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	Archive through May 02, 2025	25		06/23 02:58pm

Don’t forget that in very cold conditions, the busses still need to heat the cabin. Not every load is at full capacity, and buses making frequent stops, are constantly opening and closing doors at the front and middle point of the vehicle.

Not ever going to get hot or tropical in January, but trying to heat the interior to 65degrees f, from -35 degrees f is still a 100 degree difference. A lot to demand of a battery powered heater, particularly for a hybrid bus (lets assume 50 adult passengers, 200 hundred pounds average weight (male and female, weighted at the high end as people are as obese in Minnesota as they are in other areas.). (50*200=10,000) is five tons of passengers. Plus other belongs, some have respiratory issues and may be carrying various equipment that they need to breath (and all of which weigh up.) sometimes (rush hour) every seat gets filled and standing room only. 50 people was an average estimate, not maximum capacity.

I should mention , the community has a higher number of people from other countries who come from all over the world for treatment. Many live in extended stay suites and while some have shorter periods of stay others might be here for months.

Depending on the bus route, the vehicles may need to climb some significant hills, none of which have steep incline, but 5% to 8% are most common. One particular route has a very steep incline.

As I said, the designers and engineers were not building buses for this particular part of the real world.

Oh, and one of the busses broke down when the alternative fuel Biodiesel froze in the fuel lines. No one thought to mix it with antifreeze.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 02:40 am: Edit

My new platinum Rogue (that I waited four years to buy, until my last Rogue wore out) is the only car I ever bought that I regret buying. I HATE THIS PIECE OF CRAP CAR. I bought it on auto-pilot (I was busy and had been waiting four years to replace Rogue #3 with Platinum Rogue #5 so I just said "that one" and wrote the check). Some moron changed the beautiful blue color of my last four Rogues to a horrible black-blue that looks like junk. Some moron change the beautiful camel interior to dog •••• brown. Some moron removed the rear door lock buttons that I love on my wife's car, and I needed them. Some (government) idiot added that stupid start/stop system; if I had known it was there I would have waited until Congress removed that mandate or bought a previous year's model. The radio turns itself on every time I get in the car instead of waiting for me to turn it on. The navigation system doesn't have "map with direction of car at top" so I tried  using the satellite mode that will use "direction of car at top of screen" but every time I start the car it reverts to the biggest scale instead of the scale I want. The air conditioner on the four previous Rogues could be adjusted up and down but when you got the hot car cool or the cold car warm you could push an AUTO button and it would all by itself pick out the right setting to hold the temperature. Now I have to GUESS what the right setting is and manually adjust it to that. The HUD is cool but it keeps popping up this box that says LOOK FORWARD (with no explanation of what it means and no way to make it go away) and it blocks my vision to the point I have to pull over, stop the car, and restart the engine (see next) in order to drive safely. When I start the car I have to spend two or three minutes pushing buttons (radio, start/stop, navigation) before I can start driving. The turn signal works differently than any car in the history of turn signals and it is maddening to actually get it to turn off when I'm done turning. If I push the little arm up or down it should STAY THERE until I finish the turn, not jump back to the middle but leave the signal flashing. I could go on, but it's obvious that Nissan doesn't get a @#$& about what the customers think. I will never buy another Nissan and I will make sure everyone I know understands why.

Give me a minute to calm down and tell you how much I really hate this car. 
Never mind, I give up.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 01:59 pm: Edit

>> Some (government) idiot added that stupid start/stop system

That is such an annoying system! I wouldn't mind it so much if it was controlled with a positive action mechanical switch. Once I turn it off, it should stay off (even if the car is shut off) until such time as I turn it back on. But no, it has to turn back on automatically every time the car is turned on!

--Mike

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 02:11 pm: Edit

1st Rule of Upgrades:

Most improvements make things worse.

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 02:58 pm: Edit

I hate the start/stop so much I bought a programmer for my Wrangler that toggles that off until I turn it on. Worth every penny.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 03:52 pm: Edit

Mike: drop by and do that to my Rogue please!

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 04:49 pm: Edit

SVC, link sent via email on possible solution.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 05:58 pm: Edit

My fairly recent Ford POS has the same problem. It is one among many that make me loathe the car I drive.

Most loathesome is the "Infortainment Center" that is designed to work primarily through an eyephone.

I can't do an (expletive deleted) thing with the (another expletive deleted) piece of (yet another expletive deleted).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 06:55 pm: Edit

Political post deleted.

Jean
WebMom

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 08:34 pm: Edit

There is no federal mandate requiring start-stop systems in production vehicles in the U.S.; Kelley Blue Book had a decent article about it last month. What the EPA did do starting in 2010 (in 40 CFR § 86.1869-12) was offer 'off-cycle credits' to manufacturers that did include the system, an offer which has remained in place ever since with minor modifications. Start-stop systems are in roughly 65% of new vehicles at this time.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 08:43 pm: Edit

Sorry, quick google search contradicts the above post, the phrase following is from the google search result:

“… As of May 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no longer requires auto start/stop technology to be a federal regulation for new cars.”

Technically, SVC scores another point, see earlier post above.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 09:08 pm: Edit

Ran across a video discussing start/stop about how it ruins batteries and the engine.....
What a coincidence....

Also, pics (I guess) of the new Barracuda and Torino....
Both look pretty interesting for a modern hotrod

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 10:50 pm: Edit

Jessica is right, it is an incentive, not a requirement, but Trump is removing the financial incentives because (according to Lee Zeldin) "everybody hates it".

By Warren Mathews (Turtle) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 11:06 pm: Edit

I hate it. I'm going to have to read the manual so I know how to turn that stupid thing off. It is beyond super annoying. (replace super with another word of your choice)

You can avoid that thing but not applying as much brake pressure as usual once you come to your complete stop. I just don't have the skill to do that every time I have to come to a complete stop.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 23, 2025 - 11:36 pm: Edit

I turn the thing off every time I get in the car, but it's a pain to do that. I will get the interruptor plug ASAP and have someone install it. I have t he skills but my body cannot get into that position.

By Tom Lusco (Tlusco) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 04:11 am: Edit

From my experience, the annoyance caused by engine start/stop systems vary significantly between manufacturers. If the engine restarts *fast*, the system is largely acceptable (IMO). If the engine takes a second to restart, the system is so poor that it should never have made it to market; its a pretty sharp line between 'meh this is okay' and 'this is horrid.' The last Chrysler/Stellantis vehicle I drove was a minimum of one second to restart, which is not just annoying but also a safety issue; it just stuns me that someone thinks that's acceptable.

Some of them are fine. Some of them suck. They do benefit fuel economy at the cost of wear, in particular in urban driving.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:28 am: Edit

For what it's worth, the start/stop system that Toyota uses is seamless. Mind, they've a long history of it with their hybrid vehicles, but the very first such system was on the 6-cylinder Toyota Crown back in '74.

It surprised the heck out of me in 2002 when I got my Prius, but it quickly became unnoticeable. That said, hybrids start out with the electric motor first before kicking in the internal combustion engine anyway, and that makes a real difference.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 03:14 pm: Edit

The one on Nissan is horrible. It literally shakes the car hard enough to leave you asking if the car behind you ran into your back bumper.