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Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

eizbaer said:
Current or old model? 🤔 current RR is also ridiculously huge…
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The current one.

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I expect that the RR is wider with mirrors, but I doubt the difference is huge.
 
So I live in a boring and cheap condo building. My car is above average here, because I'm the one of those silly enough to have a sizable car loan while living in student-grade housing. Most people are street parking and over the years it's been an endless stream of 10-15 year old Toyotas, Golfs, Peugeots and Primeras. Over the last year or so I've noticed a trend among the street parking crowd:

- Recent model C63S AMG 4Matic with gearchange farts and pops
- Volvo V90. Not the current one, but the old one that is a 960 they just rebadged for the final year or so because "960" would look silly next to the then-new V40 and V70 in the sales brochure. These are rare because they didn't make them for very long and Volvo's large car buyers had for the most part moved on to the modern FWD five cylinder models. It took a connoisseur to buy one then and it takes one to run one now.
- Toyota Crown something or other RHD JDM, has lots of 80's Camry vibes and a six cylinder. Yes, I ran the plate.
- Right now as I looked out to close my balcony door, a Porsche Panamera. A week or two ago, a Ferrari of some description. I honestly couldn't tell. Maybe 2020 or so? Yes, street parked.
- Last year we had a BMW guy living here. He daily droved an E87 120d which wasn't all that interesting but I kept seeing a really nice E34 every now and then and one of his mates drove a six cylinder E21 with a slightly unsettled idle. No I'm not snooping, but I can hear what's going on when the balcony door is open.
 
Perc said:
Recent model C63S AMG 4Matic with gearchange farts and pops
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that one, at least over here, wouldn't surprise me in the least (to find street-parked near cheap condos). very popular with a certain type of man where spending more monthly on a car than on your actual flat/apartment/house seems like a good idea, because clearly that's more important. nobody that's actually into cars (as the rest of them would be, I guess), would be caught dead in a recent AMG. the entire brand is completely ruined.

contrary to that, we live in a mixed neighborhood of single family homes and small-medium (higher cost) rental places (with some exceptions ofc) and what's parked outside is just ALL BEIGE*. our 84yo neighbor has an American land yacht hidden away in some parking garage somewhere, that's clearly the winner, but his daily is a bloody 1990 Mazda 323. apart from that the most interesting car in our street is probably a mini Cooper S (yawn). currently there's a Nissan crossover that I don't even know the model name of in front of my window... apart from that, we usually have: V60, fiesta, focus, ceeeeeed, duster, taigo (wtf is this shit), touran, 90s Opel combo, oh and an old jeep liberty (was it called that over here?). woof.

* come to think of it, this seems like the exact opposite end of the priorities spectrum: people don't give a hoot about their car, it just has to take them places, and their actual house/apartment is much more important to them. except for that land yacht neighbor I guess, because his house honestly looks similarly reliable. i.e. dodgy.
 
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eizbaer said:
nobody that's actually into cars (as the rest of them would be, I guess), would be caught dead in a recent AMG. the entire brand is completely ruined.
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I do miss the old days. Clarkson reviewing the E63 back in the day, put against the E60 M5: "You just put it in D and you go. And then you go some more. And some more. "

Today it's mostly snap, crackle and pop and silly little turbocharged hachbacks. Not to mention wheels and trim level packs on 2-liter diesels. This is not AMG.
 
Perc said:
Today it's mostly snap, crackle and pop and silly little turbocharged hachbacks. Not to mention wheels and trim level packs on 2-liter diesels. This is not AMG.
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thing is though, even the big and proper AMGs (those that still exist somewhere) are ruined and exclusively driven by the "wannabe clan boss clientele". even without all the cheapo garbage brand sell-out stuff, the brand would be ruined... also they all look like complete ass.
 
eizbaer said:
thing is though, even the big and proper AMGs (those that still exist somewhere) are ruined and exclusively driven by the "wannabe clan boss clientele". even without all the cheapo garbage brand sell-out stuff, the brand would be ruined... also they all look like complete ass.
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Kebab man has to spend his riches somewhere…
 
Around where I live there are a lot of 10-20 years old big engine Audis, BMWs, and AMG-lookalike Merceds. They are all dressed up to look like the go-faster-version of that particular model, and they all have the same Fartmaster McNoisy exhaust system. Something tells me these cars have had a massive depreciation to reach those owners. Besides that, it is a sea of new and new-ish EVs, dominated by Tesla Model 3 and Y.

Totally unrelated, you can run a car using soda as coolant:

View: https://youtu.be/7jxIfygLl64?si=zo0XSnMq2lShSVA7The more we know...
 
marcos_eirik said:
Totally unrelated, you can run a car using soda as coolant:
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I don't see how that wouldn't workish. I mean it's a liquid with the same kinda sorta boiling point as water.

I spent several hours today operating a vehicle cooled by seawater only. Worked fine.
 
Perc said:
I don't see how that wouldn't workish. I mean it's a liquid with the same kinda sorta boiling point as water.

I spent several hours today operating a vehicle cooled by seawater only. Worked fine.
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I was also thinking of the tings mentioned in the video: For one thing it is carbonated which could cause air (co2) pockets in the system, all the sugar that will get sticky, and the acidic nature of the soda, but that may take time to foul the engine. So I guess, in the end it wasn't a problem.
 
Well, the surgers will caramelize inside and block or restrict flow. So don‘t do that.
 
There's a thing among car people where convertibles are seen as silly floppy things and front-wheel drive is the devil's work. It thus follows that FWD convertibles are especially derided. There seem to be two major exceptions to that: the Citroen DS Chapron convertibles and the Saab 900 classic convertible. Are there any others that also escape the curse of the FWD convertible? The Volvo C70 and Cadillac Allante may come close.
 
I might be misremembering, but I think the Lotus Elan M100 fits that category too.
 
Indeed it was! I thought it was mid-engined, MR2-style, but I was wrong.

The Fiat Barchetta (debatable if good) and the Audi TT are other examples from the 90s.
Then there are various Peugeots, Audis and VWs which are maybe not brilliant, but rarely outright bad.
 
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DanRoM said:
Indeed it was! I thought it was mid-engined, MR2-style, but I was wrong.

The Fiat Barchetta (debatable if good) and the Audi TT are other examples from the 90s.
Then there are various Peugeots, Audis and VWs which are maybe not brilliant, but rarely outright bad.
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Now you are making me wonder if there ever was a mid-engined, front wheel drive car...
DaBoom said:
View attachment 3572930

:mrgreen:
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Of course! How could I forget it?
 
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