Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1

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Fri 3 May 2019 19:33
- R40
re:ACC, these systems work perfectly when designed and built well. The VW system was done on the cheap and so is very poor, the BMW system in the i3 uses a camera and so fails whenever the sun is out!

Lexus first fitted ACC to its cars more than 15 years ago, and the system still works perfectly on 15 year old Lexus cars. There is a reason that German cars don’t show the same reliability.......
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Fri 3 May 2019 20:24
- glidermania
Left foot braking isnt hard to 'learn' or get used to.

Id never driven an auto despite driving manuals for over 35 years. When I got my first auto, I conditioned myself to use LFB when parking or reversing. Soon it became second nature to use LFB when driving on motorways or dual carriageways this, despite also still driving my wife's manual.
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Fri 3 May 2019 21:32
- Dorset123
AN and Fiesta Fuel Consumption.
I have a 2017 Fiesta 125 Ecoboost and on a long journey this car will do over 55mpg without any trouble and there is no need to keep the speed down. He doesn't say what kind of driving he is doing if he drives 2 miles a day then what does he expect ! The dealer is right with modern cars the engine check light will come on if there is a problem if the engine is running within spec there won't be a problem. What you need to do is fill the fuel tank up to the top and take the car on a 100 mile run then fill it up again and see what mpg it has done it will be a lot better than 29 mpg !
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Sat 4 May 2019 00:22
- Craig_
'It takes the average driver 2-3 seconds to move his foot from accelerator to brake' this is patently absurd. 0.2-0.3 seconds is closer to the mark.
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Sat 4 May 2019 07:41
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - groaver
'It takes the average driver 2-3 seconds to move his foot from accelerator to brake' this is patently absurd. 0.2-0.3 seconds is closer to the mark.

To be fair, HJ's audience is somewhat more mature than other sites. Their Zimmer frame probably gets in the way!

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Mon 6 May 2019 07:10
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - madf
'It takes the average driver 2-3 seconds to move his foot from accelerator to brake' this is patently absurd. 0.2-0.3 seconds is closer to the mark.

To be fair, HJ's audience is somewhat more mature than other sites. Their Zimmer frame probably gets in the way!

I resent that remark.. I am over 70 and don't have a zimmer frame.. (nor a wheelchair)..

Over 70s struggle to change driving styles.. I tried and gave up on LFB as I occasionally drive wife's manual Yaris..too complicated to remember,,

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Mon 6 May 2019 15:14
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - groaver
I resent that remark.. I am over 70 and don't have a zimmer frame.. (nor a wheelchair)..

Over 70s struggle to change driving styles.. I tried and gave up on LFB as I occasionally drive wife's manual Yaris..too complicated to remember,,

Madf don't get mad, get evenf. ;)

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Sat 4 May 2019 00:31
- Scot5
I have never understood HJ's obsession with left-foot braking.

If there is any delay in braking using your right foot in an automatic car, then the same must be true when you brake in a manual car. So are we saying we should be left-foot braking in manual cars too?

And every automatic car I've come across has a foot rest - presumably automatic drivers use this foot rest and do not drive with their left foot constantly over the brake? So what's the time difference in moving your left-foot from the footrest to the brake pedal to that of moving your right-foot to the brake pedal?

I'm willing to bet HJ's right foot is always next to the brake on the accelerator but his left foot is often nowhere near the brake pedal. I'd also suggest that when right foot braking, the accelerator pedal is free but when left-foot braking, there is still the possibility the right foot could be pressing the accelerator.

HJ keeps repeating the same advice and quotes the same scarmongering stories but to the best of my knowledge has never once produced any evidence to back up his claim that left-foot braking is any safer.
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Sat 4 May 2019 01:16
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - Keith Nason

HJ's main point in other posts is that there is a risk that you can press the accelerator and brake at the same time when you brake with your right foot. If you do this in a manual you would just press the clutch and disengage the gearbox, but in an auto you would just press down harder and the car is more likely to accelerate than slow down.

I can vouch for this because my car warns me when both pedals are pressed at the same time and it does pop up occasionally, It makes sense to me to left-foot brake if you only drive autos, I just haven't taken the time to train myself. I would imagine it would get confusing if you kept switching between a manual and an auto though.

