Internet car forums argh.

Craiglxviii

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Would have thought a squaddie would climb above the windscreen and pee over it for rapid deployment. Adapt, improvise, overcome. :geek:

Can't go round it, can't go over it, gotta go through it as the marines are taught.:eek:
Probably pee over it as SOP after a night on the razz anyway :)
 

LostKiwi

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It’s because they’re REALLY expensive. Like they quadruple the cost of the windscreen expensive.
Automatic Park Assist is expensive and we still get that..... I'd rather a heated front windscreen than that technology.
 

anglaslt

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I've recently had a heated screen (with light and rain sensors) replaced on a Land Rover Freelander 2. The cost fitted was 302 Euros. It's a long time since I've had a non-heated screen replaced so cannot compare but the price seems very reasonable to me. I can understand that to a manufacturer the cost differential will be important but I see no reason why they are not more generally offered as a cost option.

As a point of interest, I could have had a Chinese made screen with a LR logo for 760 Euros but chose the Pilkington glass made in Finland instead and saved the insurance company some money. That's a price difference I am surprised at.
 
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Yugguy

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Automatic Park Assist is expensive and we still get that..... I'd rather a heated front windscreen than that technology.

Indeed, I can think of so many "innovations" I would happily skip in favour of a heated front screen. If I was ever lucky enough to participate in one of Craig's mythical :p customer surveys I'd be ranking it top of the list.
 

John Laidlaw

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My Volvo XC90 has the heated windscreen, and jolly good it is too! If my wife would drive the 63 I might Knick it on frosty mornings!
As others have said if you look on a dullish day you can see the heating elements, but not as obvious or distracting on those we had in the previous Ford Galaxy! Those would almost disorientate you in the wrong light....
 

LostKiwi

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yes, along with a full size spare tyre
Absolutely.
Either a full sized spare or none at all. Anything else is a waste of time as you can guarantee that when you get a flat it will be when the car is loaded to the hilt and you no longer have space to store the full size one thats come off the car.
 

keefysher

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Absolutely.
Either a full sized spare or none at all. Anything else is a waste of time as you can guarantee that when you get a flat it will be when the car is loaded to the hilt and you no longer have space to store the full size one thats come off the car.

Put it in a bin bag and give to the front seat passenger to hold onto?? :eek::eek:

Had to do that in the Z3 before now!!
 

Craiglxviii

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I've recently had a heated screen (with light and rain sensors) replaced on a Land Rover Freelander 2. The cost fitted was 302 Euros. It's a long time since I've had a non-heated screen replaced so cannot compare but the price seems very reasonable to me. I can understand that to a manufacturer the cost differential will be important but I see no reason why they are not more generally offered as a cost option.

As a point of interest, I could have had a Chinese made screen with a LR logo for 760 Euros but chose the Pilkington glass made in Finland instead and saved the insurance company some money. That's a price difference I am surprised at.

As a point of interest, no you could not. Whatever the logo on it (or lack of), wherever it is made, the IP of that screen, the design registration of it and the rights appertaining to it all belong to JLR.......... the difference is all down to the supply chains which JLR allows its service parts suppliers choose from :)
 

Craiglxviii

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Automatic Park Assist is expensive and we still get that..... I'd rather a heated front windscreen than that technology.

We do get heated wiper rests as standard however. And wash tanks and wash nozzles.
 

anglaslt

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As a point of interest, no you could not. Whatever the logo on it (or lack of), wherever it is made, the IP of that screen, the design registration of it and the rights appertaining to it all belong to JLR.......... the difference is all down to the supply chains which JLR allows its service parts suppliers choose from :)

The original glass was Fuyao so I presume that's what they were suggesting. Some are fitted with Pilkington. I am just surprised at the cost difference of Euopean v Chinese.
 

turbopete

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dont satnavs and mobiles have problems with heated front screens ?

never had an issue in ANY of the (numerous) cars ive had with heated screens. either with the phone OR the tomtoms. I gather windscreen mounted internal DAB aerials can have issues though
 

turbopete

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Aye, it's not easy identifying if a car has it from the description.

