Is it possible?

[Kev250R]

Subaru stuff is nuts, in general. $1500-1800 for a windshield? Not looking forward to that.

I drive a Tacoma and it's windshield costs are similar. I think a lot of that has to do with the collision-sensing cameras and re-calibration thereof.

The windsheild in my Taco did take a hit while on a road trip in Arizona a couple of years ago, but luckily it was able to be sealed and never cracked. Considering that Taco is my primary off-roading vehicle when I have passengers, I'm sure eventually I'll be putting a windshield in it.

 

[oldskool]

I drive a Tacoma and it's windshield costs are similar. I think a lot of that has to do with the collision-sensing cameras and re-calibration thereof.

The windsheild in my Taco did take a hit while on a road trip in Arizona a couple of years ago, but luckily it was able to be sealed and never cracked. Considering that Taco is my primary off-roading vehicle when I have passengers, I'm sure eventually I'll be putting a windshield in it.

Too bad you don't live in Florida. If you have full coverage insurance they are required to replace your windshield at zero cost to you and it doesn't ding your record. There is a 1 windshield per year limit though.

 

[Kev250R]

Too bad you don't live in Florida. If you have full coverage insurance they are required to replace your windshield at zero cost to you and it doesn't ding your record. There is a 1 windshield per year limit though.

I think Arizona is like that as well. I have full-coverage on most of my cars and trucks, though I run a high deductible so I've never filed a claim for a windshield. If we had that sort of thing here that would be great, though I'm sure they're adding the cost someplace else to cover it.

After a bad experience with SafeLite a couple of years ago I found a local guy who does mobile windshield repairs and replacements. Prices are great (he charged half of what Safelite wanted for a windshield for my Silverado last January). Crack and chip repairs are like $50 (or close to it, I don't remember exactly), comes-out same-day, normally within an hour of texting him. Last time he was at my house, he ended-up doing some repairs on a couple of my neighbors windshields too. I asked him about the newer vehicles (like my Tacoma) with the special windshields. He said he had just gotten the equipment to do the calibrations on that type of glass. Again his cost for all that was about half the cost of Safelite.

 

[dmonkey]

I used to run literal airplane landing lights as aux lights on my Rambler American because old incandescent headlights were so bad for nighttime driving on backroads. Then came halogen and HID upgrades and earlier cars with LED lights that had awful lens designs not suited for those types of lights and bad color temperatures. Now many new cars come with an advanced driver-assistance system that includes automatic high-beams that sense oncoming cars and either turn off sections of lights or mechanically obstruct the light with shutters so oncoming traffic aren't blinded by the lights and the driver doesn't need to have enough brainpower to toggle their high-beam. Pretty nifty stuff from a safety and visibility perspective, IMO. As those features become standard in passenger vehicles and not just in semi-trucks and luxury cars, hopefully automakers will simplify and refine their designs and find ways to reduce costs on them.

The closest thing I've run to that on a motorcycle is a ~$1,000 J.W. Speaker adaptive LED headlamp that senses lean angle and responds by toggling different directional LEDs to throw light into the corner. A phenomenal upgrade for nighttime canyon riding in the mountains. I haven't gotten around to upgrading the lighting on my Honda Trail, but that has also been a healthy excuse to avoid riding it at night, or avoid riding it "fast" at night. I see deer most times I ride the Trail beyond the town lights at night. With better lighting I've realized I'd likely have some false confidence and ride faster around them.

The Trail's taillight seems like it's just a simple stop/running light from a functional perspective, and the bike's still in production, so the price does seem wild. Maybe it requires LED chips that are in low supply and Honda have strategically reflected that in the price of the part so they can prioritize their use for complete bikes rather than spare parts? Plenty of wild reasons to guess at without knowing for certain.

 

[oldskool]

I used to run literal airplane landing lights as aux lights on my Rambler American because old incandescent headlights were so bad for nighttime driving on backroads.

I had a 69 2 door American with three on the tree, six cylinder and rubber floor mats. It also had luxury items, a heater and AM radio She was pretty plain but also one of the most dependable vehicles I ever owned. There is a lot to be said for the KISS principle.

 

[NMCoyote]

I had a 69 2 door American with three on the tree, six cylinder and rubber floor mats. It also had luxury items, a heater and AM radio She was pretty plain but also one of the most dependable vehicles I ever owned. There is a lot to be said for the KISS principle.

Damn that brings back memories, my best friend had one and we would take that thing everywhere. Hunting, fishing, it was better then most 4 wheel dives back then. Posit rack rear end was standard equipment!

 

[Kev250R]

I used to run literal airplane landing lights as aux lights on my Rambler American because old incandescent headlights were so bad for nighttime driving on backroads. Then came halogen and HID upgrades and earlier cars with LED lights that had awful lens designs not suited for those types of lights and bad color temperatures. Now many new cars come with an advanced driver-assistance system that includes automatic high-beams that sense oncoming cars and either turn off sections of lights or mechanically obstruct the light with shutters so oncoming traffic aren't blinded by the lights and the driver doesn't need to have enough brainpower to toggle their high-beam. Pretty nifty stuff from a safety and visibility perspective, IMO. As those features become standard in passenger vehicles and not just in semi-trucks and luxury cars, hopefully automakers will simplify and refine their designs and find ways to reduce costs on them.

