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Automotive News & Views Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous
15061 messages, Last post on Nov 11, 2009 at 4:31 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: qbrozen (May 15, 2008 11:00 am)
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Replying to: british_rover (May 17, 2008 8:25 am) For your patients that chew gum (echem, customers that use the feature), has hill descent control been a big selling point? I am starting to see it pop up in a lot of different places, and for most of them, I just can't see the draw. OTOH, LR buyers seem to appreciate and actually use off road capability from time to time... How does it work?
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Replying to: lilengineerboy (May 17, 2008 10:22 am) When we do our off road driving school we do not use HDC at all. The only electronics used are on the vehicles that have 4ETC and/or Terrain Response. There are some situations, a long steep hill that looks dry but actually has mud underneath is one, where HDC can be dangerous. The HDC pulsating the brakes could cause a wheel to lock up for a split second which could start a slide that the electronics can't save. Obviously the torque converter is variable and 1,800 or so rpms it is locked up 1:1 but at idle speed or a little above idle speed it is closer to 2:1. A 90:1 or nearly 90:1 crawl ratio is very, very slow at idle speed. In fact for Land Rovers HDC target speed in low range is about 1 mph at idle. I can't speak for other makes as I don't know what kind of programs they are using but for Land Rover you can adjust that target speed by using the cruise control. Every tap of the button increases or decreases the target speed by about 0.1mph. The programs are actually all set in kilometers not MPH so it is around 0.1 mph. The target speed in high range is around 6 mph but that can be increased or decreased a fair amount. On the LR2/Freelander 2 the default target speed is either 7.2 mph or 6.2 I forget exactly with the max speed being around 12.2 mph and the minimum being around 3.4 mph. Land Rover invented Hill Decent Control back in the 90s and it debuted in the original Freelander for Europe in 1997/1997. Now everyone has their own version of it but Land Rover has actually made an even more advanced version for the Freelander 2/LR2. They came up with GRC(Gradient Release Control) basically a modified version of the hill hold/start assist you see on manual transmission vehicles. In Europe just about all Freelander 2s are manual Diesel models since they get almost 40 mph highway and GRC is great for that but they even have it on the automatic equipped models. HDC takes a second or so to catch the car as it rolls down a very steep hill so GRC bleeds the brake pressure slowly and allows HDC to catch the car without a sudden acceleration. Also the HDC system on the LR2 will automatically select the lowest target speed when going down a rough hill. The computer can detect the suspension bumping up and down over ruts or holes and trys to slow the car down more to increase control. I have no idea if the generic versions of HDC the other brands are using have any of these capabilities because I wouldn't risk taking one of them on our off road demonstration course to try them out. I assume BMW's version has some of these features as BMW owned Land Rover when the original HDC was developed. |
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Replying to: roadburner (May 16, 2008 8:21 pm) Blue Jeans Strikes Back
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Replying to: corvette (May 17, 2008 1:09 pm) Oh yes, I've seen it and I love it. I hope that BJC nails Monster Cable to the wall. BJC isn't the cheapest cable out there, but it's high quality and BJC refuses to make those pseudo-scientific BS claims that are the "High End" cable manufacturers' stock in trade.
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Replying to: roadburner (May 17, 2008 8:14 pm)
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Replying to: lemmer (May 19, 2008 5:30 am)
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Right in town we have a 2004 Volvo C70 HPT convertible. 33K on the clock. Dark blue metallic with beige leather.... the link only takes you to the main page but it's the only Volvo convertible on the lot... www.manahawkinautosales.com .....
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Replying to: roadburner (May 16, 2008 8:21 pm) Cables are very important; I've heard the difference, & now I have some fairly high-end audio cables that I bought used. I think I read some disparaging remarks here about Monster Cable? I'd agree..... |
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