[clevermax]

This poll implicitly states that pushing your vehicle for fun means that you are not being nice to your vehicle. I think this notion is wrong.


I am nice to my vehicle. Of course, I push it for fun. But at the same time, I take very good care of it - I do a contactless wash of my car myself, change oil even before I reach the manufacturer recommended oil change intervals, Replace any faulty parts as soon as possible, and I take care not to park it in risky places that can attract scratches & dents. In essence, I take care of my car. and yes, I have it remapped, and I push it for fun. That is the return of investment I get.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by EV NXT

Automobiles talk to you all the time. All you need to do is to learn the language and listen.

Well said.

I take care of my vehicles when driving over bad roads or water, but redlining on an open highway is no way abusive.

I also get ticked by the smallest of niggles and lose sleep over the slightest of rattles, however I also do not wash my car everyday, do not do waxing as often as I should, no funky accessories for my car.

Dont know how should I vote.

[Axe77]

I haven't voted because I disagree with the premise of the vote or how its worded. I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive and you can be "both" vis a vis your car.

[RiderZone]

Interesting, because the forum members here would be, by definition, enthusiasts, I had expected the "I push my vehicles for fun" would be the popular option.

Of course it's my fault for leaving the description of the options to the very end, plus the whole concept of "nice" is rather hard to define, as many people have pointed out in their comments. Perhaps the right thing would have been to make a poll with multiple options, and people could pick and choose whatever they pleased. Like I baby my vehicle in terms of mechanical and visual upkeep, but I redline it for fun too when I feel like it. When I was thinking about it last night, my assumption was that they're mutually exclusive philosophies, apparently not.

The only way for me to be able to explain my thought process behind the options, would be to give you an example.

With my Duke 390, I took it to random trails around Hyderabad quite frequently. One day I was coming down an unknown path, and suddenly found myself right on top of a big stone. It was too late to do anything, and a loud sound came from the underside.

Now I had removed the stock plastic belly pan from the bike, because I had been doing track days, and weight reduction bro. I got down to the main road, and then looked at the engine. What I saw is below.



I rode the bike home, and checked it again, no leaks. I then took it for trips, more track days, and some more trails, without getting that cover fixed or replaced. I didn't even give it a second thought, it wasn't leaking, so there was no mechanical issue, hence all is well, let's keep sending it.

By any definition, I don't think that can be classed as being "nice" to the bike. Yes it was functionally unaffected, but if it was my friend, he would've got that whole right side case replaced the very next day. I did not, and my friend who bought it still hasn't. Hopefully that clarifies a bit more about what I mean by being nice to a vehicle.

[drt_rdr]

I don't intend to sell my vehicles. Whatever I buy is a long term investment that I live with till its reasonable end of life. From that point of view, I don't care about pampering my vehicles or babying them. I care about extracting the maximum usage out of them, and I take care of my bikes only as necessity demands and nothing more. I also define necessity as per my standards and conveniences (apart from regular oil changes. No compromises there.)

As far as riding goes, I used to push my bikes all the time... meaning frequently redining and shifting up and down in the lower gears, lots of engine braking, clutch slipping, bashing about on bad roads, dirt and so on. And both my bikes being 150s, unless I'm above 6k rpm, it doesn't really feel like I'm moving. So, my bikes took constant rough use back then. Both my bikes have survived more or less a decade in decent condition with no major mechanical troubles other than the expected suspension failure. That said, I've also been very lucky with the consequences of some of the mischief I've been upto on my bikes. I've bashed up a few parts but no damage that needed extensive repair.

Anyway, these days, I ride a bit more sedately because age I guess, and where I live now, things are more relaxed. But I do seek some thrills every now and then and go on some spirited hillclimbs and timed point-to-point runs. But I've also found other means of getting my stimulation: riding tricky, technical terrain. I mean, I'm having fun riding slow too.

[Viju]

The first thread that came to my mind when I read the title is this.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ownin...e-driving.html (ARTICLE: Mechanical Empathy | Preserving the Car While Driving)

I am nice to my vehicles. I love them to bits. I pamper them. I spend a lot of time, effort and money on maintaining them in the best shape possible. And yes, I never start the car in the morning before the engine has warmed up. I don't rev the car for fun.

I used to do such things during my reckless youth. Not anymore.


An important point from my perspective is - if one understands the functioning of his vehicle well (what happens to the engine and transmission if one downshifts and revs unnecessarily, the effect of harsh braking and steering etc) - then he or she will tend to take better care of their vehicles. This is just my thinking as an automotive engineer. I may be wrong. Lovely thread!

[sen2693]

A similar dilemma for me is abusing the suspension.

The suspension in my Rapid is really food and handles potholes well in both low and high speed. But of course, maintaining speed while going over a pothole means abusing the suspension.

So what do you do? Care for the suspension and handle it as smoothly as possible or since mechanical parts are there in the car to be used, handle it a bit more 'realistically'?

[playingpossum]

I'm not very nice to my own motorcycle. I rev it hard but not really bouncing off the rev-limiter. I don't go very fast, I think I've only hit 70 kph once, but I stick to second or third in the city and tend to be rough on my throttle.

