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Cheers Pat.
Study Explains How Car Fans Recognize Their Loves
Updated 2:44 PM ET March 9, 2003
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ever since cars were invented, women have complained that their husbands recognize the latest Ford more quickly than they do their in-laws. A study published on Sunday may help explain why.
It seems that men who like cars recognize the different models using the same part of the brain that people use to identify faces, U.S. researchers report in the April issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
When car aficionados were shown pictures of cars and pictures of faces together, they tended to get a kind of traffic jam in the part of the brain normally used to identify faces, psychologist Isabel Gauthier of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee reported.
Working with Tim Curran, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Colorado, and other colleagues, Gauthier tested 40 men -- 20 car lovers and 20 car novices.
They tested the car experts to make sure they were indeed skilled at identifying cars.
Then they showed all 40 men alternating sequences of faces and cars and asked them to compare each car to the previous car they saw and each face to the previous face they saw.
Using special techniques, they were able to see how the men were processing the images -- holistically or piecemeal.
Men with the most car-savvy recognized the cars in a holistic fashion, but cold not recognize faces as well.
Men who knew little about cars used the piecemeal approach to identify the cars and had no problems identifying faces, Gauthier's team found.
A big difference was seen in electrophysiological measurements of a brain wave called N170, which has been associated with facial recognition.
And car recognition activity could be traced to the right hemisphere of the brain -- where the facial recognition area, known as the fusiform face area, is also found.
However, a bit of a surprise: The new generation Impreza was rated only slightly above average in terms of reliability—and the WRX was slightly below, average in terms of reliability!
Bob
Bob (I think that's my name...)
Even then it's only a tiny bit below average, and still falls into the "Average" rating range.
As far as the Baja ads, I saw nothing wrong with them at all. Blame the guy that set the prices, or the one that added on all that Pontiac-esque cladding. The ads were kinda cool.
Some of those utes are a bit strange. I'm not sure they'd sell well here.
But check this out, from that same article:
Another 4WD making news was the Subaru Forester. The Australian-market high-spec XS Luxury Pack complete with side-airbags is the first Japanese-built car in the world to be awarded a five-star NCAP rating, thanks to a recent 29km/h side pole impact test carried out in Japan.
Adding a seat-belt warning buzzer and the side-airbags was enough to qualify the Forester for its fifth star after an Australian NCAP test last December secured four-stars.
-juice
CLK Cabrio - thumbs up. Far more handsome than the sedan, which has that strange C-pillar that Audi copied. Notice there is no B-pillar, too. (BTW, Audi's coupe is A8 based) Among convertibles the CLK500 takes the cake for my "price no object" choice.
E400 CDI: now here's a diesel anyone would want. Range and power, no trade-offs. I wonder if it would cost more or less than a similarly powerful gas engine. The diesels used to be the cheapest Es.
SLK: I prefer the light wood over the aluminum trim. Noone quite seems to match the Audi TT inside.
911 GT3: um, red calipers? They look yellow to me. That means ceramic composite, right? The wing is over-the-top and not as well integrated as the STi's.
Carrera GT: why doesn't this car excite me? It should, but it doesn't. The rear is ugly. That is one loooong wheelbase for a two-seater. Something is missing. Money for me to afford one? Check out that Alfa shifter too.
9-3 convertible: it's less distinctive than the sedan, in that it look more like the previous generation. Still, handsome. But 175hp is not enough in this price class. 210hp for the upgrade engine is also lacking.
-juice
Evo - I'm told by people who should know that the Evo does have a mechanical rear LSD. Power "down low" isn't a problem, according to these same folks.
Everyone's waiting to see pricing on the STi, since you can add a front LSD to the Evo for $600 (so I'm told), and chip it to 325hp for another $600 (again, so I'm told). That leaves the 6-speed (gearing ratios = 2 overdrives or 1?) and the reliability advantage. Should be an interesting battle...
-brianV
-mike
Fatal wreck continues I-285 traffic madness
Weekend traffic on I-285 ended the same way it began -- with an overturned vehicle starting a gridlock that stretched for miles.
The Sunday afternoon accident occurred when the driver of an Isuzu Trooper, while trying to exit from I-285 onto North Peachtree Road, overcorrected to avoid hitting another car. The Isuzu flipped. White said none of the occupants in the SUV was wearing a seat belt.
All westbound lanes of I-285 in DeKalb County were shut down for about two hours Sunday afternoon after a sport-utility vehicle rolled over, ejecting two of seven occupants. One man was hit by a passing car and died at the scene; the other was hospitalized with very serious injuries in the 3 p.m. incident.
Okay, you can't regulate driver stupidity but would the results have been the same if it had been a car instead of an SUV?
-Frank P.
P.S. For clarification, I-285 around Atlanta has 4 lanes in each direction.
Also, the drivetrain is designed to handle 261hp reliably. If you take it all the way to 325hp, no way will the clutch and tranny handle that kind of power reliably. So go ahead and budget for both of those as well.
Even then I find it hard to believe a chip alone would yield 325hp. 280-290 is believable. Beyond that you'd need an exhaust and probably engine internals too (forged pistons, cams, etc).
It's no different than the stock WRX. It's meant to handle 227hp and people that go over 250hp some times have problems.
In reality the EVO is closer to the stock WRX, with +34hp, vs. -39hp against the STi.
-juice
I didn't realize that Australia suffered the greatest proportional losses in WWII. I thought the Russians did. I've seen estimates around 10% of their population at the time.
