Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Does it have to be a wagon? You might be able to find an SS sedan in stick.
Pretty much has to be a wagon because I end up carrying stuff like kids' bikes which wouldn't fit in a sedan trunk. Also last we went on a vacation we used up all the internal cargo space. SS is disqualified because it's not AWD, and winter is coming (eventually).


If I do end up doing anything it will most likely be the SportWagen in AWD guise with a 6speed, with their new people's warranty and my driving habbits it's not likely to ever run out while in my possession, but it would be contingent on many different factors.
 
Maybe, but having driven one in a manual I can say the VQ40 has much more mid-range grunt.
 
VQ40 is all low and mid, revving it is nearly pointless in my experience.

It looks like local (ish) VW dealer actually has a manual sportwagen in stock, temptation to test drive is high. Also funnily enough despite 15 years between the two cars, my old A4s 1.8T seems to be basically the same as whats in the SW, same power output and even same tune from APR.
 
VQ40 is all low and mid, revving it is nearly pointless in my experience.

It looks like local (ish) VW dealer actually has a manual sportwagen in stock, temptation to test drive is high. Also funnily enough despite 15 years between the two cars, my old A4s 1.8T seems to be basically the same as whats in the SW, same power output and even same tune from APR.

ONE OF US, ONE OF US.
 
God I hope they improved the auto by a lot then because the one on mom's '10 outback is worse then the beetle's despite being 7 years newer and a subaru. Really jerky and clunky.
The Subaru autobox remained largely unchanged from 1990 to it's death at the hands of the CVT.

Same with the corresponding 5 speed manual.
 
Finally got summer tires onto the BRZ.

They're... Pretty thrashed. Need to replace them.
The winters I just took off are UTTERLY obliterated, too.

I'm.... Thinking about buying all season.

General Altimax RT-43's are $125 a tire (these are currently my 'this is a car' tire of choice)
Firestone Indy 500's (my summers of choice) are $108.
Blizzak WS-80's are $128.

This is... Deeply conflicting.

I think I'm going to be BRZing one more winter. Going back to summers after that is doubtful, because I hit emissions testing in July and I'm basically in permanent P0420-land now. This year, I got actual real use out of the winters for like 1 day (would have been 2, but I was so busy I put them on late and ended up in the snow on bald assed summers and nearly died). Frankly, I could have/should have stayed home.

.... Actually I could just grab the wheels and tires off the wrecked Impreza sitting in the garage and roll around on those. Those tires only have... 30,000 miles on them. Of course, they were also on the car when it got driven into a ditch in the same snowstorm that nearly killed me on bald summers, so they might not be an improvement.
 
Finally got summer tires onto the BRZ.

They're... Pretty thrashed. Need to replace them.
The winters I just took off are UTTERLY obliterated, too.

I'm.... Thinking about buying all season.

General Altimax RT-43's are $125 a tire (these are currently my 'this is a car' tire of choice)
Firestone Indy 500's (my summers of choice) are $108.
Blizzak WS-80's are $128.

This is... Deeply conflicting.

I think I'm going to be BRZing one more winter. Going back to summers after that is doubtful, because I hit emissions testing in July and I'm basically in permanent P0420-land now. This year, I got actual real use out of the winters for like 1 day (would have been 2, but I was so busy I put them on late and ended up in the snow on bald assed summers and nearly died). Frankly, I could have/should have stayed home.

.... Actually I could just grab the wheels and tires off the wrecked Impreza sitting in the garage and roll around on those. Those tires only have... 30,000 miles on them. Of course, they were also on the car when it got driven into a ditch in the same snowstorm that nearly killed me on bald summers, so they might not be an improvement.

Buy new tires, don’t cheap on safety.
 
Finally got summer tires onto the BRZ.

They're... Pretty thrashed. Need to replace them.
The winters I just took off are UTTERLY obliterated, too.

I'm.... Thinking about buying all season.

General Altimax RT-43's are $125 a tire (these are currently my 'this is a car' tire of choice)
Firestone Indy 500's (my summers of choice) are $108.
Blizzak WS-80's are $128.

This is... Deeply conflicting.

I think I'm going to be BRZing one more winter. Going back to summers after that is doubtful, because I hit emissions testing in July and I'm basically in permanent P0420-land now. This year, I got actual real use out of the winters for like 1 day (would have been 2, but I was so busy I put them on late and ended up in the snow on bald assed summers and nearly died). Frankly, I could have/should have stayed home.

