Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Problem is oblivion with a Golf is about 20 miles away
Don’t buy a VAG product out of
warranty

But, that PLAID, the golf ball shifter, quiet driving, the fuel mileage! Honestly, the infotainment is probably the most inoffensive that I've used. It doesn't just work, it looks modern enough to not feel like you're running Windows ME. The low end torque is wonderful in town, the high speed stability, the just.... UGH it's love. It's not like a a Toyota product where they're trying their hardest to be as dull as humanely possible. VW trying to have some style to things even if for some it's boring. VW products are not so prevalent here so they still feel a little special as well.
 
But, that PLAID, the golf ball shifter, quiet driving, the fuel mileage! Honestly, the infotainment is probably the most inoffensive that I've used. It doesn't just work, it looks modern enough to not feel like you're running Windows ME. The low end torque is wonderful in town, the high speed stability, the just.... UGH it's love. It's not like a a Toyota product where they're trying their hardest to be as dull as humanely possible. VW trying to have some style to things even if for some it's boring. VW products are not so prevalent here so they still feel a little special as well.
Yeah I enjoyed my buddy’s GTI quite a bit, but he been having to fix so many things
 
Yeah I enjoyed my buddy’s GTI quite a bit, but he been having to fix so many things

Yeah and that's the problem. That said, I've now owned two vehicles with coolant and oil problems (my 1993 F150 Flareside and 1987 Mercury) so from what I've heard with modern VW's this can't that bad. Time will tell. I guess we shall see when the time comes. Theres a small ding on one of the wheels and a small mark on the front passenger fog light plastic, and stripped threads on one of the front passenger wheel bolt mountings. I did not strip it myself, I found it when switching to winter wheels the first time in 2018...

When the MK8 comes out I will of course test drive that and see if it's worth moving up or not. I like analog gauges so that may keep me with the MK7.5. At this point I really enjoy it even if my work car is a Golf Alltrack. Theres enough difference that and commonality with both that I don't mind my work car being very similar to my personal one. I'm very happy with not having to worry about major repairs.
 
I usually don't give the slightest damn about new Ferraris, primarily because they're very ugly. There's also the fanbase and the philosophy of giving them all the power they can without caring too much about other aspects of driving experience, however, the latter just my opinion based on reading car magazine reviews a while back.

However, recently, I'm starting to like Ferrari again. First of all, they're making what is probably the last naturally aspirated FR V12 supercar, the 812, and then recently they made this, the Ferrari Roma:

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It just looks fantastic, not just for a Ferrari, but for a modern sports car in general. Everything seems to be balanced, it brings back curves to Ferraris, and it looks damn good in that blueish grey. I'd even go as far as saying it's one of the best-looking cars on the market today. I'm yet to see one in person, but I wish more supercars nowadays looked like this. The new Aston Martin Vantage is curvy, but the design is not well balanced IMO. Porsche 992 has a really fat-looking rear, and that's it from this segment of mainstream sports cars that have been released recently, at least that I can think of.
 
Hm. It looks a lot better than the Jetta GLI...

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Yeah I enjoyed my buddy’s GTI quite a bit, but he been having to fix so many things
I loved sitting in my buddy's GTI; great interior, very comfy, nice tech - it felt like a little luxury car. But then I drove it and the TC was kicking in at 40mph in the rain on a straightaway (stock tires with like 8k mi on them). Newer GTIs have an e-LSD I think, which might be ok, but otherwise that's a no for me dawg.
 
I loved sitting in my buddy's GTI; great interior, very comfy, nice tech - it felt like a little luxury car. But then I drove it and the TC was kicking in at 40mph in the rain on a straightaway (stock tires with like 8k mi on them). Newer GTIs have an e-LSD I think, which might be ok, but otherwise that's a no for me dawg.
What do you expect from wrong wheel drive? :p
 
Went for a drive last night as my right butt cheek wasn't hurting but a dull weirdness feeling was happening. In between work calls and emails I tried leg stretches, back stretches, sitting cross legged and leaning forward to stretch butt muscles, took a couple walks, nothing helped. After a 1hr drive, and the following morning the dull feeling is gone. Yay.

Driving saves.
 
