Advanced Driving Hub

waremark wrote:

TheInsanity1234 wrote:I've got a strong dislike of it now due to dieselgate, so I've suddenly lost the respect I had for it.

I would like to hear more about why you are affected by dieselgate, but perhaps that would be for a different thread.

BTW Well done Skoda for providing access to oil temperature, I bet not many owners look at it.

I picked up on that here....

Rainmaker wrote:So called diesel gate shouldn't impact your feelings towards the car. Nothing has changed except some artificial figure on paper related to bogus emissions tests which every OEM games best as they can anyway. Personally I'd refuse the 'fix'.

waremark wrote:BTW Well done Skoda for providing access to oil temperature, I bet not many owners look at it.

I know! My BMW doesn't even show me coolant temperature. Only way is through the OBD port. Not sure if M-division or other variants do.

WRT the OP, I have a similar 'issue' driving country lanes: On the straights, the Skoda Superb (1.6 diesel) estate is happy at NSL in 4th or 5th (depending on slope), but the bends often don't reveal the required gear until late (due to muckle great cliffs disguising whether it's up or down after the apex). Rather than declutch on the approach in e.g. 5th, I can adopt one of two options:

Introduce an extra 'Gear' option into IPSGA as in:-
Information - bend ahead, looks quite closed
Position - to get best possible view through bend (LP and nearside stationary animals)
Gear - change to a gear that won't stall on the approach
Speed - slow appropriately
Gear - consider whether further gear change needed now the slope of the exit is available
Accelerate out of the bend

This is of course 'breaking' the system, so instead I simply run through it twice:
Information - bend ahead, looks quite closed
Position - to get best possible view through bend (LP and nearside stationary animals)
Speed - still OK at limit
Gear - change to a gear that is ok at this speed but gives more flexibility
Acceleration - none needed.

Information - bend now close enough to need to start adjusting speed
Position - Am I still gettin best possible view through bend (LP and nearside stationary animals), cope with oncoming?
Speed - slow appropriately
Gear - consider whether further gear change needed now the slope of the exit is available
Accelerate out of the bend

This might be adaptable for use when approaching hazards on those urban DCs in an economy gear. Funnily enough, the actions are the same in both cases

This appears to be disappearing into a style over substance argument. Simply do what you need to do, be it declutch, change gear, moon out of the window. Everything else tends to be appendage prettification.

You will also find that not using engine braking at all is quite a good option too...

It is worth remembering that traffic light phasing is based on the general driver.

"Information" over-arches SPGA in order that you can, where necessary, re-assess if the need arises. It's not mandatory to complete the "whole" system each time.

superplum wrote:"Information" over-arches SPGA in order that you can, where necessary, re-assess if the need arises. It's not mandatory to complete the "whole" system each time.

Oh good; because the fear of being seen failing to apply The System fully and correctly at all times could be quite worrying to some: others less so, fortunately.