Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

public said:
I could get 3000? off the price of a Kia Cee'd by trading in my Mazda. I'd rather drive my Mazda.
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Anyone would rather drive a 15-year old Mazda than a new Korean POS.
 
What??? 7000 Euro for more than 15 year old stock Eclipse? That's $10,000 in here. That is ridiculous...
 
Weirdly enough, I would replace my Mazda with a Hyundai Scoupe. :mrgreen:

_HighVoltage_ said:
What??? 7000 Euro for more than 15 year old stock Eclipse? That's $10,000 in here. That is ridiculous...
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You can see why I'm not jumping at the chance to get the DSM :)
 
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and it isn't even a GSX/TSi/RS it's just a stock N/A FWD pos?... that blows my mind i should start buying up 1st gens and shipping them over eve if i sell them for 8k i bet i would make a pretty ok profit

also i am with TheDGuy on the galant VR-4 situation i always end up looking them and thinking they are sooooo fucking cheap (to buy) but then i remember what kind of special joy they are to work on and go back to oogling 2002 Legacy GT Wagons still kind of WANT though
 
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If you don't count the lowered suspension, it's bone stock all the way to the wheels. 2.0 FWD.

Cars here are generally expensive, take the time to browse nettiauto.com and revel at the chance to make a buck. There are heavy taxes to be paid, though, so usually the end price is bumped to the general level of cars originally imported to Finland.

I just checked the ads and this was actually the most bearable 1gen Eclipse I could see. All the others have loads more kilometres, carbage-y modifications etc, so at ~4k it would be a pretty bearable deal, if you could get the paintwork done cost-effectively. The trouble is, the weird bubbling is probably caused by a cost-effective respray to begin with.
 
_HighVoltage_ said:
What??? 7000 Euro for more than 15 year old stock Eclipse? That's $10,000 in here. That is ridiculous...
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Theo ne thing you need to know about the Finnish used car market (It's not like you really NEED to know anything, but just some general info to make things clear.)

-Cars are driven TO THE GROUND. Most(No kidding here) older Mercedes sedans have done over 500000km's, and they still fetch a few ?k? on the used car market. Hell, there must be dozens of diesel mercs with way over a million km on the clock. A friend of mine just swapped a new engine into his W124. The NEW engine had done a bit over 600k kms. Basically, when you're talking 80's and early 90's cars, 200000km is low mileage.

-Specialist/Rwd/4wd cars never lose their value. Basically anything with a V8 is considered a nice car, there are no cheap camaros or rustangs, everything even remotely special is expensive. Also, being a winter country, Rwd is very desireable. There are a few exeptions like early bmw's and Sierras, but in general, rwd cars fetch a pretty penny when compared to their fwd brethen.

-The only cheap cars(when compared to, say, the Usa) are cheap fwd hatchbacks. You can get used Ka's for under 2k`?, since no-one really likes them, but a 1.2 3-cyl Subaru justy fetches the same amount ONLY because it's 4wd.

Basically, if you're after anything other than a fwd commuter box, you're fucked.:(
 
Posmo said:
Theo ne thing you need to know about the Finnish used car market (It's not like you really NEED to know anything, but just some general info to make things clear.)

-Cars are driven TO THE GROUND.
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You need to hear this :mrgreen:

I just talked to a woman today, who drives a red 1990 Audi 90 quattro.

The body had done 390 000 km when the odo jammed. The original five-pot was swapped to a chipped 1995 TDI engine at some point. The body (remember Audi zinc treatment) has managed to be salt-dirt-marinated to such extent that the paint is coming off in flakes. She had attempted to get it through inspection without any service for at least two years: the result was that the diesel test where the pedal is floored caused such insane black smoke it failed before it was even attached to any testing equipment. I quote: "When it dies, it dies."
 
public said:
You need to hear this :mrgreen:

I just talked to a woman today, who drives a red 1990 Audi 90 quattro.

The body had done 390 000 km when the odo jammed. The original five-pot was swapped to a chipped 1995 TDI engine at some point. The body (remember Audi zinc treatment) has managed to be salt-dirt-marinated to such extent that the paint is coming off in flakes. She had attempted to get it through inspection without any service for at least two years: the result was that the diesel test where the pedal is floored caused such insane black smoke it failed before it was even attached to any testing equipment. I quote: "When it dies, it dies."
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Now that's sisu.
 
question : is a bendy bus technically MWD (mid wheel drive)

Accordion_bus_small.JPG


since it's basically a regular bus with RWD, with just the ass end of another bus added on, the wheels in the middle do the accelerating, the wheels at the front do the steering, and the rear wheels don't do anything at all.

first MWD vehicle? I imagine how this concept would work in a regular 6 wheeled car...
 
No, it's technically a RWD bus towing a trailer. Articulated buses can be disconnected and the front part alone operated (for service purposes only, but still...)
 
NooDle said:
booo party pooper :p
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Just call me a member of the James May fan club. :lol:

You've never been on a "bendy bus" when it is discovered that the last time the thing was serviced the idiot mechanic didn't fasten the hitch and couplings properly, leading to a disconnect when the thing went over a bump *just* right.

I have. Wasn't a whole lot of fun at the time. Funny in retrospect, of course, because of the looks on the other passengers' faces when the bus started away from a stop and the rear part.... didn't. :lol:

Anyway, I got a real good look at the ass end of the "front part" when that happened and everyone'd piled out to wait for another bus. It's literally got a fancy hitch and coupling system under that accordion/bellows looking sheath.
 
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Well in fact all the bendy buses in Prague are FWD, RR layout, as far as I know, which makes it quite unlikely that they could be disconnected, too.
 
In Eindhoven we used to have bendy buses where the engine was located in the trailer part of the bus. Let's just say that directional stability wasn't a strong point in these buses...
 
I don't see any such problems over here but then again I try to use the buses as little as possible. I guess it's the only way to go if you want to keep the floor low throughout the bus.
 
NooDle said:
question : is a bendy bus technically MWD (mid wheel drive)first MWD vehicle? I imagine how this concept would work in a regular 6 wheeled car...
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Fun fact :

In Bordeaux they used to have bendy buses that had two trailer parts, making it forward-mid-wheel drive? :

cgfte_8984.jpg


Admittedly the only route they ran on was mostly straight (except for the ends).

Thankfully, those horribly bad ideas have been replaced with a fantastic modern tram system.
 
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