On Conquering Hills

After I dropped finished half of the movie "The Queen", I took Chuck out to a quiet deserted hill street. The grade wasn't very steep, but it was steep enough to roll back without holding the brakes. I was trying to learn how to hold the car by the ebrake, and release the ebrake just as the clutch started to engage. It took me awhile, but after several attempts I became more consistent and less jerky. One thing I noticed was that I did better if I separated the steps more clearly. Instead of simultaneously engaging clutch, gassing, and releasing the ebrake, I found it to be much smoother if I engage and gas, and THEN release. That's not to say that I'm spinning the front wheels, but just not doing all three at once made it much better.

When I got comfortable, I took it to a much steeper hill and to my surprise, the ebrake didn't hold the car as well as I thought. I had to really use some forearm strength to get that sucker up high enough to stop the car. To make matters worse, the clutch + gas operation needed tweaking because just the clutch friction alone couldn't hold the car. There needed to be MORE gas and MORE precise clutch control. Of course, I had a few stalls here and more than a few choking sounding starts.

On Many Firsts

First time filling up the xB. Of course, this required going on the freeway for the first time. Not only that, but it's also the first photoshoot for Chuck Norris. Who's Chuck Norris you say? Well, after not so much deliberation, I've decided to name my xB after a man who can do it all :) It's much more original than naming the car a girl or based on it's color. Besides, the sentences and innuendos with the name is just fantastic.

The photoshoot also led to an early disappointment: the paint. This is the most god-awfully cheap paint I've ever seen. To be fair, I haven't seen or previously paid very much attention to paint before, but it's glaringly obvious this is a place where Toyota decided to save cost. There are many dimples and pits in the paint on the hood and front bumper. This makes sense since it's such a bluff surface ready for constant barrage of dirt, rocks, and bugs. After going through the scion life forums, the general consensus is to get some type of clear bra. Think of it as a giant saran wrap covering parts of your car.

Unfortunately, Chuck doesn't like the idea of a BRA (translation: I'm to broke to buy one.)