Car Enthusiast Thread

Ain't nothing wrong with a car that'll pin you to the back of your seat and strike fear into you as the rapid acceleration applies a [strangely addictive] pressure to your lungs.

Newer sports cars offer that kind of acceleration right out the gates, while older cars (like mine) don't really "wake up" until 5-8k RPM...in the latter case you really have to commit to launching the car, but in both cases you'll be beating the piss out of it with hard launches/pulls...and that wear and tear can really add up.

So beyond shaming teens in their ricers and old guys in their trans ams at stoplights, godly acceleration isn't very useful and it's a premium feature that can cost you in some ways.

I guess what I'm trying to say is go for balanced power/handling/weight distribution, low ride height, affordability, reliability etc etc and go with the 370z.
Like a 2009 or something.

Actually, you know what? Fuck all those cars.

Find THIS ONE and get it already.

SSS said:

Mx5 still handles better. If you wanted more power get a lancer evo

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And accelerates slower. Much slower. In this price bracket there's gonna be a trade off with whatever you get.

I actually was about to pull the trigger on an evox mr last year. Then I priced out insurance. Just a little steep for me. Over 1k for 6 months. Nice ride but I'm not sure it felt as nice as a miata far as handling goes.

By his has got me thinking about something else for the not sonic though. Try a wrx. Good performance for the cash.

And spoonman, I'd avoid 09/10 370zs and late model 350zs. Nissan had massive oil burning/blowby issues for a while. I was reading somewhere recently that in the later models they seemed to fix that though. Might have been bs but if you're serious I'd do my homework on that. I can confirm they did burn a ton of oil though as my 2009 6mt did about a quart every 1500 miles.

Well, you're the voice of experience here, not gonna argue with any of that. I had only price in mind when I suggested an 09.

Having said that, if notsonic has up to 25k to blow on a car he should honestly consider a z4m coupe.
That car was the final platform for their inline 6 s54 race engine so a lot of the (exaggerated) problems like rear subframe tearing, conrod failures, and VANOS breaking was taken care of to a much greater extent than with earlier versions.

It also turns hard enough to drain the blood from your skull and will go 0-60 by a twats hair under 5 seconds.

And finally, I should also mention that their price is bottoming out at the moment and because of their rarity (around 1800 ever built in NA IIRC) they will slowly go back up in price just like the 1st gen m coupes, e30 m3s, etc.

Scheduled up a test drive for an 05 Vette and a 2010 v6 Genesis.

I have to admit to not considering any European cars, knowing nothing about them.

Corvette was amazing.

Genesis was OK. Felt slow, hard to tell after the Vette.

HUDs are awesome.

Best thing about everything I've driven so far is they all handle real well and feel solid. We've come a long way since 95.

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I really think that when it is time to replace my current car that is about to hit 200k, I'm going to go with one of these.



I will definitely wait for some reviews and try to find one to drive first, and maybe even wait a year after that and try to find a used one or buy the following year model if there are kinks to work out in the launch vehicles, but every day it looks more and more appealing. We are a two car household already, so if necessary, we have a little 5 seat hatchback for more people/stuff also.

looks like a can-am with a shell on it

Ive got one of those Ecoboost twin turbo v6. I've had no issues with it or pulling my 10k# horse trailer. Driving highway I can get 22MPG, pulling is a bit less! Spray in bed liner is the cats meow. The only thing I don't like are the mirrors, even when compressed in I've tagged mailboxes with them. Only had to replace the passenger mirror once!

SSS said:

Be glad you didn't go with the ecoboost. Besides some people not getting the advertised MPG. Plenty of folks are having issues. Way too much crap on that engine. There have been plenty of instances where moisture has been collecting in the intercooler. Under heavy throttle (like passing) the truck will suck in a bunch of mositure and to protect itself, the ECU will send the truck into retard mode and you'll loose half the power. Seriously dangerous when this happens, folks have had to pull onto the shoulder when they realized they weren't gonna make it around a semi in time.

Ford's solution and issued TSB is to cover parts of the intercooler lowering it's effectiveness. I imagine power output has dropped as well. Can't find if anyone's had their truck dyno'd after the plastic shielding is installed. If power is less than advertised, I can forsee Ford having a class action lawsuit on their hands.

Also, I can't imagine that twin turbo setup is a recipe for good longevity of the motor.

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lithy said:

I really think that when it is time to replace my current car that is about to hit 200k, I'm going to go with one of these.

I will definitely wait for some reviews and try to find one to drive first, and maybe even wait a year after that and try to find a used one or buy the following year model if there are kinks to work out in the launch vehicles, but every day it looks more and more appealing. We are a two car household already, so if necessary, we have a little 5 seat hatchback for more people/stuff also.

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I so want one of these!!! So cheap and so simple. 86MPG, why not?

Hans Grösse said:

I so want one of these!!! So cheap and so simple. 86MPG, why not?

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Why not?
...any inclement weather. You might as well get a scooter.

NeoSneth said:

Why not?
...any inclement weather. You might as well get a scooter.