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Sat 4 May 2019 01:16
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - Keith Nason

HJ's main point in other posts is that there is a risk that you can press the accelerator and brake at the same time when you brake with your right foot. If you do this in a manual you would just press the clutch and disengage the gearbox, but in an auto you would just press down harder and the car is more likely to accelerate than slow down.

I can vouch for this because my car warns me when both pedals are pressed at the same time and it does pop up occasionally, It makes sense to me to left-foot brake if you only drive autos, I just haven't taken the time to train myself. I would imagine it would get confusing if you kept switching between a manual and an auto though.

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Sat 4 May 2019 09:26
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - CMclean
Even worse if you have been driving R/H/D vehicles for years and then jump into a L/H/D one. Go to change gear and you end up opening the door ??
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Mon 6 May 2019 15:19
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - groaver

HJ's main point in other posts is that there is a risk that you can press the accelerator and brake at the same time when you brake with your right foot.

In my car, the brake pedal is set further forward than the accelerator. I'd imagine it's the same for most autos?

Can't press both at the same time.

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Sat 4 May 2019 11:05
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - Hugh Watt

Excellent post, Scot5. I'd also suggest that proximity of feet to pedals is not the main factor, but the degree of sensitivity and control one has in either foot - are you left- or right-footed? Can you switch equally between the two? We all have a variety of left/right preferences (- I write left-handed, kick right-footed, hold a phone to my left ear...) and I think it's impressive enough that we all seem able to adapt to the same pedal lay-outs!

Still, HJ offers such a wealth of information and motoring experience that I suppose we have to allow the old chap his idees fixes.

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Sun 5 May 2019 14:53
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - jchinuk

There is a superficial attraction to 'left foot' braking with an autobox, I always understood that is why the brake pedal on autos was larger. That said, I have never seen any evidence where manual cars (where you have to move your right foot to brake) suffer any more accidents than similar cars with an automatic transmission.

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Sat 4 May 2019 22:22
- rcaddy
re Mercedes service record.

I had the same problem with Sytner in Bedford. When I asked for written service details they seemed to think I was from another planet. I did get a paper copy but not without a good deal of persuasion on my part. I stopped buying Mercs and have had Mazda and Peugeot cars since who are very happy to provide written evidence.
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Sun 5 May 2019 11:27
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - GingerTom

rcaddy, yes Mazda also have a very good app where you can simply look up and print off your service record assuming it's a Mazda service of course.

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Sun 5 May 2019 11:25
- GingerTom
Parking your car for 3-4 months. I would recommend you leave the car in 3rd gear not 1st. The car will be impossible to move in 3rd and there will be no long term forces against the centering spring keeping the gear lever feeling like new. In neutral the lever naturally centres itself in line with 3rd and 4th for safety so the engine stalls if knocked.
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Sun 5 May 2019 12:24
- gordonbennet
People should be extremely wary of trying left foot braking, when they've been using the right foot for this for the past 5 or 40 years, the right foot and leg muscles have been trained to feel the brakes, similar to how they will feel the throttle pedal.

In an emergency situation you want muscle memory on such pedals not a recently learned left leg full power stand on the brakes, there might be a 44 ton artic behind when the car in question suddenly stops twice as fast as the driver intended and would have controlled done under right leg year's trained braking...self survival if nothing else, you can forget your 5 star NCAP scores, they mean diddly when lorries are involved.
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Sun 5 May 2019 14:50
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - jchinuk

ACC systems are always going to be calibrated to 'fail safe', on the basis that it's better to stop too often that not stop enough. It's a glimpse of the issues with fully autonomous cars, they will always be designed to default to stopping rather than going. I can foresee the situation when AI cars are constantly slowed by 'lads' in their Novas (other boy racers are available) deliberately pulling in front of the AI cars.

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Sun 5 May 2019 16:36
Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 04-05-2019 Part 1 - robtt
I have acc on my mk7 Golf. Been using it since new in 2015 and not had a single problem. It’s a great asset .I won’t buy another car without it
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Mon 6 May 2019 13:07
- stuart carmichael
Two to three seconds to move your foot from accelerator to brake ??
Only if the driver is asleep !!
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