Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Installed a MioFive 4k dashcam today.  I've been wanting a dashc for a while, but never bothered.  Recently a buddy got burned, writing off his truck and the other party lying about what happened, so my buddy was saddled with 50% fault.  A dashcam would have gone a long way in his case.

So time for me to put one in.

Does this record both directions? Is there such a thing as a dashcam that doubles as a back up camera? My youngest prefers the Ridgeline which has no backup camera. It's also the longest and has the worst turning radius so do the math lol. I was thinking maybe an integrated rear view mirror?

This particular one only records front facing.  There ARE some that have rear facing cameras also - you run a cable to a camera that you either stick onto the back window, or bolt onto your license plate holder.  Whether they are intended to be used as backup cameras, I don't know. 

[Arthur Dent]

Impressive mileage! Did you buy it new and how often do you change oil in it?

I bought it a couple years ago as the kids car/beater. Bought it off the original owner who commuted to work on the highway with it.

I replace the oil roughly twice a year with whatever is on sale at Canadian Tire. I think the original guy did that same strategy.

Its been my race car/truck/GBC car since. We have put almost 40k on it. I replaced the rear struts when I got it and the radiator and front brakes since. I've got rather attached to it. My youngest will soon learn to drive on it.

[ArticSteve]

Installed a MioFive 4k dashcam today.  I've been wanting a dashc for a while, but never bothered.  Recently a buddy got burned, writing off his truck and the other party lying about what happened, so my buddy was saddled with 50% fault.  A dashcam would have gone a long way in his case.

So time for me to put one in.

^^^
Wife's vehicle needs one in the worst way.  Being putting it off forever.  But I need to crack open the plastic that surrounds the mirror base so I've been putting it off being a leased vehicle.  So how are you attaching this camera?  Where are you getting the 12V from?

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Installed a MioFive 4k dashcam today.  I've been wanting a dashc for a while, but never bothered.  Recently a buddy got burned, writing off his truck and the other party lying about what happened, so my buddy was saddled with 50% fault.  A dashcam would have gone a long way in his case.

So time for me to put one in.

^^^
Wife's vehicle needs one in the worst way.  Being putting it off forever.  But I need to crack open the plastic that surrounds the mirror base so I've been putting it off being a leased vehicle.  So how are you attaching this camera?  Where are you getting the 12V from?

https://www.amazon.ca/Miofive-Car-Dash-Speed-Built/dp/B09HT854VJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1VVILOIFIS52H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aAH08vGtadWNnIrzTJaH4vlsDYN64TFO6JSc39rrlKHbQTXPjkGl9O1Y3FUoNWGllKzA7SzVzYIZ223yFm1YJQ2miZdr20KDXcOig8HAvE66eBLVtrp53s2FUbbrBCBB2uZi_8PlG7dqesvPtL8ZrH84P91c6XkQ00SwrIxd30iNoWp9Js7AlcHkS6cd87QPfzS8QzEHbd2R15sXwDIaA4vbDuXdU7_Qqr6fFmVxPpUpjqXiCkA2mL-GPb791gfJ8efRWBjkkmppaS_tnJHXlfm50NtDcbeV7sggiwSZT0E.GU3kYG27692YUhrtyCVxkv83pFS29WmX4ci5zZ7RKVs&dib_tag=se&keywords=miofive+4k+dash+cam&qid=1710244329&sprefix=miofive%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

The camera sticks to the windshield with an electrostatic 'sticker', and then some 3M tape - I have it located just below the rear view mirror.  There's a USB cable that I have pushed into the trim, it goes along the headliner towards the passenger A-pillar, then down the A-pillar, again hidden behind rubber trim, behind the glovebox compartment, then into the 12v accessory power port.  There is an accessory kit you can buy to wire it directly into the fusebox, but I do not have that, and not really interested in it.

This unit has its own onboard battery with a parking mode that detects shocks and starts recording, in case somebody backs into you in a parking lot.  When it detects power once the vehicle is turned on, it automatically starts recording.

