Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

[Vette Boss]

You may not need a full dinner, just oysters and chardonnay.

 

[Spectre]

Some women you wouldn't even have to take to dinner - "Hey baby, I have an Aston. Let's make sexytime now."

The XKR did that for me once - I wasn't even trying, but she wanted to go, soo.... The Hondas have done that more than once, though.

Don't think you can do that with a Skoda wagon, though.

Also, more fun on the ice and snow:

 

[EyeMWing]

Seriously, one afternoon, some idiot in a first gen Focus stopped on the on ramp (with several "large enough" gaps he could have been into) and as a result I had to floor my car to make it onto the highway with any semblance of urgency.

That maaaaaaaaaay have been me, actually. I've been driving the Focus around PA a bit lately with some pretty serious rear-view-obstructing payloads and have had to brake to a stop on some of your idiotic "LOL WHO NEEDS A MERGE LANE?" ramps and wait for a hole big enough for me to be confident I can actually accelerate into it with the added weight.

But yeah. Far too many Pennsyltuckians don't know how to use a ramp, and your DOT doesn't know how to build them anyway (seriously. I still see a few terminated in STOP SIGNS)

 

[rickhamilton620]

That maaaaaaaaaay have been me, actually. I've been driving the Focus around PA a bit lately with some pretty serious rear-view-obstructing payloads and have had to brake to a stop on some of your idiotic "LOL WHO NEEDS A MERGE LANE?" ramps and wait for a hole big enough for me to be confident I can actually accelerate into it with the added weight.

But yeah. Far too many Pennsyltuckians don't know how to use a ramp, and your DOT doesn't know how to build them anyway (seriously. I still see a few terminated in STOP SIGNS)

In that case, all is forgiven for a Final Gearer. (your's isn't silver is it?) But yeah i agree, some by my house are stop sign ones (wtf, PA??) and others are verrry short.

 

[IceBone]

Of the two, honestly, I'd personally go for the Skoda. For some reason I've never much liked motorcycles. It's important to me to have at least a modicum of safety and, well, there's a reason ER departments the world over call them "donorcycles". Personal preference, I guess.

You're just a sucker for vag, admit it.

 

[EyeMWing]

In that case, all is forgiven for a Final Gearer. (your's isn't silver is it?) But yeah i agree, some by my house are stop sign ones (wtf, PA??) and others are verrry short.

Dark gray. FinalGear sticker in the rear window.

I really need to get tags on the fucking truck, so I can stop using a silly little Ford Focus as a pickup truck.

 

[Emarline]

You're just a sucker for vag, admit it.

There's a reason why I said "of the two". I'm not exactly hot for family estates. But honestly, a car won't make me change my mind on a guy. It's an added bonus if he has a nice car, sure, but a shitty car's not going to make me dislike an otherwise great guy, and a nice car won't make me like an otherwise shitty guy.

 

[Leadfoot866]

Here's a question for you all.

Let's say you just bought a 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. One of the last Trans Ams built.

You got the car cheap because the previous owner blew the engine. Everything else on the car is in good shape, it just needs a new engine.

Now, for whatever reason (alien invasion, zombie apocalypse, planetary alignment, mad science experiment gone wrong...whatever crazy explanation you can come up with), there are no more GM small-block V8s available (LT, LS, etc.). You have no choice but to put the engine from another car under the hood of this Pontiac. You manage to find a number of substitutes (from wrecked cars, of course).

...yeah, I know it's a silly idea. Just play along...

Which of the following would you put under the hood?

- Chevrolet 454 (7.4L) big-block V8 from a '70 Chevrolet Chevelle SS
- Chevrolet 396 (6.5L) big-block V8 from a '65 Chevrolet Corvette
- Chrysler 426 (7.0L) Hemi V8 from a '70 Dodge Challenger R/T
- Chrysler 8.0L LA V10 from a '99 Dodge Viper GTS
- Ford 351 (5.8L) Windsor V8 from a '69 Ford Mustang Mach 1
- Ford "Coyote" (5.0L) V8 from a '11 Ford Mustang GT
- Lamborghini 5.7L V12 from a '98 Lamborghini Diablo VT
- Porsche 3.6L H6 from a '00 (996) Porsche 911 Turbo
- Nissan RB26DETT 2.6L I6 from a '01 (R34) Nissan GT-R
- Toyota 2JZ-GTE 3.0L I6 from a '97 (A80) Toyota Supra

Spoiler

I went with the Viper V10, because I'm crazy and stupid and will likely die a horrible death.

Oh, the things I come up with at work...

 

[TC]

I would go with the "Toyota 2JZ-GTE 3.0L I6", just to confuse the hell out of people when they see what's under the hood.

https://pic.armedcats.net/t/to/tomcat/2011/07/01/2jz-gte__3_.jpg

But if I wanted to get serious, I'd love the Chevy 454 bigblock, assuming I could get it in LS6 trim.