I've been driving diesel cars all my adult life, but ever since I got one of my own and stopped buying petrol I largely stopped paying attention to petrol prices. My habit, quite naturally, switched to checking out the diesel price whenever I drive by a fuel station.

I also noticed one thing. Whenever people discuss fuel prices, it's always the petrol price. It's what's in the news, it's on social media, it's everywhere. And it's not just because petrol vehicles are the majority, I don't think. The majority of cars the size of a Passat or larger are diesel here. Every 5 series, E class and A6 is a diesel as well as every van, pickup and truck. There are lots and lots of diesel vehicles on the road.

Maybe it's because the zero-budget motorists that just use their car as a shopping trolley and strive to spend as little as possible on fuel tend to drive petrol cars? I don't know.
 
Maybe it's because the zero-budget motorists that just use their car as a shopping trolley and strive to spend as little as possible on fuel tend to drive petrol cars? I don't know.

The real diesel penny pinchers have no back seats, which not everybody can pull off :p
 
Broke quarantine to visit an old friend of mine and @Labcoatguy :D

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She's been repainted, had some body work and suspension refreshing done, and has been straight piped. She definitely went to a proper owner. Even lives in an air conditioned garage now hah.

@Crazyjeeper and @Nabster all met up and went for a much needed quarantine drive in the country. The Jaaaag drones at cruise, but sounds awesome at WOT.
 

That's not bad at all. I initially thought it was the Mustang I concept but the article claims it's not (and for good reason). What do you figure it is? Article says it's not the Mach2 concept either.
 
That's not bad at all. I initially thought it was the Mustang I concept but the article claims it's not (and for good reason). What do you figure it is?
Kar-Kraft’s Mach II prototype. I have a book that has a different photo of the same chassis in the same level of undress. Saw those photos online, walked to my bookshelf, pulled out that book and flipped straight to that page.

Sometimes I really wonder about the data I keep in my brain readily available for quick recall.
 
Kar-Kraft’s Mach II prototype. I have a book that has a different photo of the same chassis in the same level of undress. Saw those photos online, walked to my bookshelf, pulled out that book and flipped straight to that page.

Sometimes I really wonder about the data I keep in my brain readily available for quick recall.

The Mach 2 is definitely the other mid-engine Mustang prototype, but the article claims it's not that one either. If your book has more pics of the construction sequence you may be able to set them straight.

Clor spent the next year asking select Ford retirees if they knew anything about the photos but to no avail. The guess floated by Weber in his initial email -- that it could have been the origins of the 1967 Mach 2 Concept car -- was ruled out after Clor had spotted a MotorCities.org blog post in December of 2016. In it, a story by auto industry veteran and historian Wayne Ferens about the Mach 2 had contained information that would indicate the 1966 Mustang in these photos was NOT the basis for the Mach 2.
In Ferens’ story, entitled, “Ford's Experimental Mach 2 For 1967...The One (Mustang?) That Got Away,” he stated that “The initial concept was completed in Ford's Dearborn design studio under the watchful eye of Eugene Bordinat Jr., then V.P. of Styling and the Ford Engineering Center, but the final construction and assembly was done at the Kar Kraft facility under the direction of Ed Hull. Kar Kraft was an independent company located in Dearborn, but owned by Ford and used for special projects and race car preparation. The Mach 2 is a highly modified two-seater on a shortened version of a 1967 Mustang convertible floor pan.”

The Mustang in these photos is clearly made from a 1966 body, and when Ferens went on to say in his story that the Mach 2’s front end consisted of “a square steel-tubed frame,” it became clear that this 1966 mid-engine two-seater was not the same as the ’67 Mustang convertible-based Mach 2 that Ford introduced at the Chicago Auto Show in spring of 1967. (Afterward, Ferens contends, the Mach 2 was placed in storage until 1970 and then disappeared.)

Granted, a blog post describing the front end parts and 66 vs 67 seems like a pretty thin reason to discount this having been an early phase of the Mach 2.
 
We’ll see. I sent them the details I knew and could find in the book. The photo credit on the undated photo of that car belongs to one of Kar-Kraft’s engineers that worked on the program so perhaps they now have a name to chase down. One thing is for sure, the photo is unmistakably of the same chassis.
 
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