The biggest con about this particular unit is that it does not have the ability to run a rear camera, although there is a model that does, twice the price:

https://www.amazon.ca/Miofive-Dash-Dual-Cam-Detection/dp/B0BJJCXMYY/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=3B9SV16ICUBHS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DBUibak9f1ardMFKwYC1DZCLQnGVVyEcs5nRHYCGOsK-6w5jj5X4cgUq_-obQWtDHfMUVgaCHz3f1EShKOHYFJMmpwLBs1Ga43xH5UNYpvVH69rWcorVaD5CxT3AuJuh_ywWb6CxSTkQWahqBBgCfquuJUx2vekwq2Tgwzl2agJLXBl--C-LUz11oaaqHBUkLCwCs8FJZOakKdDIDkyWNKWmE1XGQpv0EfwPi6nPjsI0SdP3T3Q_mrSnoTyMfE4QBcR0mxeKgrJ34bavig5qjguaKsiTQ8poJeMAveEvVhQ.9TEl7QTSGD4QO7zMNgTFFULn9nd3It_W-3zhV2lsTYo&dib_tag=se&keywords=miofive+dual+dash+cam&qid=1710244465&sprefix=miofive%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

[EV Dan]

IIRC, I remember the PCS intervenes if there's no braking detected at all. So if you're never pushing the brakes/very late braker, I can see it intervene.

I have to seriously wonder if:

1) it's defective/needs calibration.

2)  it's how you drive.

Reviewers in both print and online would be losing their facking minds if Toyota's PCS behaved as you describe.

I have seen the very occasional complaint about VSC being too sensitive in very spirited driving, but nothing about PCS.

Most reviewers write puff pieces because they are terrified of being cut off by manufacturers, witness Motormouth and the Hyundai battery saga. Savagegeese is a unicorn. Having said that watch the review of this vehicle  by The Straight Pipes specifically what they say about PCS...from 9m30s onwards. They are pretty scathing about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFUr8dzVByw&t=571s

That is nuts. I know the feeling when I'm on cruise on the 400 series and I rarely use the adaptive cruise because it can't keep a consistently small gap and people begin to cut in. Having this "feature" as part of my everyday driving would be annoying to say the least. It's like their engineers messed up the code and assigned a good feature but to the wrong driving mode. Like I said, fingers crossed for a prompt software update.

I hope so too. Fortunately the GH can get Over the Air Software Updates. Having said that, The Straight Pipes review was 5 months ago and my vehicle has a manufacturing date of January 2024, so clearly nothing has been done for at least 2-3 months after the problem has become apparent. And that other video I posted earlier from the Toyota tech in the US is an indication that the problem has been brought to the attention of Toyota dealers at the minimum. I wonder whether Toyota will roll out a fix before they are  prompted by the US Transportation Safety Board. I don't have much hope that our toothless Canadian regulator will be able to get anything done.

Someone in the comments to the straight pipes' video says this feature is called PDA - proactive driving assist and can be turned off.

[warp]

IIRC, I remember the PCS intervenes if there's no braking detected at all. So if you're never pushing the brakes/very late braker, I can see it intervene.

I have to seriously wonder if:

1) it's defective/needs calibration.

2)  it's how you drive.

Reviewers in both print and online would be losing their facking minds if Toyota's PCS behaved as you describe.

I have seen the very occasional complaint about VSC being too sensitive in very spirited driving, but nothing about PCS.

Most reviewers write puff pieces because they are terrified of being cut off by manufacturers, witness Motormouth and the Hyundai battery saga. Savagegeese is a unicorn. Having said that watch the review of this vehicle  by The Straight Pipes specifically what they say about PCS...from 9m30s onwards. They are pretty scathing about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFUr8dzVByw&t=571s

That is nuts. I know the feeling when I'm on cruise on the 400 series and I rarely use the adaptive cruise because it can't keep a consistently small gap and people begin to cut in. Having this "feature" as part of my everyday driving would be annoying to say the least. It's like their engineers messed up the code and assigned a good feature but to the wrong driving mode. Like I said, fingers crossed for a prompt software update.

