This Mercedes myth can't be true?! or can it?

[MOR8A]

I actually had one for 4 years and a very good car it was too. The only issue I had was one of the headlamp lenses coming off, which took me about 15 mins to fix (I bonded it back in place with epoxy).

The bad press came almost solely from the TG JD Power survey, which was based on a tiny number of returns (not many were sold in the UK in the first place), and hence was heavily skewed by a few critical ones. It also lumped both models (the 2.2 manual I had and a much more complex 3 litre auto) in together. I happily sold my Sintra on to a friend who ran it (trouble free) for a number of years before downsizing to a Focus.

Coming back OT, the back seats were remarkably light so I can believe they were magnesium alloy. The ones in subsequent vehicles I've had (VW Sharan and the Vito) weigh a ton - the 2-seater in the Vito is heavy even for two people to lift! The Sintra had an aluminium bonnet too.

I worked at a Vauxhall dealer when they were launched, I don't remember them being much trouble to be honest. We had a 3.0 V6 CDX auto in Teal Green that the ''company'' ran for ages. Only complain I remember was a customer saying the wipers didn't clear all the way up to the A pillars.

 

[E55BOF]

When I climb out my C55. Young nubile nymphs wander over to me and start licking my face, undoing my trousers and trying to have wild sex with me.

Then I wake up.

This happens to me often, but I don't wake up. Take a stronger sleeping pil.

 

[Ted]

It's a myth.
The reality is that the Tornado compressor/turbine blades are actually made from rejected R129 grille slats.

 

[219]

Unfortunately Ken's SL review has a fair amount of poetic licence in it.

Much of what he writes does .

His reputation over on DPR and other photography sites is akin to that of Marmite ( which I also dislike ) .

 

[bpsorrel]

This happens to me often, but I don't wake up. Take a stronger sleeping pil.

This actually happens to me, but only when I'm in my Lexus - funny that...

 

[Troon]

The only issue I had was one of the headlamp lenses coming off

I seem to remember being at the UK motor show where the Sintra was launched, and noting their claim that it was the first car where the headlamp beam was entirely produced by the multi-faceted computer-designed reflector rather than any lens effect from the clear, plain cover.

anorak mode off, for now...

 

[BlackC55]

What does SL stand for?

Only the geeky need to respond

 

[stwat]

What does SL stand for?

Only the geeky need to respond

Sport light.

 

[Meldrew2]

Pub fact: Vauxhall Sinitra MPVs had magnesium seat frames to save weight.

Shudder to think what would happen if you were in one and it went on fire !

Is the reason for the mystery Zafira fires due to magnesium dashboards?

 

[Mr Kripling]

Sport light.

And they say the Germans don't have a sense of humour.


(They do, of course. They just take it very seriously...)

 

[BTB 500]

What does SL stand for?

Only the geeky need to respond

Well, the normal answer is 'Sport Leicht'. But my hardback R129 brochure says the origin (on the 300 SL) is actually 'super-light'.

 

[BTB 500]

Pub fact: Vauxhall Sinitra MPVs had magnesium seat frames to save weight.

Actually ... I just dug out my brochure, and

Sintra's individual second and third row seats feature lightweight steel frames and aluminium rail adjusters.

I already mentioned the aluminium bonnet but the steering knuckles were also aluminium. The magnesium components were the steering column and the clutch/brake pedal assembly

They claimed a total weight saving of 200 kg overall compared to conventional components.

 

[hotrodder]

Shudder to think what would happen if you were in one and it went on fire !

Is the reason for the mystery Zafira fires due to magnesium dashboards?

Magnesium is a LOT harder to set fire to than most people think. Dunno if the myths surrounding it got started by the really thin pure magesium ribbon people got to play with in school or from fire lighters but a chunk of the stuff needs surrounding by lots of heat (like a properly big fire) to stand a chance of starting a mag blaze. Anyone unlucky enough to be trapped in a vehicle fire would be long dead before any mag components ignited and made the fire worse/harder to put out

Everything burns more easily when there's a high surface area relative to mass... custard powder and flour are explosive and steel wool will burn (unimpressively) with the flame from a match. On the flip side you can melt a hole through the middle of a chunk of mag without ruining your day... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k017ZD8rpDQ

