Minor things that please you

[Max Rockatansky]

A modern automotive thing that I like

A newer vehicle I've driven has an "ECO" meter, showing the efficiency with which you're driving.  If you hold the accelerator in a steady position to maintain speed on level ground, it shows a high rating.  If you hold the accelerator in the same position going up a hill, the ECO meter goes up.  The miles per gallon will go down, but the efficiency of the driving is higher because you aren't working the engine harder to climb the hill.  I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).  The vehicle gives you more credit for driving the same way when the road is uphill, even though MPGs go down.  It rates the efficiency of the driving, separate from the mileage.  I like that. If you want to see MPGs, that has its own display.

It has a roll and pitch display, too.  Somehow it knows what angles it's rolling or sitting at.  So it knows when it's going uphill.

My Challenger has performance tracking.  The 0-60 timer can be a lot of fun when nobody is around.  It also measures things like G-forces. 

[1995hoo]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

[wxfree]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

[Rothman]

I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).

As the driver behind you, I hate you.

[kphoger]

I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).

Same here.  In fact, I dislike cruise control that insists on maintaining that exact speed on steep uphill and downhill stretches.  I must prefer cruise control that waits to shift until a gain/loss of about 4 to 5 m.p.h.

As the driver behind you, I hate you.

Yeah, but, then, you hate everybody. 

[vdeane]

A modern automotive thing that I like

A newer vehicle I've driven has an "ECO" meter, showing the efficiency with which you're driving.  If you hold the accelerator in a steady position to maintain speed on level ground, it shows a high rating.  If you hold the accelerator in the same position going up a hill, the ECO meter goes up.  The miles per gallon will go down, but the efficiency of the driving is higher because you aren't working the engine harder to climb the hill.  I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).  The vehicle gives you more credit for driving the same way when the road is uphill, even though MPGs go down.  It rates the efficiency of the driving, separate from the mileage.  I like that. If you want to see MPGs, that has its own display.

It has a roll and pitch display, too.  Somehow it knows what angles it's rolling or sitting at.  So it knows when it's going uphill.

I've found that the Prius ECO meter is a good way to detect when the adaptive cruise control is about to slow down due to a vehicle in front, at least when the following distance is large enough.

[wxfree]

I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).

As the driver behind you, I hate you.

Just to be clear, I don't mean anything like 20 or 30 percent of the speed, I mean "a little speed," as in 2 or 3 miles per hour, maybe 4.  Losing more than that, while it may save more fuel, it feels to me like bad driving to me, like not paying attention.  I don't live in an area where the hills would cost more than that, and I adjust it for bigger hills when I'm far away.  I routinely give myself 2 miles per hour above or below my target speed as an acceptable range of variance (although I prefer to keep within 1, 2 is acceptable).  This isn't much beyond that.

[1995hoo]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

It's not the digital speed itself that bothers me. I've driven other cars that have that. What I found distracting here was that the eco gauge behaved in a way that visually resembled a conventional speedometer. There was no tach, probably because the car had a CVT.

[Rothman]

I don't mind losing a little speed going up and picking it back up on the way down (where I live we have hills, not mountains that ascend endlessly).

As the driver behind you, I hate you.

Just to be clear, I don't mean anything like 20 or 30 percent of the speed, I mean "a little speed," as in 2 or 3 miles per hour, maybe 4.  Losing more than that, while it may save more fuel, it feels to me like bad driving to me, like not paying attention.  I don't live in an area where the hills would cost more than that, and I adjust it for bigger hills when I'm far away.  I routinely give myself 2 miles per hour above or below my target speed as an acceptable range of variance (although I prefer to keep within 1, 2 is acceptable).  This isn't much beyond that.

*shakes head judgmentally*

[kphoger]

On steep hills, like in the Ozarks, I'll happily drop 10 mph instead of wrapping the revs up to 4000 or whatever.  Typically, there's either nobody behind me or else there's another lane for Rothman to use for judgmentally passing me.

[wxfree]

On steep hills, like in the Ozarks, I'll happily drop 10 mph instead of wrapping the revs up to 4000 or whatever.  Typically, there's either nobody behind me or else there's another lane for Rothman to use for judgmentally passing me.

What I was writing about is for my area, around DFW, where the hills aren't a big deal.  Things are different elsewhere.  Once in western Texas, not mountains, but a plateau with canyons, I was using cruise control and forgot to turn it off in the canyons.  Up one of the hills, the engine exploded with RPMs trying to hold 75.  I tapped the brake and got on the accelerator and let it slow to about 65.  The grades are steep, but short, most less than a mile, and almost all less than two.  Saving a few seconds is not worth fuel it costs to fight gravity at 100%.