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It's not gona go through a foot of snow that's for sure but it is FWD and extremely light so it'll pull through things that some cars would get stuck in.

I know it's not the same, but all I can see is this:

NeoSneth said:

Why not?
...any inclement weather. You might as well get a scooter.

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Not understanding this.

You would have a problem driving that in rain? A dusting of snow? Why? It is a front wheel drive tin can, just like the Civics, Corollas, and Metros of old. Only it's missing a rear wheel.

We'll see if it actually makes it to production, but if it does and stays under 10k, I'll definitely get one.

lithy said:

Not understanding this.

You would have a problem driving that in rain? A dusting of snow? Why? It is a front wheel drive tin can, just like the Civics, Corollas, and Metros of old. Only it's missing a rear wheel.

We'll see if it actually makes it to production, but if it does and stays under 10k, I'll definitely get one.

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This is my thought process.

I was thinking of trading in my 08 Subaru Legacy GT for a new 2015 Legacy 3.6R Limited or 2015 WRX Limited with CVT.

Giga_Power32bit said:

I was thinking of trading in my 08 Subaru Legacy GT for a new 2015 Legacy 3.6R Limited or 2015 WRX Limited with CVT.

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Look into an STI. Also if you are looking at payments maybe keep the 08 and invest the rest?

not sonic said:

I know it's not the same, but all I can see is this:

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don't you mean

Does anyone have any experience with a GM supercharged 3800 V6? I might have a chance to get a 2004 Grand Prix GTP cheap from a family member, its got a little over half of the miles of my current car, so as long as I'm not looking at a bunch of huge issues coming up around the 120k mile mark, it might be worth it.

I thought I would pipe in with this…

I bought my Ram 1500 Feb 14th. After 6 months of ownership and 5K miles on the odo, that truck has proven to be one of the most useful vehicles I've ever owned. After fiddling around with gas types, I've come to the conclusion that Dodge was right about running mid grade fuel in the thing (gee…go figure) but even with that that 16-17mpg average I get in town hasn't drained my bank account with the amount of driving I do. I took it 4 hrs north on vacation and got an honest to God 21.5 mpg out of the thing…amazing for a heavy ass truck loaded inside and out driving 70 mph.

One complaint is that the stock Goodyear RSA tires are absolute shit. They were shit in the snow last winter and they even suck in the rain. I will be replacing them within a month with these:



Toyo Open Country ATII…thy rate extremely well in almost all conditions.

Long story short…I should have given up sports cars years ago and just bought a truck…its been a long time coming.

Car thread, eh? Well since I don't have much to share about my project 1968 Chevrolet C10 pickup, I'll share a bit about my daily driver.

Since about halfway through my sophomore year in high school I've been driving a 1987 Chevrolet S-10. In about fall of 2011 we bought it from some tweakers around the corner in my neighborhood for about $400 on the condition that we let them keep them their ugly Hot Wheels looking wheels and their big expensive stereo. I purchased some stock Chevy hubcaps and managed to get a hold of stock steel wheels and decent new tires. When we bought the pickup, it didn't run. When we went to start it up, it sounded like bowling balls being thrown around under the hood. We had a totaled '84 S-10 that we could salvage the engine and tranny from, since both trucks had the 2.8 liter V6.

Over that fall and winter, my dad and I worked on the swap. Maaaaaan, the previous owners had ridden this thing hard but kept the body and interior in decent shape. The engine was blown and had metal shavings in the oil pan, and the Y-pipe and exhaust system were completely ruined. It looked like a nest of welding wire where the previous owners had attempted to fix the exhaust... We had to salvage the exhaust from the '84 to put on mine. As some may know, GM switched over to fuel injection and serpentine belts around '86-'87, so there were a few things we needed to change over from the motors such as the oil pan and timing cover. There was also some different smog stuff and we had to block off where the older engine had a mechanical fuel pump. After the truck was finished, we had some trial and error with timing when we had to get the truck smogged, but we eventually got it working and fully tagged by about April 2012.

Today it's still my daily driver. Since then we've had some minor issues like the starter, belt tensioners, smog pump, catalytic converter and such but it's still a good running little pickup. The 2.8 liter GM V6 is a bit sluggish, but it gets me where I need to go without sucking up too much gas. My S-10's pretty good looking for its year, from what I see driving down the road lately. Glad I could share a little about my pickup. My friends may complain about some issues, but I love the little thing to pieces.

-Always peanut butter
-Confident strategy
-Become president of peanut butters

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Jon

Just thought I would share a few pics. I just recently got my 1997 ITR out of storage. I went on a nice little road trip with my wife and family. There were some nice curvy roads on the way. Felt great to drive an actual car that lets you drive it again. I wasn't electronically assisted when I stepped it down around every curve. I just turned over 30.5k miles after we got back.

Jon said:

Jon

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnbjqU1bZEU

New meats on the truck…way nicer than the crap stockers...





The tread is nice and deep on these, very pleased for it being an LT tire and all:


So far I am extremely pleased with the overall look. The man-child in my wants giant MT tires but this truck is a daily driver and will see plenty of snow so that is not in the cards.