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Fuzzy Dice And Other Watchacallums
Mascots? Decorations? Danglers? Actually, the English language doesn’t have an actual name for those ornaments that hang from the rear view mirror. Fuzzy dice are the iconic examples but the furry cubes aren’t the only things we’ve seen. As this post is going to discuss them and it’s going to be boring to type out (and read) “fuzzy dice or other items hanging from the rear view mirror” every time, I’m going to make up a word: danglers. Danglers will do.
The most important issue relating to danglers is whether or not they are legal. The powers that be – and rightly so – take exception to anything that obscures the driver’s vision. According to the Queensland police, anything that gets between you and the arc of the windscreen wipers is considered to block your vision and create a blind spot, and this applies to GPS units and mobile phone mounts as well as danglers (presumably, the heads-up displays that come in some luxury vehicles these days don’t count). Roads and Maritime Services of NSW suggests that anything swinging and dangling will be distracting but doesn’t actually have any specifications beyond “the driver must have the clearest possible view of the road particularly in poor lighting conditions at dusk, night or while driving in rain.” In Victoria, they get a bit more specific: “Any vehicle presented for a roadworthy inspection with any dangling objects hanging from the rear vision mirror should not be issued with a RWC until the objects are removed.” South Australia’s spec sheet has plenty to say about tinting and TV/DVD screens but nothing about danglers. It’s definitely illegal in Western Australia to have anything hanging from a rear view mirror (nice to have it spelled out so clearly and plainly!). Across the ditch in New Zealand, it seems to be OK.
In short, it’s probably best to leave the danglers off.
However, I’m not a total killjoy. If you can position the danglers where they won’t obscure your vision or hit you in the head, then you can have them. This means that the danglers are going to have to be small, so those iconic fluffy dice are out. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of other options.
Where did the tradition of hanging things from the windscreen come from? Historically and psychologically speaking, the origins of adding decorations to your form of transport are lost in the mists of time. Ancient Greek triremes had eyes painted on the front, old-fashioned sailing boats had their figureheads, warhorses were decked out with plumes and plough horses had collars covered with brass charms. Tricking out a car with something for luck or just for fun is just an extension of this. However, regarding the actual fuzzy dice, folklore has it that this was started by US fighter pilots in World War 2, who hung up the dice for good luck. Those who came back from the war carried the tradition over to their cars, which is why the fuzzy dice are such a 1950s thing.
Danglers aren’t limited to fuzzy dice. Even in places where it’s legal, you don’t see too many fuzzy dice, except on cars belonging to retro enthusiasts and a certain type of bogan. Air fresheners are a lot more popular and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, ranging from things shaped like pine trees and smelling of something described by advertising copywriters as pine trees (but doesn’t really smell like an actual pine tree) through to handmade ceramic or fabric potpourri bags redolent of essential oils.
After that, of course, you are limited only by your imagination, your sense of taste and what’s legal. A quick glance through Pinterest and similar sites (from jurisdictions where they’re legal, of course) throws up a good range of ideas that fall into two main categories, those for supernatural protection or luck or blessing or something of that sort. In other words, things that fall into the religious or spiritual category (and I’m including New Age spirituality in here). Crosses, rosaries, crystals, angels, Native American spirit animals, Hamsa hands, Feng Shui mirrors, medallions of St Christopher (patron saint of travellers)… there are heaps of them to suit any set of beliefs. Technically, dream catchers would fall into this category but I thought these were only supposed to work for letting good dreams through and keeping nightmares out when you’re asleep… If you’re asleep at the wheel, you’ve got more to worry about than a nightmare, mate.
The second category includes anything that’s hung up there just for fun because you like it and you think it looks nice. Soft toys, bunches of dried flowers, skulls, you name it. The powers that be get particularly snippy about these if they’re sparkly (disco balls, for example) because the twinkling and flashing in your eyes is distracting when you’re on the road.
A third category exists: safety signs and reminders. These are especially understandable in the case of taxis. But make sure that they’re spelled correctly…
Focus on your driving… don’t look at this dangler!
My personal preference is not to have anything hanging on the rear view mirror because it can be annoying. However, there are other places to hang things if you want to pretty up your car and make it yours. The chicken handles in the rear, the back of the head rests (great if you want to hang up something for a baby to look at during a long car trip), attached to the rear passenger windows with suction pads, clipped onto the air vents… there are plenty of places if you look. In this department, VW’s New Beetle has to be a winner with the flower vase, acknowledging that drivers might want to add something quirky and fun.
If you live in a place where you can get away with a dangler, do you have fluffy dice or other danglers hanging from your rear view mirror? What do you have? Or what have you seen? If you live somewhere that doesn’t permit danglers, how do you customise your vehicle and where do you put things like air fresheners?