 

[Emarline]

I'd go for the Lambo tbh, if only because I love the sound of a V12.

 

[Labcoatguy]

Fiat TwinAir with the boost turned up to within an inch of its life. Because I want to be able to reach the rear spark plugs for a change.

 

[thedguy]

Isn't there a thread for all this?

On the subject, Ecotec turbo ripped from the Solstice GXP with some BPU's fitted to a getrag 6 speed. While I'm at it I'd throw in some fiberglass doors and fenders.

pic vaguely related.

 

[Cellos88GT]

I would put a new Ford 5.0 engine in there or 460.

 

[argatoga]

Good point there.

Realistically, I'm looking to spend about $12,000 on a S60R and in the not so distant future I will be faced with fixing angle-gear ($2000) or changing the fancy 4C suspension ($5000). Why are performance cars so expensive to maintain? (cue the Miata bunch...)

A GTO or Mustang won't cost nearly that much to maintain.

Hell for $12k you could buy a New Edge Mustang, swap in a Cobra IRS (it bolts right in, no drilling required), then super charge it to 400hp+. All the work done at a shop.

 

[CAPT_Howdy]

It's not one of the choices, but I'd drop in a 455SD - just to keep it all Pontiac.

But of the choices you listed, I'd go with the 454 - if, as Tomcat said, it's an LS6. The LS5 is less powerful than the stock LS1 - although just barely.

 

[sifu]

i would drop a ford focus rs500 engine in and make it fwd

 

[narf]

So in that respect Europe is worse than the US - even where there's deaths, damages usually don't go that high.

If you cause an accident that injures someone else you (your insurance) pays for treatment, loss of income, pain damages, etc. - per injured person that can easily run in hundreds of thousands, even millions. Injure an entire family and you might even start scratching ten million. Good to know it's really hard to exceed the maximum coverage. How much coverage do you have over there?

Our minimum coverage for bodily damages is 7.5mil? by law, 1mil? for property damage. Without at least that your car isn't allowed to move on public roads. Google tells me $60k for bodily injures minimum? That can't even treat one proper injury

Bike insurance is cheaper because they physically can't cause nearly as much damage as a car that's gone out of control can.

Physically doing the damage is irrelevant. Causing an accident is - bikes can cause accidents just as well as cars. Imagine you cut someone off on your bike, he swerves to avoid you, mayhem occurs. Who needs to pay? You do. Your bike might not have a scratch on it, yet the accident would be your fault.

No, but that's mostly because I don't trust others in the snow.

We can take turns on timed laps, you can hide in a bunker while not riding.

Really? 80mph is already legal in Texas now; 85 mph was coming through the legislature back in April.

Averaging 87mph means you need to be faster than 85mph on average, and much faster than 85mph peak.

Motorcycles can have a more compliant suspension than a car, too - see the supermotards and the dualsports.

That only works if you hit the bump head on, potholes rarely are ideal in shape and position to allow for that. Imagine being the line, hitting the pothole not dead-center: ---<>
Your front wheel will break out, you will be killed. To death.

Strange, I don't have to change vehicles to bring shopping home or pick up a passenger.

Would you take a passenger without leathers and a helmet?

Not made up, going by the data here on my MPG app.

Stuff like "1/3 less CO2 than an Octavia diesel" is what I was thinking of.
Claiming 18.3g/km or similar values for your 52mpg ride is another.
Doing "4.5l/100km while doing 0-100 in 2.8s" is even worse.
Carrying 500 litres on your motorbike is just as ridiculous. Here's some light drinks shopping from today, 42l in total. Allowing for the space inbetween you'll end up with about 80l of cargo volume. I'd really love to see you store over six times as much in/on your bike.

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2011/07/01/Foto0468.jpg

Of the two, honestly, I'd personally go for the Skoda.

Hello.

 

[Interrobang]

Here's a question for you all.[...]

Audi V12 TDI

 

[BlaRo]

Here's a question for you all.

Let's say you just bought a 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. One of the last Trans Ams built.

Damn, I was hoping this was a thinly-veiled hypothetical of an actual scenario that you've just found yourself in. "I've made a huge mistake."

 

[_HighVoltage_]

A GTO or Mustang won't cost nearly that much to maintain.

Hell for $12k you could buy a New Edge Mustang, swap in a Cobra IRS (it bolts right in, no drilling required), then super charge it to 400hp+. All the work done at a shop.

True, but they wouldn't make me as happy as the S60. And I'm not interest in modifying any car.

The only car that I would modify if I get is an 850R. That's still on the table for me. I'll put it on S60R rims, upgrade the suspension, put stiffer swaybars, get the performance brake pads and maybe, just maybe, invest $800 in ECU tune. Should bring the stock 240hp to about 280hp.

If I get an S60R, I don't plan to modify it, mostly because 300hp is plenty for me. And secondly because I don't want to ruin the resale value if the car. With an 850R, if I buy one it becomes mine forever. Nobody's really interested in these cars anymore.