from memory (the options packs have changed since I was in the dealers) the 'climate' packs usually contain aircon and heated front screen on Fords. of course if you get a good interior shot of the dash, the button is clear enough to see. on newer fords, theyre standard on certain trim levels, depending on the car. mine has heated screen as standard, but on, say, a Fiesta, you might have to look for a titanium spec car or something like a 'zetec climate' to be sure it has them.

as has already been stated, the Ford patent has run out now, but JLR and Volvo all benefitted from the technology when under Ford ownership. my car lives outside. I have nowhere for a garage. and to be honest, when its really hard frost, I go out, start the car, heated screen switched on (front and rear) scrape ice from front side windows, get in and drive off as the front screen is clear!! I had it on the mk2 Granada race car, mk3 Granada, Sierra, Focus, and a few others (puma didn't have it and I missed it) and as far as I'm concerned, its the best thing going for a car that lives in the elements. when I had a garage overnight, I wasn't too bothered about it. now I don't, I see the benefit more.
 

Craiglxviii

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The original glass was Fuyao so I presume that's what they were suggesting. Some are fitted with Pilkington. I am just surprised at the cost difference of Euopean v Chinese.
The point is, both “brands” of that windscreen are still owned by JLR.

You’re talking about a retail price difference. Not the cost difference. Which btw will be the cost of shipping that glass from Shenzhen to Felixstowe; worldwide glass costs are pretty much the same, the tech is identical, dependent only on local factors and energy prices.

The cost difference in actual terms might be 3%...
 

anglaslt

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The point is, both “brands” of that windscreen are still owned by JLR.

You’re talking about a retail price difference. Not the cost difference. Which btw will be the cost of shipping that glass from Shenzhen to Felixstowe; worldwide glass costs are pretty much the same, the tech is identical, dependent only on local factors and energy prices.

The cost difference in actual terms might be 3%...

Yes, of course you are right but the additional costs from China do not make up the difference. The glass was fitted by an insurance approved fitter and the option was to pay more than twice to have a glass with a logo.

Given that the technical specification and manufacturing costs are very similar, whatever the manufacturer, isn't that just taking advantage of a situation where customers needlessly insist that the insurer replaces with a screen with glass with a manufacturer's logo? How many times do we see advice given out on forums to others to insist on having an "OEM" replacement.

I prefer not to waste money, even if it is the insurance company's which they'll only recover in increased premiums anyway.
 

mercedes13156

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Would have thought a squaddie would climb above the windscreen and pee over it for rapid deployment. Adapt, improvise, overcome. :geek:

Can't go round it, can't go over it, gotta go through it as the marines are taught.:eek:


Long ago, when I worked in Germany beside the Army, I got a call out one frosty morning to two tank garages where the self propelled 105mm howitzers had been crashed out in the night. Ten of the twelve drivers had seen the bottom of the door going past their letterbox window and went for it. The result.... Ten steel roller shutter doors whipped out like paper blinds. Ten new doors, twelve bits of string, two tubes of tennis balls and a pot of green paint to repair the gun later, they had a working system which, when the drivers saw the tennis ball going up past their very restricted front window, told them that the roller shutter door had cleared the gun muzzle and it was OK for them to drive out. It did reduce the number of roller doors we had to replace quite a bit, but not completely. Three months later one driver watched the tennis ball go up, drove out and swerved when the Sgt Major's face appeared at point blank range in the window, taking out the brick column which was holding up the roof. He reversed back into the garage and took the whole building down on top of his gun as well as the other five. It took two pots of paint to repair the guns that time.
 

Craiglxviii

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Yes, of course you are right but the additional costs from China do not make up the difference. The glass was fitted by an insurance approved fitter and the option was to pay more than twice to have a glass with a logo.

Given that the technical specification and manufacturing costs are very similar, whatever the manufacturer, isn't that just taking advantage of a situation where customers needlessly insist that the insurer replaces with a screen with glass with a manufacturer's logo? How many times do we see advice given out on forums to others to insist on having an "OEM" replacement.