I do think that the Bush administration has damaged their cause by resorting to - shall we say "distinctly undiplomatic phrases" ? - to describe their political opponents. It undermines their credibility and hardens the resolve of those opposed. Frankly, I just don't understand that part.
Reasonable people can reach very different conclusions regarding whether we should go to war or not, given the evidence at hand. IMO, name-calling shows a shocking lack of maturity on the part of those involved, and leaves the impression that the administration - at least parts of it - has little sense of the gravity of their actions.
I'm not saying that they actually have little sense of the gravity of the situation. I'm saying that they come across that way sometimes, and it hurts their cause.
I'm opposed to labeling people this way, because no one label ever does justice to the person so labeled. When I lived in Germany, some of our friends were convinced I was the last of the, uhmmm, right-wing capitalist money-grubbers, let's say. No sooner did I get off the plane in Denver and my brother-in-law informed me that I was a commie pinko left-wing bleeding heart liberal, or something like that. I don't recall undergoing any transformation on the plane... lol.
I believe that in times like these it's important to turn to others for advice and council, to say "Hey, did I just fall of my rocker, or is something seriously amiss here?" Labels reduce the complex grays of pro and con to black and white. They make it difficult or impossible to relate to each other, to put ourselves in another's shoes, so to speak, to exchange perspectives.
That said, at some point, you have to make a decision.
I do not envy the people charged with making these decisions. And I am grateful to those who volunteer to carry them out. Our thoughts are with them especially.
-brianV
Also, no seat belts means Darwinism at work.
-juice
Evo - I tend to agree with you guys on the chip. It sounds like a big step to me too, but I really don't have any real experience to go on, just a gut feeling about engineering margins in general.
If Mitsu could get 325hp here, they would. In fact, I'm sure it's emissions that choked the 276hp mill down to 261hp.
So chip it even slightly and I bet it fails emissions. They test in MD every two years. I guess you could remove/replace the chip every two years, just keep those instructions!
-juice
As for the flip, could have happened to a car too, was there an embankment it went down? did it grip roll? etc. etc. How fast was he going? All factors that we don't know. Again goes back to driver error, you need to drive it like a truck not a car. Remember Bob is the one not in favor of graduated lisc. I am all in favor of requiring special lisc. for SUV and PUs.
-mike
-Frank P.
Cheers Pat.
-juice
So they bought an Excursion last night, citing the need for extra heft over the Suburban. "I'll NEVER take my family ANYWHERE in anything else!" Direct quote, no lie. LOL
-juice
Greg
-mike
http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/569E664651D8239- - 2CA256CE60006C398
Barry Sheene: 1950–2003
The motorcycle world just lost one of their great ones, Barry Sheene to cancer. I remember reading about UK's Barry battle USA's Kenny Roberts in their epic roadracing contests, when they had the USA vs., Great Britain series back in the 1970s. When Barry was racing, he was arguably one of the top two to three roadracers of his era, and certainly the best Britain had produced since Mike Hailwood, of the 1960s.
http://www.drive.com.au/news/article.asp?article=http
Note: You'll have to do a copy & paste to access that link.
Bob
here is Kenny's comments:
http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=4465
-Colin
Maybe they'll make it small, to take the place of the Rodeo in the lineup.
I wonder if Kiyoshi designed the B11S knowing that Andreas was his boss and would like the Alfa touch, or if Andreas came in early and influenced the design himself.
-juice
Back then, Kenny Roberts was Yamaha's #1 factory rider, and I believe, IIRC, Barry was Suzuki's #1 factory rider. Besides the USA vs. England team races, they also competed against one another in the FIM 500cc championships.
Bob
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=Barry+Sheene&btnG=Sea- rch+News
Bob
-juice
• AWD versions don't have a spare tire (no room, so they say), but it has run-flats. Not sure that I like that.
• No IRS, on either FWD or AWD. I definitely don't like that.
Bob
On a van it may not matter too much. Though at Edmunds Live Hutch and I piloted a Maxima quickly over some bumps and definitely noticed some axle hop.
Run-flats are OK in principal but usually the ride is rock hard. It would be interesting to try the Sienna and see what big bumps and pot holes do to it. Both cost cutting measures would seem to suffer in those conditions.
-juice
Bob
I think Michelin has a Pax system, and one other manufacturer makes them. Maybe a couple of others.
They add unsprung weight, though.
-juice
Greg
-Frank P.
-Brian
I wonder if the ES300 will become the ES330?
-juice
Cheers Pat.
Ross
I do not even bother checking milage anymore, I have a rough idea what i get on a tank given my style of driving and when I feel I am getting worse than what I am used to then I have it checked.
I am gonna drive so why worry if it is close to what is claimed or not, the Titan gets reasonable milage given that he is a heavy car and also has AWD.but he does not get the milage claimed for him by Subaru.
Cheers Pat.
-mike
My Escort, the last car I owned, was 26/31, but it was funny because I seemed to get 28mpg no matter how or where I drove, weird.
-juice
Steve
-juice
I admit to driving spiritedly because I still enjoy driving, if I have to drive like a little old lady to get an imaginary number forget it.
The Titan I have to admit is the closest to claimed MPG. but even this car is less than claimed, all of the hondas I owned were well off but then because all the power is at the top end in Hondas you are encouraged to drive spiritedly LOL.
Cheers Pat.
And definitely, the EPA test is not redlining the engines.
-juice