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Not only can car washes be time-consuming and/or expensive, they are a short-term solution. Engineers at Nissan are using 'super-hydrophobic' and 'oleophobic' nanotechnology paint finish called Ultra-Ever Dry that can repel water and oils, as well as dirt, dust, mud and grit on the new Nissan Note. It works by creating a thin air shield above the surface that makes rain, road spray, frost, sleet and standing water roll off without tainting the surface at all. Nissan has no plans of making the special paint standard on factory models but will consider offering the self-cleaning paint as an aftermarket option. Nissan will now determine if the material is durable for long-term use on vehicles and for the different weather conditions around the globe. Nissan has plans to test the technology this summer in Europe, using researchers based in its England technical facility using a Versa Note for testing.
How many times do you roll that dripping, glistening car out of the car wash parking lot only to hit a muddy puddle or rainstorm within the first day or two?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday April 28 2014, @12:51PM
That's kinda unusual. There's an economic tipping point where once 90%+ of the vehicles shipped have a certain option, unless its part of some kind of marketing campaign, you just make a former option a standard feature.
In just the last couple decades I've seen a lot of change... not sure if you can buy a car anymore in the USA that's not an automatic transmission, power door locks/windows, antilock brakes, keyless entry, CD music player. A car like that may exist but it would require substantial searching and research. I can imagine a time where 95% of cars ship with "weirdpaint" so the factory simply sprays them all.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 28 2014, @01:50PM
My car is a 15 yo "Das auto" Golf, manual transmission, with - now - 7l/100km (33.6 mpg). My "major" problem now: the plastic surface of the driving-wheel started to become brittle from the sun exposure (and probably palm sweat). Probably it has at least 5 year of life in it (I'm not considering buying a new car any sooner).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Monday April 28 2014, @02:34PM
I certainly hope that they still make stick-shifts when I get my next car. And my current 2008 model doesn't have ABS (or even cruise control).
But yeah, you're probably right. "The computer can do it better than you" seems to be the logic behind ABS and presumably automatic now.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by quacking duck on Monday April 28 2014, @05:06PM
For automatic it seems they're right. I got a 2008 Honda Fit manual because it had better fuel economy than the automatic, but in the latest versions of the Fit, the automatic/CVT have better fuel economy ratings.
It's not an isolated case either, more than a few automatics now sport better F/E ratings than their manual counterparts.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 28 2014, @04:48PM
> not sure if you can buy a car anymore in the USA that's not an automatic transmission,
> power door locks/windows, antilock brakes, keyless entry
I'm not sure if ABS is officially mandatory, but it's on all the cars.
My wife keeps complaining that my cheap commuter doesn't have the other three. I keep replying that she shouldn't worry, I will surely get them in 12 years, when I get a new used one, and give my nothing-to-break car to my kid.
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Monday April 28 2014, @05:10PM
I assure you, you can buy a manual-transmission, manual windows/locks, non-keyless entry vehicle in the US. I did it 2 years ago. I'm not sure about the CD player, and the ABS is a required feature by law in the US IIRC.
(Score:1^½, Radical)