I hope so too. Fortunately the GH can get Over the Air Software Updates. Having said that, The Straight Pipes review was 5 months ago and my vehicle has a manufacturing date of January 2024, so clearly nothing has been done for at least 2-3 months after the problem has become apparent. And that other video I posted earlier from the Toyota tech in the US is an indication that the problem has been brought to the attention of Toyota dealers at the minimum. I wonder whether Toyota will roll out a fix before they are  prompted by the US Transportation Safety Board. I don't have much hope that our toothless Canadian regulator will be able to get anything done.

Someone in the comments to the straight pipes' video says this feature is called PDA - proactive driving assist and can be turned off.

That is correct. I discovered that the culprit is the PDA - pro active driving assist. And it can be turned off permanently, does not come on by default on a re-start. I wonder why they even have it, it's actually misleading because the literature states that it will help reduce speed on corners etc. if using Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. It says nothing about the fact that metaphorically it's like training wheels on a child learning how to ride a bicycle, sharply applying brakes if it sees another vehicle 100 feet ahead at 40 kmph. And frankly it is redundant because the full speed Adaptive Cruise Control actually brings the vehicle to a complete halt, at least in urban driving, that I have tried it and if you then tap the throttle or touch Resume it accelerates back again to the set speed. With the PDA turned off and the PCS - pre collision system aka Anti collision automatic braking set to it's lowest intervention level, the GH is a pretty normal vehicle to drive and actually allows you to drive pretty aggressively if you choose to without intervening.

[TheHire]

Took delivery of Mrs. Hire's new '24 Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve.

2024 is a weird year because they discontinued the Hemi on the regular Grand Cherokee models, so the only engines available re the 3.6L Pentastar and the PHEV (2.0T+hybrid). The slick new Hurricane motor won't be here till MY2025. I ordered the Pentastar as the lesser of two evils, but for a $90,000+ truck, it's just not enough power. Feels like it runs out of breath at passing speeds on the highway, and it has to rev fairly high to tug around in the city.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

[rrocket]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

[ktm525]

Took delivery of Mrs. Hire's new '24 Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve.

2024 is a weird year because they discontinued the Hemi on the regular Grand Cherokee models, so the only engines available re the 3.6L Pentastar and the PHEV (2.0T+hybrid). The slick new Hurricane motor won't be here till MY2025. I ordered the Pentastar as the lesser of two evils, but for a $90,000+ truck, it's just not enough power. Feels like it runs out of breath at passing speeds on the highway, and it has to rev fairly high to tug around in the city.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

Good to know. Confirms my thoughts on the GC with the 3.6. It was fine until it wasn't. In this case two lane highway and overtaking required (elev 2000-4000' so not stupid high). At the time I said it would have to be a Hemi or nothing.  Sounds like the hurricane will solve it.

[TheHire]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

She likes it, the interior is scrumptious. It's nicer than the V90 CC in literally every possible way except that it's an SUV - we've always kind of been anti-SUV people and pro-wagon. She has realized that it doesn't pull as urgently as the Volvo or anything else she's been in recently. When we shopped for the Volvo she test drove both the V60 T5 and V90CC B6, and while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

Interior is lovely in this spec.

[OliverD]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

She likes it, the interior is scrumptious. It's nicer than the V90 CC in literally every possible way except that it's an SUV - we've always kind of been anti-SUV people and pro-wagon. She has realized that it doesn't pull as urgently as the Volvo or anything else she's been in recently. When we shopped for the Volvo she test drove both the V60 T5 and V90CC B6, and while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

Did you consider the E-class wagon?

[rrocket]

 while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

As a car nut, you've no doubt conditioned her to having punchy engines...since that is what you always buy/order.

So I was wondering how much she noticed it VS. you.

[TheHire]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

She likes it, the interior is scrumptious. It's nicer than the V90 CC in literally every possible way except that it's an SUV - we've always kind of been anti-SUV people and pro-wagon. She has realized that it doesn't pull as urgently as the Volvo or anything else she's been in recently. When we shopped for the Volvo she test drove both the V60 T5 and V90CC B6, and while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

Did you consider the E-class wagon?

