[AstroKats]

Just paid off the Alien (one year of free credit from Dell). So what did I do? Bought another Alien for OAK... 😸

 

[Doca]

Just paid off the Alien (one year of free credit from Dell). So what did I do? Bought another Alien for OAK... 😸

Sounds like a sensible decision to me, lol.
Don't think I'll be going for another car. unless its something old that I can play with but don't have the room for. The wife and I have a short list of "if we had the space" play cars.

Those Aliens are pricey, always have been, but they're hard for me to value.
I recently upgraded my box to specs near-par with the Aurora 11 gaming desktop however, it only cost me a quarter of the cost, about $1,500 vs $6,200.
Granted, I didn't need drives, NIC, case, power or Windows (whats that like $600 worth of stuff?) but while my new video card is faster than the Alien, theirs has more cores.

Ref: Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop with Intel 10th Gen CPU | Dell Canada

 

[AstroKats]

Is it me or is there a problem with dups lately?

 

[AstroKats]

I've long been a Dell fan (except for the SmartPC, total fail) and had been monitoring what they were doing with Alienware for a while. When the Area-51m was released and I could get 0% financing for a year, I couldn't resist taking the bait. I've had it exactly a year (hence just paying off the line of credit to avoid the finance charge) and couldn't be happier with it, the service and support from Dell, etc. It's a serious desktop replacement with the heft to back that up, plus two 180W power adaptors, LOL. I also got the matching Alienware curved 34" monitor with G-Sync when it went on sale a few months later.

OAK has been wanting something lighter and slimmer that she can tuck into her purse so she's getting a tricked out m15 R3. It really is insane what you can spend on these toys if you want to - I didn't go too crazy with mine or hers but it's not difficult to configure a $6K Alienware laptop if you want to...

 

[Doca]

Thats a nice monitor, and laptop. I'd like to get a curved monitor but I'm doing OK for now with my dual 24" widescreens

 

[Doca]

Well, yesterday was fun.

First, it was three years since Stamford finally left my local left Subaru jail and made his way to celebrate by getting it over with, at the McDonalds drive thru. I think there’s still a fry wedged next to the seat, lol kidding. I’ve had the seats out so I took the opportunity to clean. Ice cream cake was had.

Second, I had to pull my new head unit to trouble shoot with iDatalink. I’m so tired of pulling it that I previously installed a permanent Maestro SW programming cable. This time I moved the actual unit to a place I can see the light by only removing the driver side vent. I still don’t have the phone control working.

Third, I replaced the head unit’s USB C cable from a male-male to a male-female so I can plug a USB directly in instead of having to to use adapters (which had so far failed). Then I snaked a USB C male-male through the face plate‘s shelf and ordered a USB C flash drive. Now I’ll be able to leave my USB music plugged in, using my phone on Bluetooth only, until I want to use Android Auto or have to charge. Then its an easy swap between phone and USB.

Fourth, I properly adjusted my amp and head unit crossovers.

Fifth, my dash cam’s power cable was loosing and gaining connection in accordance with bumps on the road, my stereo, heat and the will of god. I made an adjustment and accidentally broke it so I grabbed a spare USB cable from the box and swapped the ends. Works awesome now.

 

[Doca]

After one heck of a wait, I finally installed my Fumoto F-108N when doing stage one of winter preparation. In addition to load testing the battery, replacing the air filter and testing the brake fluid, I also winterized the trailer and hauled out the snowblower. I must be doing something right; the snowblower fired up on the first pull. Stupid me; when I drained the oil, I forgot to open the drain pan plug so it overflowed and I had to fish through the oil to find it. Good thing I only warmed it up before draining it.

Side note: I’ve never seen oil that dirty come out of one of my engines.

Stupid me part 2; forgetting that shops over torque, I assumed I’d be able to remove the old oil filter by hand. I couldn’t but I also didn’t bother buying an oil filter wrench. Well.... one screwdriver hammered through the old one created a really nice handle and it spun right off. I even had to use a tool to remove the oil fill cap. Can’t wait until next week to see how over torqued my tires are.