I prefer not to waste money, even if it is the insurance company's which they'll only recover in increased premiums anyway.

I could bore you to tears with the why’s and wherefores, but the economic cost of shipping glass is 600km by land and one ocean crossing by sea (the two work out very close per unit and the length/ duration of the ocean crossing doesn't make much difference). When one looks at a map of glass float lines across Europe, one can see that they're pretty much 600km apart by road links...... The difference in cost- not price- is then down to labour rates and the age of each plant. Efficiency goes down as the plants age, the lines last 30 years from new before they're worn out and need rebuilding.

In both cases however (Pilkington and ZOA China) the glass is OEM.
 

mercedes13156

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Long ago, when I worked in Germany beside the Army, I got a call out one frosty morning to two tank garages where the self propelled 105mm howitzers had been crashed out in the night. Ten of the twelve drivers had seen the bottom of the door going past their letterbox window and went for it. The result.... Ten steel roller shutter doors whipped out like paper blinds. Ten new doors, twelve bits of string, two tubes of tennis balls and a pot of green paint to repair the gun later, they had a working system which, when the drivers saw the tennis ball going up past their very restricted front window, told them that the roller shutter door had cleared the gun muzzle and it was OK for them to drive out. It did reduce the number of roller doors we had to replace quite a bit, but not completely. Three months later one driver watched the tennis ball go up, drove out and swerved when the Sgt Major's face appeared at point blank range in the window, taking out the brick column which was holding up the roof. He reversed back into the garage and took the whole building down on top of his gun as well as the other five. It took two pots of paint to repair the guns that time.


I've got hundreds of dits like that. Best fun at work!
 

keefysher

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I've got hundreds of dits like that. Best fun at work!

Fun at work has been banned since HR appeared. :(:(

A Professional Offence Taker will almost certainly take out a harassment grievance against anyone deemed so much to have even attempted to think of on passing humour in any form whatsoever.

On a lighter note, productivity is down, lethargy in the workplace is up. Biggest challenge facing businesses is communication, communication, communication. However you dare not communicate anything in case aforementioned POTs take offence as they have not been sufficiently edumacated to determine context despite reams of stercificates taken off the roll that hangs in the smallest room. Of course those productive folk who can do, don't have the stercificates, and are therefore beneath the excrement the stercificated trod on by not looking where they were going, and are ignored.

Evidence of this theory is that we are now in the second consecutive decade of non economic growth. :shock::shock:
 

mercedes13156

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Fun at work has been banned since HR appeared. :(:(

A Professional Offence Taker will almost certainly take out a harassment grievance against anyone deemed so much to have even attempted to think of on passing humour in any form whatsoever.

On a lighter note, productivity is down, lethargy in the workplace is up. Biggest challenge facing businesses is communication, communication, communication. However you dare not communicate anything in case aforementioned POTs take offence as they have not been sufficiently edumacated to determine context despite reams of stercificates taken off the roll that hangs in the smallest room. Of course those productive folk who can do, don't have the stercificates, and are therefore beneath the excrement the stercificated trod on by not looking where they were going, and are ignored.

Evidence of this theory is that we are now in the second consecutive decade of non economic growth. :shock::shock:

I work for a large local authority in Scotland and my team carries out the public safety surveys, mostly looking for loose stonework at height on out buildings. We have a dedicated team who work the cherrypicker and one of the lads who was learning to drive the basket is a bit, well, chubby and weighs in at somewhere in excess of 125kg. His catchphrase is "Do ah look fkn hungry?" He'd been going up on his own but needed a bit of guidance. So, the other regular driver who is about 80kg and quite a sensitive soul went to climb in as well. The operating limit on the basket is 200gk and surprise, the alarm sounded.... "BEEP BEEP BEEP" to which the learner said "Git oot ma basket ya fat B***ard!" and pushed him off. Some amateur boxing was just narrowly prevented because the basket suddenly zoomed up to about 20m and got wedged in a tree. It was still there half an hour later when we got back from the shop. We eventually got him down and he had to get the bus back to base because the regular driver forgot to check he was on board at the end of the day.
 
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