This time around? No; this year I've made the executive decision to have a bunch of my partners, managers and spouses that were in leases to cut costs and drive corporate demos through the various dealerships, that'll cost us very little vs. monthly payments.

[OliverD]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

She likes it, the interior is scrumptious. It's nicer than the V90 CC in literally every possible way except that it's an SUV - we've always kind of been anti-SUV people and pro-wagon. She has realized that it doesn't pull as urgently as the Volvo or anything else she's been in recently. When we shopped for the Volvo she test drove both the V60 T5 and V90CC B6, and while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

Did you consider the E-class wagon?

This time around? No; this year I've made the executive decision to have a bunch of my partners, managers and spouses that were in leases to cut costs and drive corporate demos through the various dealerships, that'll cost us very little vs. monthly payments.

How many spouses do you have? 

[warp]

Took delivery of Mrs. Hire's new '24 Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve.

2024 is a weird year because they discontinued the Hemi on the regular Grand Cherokee models, so the only engines available re the 3.6L Pentastar and the PHEV (2.0T+hybrid). The slick new Hurricane motor won't be here till MY2025. I ordered the Pentastar as the lesser of two evils, but for a $90,000+ truck, it's just not enough power. Feels like it runs out of breath at passing speeds on the highway, and it has to rev fairly high to tug around in the city.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

The 3.6 Pentastar was adequate in the 300 that I had, helped in no small part by the 8 speed ZF gear ratios. And like any NA engine, power and torque are up there in the rev range. The 300 was < 4000 lbs so to motivate the GC which is about a 1000 lbs heavier will be a chore for that engine. I remember renting a Ram 1500 last year with the 3.6 and while it was OK on city streets, again in no small part due to the gearing and final drive ratio, it ran out of steam pretty quickly at higher highway speeds.

[TheHire]

.

I love the thing, just about everything about it, but the 3.6L just isn't enough for my needs. We'll swap it for a Hurricane before this time next year.

What about the wife?

How's she feel about it?  Same?

She likes it, the interior is scrumptious. It's nicer than the V90 CC in literally every possible way except that it's an SUV - we've always kind of been anti-SUV people and pro-wagon. She has realized that it doesn't pull as urgently as the Volvo or anything else she's been in recently. When we shopped for the Volvo she test drove both the V60 T5 and V90CC B6, and while the V60 was the "right size" for us she found the powertrain much punchier, and she remembered that comparison when we were driving in the GC together this morning.

Did you consider the E-class wagon?

This time around? No; this year I've made the executive decision to have a bunch of my partners, managers and spouses that were in leases to cut costs and drive corporate demos through the various dealerships, that'll cost us very little vs. monthly payments.

How many spouses do you have? 

HA! I mean employees'/partners' spouses.

[EV Dan]

IIRC, I remember the PCS intervenes if there's no braking detected at all. So if you're never pushing the brakes/very late braker, I can see it intervene.

I have to seriously wonder if:

1) it's defective/needs calibration.

2)  it's how you drive.

Reviewers in both print and online would be losing their facking minds if Toyota's PCS behaved as you describe.

I have seen the very occasional complaint about VSC being too sensitive in very spirited driving, but nothing about PCS.

Most reviewers write puff pieces because they are terrified of being cut off by manufacturers, witness Motormouth and the Hyundai battery saga. Savagegeese is a unicorn. Having said that watch the review of this vehicle  by The Straight Pipes specifically what they say about PCS...from 9m30s onwards. They are pretty scathing about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFUr8dzVByw&t=571s

That is nuts. I know the feeling when I'm on cruise on the 400 series and I rarely use the adaptive cruise because it can't keep a consistently small gap and people begin to cut in. Having this "feature" as part of my everyday driving would be annoying to say the least. It's like their engineers messed up the code and assigned a good feature but to the wrong driving mode. Like I said, fingers crossed for a prompt software update.

I hope so too. Fortunately the GH can get Over the Air Software Updates. Having said that, The Straight Pipes review was 5 months ago and my vehicle has a manufacturing date of January 2024, so clearly nothing has been done for at least 2-3 months after the problem has become apparent. And that other video I posted earlier from the Toyota tech in the US is an indication that the problem has been brought to the attention of Toyota dealers at the minimum. I wonder whether Toyota will roll out a fix before they are  prompted by the US Transportation Safety Board. I don't have much hope that our toothless Canadian regulator will be able to get anything done.