Titanium is pyrophoric too and unlike mag (which is virtually always alloyed with upto 10% other stuff and cast) is used in commercially pure forms as well as alloys. Still needs to be finely divided to burn easily but grade 2 (commercially pure) Ti swarf/welding wire burns more impressively than swarf from a typcial mag casting

While i don't work with them every day i do weld both Ti and mag frequently enough to stock filler wire etc. Obviously the shielding gas helps but the fire risk isn't really any greater with them than other metals. Machining them on the other hand... still not easy but if you do everything wrong (speeds/feeds/depth of cut, massive piles of chips etc) it's easier to start a fire with a lathe than welding

I seem to remember being at the UK motor show where the Sintra was launched, and noting their claim that it was the first car where the headlamp beam was entirely produced by the multi-faceted computer-designed reflector rather than any lens effect from the clear, plain cover.

anorak mode off, for now...

Clear lenses with non-parabolic reflector optics to produce the beam pattern have been around since at least the 1980s?

 

[def90cars]

Clear lenses with non-parabolic reflector optics to produce the beam pattern have been around since at least the 1980s?

Reflector optics




Reflector optics, side view





A reflector-optic headlamp on a Jeep Liberty. The clear front cover lens serves only a protective function.


Starting in the 1980s, headlamp reflectors began to evolve beyond the simple stamped steel parabola. The 1983 Austin Maestro was the first vehicle equipped with Lucas-Carello's homofocal reflectors, which comprised parabolic sections of different focal length to improve the efficiency of light collection and distribution.[47] CAD technology allowed the development of reflector headlamps with nonparabolic, complex-shape reflectors. First commercialised by Valeo under their Cibié brand, these headlamps would revolutionise automobile design.[48]
The 1987 US-market Dodge Monaco/Eagle Premier twins and European Citroën XM were the first cars with complex-reflector headlamps[49] with faceted optic lenses. General Motors' Guide Lamp division in America had experimented with clear-lens complex-reflector lamps in the early 1970s and achieved promising results,[50] but the US-market 1990 Honda Accord was first with clear-lens multi-reflector headlamps; these were developed by Stanley in Japan.[51]

 

[Troon]

I must be mistaken then. I'm sure the Vauxhall staff were getting all excited about something. Perhaps it was the first computer-generated multi-faceted reflector, or Opel's first attempt at it, which would be much less impressive...

 

[hotrodder]

It was probably youngsters at GM not realising it was an old idea or just good ol' marketing BS? Whichever of the manufacturers was the first to reintroduce cornering lights probably did a similar thing...making them out to be some new innovation while conveniently forgetting it was done eons ago (1930s) before Citroens better known example on the DS?

The only thing new about many of these 'innovations' is that they're elevently million times more complicated, more fragile and more expensive than the origional idea i.e. instead of a simple, rugged/serviceable mechanical linkage for levelling/swivelling we'll use loads of electrics & stepper motors, tie the thing into steering angle & speed sensors and/or add extra bulbs (switched by steering angle sensors) to make the stuuuuupidly bright, retina burning HID headlamp even more insanely expensive to replace. Mostly because the punter has no choice other than bending over but maybe partly because it cost a fortune to develop mostly negating it's cheaper production costs?

 

[Teflonso]

No idea whether made of Ti or not, but the line about hardness and abrasion compared with steel is absolute tosh. You can take carbon alloy steel, (also stainless) up to ridiculous levels of hardness such that you can't even cut it with a saw. To take Ti to those levels would involve fancy alloying and even fancier heat treatment regimes. I speak as a career metallurgist.

As for the problem with all that terribly abrasive dust while wacking down the autobahn, one has to wonder what they made the paint out of. Must have been the same stuff James Bond has on his bulletproof DB10, because that didn't have a mark on the paintwork. (Apologies for the spoiler if you haven't see "Spectre" yet. Be assured, Bond survives, the baddie gets it in the end JB gets some French totty.) Just imagine - a well used car with the paintwork stripped bare but the front grill looking like new. Nope...... I didn't think it sounded realistic either.


.

 

[Charles Morgan]

For those interested, a re-creation of the Bugatti Aerolithe made from magnesium.

[YOUTUBE]zTI5seuGi20[/YOUTUBE]