Miharu, continued: Re-learning to drive
May. 29th, 2021 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psipsyAfter a few weeks, I'm discovering more about this car. Some traits with the automatic, I'm not surprised about. Such as when I would mash on the gas and there would be a slight lag with the transmission needing a second to figure out "oh, lots of acceleration is needed, better skip down a few gears". In a manual, the decision to downshift is usually already executed and the torque is ready. At least now, if I know I'll need a burst of acceleration, I can give it a quick downshift or two and then everything is ready.
I discovered what "Lane keep assist" really is. It assists with staying in the lane, and it's not as passive as I thought it would be. Since Miharu has electric power steering, that motor can also be controlled by the computer, which is also connected to the sensors that know when I'm in a lane or not. Which means if I turn on the LKA, the car will steer by itself. To an extent, and only for a few seconds at a time before telling me to put my hands back on the wheel. It certainly feels weird when I do have my hands on the wheel. I can feel the wheel twitching. In Ai & Nozomi, I'm used to feeling nothing but feedback. In Miharu, that's not feedback I'm feeling in the wheel. The LKA system suspends itself when I use my turn signals. If for whatever reason I decide to just yank over into another lane with the LKA on, it kinda scolds me for it but won't really stop me from doing it.
I did find out how to turn off the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) so I'm not slowing down before I'm ready to pass. The ACC is handy when in somewhat dense traffic, when an opportunity to merge over to pass is not guaranteed. At the weird hours I drive home from work, the benefits are not as prominent.
On flat highway, I find it's better to leave the transmission in "D" and let the car figure it out. Same with stop-and-go. On hilly rural roads, I have better driving when I put it in "S" and have it in 6th or maybe 7th gear, because 8th gear isn't a good hill-climbing gear. On Skyline Drive with its hills and mountains and speed limit of 35MPH, I like to leave it in S3. It's geared down more than enough to climb the hill, and it's low enough that I can come down the hills without going heavy on the brakes. For that matter, in either Ai or Nozomi, I use 3rd gear on that road anyway. At least going between D and S is just a nudge of the shifter.
That's given me a bit of an "ah-ha" moment in regards to other drivers and their cars. In the past, I've noticed that when going up a hill on the interstate with the cruise control set, my car would not lose any speed, while other cars would start to lag and fall back. For the longest time I didn't know why, I thought it was just a difference in how their cruise control systems worked. But no, it seems to have more to do with the nature of automatics and CVTs and how they don't shift down to a ratio that would give it enough torque to climb hills until a lot of speed has been bled off. Meanwhile in Ai/Nozomi, their respective top gears have torque to spare for any hill on the interstates.
I thought the car didn't have a central dome light, and I was half-right. That light was moved all the way at the back of the roof, almost to the rear window, instead of being right in the center of the roof. I think that's because of the sunroof, which drops down and then slides inside the car's roof instead of popping up and over the roof (like on Ai & Nozomi). In Ai & Nozomi, the moonroof switch is right by my door; in Miharu the switch is at the roof. In the same cluster of buttons at the roof, are three more buttons, for controlling garage door openers. After a bit of fiddling around, I was able to get it to work with my garage door.
Gas mileage so far is mid 30s for MPG. The car actively keeps track of that. If I'm driving to work, which is mostly downhill, I can get over 36MPG. Driving home, which is mostly uphill, it's closer to 30. Given that in Ai & Nozomi, I've been keeping track of their fuel economy by way of noting the odometer readings and how much fuel I put in at each fillup. With that method, useful data doesn't manifest until after a couple thousand miles. (I've been doing that for at least 100k miles on them.)
Safety features are incomparable. I have no idea how many airbags Miharu has and I hope I don't find out the hard way. I remember back in '98, when I bought Ai, I was amazed at having a car that had airbags at all and anti-lock brakes. And then there's the lane departure and crash-mitigation. By giving the car an inkling of self-preservation, that extends to the occupants inside.
Some old habits are easy to "brake": In Ai/Nozomi, as they're manual transmission cars, it's customary to press in the clutch pedal while turning the key to start the car. In Miharu, with her automatic and push-button start, one must step on the brake pedal to enable starting. The last time I drove both Ai and Nozomi after driving Miharu for a while, I found myself stepping on the brake pedal and wondering why the car wouldn't start.