My Tacoma has auto-dimming Hi-beams (came with the factory-upgraded LED headlights and Tech Package). At first I thought they were a gimmick but I have to say that they work great, especially in canyons. Really saves having to switch them manually. The auto-adjusting cruise control as well. All that works off of the camera(s) which are housed behind that special, expensive windshield. To me it's worth it, I'm just glad not all of my vehicles have such expensive glass!

On a quick side-note, a lot of new cars and trucks have lots of these new 'automatic' or 'nanny features'. One of the things which got me to buy my Tacoma is that all of them can be turned-off, easily (most have a button either on the wheel or on the dash). Other makes I looked at if the feature is even able to be turned-off there is an endless menu to leaf through or a system of presses on a button you have to do to deactivate it (I'm looking at you Ford and your 'I-know-better-then-you Traction Control').

 

[Kev250R]

I had a 69 2 door American with three on the tree, six cylinder and rubber floor mats. It also had luxury items, a heater and AM radio She was pretty plain but also one of the most dependable vehicles I ever owned. There is a lot to be said for the KISS principle.

My most 'basic' car is a '63 Datsun 320 P/U truck. Four-speed manual on the column, no radio (I don't think it ever had one as I've never found any evidence of one being installed). A heater (which doesn't work) and a foot-operated switch to dim the hi-beams

 

[oldskool]

My most 'basic' car is a '63 Datsun 320 P/U truck. Four-speed manual on the column, no radio (I don't think it ever had one as I've never found any evidence of one being installed). A heater (which doesn't work) and a foot-operated switch to dim the hi-beams

Absolutely a treasure!! Is she in good shape?

 

[SneakyDingo]

On a quick side-note, a lot of new cars and trucks have lots of these new 'automatic' or 'nanny features'. One of the things which got me to buy my Tacoma is that all of them can be turned-off, easily (most have a button either on the wheel or on the dash). Other makes I looked at if the feature is even able to be turned-off there is an endless menu to leaf through or a system of presses on a button you have to do to deactivate it (I'm looking at you Ford and your 'I-know-better-then-you Traction Control').

Those nanny features make me appreciate the Trail more.

Imagine my surprise when I started high beaming people descending the hill near my house at night for the first time. Ends up there's a "headlight adjust control" or something like that for my car where it automatically turns the headlight high beams on when descending a hill to increase your visibility. Kinda of surprising they allow that feature to leave the dealership enabled since it's illegal to drive with that setting on and a car is coming the opposite direction. Apparently there's a button for it, but I've never actually found that button.

 

[Kev250R]

Those nanny features make me appreciate the Trail more.

Imagine my surprise when I started high beaming people descending the hill near my house at night for the first time. Ends up there's a "headlight adjust control" or something like that for my car where it automatically turns the headlight high beams on when descending a hill to increase your visibility. Kinda of surprising they allow that feature to leave the dealership enabled since it's illegal to drive with that setting on and a car is coming the opposite direction. Apparently there's a button for it, but I've never actually found that button.

I'm not surprised that it left the dealership like that. The night I bought my Tacoma I got zero information from the Salesman about any of the features of my new truck. They didn't even set-up my phone to the stereo. A friend had a similar experience when he bought a new Ranger a couple of weeks after me at a local Ford dealer. I like to play with things so I spent some time the next couple of days playing with and learning all the features, no big deal. Other people need more help. When I met her my GF had a blank screen in the center of her dash above her stereo. I asked her what that was for and she said she didn't know, she thought it was for a feature which her luxury SUV didn't have. I pressed the 'Disp' button on her steering wheel and the screen magically started showing her fuel range (along with many other things) LOL!

 

[dmonkey]

Looks like I derailed a train here

I'm a sucker for the combo of straight-6 and 3-on-the-tree. Have owned and enjoyed a few of the AMC family of i6 engines, not all with column shift though.
1972 AMC Gremlin with 4.2L/258
1974 International Harvester Scout with the AMC 4.2L/258
1988 AMC Eagle Wagon 4x4 with the 4.2L/258
1962 Rambler American Custom wagon with the 196 flathead
1953 Willys Aero Falcon with the Lightning 161 flathead

These were all old cars by the time I owned them. Affordable and DIY maintainable "beater with a heater" cars. Operated the wipers on the Rambler American with string through the wing windows driving it through snow in Flagstaff, AZ once. There's some irony to vacuum wipers sucking, but not literally sucking enough when the engine is under load! If I can be thankful for some of the other great advancements in the auto industry, electric intermittent wipers, good lighting, backup cameras and sensors, and better plastics for motorcycle body panels are among those things. I'm still trying to convince a few people with neck mobility issues to use the backup camera screen in their newer cars rather than doing the sign of the cross and throwing it in reverse like they've adapted to...