 

[Doca]

Having gotten my annual Krown in mid-September, I put on my winter shoes, gave Stamford a bath and did my pre-winter protectant about a week after changing the oil.

Over the past few motnhs, it finally happened; I'm out of stuff to contribute and threads haven't been of much interest. I'll still be periodically lurking but I suspect it'll be a weekly catch up unless my imagination gets captured or I can actually add soemthing... that's not crazy upon second thought but I certainly don't intent to abandon the forum.

I may be more active once the next gen comes out as my wife is preparing to buy one. When she does, first thing first, just like with Stamford, I'll track it on the ship based upon the dealer's arrival estimate; a couple of us may remember how well that worked out for me in 2017 but it turned out that the dealer gave me an inflated estimate so I pegged the wrong boat. As disasspointing as that was, I learned a lot about Subaru's distribution chain and how Subaru's national companies conduct market research to order from the parent and how differently one national operates from another.

 

[SubieSubieDo]

Yes the differences in the National markets is marked. I was a bit disappointed we're not getting the 2.5 engine as an option. Guess we haven't been very vocal about it Downunder.

 

[Doca]

My Maestro SW, CAT S52 and Pioneer HU still don’t dance well together so today I decided to check for a Maestro SW firmware upgrade. fhere was one but I have no idea if it’ll make a difference but it doesn’t matter anymore.

Turns out the RR2 now works with the 18’ XV so I just bought it and the required SU3 cable. Might not have needed the cable as the Autoharnesshouse one may work but screw it. The hardest part was finding the cable in Canada.

I got the RR2, just like the SW, from Singh Electronics in Toronto but the cable came from GCM in Caledonia Ontario. The cable cost $50 but the RR2 was $50 cheaper than Crutchfield, who doesn’t have the required HRN-RR-SU3, and they were also (and still are) $30 cheaper than Crutchfield for the Maestro SW.

 

[CubGeek]

I got the RR2, just like the SW, from Singh Electronics in Toronto but the cable came from GCM in Caledonia Ontario. The cable cost $50 but the RR2 was $50 cheaper than Crutchfield, who doesn’t have the required HRN-RR-SU3, and they were also (and still are) $30 cheaper than Crutchfield for the Maestro SW.

Dear god.... it’s like a whole new language that I’m gonna have to learn for any modding.... and I thought learning Arabic was difficult.

 

[Doca]

The Maestro RR2 and SU3 harness work... mostly.

The installation instructions were wrong, regarding the power antenna hookup. There is no main harness wire, as suggested further below. The harness power antenna gets hooked up to blue/white switched 12VDC.

I was hoping to get more car control features back to the main screen and the ones it does bring back aren’t very useful but it’s nice to have a few gauges. Hopefully further software updates allow better control over them because I don’t need or want to look at that screen to see my speed or RPM. It does give me a few other gauges which aren’t that useful but kinda cool to have; throttle position, mass air flow and a few others that I’ve forgotten at the moment.

I‘d also like to have seen the RR2 make the screen adjustable IAW the interior vehicle dimmer.

The hands free phone still doesn’t work. I can get it to dial if I press the button on the screen or if I upload my contacts to Alexa but I can’t use the steering wheel buttons. That’s not entirely true, I can hang up a call; weird, eh?

So.... as of today, the final word is to not buy the RR2. I’d recommend getting the SW just so that the steering wheel’s radio controls work.

 

[Doca]

I finally played with the RR2 and 7600NEX’s car features. Turns out I have a 8.71 second 0-100 (0-60 mph) car. Not bad in a an OEM 2L stick. I’m going to see if I can jig it down to an even 8.5 or if I can find the sweet spot, a seconds. Lol wishful thinking, I think.

I also have three programmable outputs to play with. Not sure how I’ll use them, but they seem pretty versatile. Might remove my LED hazard flasher button and integrate it the system.

 

[SubieSubieDo]

View attachment 303273

It looks not unlike a map of the London Underground.