Someone in the comments to the straight pipes' video says this feature is called PDA - proactive driving assist and can be turned off.

That is correct. I discovered that the culprit is the PDA - pro active driving assist. And it can be turned off permanently, does not come on by default on a re-start. I wonder why they even have it, it's actually misleading because the literature states that it will help reduce speed on corners etc. if using Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. It says nothing about the fact that metaphorically it's like training wheels on a child learning how to ride a bicycle, sharply applying brakes if it sees another vehicle 100 feet ahead at 40 kmph. And frankly it is redundant because the full speed Adaptive Cruise Control actually brings the vehicle to a complete halt, at least in urban driving, that I have tried it and if you then tap the throttle or touch Resume it accelerates back again to the set speed. With the PDA turned off and the PCS - pre collision system aka Anti collision automatic braking set to it's lowest intervention level, the GH is a pretty normal vehicle to drive and actually allows you to drive pretty aggressively if you choose to without intervening.

Case closed. Thanks for the follow-up. It would be nice of Toyota to include a blu-ray with a quick start video where all these new features would be explained, instead of 10,000 page manuals which no-one is ever bothered to read.

[PJungnitsch]

That is correct. I discovered that the culprit is the PDA - pro active driving assist. And it can be turned off permanently, does not come on by default on a re-start. I wonder why they even have it, it's actually misleading because the literature states that it will help reduce speed on corners etc. if using Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. It says nothing about the fact that metaphorically it's like training wheels on a child learning how to ride a bicycle, sharply applying brakes if it sees another vehicle 100 feet ahead at 40 kmph. And frankly it is redundant because the full speed Adaptive Cruise Control actually brings the vehicle to a complete halt, at least in urban driving, that I have tried it and if you then tap the throttle or touch Resume it accelerates back again to the set speed. With the PDA turned off and the PCS - pre collision system aka Anti collision automatic braking set to it's lowest intervention level, the GH is a pretty normal vehicle to drive and actually allows you to drive pretty aggressively if you choose to without intervening.

Case closed. Thanks for the follow-up. It would be nice of Toyota to include a blu-ray with a quick start video where all these new features would be explained, instead of 10,000 page manuals which no-one is ever bothered to read.

Doesn't help that they love acronyms so much, especially when it seems every manufacturer has different ones for the same function

https://www.toyota.com/safety-sense/

https://www.mazdaworldcar.com/wc-mazda-technology-quick-guide/

[EV Dan]

That is correct. I discovered that the culprit is the PDA - pro active driving assist. And it can be turned off permanently, does not come on by default on a re-start. I wonder why they even have it, it's actually misleading because the literature states that it will help reduce speed on corners etc. if using Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. It says nothing about the fact that metaphorically it's like training wheels on a child learning how to ride a bicycle, sharply applying brakes if it sees another vehicle 100 feet ahead at 40 kmph. And frankly it is redundant because the full speed Adaptive Cruise Control actually brings the vehicle to a complete halt, at least in urban driving, that I have tried it and if you then tap the throttle or touch Resume it accelerates back again to the set speed. With the PDA turned off and the PCS - pre collision system aka Anti collision automatic braking set to it's lowest intervention level, the GH is a pretty normal vehicle to drive and actually allows you to drive pretty aggressively if you choose to without intervening.

Case closed. Thanks for the follow-up. It would be nice of Toyota to include a blu-ray with a quick start video where all these new features would be explained, instead of 10,000 page manuals which no-one is ever bothered to read.

Doesn't help that they love acronyms so much, especially when it seems every manufacturer has different ones for the same function

https://www.toyota.com/safety-sense/

https://www.mazdaworldcar.com/wc-mazda-technology-quick-guide/

  - what they should have used for PDA  or maybe a wheelchair emoji? 

[EV Dan]

Also, if anyone needs road signs displayed on the car screen in order to see them, they should not be driving, IMO.