Coming Soon(ish) To Australia – The Cheaper Tesla Model 3
For quite a few years now, the really big name in electric cars has been Tesla. Named after the scientist who did a lot of pioneering work in the field of electricity (and, according to popular legend, tried to invent a death ray just like a mad scientist from a cheesy thriller), Tesla vehicles have been considered the crème de la crème of sustainable motoring, the electrical equivalent of Koenigsegg or Lamborghini. By and large, they’ve mostly been something for the very wealthy and mostly those overseas as well.
It could be that this is about to change. Last year, Tesla decided to produce a cheaper variety – cheaper being a relative term, of course; it’s got a US$35,000 price tag at the very basic level. This Model 3 will begin production this year and will probably be fully released in 2018, joining the Model S and the Model X that a select few are already driving.
As we don’t usually review Tesla models on our car review pages, as it’s still a very exclusive brand name (any more than you find us reviewing Aston Martins, Ferraris or Rolls-Royces), I thought it would be fun to do a wee review of the new Model 3. After all, you never know; it might take off and be readily available so you may as well read all about it here!
The first question that probably pops into anybody’s head when the topic of electric cars crops up is “How am I going to charge the thing?” After all, we all know how quickly our smartphones and tablets lose charge. Tesla has already thought of this. Yes, you can probably charge up a Tesla car or any other electric car at your typical charging station, but Telsa also has a chain of “Supercharger” stations that can charge a Tesla car battery to 80% in half an hour. This translates to 270 km of driving; a typical bog-standard charging station would give you 17 km with half an hour’s charging. These Supercharger stations are located up Australia’s eastern coast – sorry, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin – from about Ballarat, Victoria, through to the Gold Coast. Charging to 100% takes 75 minutes, as the rate of charge is designed to slow down for that final 20% for scientific reasons I can’t quite wrap my head around and am not going to attempt to try explaining. Range-wise, the Tesla Model 3 can do 345 km on a fully charged battery.
So what does the “budget” Tesla, the Model 3, have in store for those who decide to put in their pre-orders? It’s a rather sleek looking small luxury sedan that seats five. Unlike the typical fossil-fuel powered vehicle, it doesn’t have a big grille at the front, which is a bit disconcerting at first glance for those of us who are used to the decorative grille styling of, say, BMW or Jeep. It’s certainly picked up a few comments on various online motoring forums. This lack of a grille, combined with the lack of an exhaust pipe at the back, the glass roof and the aerodynamic profile, makes for a very uncluttered look. There appears to be two styles of alloy wheel available, at least according to the official photos, and they look very nice indeed. The official pics also suggest three paint colours: red, black and silver.
One of the other features of the Tesla 3 that may be a little disconcerting on the one hand but sophisticated on the other is the autonomous feature or self-driving technology – the motoring equivalent of autopilot (which is what it’s called on the top-of-the-line Tesla models, which are also autonomous). This shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, the head of Tesla Motors is Mr Artificial Intelligence himself, Elon Musk.
In the specs department, details are still sketchy. I get the feeling that the company is being deliberately enigmatic – as enigmatic as the eggshell-smooth grille. Details are especially sparse regarding the interior. However, we have been told that the rear seats fold flat so that, in combination with the extra space, you can sleep in the back if you want to – or pop in a surfboard. On top of this, all the space up the front that would have been dedicated to an internal combustion engine in a conventional car has been given over to extra luggage space: a front trunk (which another reviewer has called a “frunk”), which is reminiscent of the old classic VW Beetles. The other hot feature that they have let slip is the acceleration: 0–100 in six seconds, which is slower than the Model S’s 2.7 seconds but is still very, very respectable. The Model 3 has also designed to have five-star rating as well.
For those who want a bit more, here’s the official release video and speech (with more details about the posher Model S and X).
Oh yes – there is a story going around that the Model 3 was going to be called the Model E but the stylized E with three lines inspired a name change. Guess they realised what the three models were going to spell if they lined them up with the newcomer in the middle and decided it wasn’t family-friendly enough…
If you’re interested, you can pre-order yours through the official Tesla website .
Tyres for Dummies
Tyre durability and performance are really important factors in how a car handles and steers. Many of us are happy to just jump inside our cars, turn the key and drive away with little thought given to tyre performance, science and design. On the side of your tyre are a whole lot of numbers that mean lots of different things. Let’s take a look at the most important ones.
When it comes to a tyre, size really is significant. Ultimately, you want the right size tyre for your car. The car’s designer engineers have tested and proven the right size tyre for you particular car’s design. So getting it wrong here really makes a huge difference to the way your car handles safely. What do the numbers mean? Using an example of a 235/45/17 tyre, these numbers tell us that the tyre’s width is 235 mm. The next number to consider is 45; and this figure is a percentage figure that tells us the height of the tyre wall. So the height of the tyre wall is 45% of the width of the tyre. The width of the tyre in this example is 235 mm, so the height of the tyre’s side wall is 45% of 235 mm which equates to 105.75 mm.
