace it with a new one soon.

Congrats on your promotion. Nothing wrong with a FoFo

[ToolJoe]

That MB A250 is a sharp looking car. Front, all or rear wheel drive?

[Altis]

That MB A250 is a sharp looking car. Front, all or rear wheel drive?

AWD ("4MATIC")... works absolutely perfectly in the snow, except it won't let you have any fun (can't disable stability control or traction control entirely, only put it in "sport" which feels about the same). Also the car is pretty low to the ground -- apparently they're all lowered here in Canada.

Otherwise it's a near perfect car for me (well, manual transmission would have been nice). Does much better on fuel than I had expected. The interior lighting feels very cyberpunk. 

[kkokkolis]

What's the point of interior lighting? Black light (UV) is harmful for the eyes, especially for the cornea. This is a bad thing when driving. Other than that, Mercedes is the greatest car brand ever (considering trucks also) but I find BMW sexier and Audi/VW more all around practical.

[old Lefty]

AWD ("4MATIC")... works absolutely perfectly in the snow, except it won't let you have any fun (can't disable stability control or traction control entirely, only put it in "sport" which feels about the same). Also the car is pretty low to the ground -- apparently they're all lowered here in Canada.

Otherwise it's a near perfect car for me (well, manual transmission would have been nice). Does much better on fuel than I had expected. The interior lighting feels very cyberpunk. 

There's no esp off button in a-klasse? Pity. However, in c or e it also does that stupid euro-german thing were 'off' is not really off. Just a bit more leash. Idiotic and dangerous methinks. Well, at least it gives enough freedom to turn the car around with gas when steering input is kept within engineers parameters.

Lähetetty minun SM-T515 laitteesta Tapatalkilla

[Altis]

There's no esp off button in a-klasse? Pity. However, in c or e it also does that stupid euro-german thing were 'off' is not really off. Just a bit more leash. Idiotic and dangerous methinks. Well, at least it gives enough freedom to turn the car around with gas when steering input is kept within engineers parameters.

Lähetetty minun SM-T515 laitteesta Tapatalkilla

Yep, definitely irritating that it can't be turned off. In deep snow especially, I don't want it applying brakes trying to gain traction when what you need is to keep momentum and digging your way through. Plus it's no fun if you can't do controlled drifts because, like you say, the only way to do it is keep the steering into the corner as counter-steering will force it to brake the inside wheels and cut the power. 

[Altis]

What's the point of interior lighting? Black light (UV) is harmful for the eyes, especially for the cornea. This is a bad thing when driving. Other than that, Mercedes is the greatest car brand ever (considering trucks also) but I find BMW sexier and Audi/VW more all around practical.

There's no UV lighting  it's just RGB LEDs all over the dash, footwells, door handles, cupholders, etc. You can turn them off (or certain groups off) if you don't want to use them.

I actually find they reduce the glare of the instrument panels (the two large screens) by having even/normalized light across the car. What causes me eye strain is when there's a bright spot surrounded by darkness because your eyes cannot adjust for both. By having most of your visual scene at a similar light level, your eyes can be adjusted.

If I'm driving in the countryside at night for more than say half an hour, I'll switch them to red which is much easier on the eyes, but the blue/purple looks striking in town where all the roads are lit.

[kkokkolis]

Thanks. Red is the proper color for night vision, many brands use it on the instrument panel, like VW. Mine has an orange hue, which is close. From the picture I misjudged thinking there was UV light. They put it here in aftermarket, usually young people on their GTis, for show off. Tragic. It looks like driving a mobile strip club.

[Altis]

Thanks. Red is the proper color for night vision, many brands use it on the instrument panel, like VW. Mine has an orange hue, which is close. From the picture I misjudged thinking there was UV light. They put it here in aftermarket, usually young people on their GTis, for show off. Tragic. It looks like driving a mobile strip club.

Black light would be awful. I'm pretty sensitive to light and glare, but to my surprise the ambient lighting actually makes it better by means of light normalization.

I do miss cars that turned off the low-beams when the high-beams are on as that massively helped with glare for me as well, since low-beams create a bright spot in your main vision when you're trying to look farther ahead.

[old Lefty]

Yep, definitely irritating that it can't be turned off. In deep snow especially, I don't want it applying brakes trying to gain traction when what you need is to keep momentum and digging your way through. Plus it's no fun if you can't do controlled drifts because, like you say, the only way to do it is keep the steering into the corner as counter-steering will force it to brake the inside wheels and cut the power. 

The 'off' setting gives certain freedom for a slide if streering input is slow enough. Any attempt to de-stabilize with steering is a no-go. Slip angles up to say 45 - 50 decrees can be had with carefull handling. Only tiny, slow Scandinavian flicks, major ones are a no go. As soon as any braking happens you are only a fraction away from engine cutting, and that indeed is annoying and potentially dangerours.

Can you left foot brake the A? Most current fwd's cut fuel when break is applied, another tool removed from the box by safety nannies if you ask me

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[Reinier]

Polestar 2 in vacation mode

[Gareth]

Polestar 2 in vacation mode

(Image removed from quote.)

Nice.  I wonder what all that does to the range?

[Reinier]

Nice.  I wonder what all that does to the range?

Luckily the trip was only 60km
The roof box is fairly aerodynamic but the bikes have a huge impact on the range. Especially with those child seats

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with that Polestar.  I'm very interested in my next vehicle being electric, but I do have some concerns about surviving a Canadian Winter, especially since I sit in my car a lot to keep warm.

Cold weather often adversely affects batteries (my phone lasts a lot longer in the summer than winter) and all electric heat (vs waste heat energy from a motor) would be fairly consumption.

I'm interested in the new electric F-150 that is supposed to come out next year (2022 model) but I also see that the new Ford Mach E is priced a heck of a lot better than the F-150 will be.  The Mach E (I have a hard time referring to a 4 door SUV as a Mustang  ) looks to be about half the price of the F-150, but then considering the gas savings I am likely to have....

Of course, there is also a new, all electric Jeep being teased right now too....

All in all, I would like to have at least 5000 lbs towing capacity, and so far I think that means F-150.

Def

[Gareth]

I've wondered a few times over the last year why I bothered buying an AWD car...and then it snowed. 

I'm not going to say that good driving can be replaced by AWD but it certainly doesn't hurt either.

[pfrsantos]

Wish it was this: Batman Tumbler.

[Reinier]

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with that Polestar.  I'm very interested in my next vehicle being electric, but I do have some concerns about surviving a Canadian Winter, especially since I sit in my car a lot to keep warm.

I'm interested in the new electric F-150 that is supposed to come out next year (2022 model) but I also see that the new Ford Mach E is priced a heck of a lot better than the F-150 will be.  The Mach E (I have a hard time referring to a 4 door SUV as a Mustang  ) looks to be about half the price of the F-150, but then considering the gas savings I am likely to have....

So far it's OK but there's this pandemic going on... so I'm working from home which means no visits to clients. Yes, range is affected by the cold weather. Also, the heating consumes a lot of power so better to pre-heat the car whilst charging.

Mustang Mach-E was on my shortlist as well. I really like that car and it's a bit cheaper than the Polestar (well, the 2WD version with the smaller battery is). But it was not available before 2021 which was a priority for me.