You don't have to slow the whole way uphill.  Engine torque increases at lower RPMs at a given throttle position because more air gets into the engine since the valves are open longer, so more fuel burns and more pressure is produced.  I try to find a reasonable throttle point at which the slowing engine finds the torque to maintain speed the rest of the way up.

[Scott5114]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

It's not the digital speed itself that bothers me. I've driven other cars that have that. What I found distracting here was that the eco gauge behaved in a way that visually resembled a conventional speedometer. There was no tach, probably because the car had a CVT.

I rented a Corolla hybrid that had that display. It was a minor thing that pleased me when it dipped into the CHARGING section when we were on a long downgrade.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

It's not the digital speed itself that bothers me. I've driven other cars that have that. What I found distracting here was that the eco gauge behaved in a way that visually resembled a conventional speedometer. There was no tach, probably because the car had a CVT.

I rented a Corolla hybrid that had that display. It was a minor thing that pleased me when it dipped into the CHARGING section when we were on a long downgrade.

Do you mean the screen which shows where the energy flow and coming/going?  It is pretty easy to max out that blue charge level throwing the car into B along a descent of decent length. 

[Scott5114]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

It's not the digital speed itself that bothers me. I've driven other cars that have that. What I found distracting here was that the eco gauge behaved in a way that visually resembled a conventional speedometer. There was no tach, probably because the car had a CVT.

I rented a Corolla hybrid that had that display. It was a minor thing that pleased me when it dipped into the CHARGING section when we were on a long downgrade.

Do you mean the screen which shows where the energy flow and coming/going?  It is pretty easy to max out that blue charge level throwing the car into B along a descent of decent length. 

This one had both the needle display on the dash and the energy flow diagram (buried in the menu system on the infotainment screen). I did exactly that on the grade coming down CA-18 into the high desert. I was able to keep the blue charge level all the way full until Barstow.

One thing I'm not exactly clear about is what happens to the excess energy when you're in B on a downgrade and the battery is already full.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^

Last week I had a 2026 Camry Hybrid as a rental car in Florida. The gauge display had an eco meter similar to what you describe, except it took the form of an electronic needle that appeared in lieu of a conventional speedometer. The speedometer was just a number in the middle. I found the way the eco display worked to be distracting because the moving "needle" thing was in a position I associate with something tracking my speed. I guess it's something you'd get used to over time if you owned one. That's not to say the feature is bad, of course—I just found Toyota's implementation of it to be suboptimal.

The digital speed in the middle doesn't bother me.  The default display on this vehicle has a tachometer as the gauge.  That doesn't swing around like an eco meter will in changing conditions.  It has an 8 speed transmission and a turbo that reduces the need for downshifting, so it has a narrow RPM range.  The simulated needle doesn't swing around much.  If there's only one gauge, I'd much rather not have the RPMs digital.  Other things display on a bar graph below the engine and road speeds.  I like how it's arranged.

It's not the digital speed itself that bothers me. I've driven other cars that have that. What I found distracting here was that the eco gauge behaved in a way that visually resembled a conventional speedometer. There was no tach, probably because the car had a CVT.

I rented a Corolla hybrid that had that display. It was a minor thing that pleased me when it dipped into the CHARGING section when we were on a long downgrade.

Do you mean the screen which shows where the energy flow and coming/going?  It is pretty easy to max out that blue charge level throwing the car into B along a descent of decent length. 

This one had both the needle display on the dash and the energy flow diagram (buried in the menu system on the infotainment screen). I did exactly that on the grade coming down CA-18 into the high desert. I was able to keep the blue charge level all the way full until Barstow.

One thing I'm not exactly clear about is what happens to the excess energy when you're in B on a downgrade and the battery is already full.

I'm pretty sure it just gets wasted unless the tach suddenly drops RPMs.  When that happens the hybrid motor is partially driving the wheels. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I didn't encounter a single vehicle heading the same direction as me on CA 49 between Moccasin and Mariposa today.  That was a fine piece of sublime driving, especially on the Bagby Grade in the Merced River Canyon.

[Scott5114]

I'm pretty sure it just gets wasted unless the tach suddenly drops RPMs. 

Wasted how? Released as heat through friction, the same way excess kinetic energy is dispelled with conventional brakes?

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm pretty sure it just gets wasted unless the tach suddenly drops RPMs.

Wasted how? Released as heat through friction, the same way excess kinetic energy is dispelled with conventional brakes?