My experience with the latest Fords such as the Escape and Bronco is that the high-beam does come on automatically but they also do a great job of turning down or otherwise not shining at oncoming traffic or the back of the car in front of you so long as they have lights on for it to track. I really don't like the gear select dial on those models, even with an electronically controlled transmission I don't think there's a good excuse for it to have a dial control.

The IH Scout II could have used LED taillights like the trail has. Got rear ended TWICE commuting on foggy days.

 

[Kev250R]

Looks like I derailed a train here

I'm a sucker for the combo of straight-6 and 3-on-the-tree. Have owned and enjoyed a few of the AMC family of i6 engines, not all with column shift though.

It's all good, I tend to go off on tangents too (sorry!)

My Datsun is the first Column Shift M/T vehicle I've ever owned. I'll admit that it was weird for me (I'm very experienced with floor-shift M/T Trans cars and trucks; my two VW's and my Tacoma are all M/T's). But after a few minutes I kind of got the hang of it (the linkage on my Datsun is a bit sloppy so smooth shifts are still a challenge) however it makes sense, espesically in a small vehicle, having the M/T shifter on the column as opposed to the floor really frees-up a lot of space in the cab and keeps your hands closer to the wheel.

I'm also not a fan of modern cars and trucks especially which use a dial or push buttons (Honda Ridgeline) instead of a gear shift. I drove a rental Dodge half-ton P/U for a month or so for work and never really got used to the dial gear shift. I found that when I wasn't looking at it (such as when making a three-point turn) I'd sometimes grab the knob for the A/C instead of the shifter.

 

[Shoot870p]

The old column shift 4 speeds were RARE.

 

[Kev250R]

The old column shift 4 speeds were RARE.

Yes, mine is the first I've seen with one. Even a lot of the had-core car guys at the weekly car meet I go to didn't know they existed.

That said, I think the reason why Datsun went with a four-speed was because the truck is geared very low. When leaving a stop light I've generally had to shift twice by the time I'm across the intersection. Top speed might be 60, which honestly in my truck is fast enough LOL!

 

[SneakyDingo]

They didn't even set-up my phone to the stereo.

That's the weird thing. They did actually help me connect my phone, but didn't tell me about the potentially lawbreaking feature. Which is an issue, because the hill I descend regularly? At the top of that hill is a fire station. So I could potentially have been high beaming firefighters on the way home. I have a sneaking suspicion 1) they'd care and 2) they'd win the high beam competition.

The other thing about this is that there's overly complex procedures for seemingly innocuous operations (specifically steps 1 and 11), ones that require you to read the manual to understand how to do them.

 

[oldskool]

Yes, mine is the first I've seen with one. Even a lot of the had-core car guys at the weekly car meet I go to didn't know they existed.

That said, I think the reason why Datsun went with a four-speed was because the truck is geared very low. When leaving a stop light I've generally had to shift twice by the time I'm across the intersection. Top speed might be 60, which honestly in my truck is fast enough LOL!

Lets see a photo of the old girl

 

[Kev250R]

Lets see a photo of the old girl

Just a couple of random pics I have of it. The shift diagram was written and stuck to the dash by it's previous owner. Despite that I had to call him and ask how to get into Reverse after owning it for a few days! I'm torn as to whether I'm going to paint it or not. It lives outside and does (once) get pressed into service hauling stuff.

Forgive me if this isn't allowed here, but there are several videos about this truck on my YouTube Channel 'Kev's Garage' It's mostly ramblings about me talking about it and I think one video of me driving it where I talk about the column-shift trans and repeatedly grind going into First LOL!

Currently it's dead in my driveway waiting for a new fuel pump to arrive.

 

[Kev250R]

That's the weird thing. They did actually help me connect my phone, but didn't tell me about the potentially lawbreaking feature. Which is an issue, because the hill I descend regularly? At the top of that hill is a fire station. So I could potentially have been high beaming firefighters on the way home. I have a sneaking suspicion 1) they'd care and 2) they'd win the high beam competition.

The other thing about this is that there's overly complex procedures for seemingly innocuous operations (specifically steps 1 and 11), ones that require you to read the manual to understand how to do them.

Is this a German car by chance?

Newer cars are definitely becoming way more complex then they need to be. I wonder what percentage of the population even uses some of these features? Sure there will always be 'Power Users' who will go deep into the weeds and use all the features but I think most people don't go that crazy.

 

[SneakyDingo]

Is this a German car by chance?

Newer cars are definitely becoming way more complex then they need to be. I wonder what percentage of the population even uses some of these features? Sure there will always be 'Power Users' who will go deep into the weeds and use all the features but I think most people don't go that crazy.

Mazda CX30 Preferred spec. So Japanese.

I think I use most of the features the car comes with, but to be honest, it doesn't come with that many features and IMO the ones it does come with don't necessarily work that well. This one caught me by surprise.