Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

No Boss said:
Is it quattro? or FWD? What 1.8t variant is it?? How much power?? I can't speak for Aussieland variants but I know that Audis in the US, especially the B6s, suffer BADLY from reliability issues. A friend of mine has a 2005.5 (before the restyle) A4 1.8t 180bhp, and it hasn't been horrible. It's only been in the shop twice in the year he's owned it. But he just dumped about $3,000+USD into it and it's running....-ish. Why would you spend all your time, energy, and money, upgrading the computer, exhaust, turbo, downpipe, intercooler, intake, and motor mounts in a 1.8T AUTOMATIC is beyond me.

To answer your question.... Buy a 330i.
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Wait so all that money and time and the trips to the shop were for upgrades and not fucked up reliability?
 
thedguy said:
Wait so all that money and time and the trips to the shop were for upgrades and not fucked up reliability?
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No, well only two trips to the dealer were for reliability issues. The reason I mentioned all the other stuff is because, I'm sure, it voided his warranty. And with an Audi, an extended warranty is something you want.
 
No Boss said:
No, well only two trips to the dealer were for reliability issues. The reason I mentioned all the other stuff is because, I'm sure, it voided his warranty. And with an Audi, an extended warranty is something you want.
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Car is not for me, its for my cousin. He won't modify it and he tends to service every 3000-6000 miles. Its a 2004 quattro with 40000 miles.
 
stevanford1 said:
Car is not for me, its for my cousin. He won't modify it and he tends to service every 3000-6000 miles. Its a 2004 quattro with 40000 miles.
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That's roughly 10,000 miles a year, that's not bad at all. Althought I don't know what the yearly average in Australia is... I would ask for a Carfax report, and ask the dealer for service records. If it all checks out, and it's in his price range, go for it.
 
Who here knew that the opening verse to the Beatles "A day in the life" was actually about a fatal Lotus Elan crash of one of John Lennons friends (a Guinness Heir)?? Just thought that was cool. Apparently "he blew his mind out in a car" isn't related to gunshots, but to the fact that he was probably stoned out of his mind at his time (Tara Brown)

Thought that was interesting. Have fun, and remember, if you do get in a fatal car crash, maybe somebody will write a great song about it.


EDIT: Also, apparently the 4000 holes in blackburn lanchester were potholes of all things. They had to count them all.
 
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I'm thinking of making a car-parts coffee table. I'm going to go to a junkyard in a week or two to find parts, but here's what I've been thinking of so far.

Have the actual body of the table either a Volvo or Audi inline 5 block.
That will either be on the ground or propped up with some headers off a V8.
The glass will be off some American land yacht since those were huge and the glass was mostly flat (maybe I'll looks at some vans or SUVs).
Have valves (or maybe a rod/pistons setup) hold the glass up between the block and the glass.
 
For the glass surface, look at the roll-down rear windows from things like Jeep Grand Wagoneers and Ford Country Squires, that sort of wagon. Their rear glass was perfectly flat.
 
I've loved that idea for years, even before Top Gear added one to their studio. But I never knew how to go about getting the bits and cleaning them.

Anyway, don't you think it would be a lot more practical to have the glass cut out by a professional? Even if you find something that's nearly flat, it's still going to be too thin to be able to serve as a real table. Having the engine block and the rest of the pieces is pretty damn cool still, even if the glass doesn't come from a car.
 
I've just been thinking over the actual structure of the table and I realized that an I5 with V8 headers wont work for the actual table.

I've rethought of it, and came up with this: A BMW I6 for the body, and 2 complete sets of V6 headers as legs (2 per side).
 
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Well... you can put a couple of pounds on the rear window glass, but I'd figured it be more for display. If you're going to put any serious weight on it, yeah, you need a different thickness and type of glass.
 
Spectre said:
Well... you can put a couple of pounds on the rear window glass, but I'd figured it be more for display. If you're going to put any serious weight on it, yeah, you need a different thickness and type of glass.
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I'd be mostly for show. Maybe throw a few car magazine on it, but nothing more.
Or If I want... layer two windows. (I don't want to go out and spend a ton of extra money on a custom cut pane of glass)
 
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CrazyRussian540 said:
I've just been thinking over the actual structure of the table and I realized that an I5 with V8 headers wont work for the actual table.

I've rethought of it, and came up with this: A BMW I6 for the body, and 2 sets of V6 headers per side as legs.
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Unless you're going to bolt the glass to the table, that won't work either.
 
Spectre said:
Unless you're going to bolt the glass to the table, that won't work either.
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I was thinking of either using valves or rods/pistons to hold up the glass in the corners (with some epoxy adhesive). I'll come up with a rough sketch tomorrow.

I'm mainly going for form over function here. If I wanted function, I would've gone out and bought an actual purpose built table (which I already have).
 
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Camshaft legs? :)
 
I think a Prius just tried to race me at the lights... :?
I just accelerated as normal and then I saw the Prius lurching forward, giving it everything

at first I was like :-o
but then I was like :burnrubber: and quickly overtook him
 
So, the 2002 Mercedes-Benz ML400 CDI. There is one for sale with 70 000 km:s, and it has lost 70 000 eur from its original value. Is the original ML just not worth getting, or does the hulking diesel V8 (250hp, 560Nm) make up for its imperfections?
 
^ In one word: Stay the hell away!!!

Even the AMG model was pretty poor, and I speak from firsthand experience. My mom's 7 year old ML430 is disintegrating already.
 
Dogbert said:
Camshaft legs? :)
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Exactly what I was going to say. My old roommate and I built an end-table from connecting rods (the 'leg'), and topped it with a couple of V8 camshafts parallel to the floor and cut some thick lexan for the top. Pretty heavy, but neat. I welded it with stick and left all the welds unfinished :p.
 
public said:
So, the 2002 Mercedes-Benz ML400 CDI. There is one for sale with 70 000 km:s, and it has lost 70 000 eur from its original value. Is the original ML just not worth getting, or does the hulking diesel V8 (250hp, 560Nm) make up for its imperfections?
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^

steer away from this car at all cost!
 
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