A week ago I drove Ai to work and on some errands, as I normally would have. And nothing went wrong. I didn't feel scared or worried. Everything felt normal, natural, organic. Fun, even. A pleasure to drive as usual. I was reminded of why I kept Ai all this time.
I discovered what "Lane keep assist" really is. It assists with staying in the lane, and it's not as passive as I thought it would be. Since Miharu has electric power steering, that motor can also be controlled by the computer, which is also connected to the sensors that know when I'm in a lane or not. Which means if I turn on the LKA, the car will steer by itself. To an extent, and only for a few seconds at a time before telling me to put my hands back on the wheel. It certainly feels weird when I do have my hands on the wheel. I can feel the wheel twitching. In Ai & Nozomi, I'm used to feeling nothing but feedback. In Miharu, that's not feedback I'm feeling in the wheel. The LKA system suspends itself when I use my turn signals. If for whatever reason I decide to just yank over into another lane with the LKA on, it kinda scolds me for it but won't really stop me from doing it.
I did find out how to turn off the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) so I'm not slowing down before I'm ready to pass. The ACC is handy when in somewhat dense traffic, when an opportunity to merge over to pass is not guaranteed. At the weird hours I drive home from work, the benefits are not as prominent.
On flat highway, I find it's better to leave the transmission in "D" and let the car figure it out. Same with stop-and-go. On hilly rural roads, I have better driving when I put it in "S" and have it in 6th or maybe 7th gear, because 8th gear isn't a good hill-climbing gear. On Skyline Drive with its hills and mountains and speed limit of 35MPH, I like to leave it in S3. It's geared down more than enough to climb the hill, and it's low enough that I can come down the hills without going heavy on the brakes. For that matter, in either Ai or Nozomi, I use 3rd gear on that road anyway. At least going between D and S is just a nudge of the shifter.
That's given me a bit of an "ah-ha" moment in regards to other drivers and their cars. In the past, I've noticed that when going up a hill on the interstate with the cruise control set, my car would not lose any speed, while other cars would start to lag and fall back. For the longest time I didn't know why, I thought it was just a difference in how their cruise control systems worked. But no, it seems to have more to do with the nature of automatics and CVTs and how they don't shift down to a ratio that would give it enough torque to climb hills until a lot of speed has been bled off. Meanwhile in Ai/Nozomi, their respective top gears have torque to spare for any hill on the interstates.
I thought the car didn't have a central dome light, and I was half-right. That light was moved all the way at the back of the roof, almost to the rear window, instead of being right in the center of the roof. I think that's because of the sunroof, which drops down and then slides inside the car's roof instead of popping up and over the roof (like on Ai & Nozomi). In Ai & Nozomi, the moonroof switch is right by my door; in Miharu the switch is at the roof. In the same cluster of buttons at the roof, are three more buttons, for controlling garage door openers. After a bit of fiddling around, I was able to get it to work with my garage door.
Gas mileage so far is mid 30s for MPG. The car actively keeps track of that. If I'm driving to work, which is mostly downhill, I can get over 36MPG. Driving home, which is mostly uphill, it's closer to 30. Given that in Ai & Nozomi, I've been keeping track of their fuel economy by way of noting the odometer readings and how much fuel I put in at each fillup. With that method, useful data doesn't manifest until after a couple thousand miles. (I've been doing that for at least 100k miles on them.)
Safety features are incomparable. I have no idea how many airbags Miharu has and I hope I don't find out the hard way. I remember back in '98, when I bought Ai, I was amazed at having a car that had airbags at all and anti-lock brakes. And then there's the lane departure and crash-mitigation. By giving the car an inkling of self-preservation, that extends to the occupants inside.
Some old habits are easy to "brake": In Ai/Nozomi, as they're manual transmission cars, it's customary to press in the clutch pedal while turning the key to start the car. In Miharu, with her automatic and push-button start, one must step on the brake pedal to enable starting. The last time I drove both Ai and Nozomi after driving Miharu for a while, I found myself stepping on the brake pedal and wondering why the car wouldn't start.
A week ago I drove Ai to work and on some errands, as I normally would have. And nothing went wrong. I didn't feel scared or worried. Everything felt normal, natural, organic. Fun, even. A pleasure to drive as usual. I was reminded of why I kept Ai all this time.