Take a look at your car’s tyres and you’ll see there is plenty of other information printed on the sidewall. Some of the other figures you’ll find provide other important information. The load rating, the speed rating and the type of tyre can be found printed on the sidewall of the tyre. An example might be 94Q M+S. This tells us that 94 is the load rating for the tyre which stands for 670 kg. Any weight on the tyre that is less than this means that the tyre will safely perform; exceeding this weight and it becomes dangerous. There is a load rating table that you can refer to in order to make sure that you have the right tyre for your car.
Now, the Q stands for the speed rating of the tyre, and in this case Q means that the tyre has been designed to safely perform at speeds up to 160 km/h. Over this speed and the tyre becomes unpredictable and unsafe. The higher the letter, the faster you can go, so a tyre with a Z speed rating will be commonly found on supercars like Porsches and Ferraris.
The letters M and S stands for a “Mud and Snow “ tyre design which is a pretty standard all-season tyre – common for many vehicles.
You’ll also find the maximum tyre pressure rating. It might be “Max 44 psi”. This stands for the maximum amount of pressure that the tyre can handle without exploding or at least becoming dangerous. This is, however, not the tyre pressure you should set your tyre to for everyday driving. I does depend upon the manufacturers specifications. Generally most cars have their tyres set between 26 and 36 psi, but it’s always best to check the manufactures manual. Trucks and trailers have very different requirements for tyre pressures.
You’ll also find the brand of tyre printed on the sidewall. Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone are some common reliable brands.
Amazingly more than 200 different materials are used in the construction of a tyre, and you’ll find materials like carbon black, silicon, sulphur, plastersizers (which increase the plasticity or viscosity of a material), vulcanizing agents, steel or even Kevlar. These different raw materials are used to make a wide variety of components that are used in the manufacturing of a tyre – each of which give the tyre strength, durability and flexibility.
If you’re a driver who wants the best performance and handling from your machine, doing a bit of homework on the brands and types of tyres available, and there reputation in the wet and dry, will help you to make the best informed decision when it comes time to get a new set of tyres put on your car. Some of the better known tyre brands are: Michelin, Bob Jane, Bridgestone, Dunlop, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Pirelli, Continental and Yokohama.
Most of all, drive safe out there!
New Cars for 2017
With seeing the New Year in auto enthusiasts can get a bit of a spring in their step as they anticipate the new models of car that will be on sale. This year we’ll be seeing numerous new models for sale in Australia. Here’s the ‘’heads-up’’ for what’s coming.
The first quarter of 2017 will see the arrival of the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Audi S4 sedan and S4 Avant wagon, Mazda MX-5 RF, Mercedes Benz AMG E43, Mercedes-Benz E350e, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Skoda Superb Sportline, Toyota C-HR, Holden limited-edition Commodores, Holden Trax, Kia Rio, Suzuki Ignis, Maserati Levante, Porsche 911 GTS, the new BMW 5 Series and the Toyota Yaris facelift.
Alfa Romeo Giulia
Toyota C-HR
If speed is your thing then, perhaps, the most exciting car to drive in this bunch will be the new Alfa Romeo Giulia, Mercedes Benz AMG E43, Maserati Levante or the Nissan GT-R Nismo. Nissan’s 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6 will be hard to beat with its full-throttle 420 Nm, six-speed dual-clutch automatic and AWD powerhouse. Expect a 0-100 sprint time of less than three seconds. BMW’s new 5 Series is a ‘pearler’ – combining the best in family luxury and performance. Holden’s limited edition models will be roomy and comfortable, while the Toyota C-HR looks really cool and is sure to be on the radar for those on the lookout for a new small crossover vehicle.
Roll on into the second quarter and we’ll see the new Hyundai Genesis G80 boasting a V8 5.0-litre option, however the flagship model still sits pretty with a 3.8-litre V6 alternative. One thing is certain; the Genesis is quiet, large and luxurious. Ride quality is excellent and the car feels well planted with good grip.
The new Holden Astra sedan will be another great alternative to other mid-size sedans. We’ll see the new Lexus LC, Suzuki Swift, fast Mercedes-AMG E63 and the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain vehicles.
Want a new off-road king pin? Then the last half of the year has Land Rover bringing in their next generation Discovery. This one looks really good. Staying with the off-road theme, a brand new model sees the Skoda Kodiaq rolling on in. At 4.70m in length the Kodiaq SUV will be a roomy and practical wagon. Other models to be on the lookout for are the Mercedes-AMG GT R, Haval H7 and interesting Volkswagen Arteon.
Volkswagen Arteon
Advance warning is always good, and this “heads-up” 2017 new car list is perfect for comparing and making choices over which new car to buy.
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