I might grow out of it, since I'm in my first year of owning my own vehicle and obviously have never ridden/driven anything really hard before as it belonged to other people (except maybe my parents' ancient 800 in the months before they were planning to trade it in). So it's rather fun to be a bit rough and take the chance to enjoy it. I figure when I drop more money on to any future upgrades, I'd end up being more hesitant to be rough. So I figured, my xpulse isn't too expensive and probably not so expensive to fix and it's going to be replaced when I get bored of it, so why not?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by RiderZone

1. I am nice to my vehicles:

a. You almost never pull hard in lower gears
b. You almost never take the vehicle anywhere close to the redline
c. You almost never rev the engine just to enjoy the sound
d. You spend time to make the vehicle look good and shiny
e. You notice minor mechanical and visual niggles and fix them immediately
f. Fuel economy is usually more important than fun factor

2. I push my vehicles for fun:

a. You frequently accelerate the hell out in 1st and 2nd
b. You are happy to bounce off the revlimiter occasionally
c. Revmatched downshifts are the meaning of life
d. You keep the chain clean and lubed, rest all is irrelevant
e. You keep up with the bare minimum service schedule and do nothing more
f. The purpose of fuel is burning

Your definition of "being nice" is what one would do when babying a vehicle (a, b, c, f), or owning a garage queen (d, e). I push my vehicles to their limit occasionally, but that does not mean I don't keep them in top shape. I don't exceed their limits, but nor do I baby them. Likewise, I drive for maximum FE at times, and there are times when the FE is of the least concern. What matters is having mechanical empathy for one's vehicle, as described in this thread (ARTICLE: Mechanical Empathy | Preserving the Car While Driving).

Originally Posted by Viju

The first thread that came to my mind when I read the title is this.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ownin...e-driving.html (ARTICLE: Mechanical Empathy | Preserving the Car While Driving)

Thanks for highlighting that thread earlier.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by RiderZone

Are you “nice” to your vehicles?

Guess the term "nice" differs from person to person. My cars/bikes would be serviced on time & I won't ride/drive them at speed on bad roads, but I would also ride/drive them for fun when road&driving conditions permit.

Originally Posted by RiderZone

Even more interesting is that when it comes to cars, I don’t drive them hard much at all.

The opposite for me. I love to drive my cars for fun, even occasionally redlining them when road/traffic conditions permit. But with the weekend highway jaunts on my CBR250, I am a sedate rider - too many risks on Kerala roads and I don't want to have a fall. Oddly enough, in my 20s & 30s, I have ripped my CD100 for all it was worth on Chennai roads. So maybe age is a factor and the fact that the car has a shell.

[Rocketscience]

Voted for Nice but then i do test my vehicle's capabilities from time to time, in my opinion if you sit at redline and keep bouncing off the revv limiter, if you drive past huge potholes and speed breakers at high speeds then you are not being 'nice' to your vehicles, revving away a Honda VTEC or a KTM engine is well within their comfortable limits and so is driving fast in most cars, i'd say that's still within the being nice parameter.

[SnS_12]

Car or bike has to be driven ridden as the engine has been designed to. A high performance vehicle driven slow will have mores issue such as clogged injectors and the occasional high revving is actually good for all engines and the idea is not to over do it.

Things I do and don't no matter which vehicle are:

a) Warm up the engine before I start driving/riding
b) Never redline/over rev it in first gear.
c) Never rev the engine too much at idle as there is no load and the engine can rev very high and fast.

[KANNURAN]

I am NICE to my Vehicles.
I treat them as I would a child. And at times, I have been guilty of pampering them to their own detriment.

Way back in 2002 (when the internet was still nascent, and automotive knowledge in short supply) I had changed the engine oil on my brand new Opel Omega, a few days after purchase. My juvenile logic was that the fabled Mobil 1 would be elixir. I still suspect the harshness I endured, to the engine not having been properly run-in.

I continue my obsessive OVER-maintenance to this day, but with forums like TeamBHP limiting my idiocy. For example, though my Skoda Rapid Tdi has a 15K service interval, I religiously change fluids and filters at 7.5K. Imagine my surprise when, at a recent service, I was told that the air-filter and diesel-filter change intervals have been revised to 30K.

But on the driving aspect, I do take them to their normal performance limit, be it in revving, gear-change, cornering and braking. But given the gasoline in my veins, each action is akin to neurosurgery, and I revel in the perfection of each upshift and rev-matched downshift aligned to the speed and power-need at the juncture

[Zen Av8r]

Yes. I am nice to my vehicles. I keep them clean and well maintained. I use each vehicle according to their abilities and absolutely enjoy driving and riding.

[charanreddy]

Voted ‘I am nice’ and I take care of my car. But in no way do I baby it.

On open highways it’s always sport mode and a controlled acceleration to ‘top’ speeds. However in the city I maintain a light foot on the throttle. I am confident enough to take on the occasional slush, rocks, bad roads but don’t put my car in a situation where there is likely to be significant mechanical damage.