Automotive

SO MUCH for German engineering

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  • May 5th, 2013 12:25 pm
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Apr 15, 2011
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aGincourt
wolfneeddiscount wrote: an engine air filter replacement needs to take lots of craps out first in order to get into the filter itself. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAANRJvA9qQ

is there any reason behind this other than making the engine bay looks better?...
A lot of car manufacturers are doing this now, new gen Civics are apparently getting harder to DIY as well.

It's so you bring your car in to the dealership for everything, instead of DIY :D

Praise capitalism!
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Mar 1, 2004
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Pickering
wolfneeddiscount wrote: an engine air filter replacement needs to take lots of craps out first in order to get into the filter itself. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAANRJvA9qQ

is there any reason behind this other than making the engine bay looks better?...
WOW 7 minutes for an amateur to do it! What were they thinking? Better order that mint Pinto. Big engine bay and lots of room to manoeuvre. Air filter is right on top of carburetor/engine.

The big hunk of plastic is called an air intake silencer....
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Oct 7, 2010
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It doesn't look too bad. The engine cover can be quite annoying to remove, possible to break off something while removal.
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Nov 27, 2005
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Richmond Hill
AudiDude wrote: WOW 7 minutes for an amateur to do it! What were they thinking? Better order that mint Pinto. Big engine bay and lots of room to manoeuvre. Air filter is right on top of carburetor/engine.

The big hunk of plastic is called an air intake silencer....
7 minutes to replace an air filter is pretty extreme. It's like if I told you it takes me 2 minutes to tie my shoe laces.
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Jan 3, 2008
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Winnipeg
board123 wrote: 7 minutes to replace an air filter is pretty extreme. It's like if I told you it takes me 2 minutes to tie my shoe laces.
7 minutes every 6 months or so... How often do you tie your shoelaces?
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Apr 28, 2013
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Alberta/BC
brendon wrote: 7 minutes every 6 months or so... How often do you tie your shoelaces?
making simple things more complicated, that is the case here. its not about frequency.
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Oct 7, 2010
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wolfneeddiscount wrote: making simple things more complicated, that is the case here. its not about frequency.
We can't have the engine showing without an engine cover can we? Amount of buyers who DIY their own car, most likely 5% of the population. The rest of the population (some of which not so bright) 95% want their engine bays to look beautiful and do not do DIY. So, that's why manufacturers make engine bays beautiful.
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Apr 28, 2013
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spike1128 wrote: We can't have the engine showing without an engine cover can we? Amount of buyers who DIY their own car, most likely 5% of the population. The rest of the population (some of which not so bright) 95% want their engine bays to look beautiful and do not do DIY. So, that's why manufacturers make engine bays beautiful.
I dont think 95% want their engine bays to look good, maybe 10%, for enthusiasts; 90% want their vehicle to be easier to maintain, thus less payment.

I mean, watch through the video, this process just makes this simple task to take more risks to damage some important component: the MAF sensor, even the cover itself behaves as an air filter house. (I have done this in my friends car, that cover takes a lot of force to pull out)
Its a plastic component, and it actually becomes a wear and tear item as an "engine cover".
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Apr 8, 2009
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Center of the Univer…
"Uh, you're due for your 20k maintenance. Time to replace your worn out engine cover"
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brendon wrote: 7 minutes every 6 months or so... How often do you tie your shoelaces?
How about changing your household light bulb? Do you think it's reasonable to take 10 minutes to switch out a light bulb every time it burns out because it's secured by 10 different contraptions that you need 5 different tools to remove?

Making a simple task unnecessarily difficult while adding no functional value - this is the exact opposite of good engineering. There may be other reasons for why things are designed in such a manner, but it's not because of good engineering practices.

This concept applies no matter the frequency of the said task. Just because you need to perform a task 100x less frequently doesn't mean it's okay to make it 100x more difficult. In engineering, there is no correlation between the frequency of a task versus the difficulty of a task.
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Jan 3, 2008
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Winnipeg
board123 wrote: How about changing your household light bulb? Do you think it's reasonable to take 10 minutes to switch out a light bulb every time it burns out because it's secured by 10 different contraptions that you need 5 different tools to remove?

Making a simple task unnecessarily difficult while adding no functional value - this is the exact opposite of good engineering. There may be other reasons for why things are designed in such a manner, but it's not because of good engineering practices.

This concept applies no matter the frequency of the said task. Just because you need to perform a task 100x less frequently doesn't mean it's okay to make it 100x more difficult. In engineering, there is no correlation between the frequency of a task versus the difficulty of a task.
Sure. But a car isn't engineered, it's designed. Engineering is a component of building a car. I'm not going to disagree that you try to engineer to be as efficient as possible. But if you let engineers run wild with building a car, we'd be driving single coloured boxes with the jack located inside the glove box.

Your analogy of shoelaces is terrible. Shoelaces aren't even the most efficient design.
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Apr 21, 2004
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Pickering
That reminds me about the other poor German design decision, to store the compact spare inside that rear compartment, totally deflated.

So if I have a flat, I have to inflate the spare using the air compressor, and the speed is limited to 80km/h. My parents Toyota Highlander has a full sized spare.
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Jul 11, 2010
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spike1128 wrote: We can't have the engine showing without an engine cover can we? Amount of buyers who DIY their own car, most likely 5% of the population. The rest of the population (some of which not so bright) 95% want their engine bays to look beautiful and do not do DIY. So, that's why manufacturers make engine bays beautiful.
I think 95% of the population would not even bother opening their engine bays if they could avoid it.
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Dec 23, 2008
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Montreal
Ahh good old VW. When i had to change out some stuff i was thinking nah it can't be this much work it just can't. Oh yeah!!
Deal Guru
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Mar 13, 2004
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Ontario
Its similar to the 2.0T engine. If you really think about it its not that hard to change. So it takes you 10min or less to change the filter..... so?

I just totally removed my engine cover on my 07 GTI 2.0T but I did it because I installed an intake - http://www.neuspeed.com/651097-neuspeed ... html#popUp[products]/1/

Much easier to change when needed and give you a better sound (if your into that) also it may give you 2hp extra :D lol
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Feb 29, 2008
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F*** lugbolts. That's all I have to say.
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Jun 12, 2007
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I though the superior German engineering aspect is all about how the car drives and feels, not about diy fixing.

I can change a headlight bulb in some domestic cars in seconds vs some vw cars. Does this mean Ford engineering is superior ?

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