Please could someone answer my 2 questions which might seem silly, but are important to me:

Has anyone taken their Townace through a car wash and if so, was there any damage done? Also, did you have a parking aid and did that get damaged?

Also, when going up a steep hill (in an auto) do you have to stop to put it in low gear or do you just put it an as you are driving? I have never changed the gear lever before unless I have stood still and it seems frightening to just move it into 2 while moving.

Thanks for your time

Jo

- (#6850) Jo, 22 Jan 03

joanna
first,your townace can get damaged in a car wash as I have the broken rear mirror to prove.it will tear the mirror out of the socket and bend the arm up which could dent body work.

second,when in D going up or approaching a steep hill the townace will or should change gears by itself,I found that if you are in heavy slow moving taffic on a steep hill you can move the gear lever into 2 when on the move but remember do not do this if you are going at high speed as you will over rev the engine due to the low ratio of the 2nd gear and 1st should only be use if you are pulling off on a steep hill,
1/go for hand wash
2/you can change gears on the move,unless you need R then you must stop before you move into R.
also remember the townace as a kick down so if going up hill and it beings to slow then slowly push the accelrator towards the floor until the kick down operates and you should zoooooom off,try it.dennis

- (#6851) dennis, 22 Jan 03

Jo,
You CAN manually change down to a lower gear in an auto, if your road speed is sufficiently low but, with automatics, you do have the facility called "kickdown". (Has no-one mentioned this to you before?). As the vehicle starts to labour (on the hill) the gearbox should, automatically, select the appropriate gear for the situation but, if you want to, you can quickly depress the accelerator pedal (Kickdown) and you will find that the next lower gear will be selected. When you lift your foot up, off the accelerator pedal, the autobox will go back into it's auto feature and select the gears for you. This feature will ONLY be effective at medium or low speeds. The "kickdown" feature should not operate above a certain road/engine speed and, it's best not to try. Kickdown, sometimes, assists in overtaking, if your roadspeed is not too high. I think it's best, with an auto box, if you NEVER touch the gear lever after selecting D (for drive) when starting, or, of course,selecting reverse or P (park) ONLY when the vehicle is stationary. NEVER try to select reverse or, especially, P for park, when the vehicle is moving, not even when it is just rolling to a standstill into a parking bay. Make a habit of putting the lever into P (park)only AFTER the handbrake is on and the engine is turned off, otherwise there could be serious damage to the gearbox. Also, the beauty of the autobox is that, if you are pulling a heavy load (lots of passengers or, towing)you can put the gear lever into a lower gear(No2 on the autobox), while you are moving at medium to low speed,and the gearbox will stay in that gear until you decide to go back into full automatic mode,ie, D on the selector but, watch the rev counter if you do this because, the engine speed will get quite high for a fairly low road speed. If you are new to autos, try to find a quiet industrial estate road, on a Sunday, and experiment. You don't have to be on a hill to bring in "kickdown" and you can get the feel of it on a quiet level road but, watch what is in front of you, even a Townace can accelerate quite quickly and take you by surprise. Quite soon you will wonder why you ever put up with fiddling with that "stick" (about fifty times per mile in heavy traffic)
Sorry, can't help with the car wash query. I stay away from them.

- (#6852) John Davis, 22 Jan 03

Agreed everything about selecting "2" but a couple of points about the kickdown cable. (1) it's an easy place to start "tuning" your 'ace - see Ace Answers, and (2) calling it "kickdown" I believe wrongly suggest that it's an add-on extra which comes into play occasionally, whereas actually it is the vital, continuous external input to the autobox's "brain" about how far you've pushed your right foot. The box chooses a gear based on that and the engine rpm. Ideally it would know the torque the engine is producing (which depends on fuel quality and many engine tuning settings) but it doesn't, it has to make do with the accelerator position. This is why the "kickdown" cable can need adjusting when switching to UK fuel and whenever other tuning settings are altered.

- (#6853) Dave Mason, 23 Jan 03

I have used a car wash (Sainsburys) several times but always first removed the rear mirror parking aid. Mine has four easily accessible posidrive-head bolts on the outside and takes a couple of minutes to remove/refit - which I do at home. Dennis is the first person to report that this slightly time-consuming precaution is necessary - commiserations but thanks. Otherwise I feel there is no risk, you get a lot of washing done (including underneath) for the same price other owners pay for their tiny cars!

- (#6854) Dave Mason, 23 Jan 03

I have taken my townie through the Car Wash a couple of times and not had any problems with the parking mirror. First time didn't think about it until wash had started by which time it was a bit late so sat there and prayed. When it was finished I checked it and it was fine. Second time was the same but I think after reading the above I think I will remove it next time as it might be third time unlucky, and not worth the risk !!

- (#6914) Tony, 23 Jan 03

the easy (& lazy) way to change down on a hill is to just press the overdrive switch on the gearstick, this then prevents the autobox selecting the top gear, this can be used both uphill & downhill

- (#6915) john collier, 23 Jan 03

i have used a car wash frequently with my townace royal lounge,twin sunroof. i do not have a reversing mirror, however, i do hook the ariel under the gutter.

be aware that not all car washes will take the townace
especially, the stand alone ones, offering basic wash for £1.60 or should that be 320 yen.

sainsburys & the majority of garage washes are ok.
my local sainsburys also has a manual section

- (#6916) john collier, 23 Jan 03

Thanks to all of you for all your replies. - I have taken note (and probably scared people about car washes). I love this web site and the fact that some poeple are so willing to help, even writing very lengthy replies. THANKS AGAIN

Jo

- (#6917) Jo, 23 Jan 03

I recently washed my townie in a morrisons car wash and i prayed that it would not grab the rear mirror but as the roller passed the mirror it buffeted the bracket and bounced the townie about a bit but alas no damage was done.(Future use jet wash or hands)

- (#6918) Ian Edge, 23 Jan 03