"Shmevans" (icantdriveanyslower)
02/24/2016 at 23:42 • Filed to: None
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"Shmevans" (icantdriveanyslower)
02/24/2016 at 23:42 • Filed to: None | 1
| 12 |
Saw this tonight on my LinkedIn feed posted by a connection of a connection who works as a Sales Consultant for MB USA (exactly where, I don’t know).
I’m sorry but black ice can’t obstruct your view of the upcoming corner (hint: it’s called black ice because you can’t see it). I’m pretty sure that what happened here is exactly the same thing that happened to a number of my colleagues in the 4 years I worked at MB Canada.
Non-car people (basically everyone at the Head Office, sadly) hop in their brand new 4MATICs and think that the car will save their ass in all types of weather (just as our marketing would suggest). In reality, the employee-lease vehicles come with “all”-season tires that are so performance oriented they basically turn to concrete come winter time. And guess what, it’s deductible paying time!
I get the feeling that Mr. King-of-the-Road GL 450 had that same feeling of invincibility (wow, 5 i’s in that word) right up until the point that he was 20 feet into his claimed 150 foot adventure down into the ravine. The 3 commenters were all very happy he was okay, and praised MB for making safe vehicles. I’m just annoyed he ruined a perfectly good truck by not driving to conditions.
Winter tires folks. Drive safe.
TheOnelectronic
> Shmevans
02/24/2016 at 23:44 |
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Heresy time: I’ve found very little difference in usable snow traction between snow tires and UHPAS tires.
(Michelin Xi-3 vs. Pilot A/S Plus or whatever they’re called)
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Shmevans
> TheOnelectronic
02/24/2016 at 23:52 |
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All 5 of my C-Classes (only one of which was a RWD) came with Pirelli P-Zero or Continental UHPAS tires and they were hopeless in the winter. I mean, I got around and everything and was thankful to live in the city where we never had much accumulation of snow on the roads, but compared to having snow tires on the car it felt like night and day. The problem is that employees don’t want to shell out for winter’s becasue the cars go back so often that it wouldn’t make financial sense. Unless you always know you’ll be driving the same class of car. I often flipped between C’s and SLK’s so toughed it out and just drove extra carefully in bad weather.
thebigbossyboss
> Shmevans
02/25/2016 at 00:02 |
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I commute between Prince George and Edmonton a lot. Winter tires are law here and even if not, I used to live in Ottawa. The average temp for the month of Feb 2015 was 1.4F. Life without winters just ain’t for me.
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Shmevans
> thebigbossyboss
02/25/2016 at 00:10 |
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I love the winter. I grew up in Northern Ontario so know all about driving in the snow. Not so much your average Toronto driver unfortunately. I see some crazy shit on the roads here. One benefit however is being one of the few who are confident enough to use the passing lane in snowy weather. Hard packed snow is much better than glare ice asphalt tracks. I drive places in my ‘08 Honda Fit that a lot of G-Wagen driving poseurs here would never dare.
Nibby
> Shmevans
02/25/2016 at 00:11 |
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speaking of weather it’s 57F outside and thundering... in february and in New York. what.
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Shmevans
> Nibby
02/25/2016 at 00:17 |
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Seriously. It’s weird. There is still nice grass in the park across from my building. Also, can you Americans switch to Metric already? C’mon.
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thebigbossyboss
> Shmevans
02/25/2016 at 00:30 |
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Oh nice. I just drove through Northern ontario when I drove from Ottawa to Prince George.
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Shmevans
> thebigbossyboss
02/25/2016 at 00:32 |
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Lotsa trees. Lotsa rocks. That’s a long drive.
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Shmevans
02/25/2016 at 01:20 |
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Nice to see another MB employee on oppo. Though I’m down in dealer-land, on the front line wrenchin’ in the trenches :)
I’ve seen my fair share of our cars get in some pretty nasty wrecks, including head-ons at alleged highway speeds where the people in the Benz walked away. Very safe cars. But you are right, too many people think the car will do all the work and save them from nasty conditions. It won’t. Sorry for the cliche, but it can’t fix stupid.
I live in a city that sees maybe a few inches of snow every winter, and it only lasts for a couple days at most. But every time it does snow, the shop gets at least a handful of cats that were in accidents in the snow. Usually people slid into curbs and destroyed their wheels and suspension because they were driving too fast on their “all”-season tires.
And you’re right about those too. Tires that is. Our factory AS’s are basically summer tires with a few extra sipes in the tread. 4matic is pretty damn good but it can only do so much with a bad driver and inappropriate tires.
bob and john
> Shmevans
02/25/2016 at 01:23 |
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oh your in TO to? wow. lots of oppos there.
I’m up in thunder bay for uni months.
spanfucker retire bitch
> TheOnelectronic
02/25/2016 at 06:39 |
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How much snow are we talking? 6 or more inches?
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TheOnelectronic
> spanfucker retire bitch
02/25/2016 at 16:06 |
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3-4. Beyond 6" I usually am plowing too much snow with the body of the car to really try to get around.