.... Actually I could just grab the wheels and tires off the wrecked Impreza sitting in the garage and roll around on those. Those tires only have... 30,000 miles on them. Of course, they were also on the car when it got driven into a ditch in the same snowstorm that nearly killed me on bald summers, so they might not be an improvement.
This post was tiring
(don’t hit me)
 
I'm.... Thinking about buying all season.

General Altimax RT-43's are $125 a tire (these are currently my 'this is a car' tire of choice)
Firestone Indy 500's (my summers of choice) are $108.
Blizzak WS-80's are $128.

Consider checking around with local dealers to see if they have any new takeoffs. Around here, you can often pick up an entire set of new or at worst <100 mile takeoffs for $100. My 4Runner is rolling around on some takeoffs from a brand new Tacoma that I got for cheeeeeeeeeap at a dealer a couple months back; the entire set cost me less than the price of just one of the same tire at retail.

Also a good way to get factory wheels cheap, though nothing was available in 17" at the time that I cared to put on.
 
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Also a good way to get factory wheels cheap, though nothing was available in 17" at the time that I cared to put on.
Hmm I should check with Ford dealers, my Mustang wheels are pretty badly curbed and fixing them makes no financial sense.
 
Hmm I should check with Ford dealers, my Mustang wheels are pretty badly curbed and fixing them makes no financial sense.

Don't forget to call more rural dealers as they may just want to get rid of them due to lack of interest from the customers they don't have.
 
Good advice, thanks!

Doesn't look like I'm getting the VW, financially it doesn't make sense considering there isn't anything wrong the the X
 
What's on page 7? And concentric slave ELIMINATOR? Isn't the typical upgrade path to go TO a concentric slave? The hell application is this!

Page 7 lists instructions for accurately determining a necessary shim stack.

This is for 350Z/370Z/G35/G37 with the VQ35HR/VQ37VHR engines and a manual trans. The factory CSC is extremely failure-prone.
 
RX-8 without winter tires was literally unable to handle crowned roads. Even "obliterated" winters were better than that (I ran my first set down way too low).
 
I made the mistake of taking the stang out on summers ones, it just started flurrying a little bit and there wasn't more than like 2mm of snow on the ground if that. Hit the brakes for a red light and the car just kept on going... turned around to go home real quick.
 
My coworker made a really interesting point over the weekend while at Le Mans that got me thinking....

On Thursday evening we were wandering around the car parks when he saw a Renault Clio V6 Sport and freaked out because it was one of his top dream cars. To be fair, it was extremely cool to see one in person. After he fanboyed over it for 10 minutes, he told me that it was one of his dream cars because he grew up spending countless hours driving one in Project Gotham Racing 2. So the car he spent his formative years driving became a real life dream for him.

So that got me thinking, what car did I spend the most time playing in car games in my formative years? The earliest car game I can remember playing the most was Midtown Madness 2. And what car did I drive most in that game? A first gen Audi TT. I clearly remember being fascinated by it and racing it on every course. And then it hit me..... This is likely the reason I had such an irrational love for my TT despite all of its flaws and shotcomings. There were better convertibles, there were more reliable convertibles, there were faster convertibles, but none of those had that deep subconscious connection to my childhood that the TT did.
 
Okay. Decided to try something new and work through an independent broker on this car-for-fiancee thing. Apparently I'm not as good at the car buying thing as someone who literally does it for a living. Guy's earning his 300 bucks as far as I'm concerned.

Think we might have an acceptable lease configuration for an Ascent. 5% off MSRP. A rate that's actually better than the "published" rate. All the bullshit fees zeroed. Exactly the right configuration arriving at the dealer on a truck tomorrow. Payments right where we need them to be.

We'll zero the down payment and sock the money in savings. Will lose about half a percent in the difference between the two interest rates, but that's worth the flexibility.

Only two caveats:
  1. If our overall financial situation does not improve between now and lease end, we'll have to downsize.
  2. I get to drag the BRZ kicking and screaming for another 1.5-2 years to get its replacement off-cycle with this thing and clear the payments from the Outback. That means 350k miles more than likely. And that I should probably buy tires that will last more than one season.
Life Pro tip: If you and your best friend are going to finally say what's been on your idiot minds for twenty motherfucking years and get engaged, do not buy your father a car two months in the past.
 
Life Pro tip: If you and your best friend are going to finally say what's been on your idiot minds for twenty motherfucking years and get engaged, do not buy your father a car two months in the past.

Good tip. :D
 
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