 

[Doca]

Quite some time ago, there was a discussion on downshifting in relation to how the car determines its fuel economy via mass air flow sensor. In summary, I walked away with the impression that dropping into a lower gear is better than just popping in into neutral and coasting up to a stop of one form or another.

Having installed the RR2 and 7600NEX, I’ve found that its not true. Amongst other things, the RR2 feeds both the mass air flow pressure and air volume. When downshifting, the volume drops to 3% but when coasting down, it drops to 2%. Therefore, it’s more economical to safely coast to a stop than to downshift.

In many cases it’s dangerous to not be in gear but in many other situations, such as rolling up to a parking spot or a stop sign/ligh, it’s perfectly safe If your not an idiot about things; spatial awareness and sound judgement, folks.



It’s nice to be back a little more frequently, even if there’s little to chew on outside of my own thread.

 

[Doca]

Almost forgot; I rolled 0-100 kph (0-60 mph) in 6.74 seconds the other day. Keep in mind that 60 mph is actually 96.6 kph so it safe to say that. 0-60 time is more accurate in the area of 6.25-6.5 seconds but I won’t push for the sake of 3.4 kph.

Who would have thought the XV can do under 7? Once I find a list of under 7 second production cars to compare with, I’ll make a main post to share this.

 

[Cutlass]

I had a manual transmission Corolla years ago. I'd leave it in neutral when stopped at a light. So when I got hit from behind while stopped at a light I just sailed through the intersection...

 

[AstroKats]

I had a manual transmission Corolla years ago. I'd leave it in neutral when stopped at a light. So when I got hit from behind while stopped at a light I just sailed through the intersection...

Into cross traffic... 😸

 

[Doca]

I had a manual transmission Corolla years ago. I'd leave it in neutral when stopped at a light. So when I got hit from behind while stopped at a light I just sailed through the intersection...

I hope I interpreted that properly.

..... manuals have to be in neutral when stopped. I was more referring to downshifting as you approach a stop.

And now, a related editorial:

Brakes applied or not, any car hit like that will go into an intersection. Arguably, brakes at an intersection are a bad thing but their use is mandatory for auto/CVT. If you get hit, you may come to a full stop in front of somebody whereas without brakes, you might sail through unscathed.

Then theres the crap shoot of where you wheels are pointed as a result. I’d rather the manual that’ll least stall itself out if the clutch is released, assuming the shifter is left in 1st, otherwise it’ll coast till it runs out of juice whereas an auto/CVT will continue to pull you into whatever while the brain and muscles react. Of course there’s a moment of clarity somewhere between surprise and panic after getting hit when you wonder how effective your stain guard is as you suddenly find yourself sitting 2” higher and a not so fresh smell fills your car.

 

[Cutlass]

I hope I interpreted that properly.

..... manuals have to be in neutral when stopped. I was more referring to downshifting as you approach a stop.

And now, a related editorial:

Brakes applied or not, any car hit like that will go into an intersection. Arguably, brakes at an intersection are a bad thing but their use is mandatory for auto/CVT. If you get hit, you may come to a full stop in front of somebody whereas without brakes, you might sail through unscathed.

Then theres the crap shoot of where you wheels are pointed as a result. I’d rather the manual that’ll least stall itself out if the clutch is released, assuming the shifter is left in 1st, otherwise it’ll coast till it runs out of juice whereas an auto/CVT will continue to pull you into whatever while the brain and muscles react. Of course there’s a moment of clarity somewhere between surprise and panic after getting hit when you wonder how effective your stain guard is as you suddenly find yourself sitting 2” higher and a not so fresh smell fills your car.

There's always the option of just having the clutch depressed...

So what happened was that I was hit hard enough so that the driver's seat broke. This had me fully reclined into the back seat, and not able to reach the brake pedal. So with the car out of gear, the only thing slowing it was that one tire was destroyed by the collision. So I sailed across 5 lanes of a normally very heavily trafficked 50mph road. And the only reason I didn't get t-boned to add to my problems was that it was about midnight when it happened.