I Drive a Mini Cooper S - VP9 Edition

[SimonRL]

I consider the HK VP9 the most over-engineered gun I have ever come across. To lighten up the trigger pull on the VP9 you have to replace the sear spring, which is very simple in and of itself, but to get to the sear you have to just about detail strip the entire lower of the gun and risk cracking the frame when you push out the locking block pin. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Until, the battery died on my Mini last night.

In typically Teutonic fashion, the engineers at BMW decided that just lifting the battery out was for peasants and wouldn’t it be more fun if you had to remove it through the front of the engine bay which is jammed tight with other German goodies like Das Airbox amongst other things. So after the pleasure of spending $300 on a new battery I also got to spend 90 minutes of my Sunday disassembling and reassembling my VP9 Edition Mini Cooper S (pictures below). So how about you? What types of maliciously overdeaigned something’s do you have?

It occurs to me that maybe I was inviting bad kharma when I mounted a Union Jack plate on the front.

 

[Bassbob]

I consider the HK VP9 the most over-engineered gun I have ever come across. To lighten up the trigger pull on the VP9 you have to replace the sear spring, which is very simple in and of itself, but to get to the sear you have to just about detail strip the entire lower of the gun and risk cracking the frame when you push out the locking block pin. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Until, the battery died on my Mini last night.

In typically Teutonic fashion, the engineers at BMW decided that just lifting the battery out was for peasants and wouldn’t it be more fun if you had to remove it through the front of the engine bay which is jammed tight with other German goodies like Das Airbox amongst other things. So after the pleasure of spending $300 on a new battery I also got to spend 90 minutes of my Sunday disassembling and reassembling my VP9 Edition Mini Cooper S (pictures below). So how about you? What types of maliciously overdeaigned something’s do you have?

It occurs to me that maybe I was inviting bad kharma when I mounted a Union Jack plate on the front.

View attachment 47114View attachment 47115

Well, on that note I think the trigger is just fine on my VP9.

 

[KillerFord1977]

I had a Dodge SUv that had the battery behind the fender and in the wheel well.
You had to take the front tire off the car. Remove the wheel well and squeeze the battery in and out .

Retarded

 

[Bassbob]

I had a Dodge SUv that had the battery behind the fender and in the wheel well.
You had to take the front tire off the car. Remove the wheel well and squeeze the battery in and out .

Retarded

On my 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan you had to unbolt the motor mounts and raise the engine up 6" to change the water pump. Ridiculous. My wife did it for me one day while I was at work.

 

[mikep]

A friend has a subaru outback. He has to take the front tire off to change the head light bulbs or direction signal lights!

 

[Onewolf426]

2017 Mitsubishi Outlander GT. Windshield washer fluid bottle is in between the inner and outer fenders. Passenger side. Have to dissassemble the splash shield from the under the front bumper to the passenger side wheel well of the car to access.

 

[Onewolf426]

On my 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan you had to unbolt the motor mounts and raise the engine up 6" to change the water pump. Ridiculous. My wife did it for me one day while I was at work.

Mitsubishi 3.0L V6. Good motor, pain in the rearend to work on. Our Outlander has the same V6. My Dad's 1989 Plymouth Acclaim LX had one. He had over 350,000 miles on it before his accident. I kept that motor running. Regular maintenance, timing belt and water pump, replaced the fuel pump one time on it. Never failed to start until that fuel pump went. I trust the motor, just hate working on it. If I ever run into one of the engineers responsible for the design, I am going to slap them.

 

[Bassbob]

Mitsubishi 3.0L V6. Good motor, pain in the rearend to work on. Our Outlander has the same V6. My Dad's 1989 Plymouth Acclaim LX had one. He had over 350,000 miles on it before his accident. I kept that motor running. Regular maintenance, timing belt and water pump, replaced the fuel pump one time on it. Never failed to start until that fuel pump went. I trust the motor, just hate working on it. If I ever run into one of the engineers responsible for the design, I am going to slap them.

True that. It is a great motor. That motor is still running right now. The van fell apart around it and I gave it to a friend of my daughters. She had it put in her van and she still drives it to this day.

 

[Wirenut]

My Jeep Cherokee has the battery under the front passenger seat.
The only good thing about that is it does not get the heat of the motor so it lasted 11 years.

 

[Snake45]

When the heater blower motor on my '69 Nova finally died, I discovered that it was only about a $12 or $15 part (at that time), but actually removing the old one and installing the new one involved removing basically all the sheetmetal from the front of the car. I ended up just selling the thing--with the new blower motor in the trunk.

 

[Lexie__M]

I remember a friend who had a 1970's Ford Mustang Mach 1 with 429CI.
The battery was in the trunk.

 

[nmedge]

On a Honda Civic we owned to replace a headlight you had to remove front bumper cover then you could get to bolts to remove headlight assembly so you could get to the back of it to remove headlight plugs. Also had a Ford Escape that had a battery in the firewall so a lot of junk had to be removed just to get to it!

 

[mikep]

my first jetta (2002-2012) i was able to change the battery myself. my second jetta (2012-2022) i changed the battery in it once... then the radio wouldn't work and the bluetooth wouldn't connect. back to the dealer to have all the computer crap reset. that was the last time i changed a battery.