That's much assumption. It has been something I've been meaning to look into.  That battery can only store so much energy. 

[webny99]

Following up on this post, originally from the Redesigning Interchanges thread...

After over a year of regular backups on Basket Rd thanks to the new Fairlife plant, we FINALLY got a southbound right turn lane installed at NY 104. Construction crews showed up suddenly the week before Thanksgiving and the new turn lane was complete by the holiday, officially opening last Monday.

When this new turning lane, which was built for regular commuter traffic, turned the annual Lakefront Soccer tournament traffic jams from total gridlock into a nearly continuous flow of traffic. The insane volume still caused traffic to back up into the tournament parking lots as usual, but thanks to the turning lane, it kept moving at a crawl instead of the road being a virtual parking lot for minutes at a time with no legal way to exit the area.

[kphoger]

You know how some people have their house blurred out on Google Maps?

I just ran across a cable job where the field tech said he knocked and rang the bell but nobody answered.  The customer then claimed that nobody ever came to the house.  But the tech left a detailed property description in his work order comments.  When that sort of thing happens, I always wonder if he just didn't want to drive all the way out there and simply looked at GSV for a property description instead.  But nope, this particular house is blurred out on GSV, so I know he had to have been out front.  (This is assuming that the guys can't figure out other ways of seeing online what the front of a house looks like, of course, and yes, knowing these guys, most of them couldn't figure out how.)

[interstatefan990]

On the same topic as some of the previous posts: when you're using adaptive cruise and reach an uphill, and the tachometer slowly rises until you can see exactly how many RPMs your car needs to maintain speed. Gives you a good insight into your car's towing abilities and the stress of the current load.

[freebrickproductions]

While there is a slight disappointment in this, I can honestly say that as of June 10, 2026, every active Thunderbolt siren within the city of Memphis, TN, has now been recorded! As such, the largest surviving system of Thunderbolt sirens is now fully filmed, with this (unfortunately sick) Thunderbolt 1000 on top of the Lausanne Collegiate School in eastern Memphis being the last one to be recorded with a (luckily up-close) video of it being snagged on that date:

Unfortunately, just this past Friday (and confirmed just today, Monday, June 22nd), it was discovered that the Thunderbolt siren on top of Fire Station 13 in Memphis, over next to the Overton Park, had sadly been replaced by a 2001-130 siren without ever being filmed. This siren had been the last Thunderbolt to be filmed in the city of Memphis, but sadly it'd been completely offline for the past few months due to something on it breaking. Interestingly, the replacement siren doesn't entirely appear to be new either, as the label on the rotator box of the 2001-130 looks fairly worn in the photos I've seen of it so far, so it was probably reused from elsewhere.
Either way, I'm just glad that every Thunderbolt siren in Memphis's current system has been filmed, especially since it's believed that Memphis's current system's days are numbered as the folks who maintain the system are getting on up in years and are expected to be retiring before too long, and that the system will likely be fully upgraded/replaced once they do retire. As such, I'm gonna start trying to get the other old sirens in the system recorded as well before the inevitable upgrade happens.

[vdeane]

Somebody finally found and posted the full song used in episode 151 of Sailor Moon.  I've been wanting to hear the full version of that ever since my most recent rewatch got to that episode some months ago.

[Beltway]

While there is a slight disappointment in this, I can honestly say that as of June 10, 2026, every active Thunderbolt siren within the city of Memphis, TN, has now been recorded! As such, the largest surviving system of Thunderbolt sirens is now fully filmed, with this (unfortunately sick) Thunderbolt 1000 on top of the Lausanne Collegiate School in eastern Memphis being the last one to be recorded with a (luckily up-close) video of it being snagged on that date:

One of the best ones I have found --

[freebrickproductions]

While there is a slight disappointment in this, I can honestly say that as of June 10, 2026, every active Thunderbolt siren within the city of Memphis, TN, has now been recorded! As such, the largest surviving system of Thunderbolt sirens is now fully filmed, with this (unfortunately sick) Thunderbolt 1000 on top of the Lausanne Collegiate School in eastern Memphis being the last one to be recorded with a (luckily up-close) video of it being snagged on that date:

One of the best ones I have found --

Yeah, that recording's always a classic, even with the closest 'bolt to the camera tripping its overload twice and not really activating as a result. Sadly, I'm more than willing to bet that most, if not all, of those sirens have since been replaced.

I know the last active Thunderbolt in Hawaii was sadly finally taken out of service back at the end of July of last year, able to get one more monthly test in and even one more tsunami warning in before it was disconnected.