I'm assuming that "shifter" knob only does the forward/reverse thing? Why use a lever when a button will do? It's ugly and big and ugly. I propose a ban on all stick-in-appearance shifting devices unless the car has a clutch.
I look at that photo and my brain just hurts. How can you work on anything in there?
Yesterday I helped a friend with a GMC pickup change the plugs. They are so hard to get at that you have to be a damn contortionist to reach any of them. And there is enough sharp metal around the engine that you're bound to get up a few times.
The engineers who design these things should be forced to repair them 100 times before they put the thing out for sale.
@Daniel Horney: Access matters. I hate it when the repair manual goes:
Step 1 - remove engine
Old full size GMs with AC used to be total bastards to get at the two plugs under the compressor. I doubt that half of them ever had those plugs changed.
Some cars have just one right way to get at fasteners, and you have to have the right tools to make it work. Others were just never thought through.
01/12/09
01/12/09
Rot in hell, Toyota.
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
In my dash-shift Prius I have to keep a Coke bottle in the cupholder because of my primal need to hold a shifter while I drive.
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
You can haz inlflatuble passengers for the car poolz lane, too, Jetsons-style.
01/12/09
"Hey, that's the same face my wife makes when I drive!"
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
Continues ugly.
12/24/08
12/23/08
12/23/08
12/23/08
12/23/08
12/23/08
Yesterday I helped a friend with a GMC pickup change the plugs. They are so hard to get at that you have to be a damn contortionist to reach any of them. And there is enough sharp metal around the engine that you're bound to get up a few times.
The engineers who design these things should be forced to repair them 100 times before they put the thing out for sale.
12/23/08
12/23/08
Step 1 - remove engine
Old full size GMs with AC used to be total bastards to get at the two plugs under the compressor. I doubt that half of them ever had those plugs changed.
Some cars have just one right way to get at fasteners, and you have to have the right tools to make it work. Others were just never thought through.
12/23/08