Yanks.....the mind boggles!

[Taggart 0]

An American woman hired a car in Budapest from Sixt, a Citroen C4. She

drove it to Pecs , a distance of approx. 220 km. She did the whole journey

in first gear because she thought it was an automatic! And this is what the

car looked like afterwards.

[chrishill 0]

muppet! some people really shouldnt be let out of the nut house.

[dazzyvr6 0]

lol..had to be a women

[ZippyVR6 0]

Yet more proof if proof be needed that the most powerful nation on the planet is inhabited by doughnuts.

[Jim 2]

Well.. not all Americans are like this. The Americans who post on here are decent guys! But yeah, it does seem to have its fair share of morons.. and stuff like that proves it. Surely the SCREAMING engine must have signified that all was not well.

[RW1 0]

Oh yes, saw this last week.

 

Competition!

 

What do you think her maximum speed was during the journey?

 

.

[dazzyvr6 0]

id guess at 25mph :lol:

[chrishill 0]

well the gearing would be her major limitation, I'd say max speed in 1st has to be something like 45mph?

[ZippyVR6 0]

Well.. not all Americans are like this. The Americans who post on here are decent guys! But yeah, it does seem to have its fair share of morons.. and stuff like that proves it. Surely the SCREAMING engine must have signified that all was not well.

 

tru, sorry guys, present company execpted, The way of the Dub is a true sign of knowledge. :)

[Walesy 0]

a Citroen C4. She

drove it to Pecs , a distance of approx. 220 km. She did the whole journey

in first gear because she thought it was an automatic!

 

Sorry to be pedantic, but how did she get it into first gear if she thought it was an auto?...she would have had to use the clutch, and get it to clutch point to pull off etc. Unlees of course it was one of these new semi-auto triptronic typa things.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Probably the latter.

 

Still pretty cr@p the engine melted though....but it's a citroen, say no more!

 

It's worrying when people that dumb have access to a car, but the things they do provide plenty of mirth for others.

[bcstudent 0]

The engine didn't melt, but the high engine speed and low airflow caused enough heat to melt the sound deadening material on the underside of the bonnet....it would appear. It would also appear that the high temps. took everything plastic or rubber in the engine bay with it!

[Yandards 0]

The engine didn't melt, but the high engine speed and low airflow caused enough heat to melt the sound deadening material on the underside of the bonnet....it would appear. It would also appear that the high temps. took everything plastic or rubber in the engine bay with it!

 

and all the other plastic crap they insist on covering engines in these days

 

I thought the rental companies had to give you a big old briefing on any car they rent out these days?

[bcstudent 0]

Why do manufacturers insist on putting big plastic covers over engines now? I don't understand why they can't just make an engine bay look tidy without it. Honda manage it with cars like the Civic Type-R and even the CRX all those years ago.

[Jim 2]

I think a few possible things:

 

1. Its a barrier to prevent someone who doesnt know what their doing, from twiddling with stuff they aren't meant to. On my TDI there is just the dip stick and the oil filler cap accessible - nothing more. Garages prefer punters to take the car to them rather than perform home maintainance and perhaps this helps?

 

2. Another layer of sound insulation to help make for a quieter car - again, using my TDI as a reference, when you whip off the plastic cover, its heavily insulated on the underside - there is also the usual sound deadening on the bonnet.

 

3. Just makes it look cleaner and nicer - we all know that engines are dirty but a plastic cover conceals all that and just leaves a nice little company logo and engine type.. the public don't need to see the oily stuff!

[chrishill 0]

1. Its a barrier to prevent someone who doesnt know what their doing, from twiddling with stuff they aren't meant to. On my TDI there is just the dip stick and the oil filler cap accessible - nothing more. Garages prefer punters to take the car to them rather than perform home maintainance and perhaps this helps?

 

exactly what i was thinking

[Yandards 0]

I guess that as much as it makes an engine looks tidy it also hides all the easily identifiable components from the consumer. In doing so they furthur remove the population's ability to maintain their own vehicles. Hence the colour coded dipstick and all the other bits to make it easy for morons to identify whats under the bonnet that the manufacturers want them to check.

 

After all at internal combustion engine has changed very little since its inception, you only need to look at all the electronic crap that 'Improves your driving experience' that they push now instead of advances in power plant design.

 

Furthur evidence can be seen of this dumbing down by flicking through a recently written Haynes 'pack 'o lies' Whilst it is good to assume no technical knowledge they could at least put some in there!

[bcstudent 0]

the public don't need to see the oily stuff

 

But they're my favourite bits!

[Henny 0]

the public don't need to see the oily stuff

 

But they're my favourite bits!

 

Hence why you drive a Corrado rather than a plastic coated newer car... 8)

[Tempest 0]

at all the electronic crap that 'Improves your driving experience'

 

ESP :roll: Now why does a Rocco without this much hyped piece of electronic rubbish, which only masks basic crap suspension design, still handle so much better in tight cornering?

 

Already had seen the Yank with melt-down Citroen thing on the German forum, where we weren't quite sure about what really had happened. We liked to believe it was the Yank woman's fault, though :lol:

 

Tempest

 

Tempest

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Nothing wrong with engine covers, I like them. They're just not designed to withstand the heat of some f'ckin idiot driving 200km in 1st gear.

 

Car manufacturers have to try and cater for ALL levels of stupidity, aswell as mechanically minded enthusiasts and I think they do a good job by and large.

[RW1 0]

Still pretty cr@p the engine melted though....but it's a citroen, say no more!

 

 

Reckon the damage was done after the car finally stopped. The engine must have been glowing like an electric fire!

 

.

[steve_16v 0]

Surely there would have been all sorts of warning lights/buzzers going off if the engine is getting that hot??? I find it very hard to believe anyone would drive that far in first and not notice the warnings/engine noise and not stop. It looks more like an electrical fault has caused an engine fire to me, it's one thing melting the plastic cover, but a hole in the bonnet?

[dinkus 10]

I'm just amazed that the coolant didn't boil away and cause huge plums of steam long before any plastic started melting...

[DEL VR6 0]

what a joker driving the car like that! Imagine the racket it must have made in 1st gear all that time!