Car lovers?

Blind_Evil wrote:

1. 2008 Mustang, with fairly high end features. $15,500

2. 2004 BMW 325i, $12,995 (85k miles)

3. 2008 Pontiac G6 GT, $13,995

4. 2001 Audi TT Roadster convertible, $11,988 (58k miles)

5. I don't have specs on this one, as it's just something I saw in a parking lot for sale... It's a modded-out black WRX, probably 2002-2004. I haven't called the number yet, so I'll get back about the price.

Don't get a pre modded boytoy car like a WRX. chances VERY VERY GOOD that person drove that car hard. VERY hard. And a lot of people that mod turbo cars forget to upgrade things like the clutch. Or add a wastegate (I don't think wrx's have one stock -- my DSM didn't).

Of all of those, I would pick the bmw first, but the mileage makes me cringe a bit. It's not insanely high, but you're starting to get into the "regular and surprise maintenance" life of the car. That's something I have a hard time dealing with if I still have a loan out for the car.

2008 mustang might be an interesting choice, unless it'll be your daily driver and you live in a wintery state.

How many miles does that G6 have on it? Mine runs admirably (it's an '07) with decent grunt and still gets 31 mpg highway. And I just took it to Chicago with 5 large adults in it and it seated us (relatively) comfortably. It'll definitely be the car I drive into the ground. Plus repairs on a G6 are cheap as hell since replacement parts are so plentiful. At least in MI they are.

Hey how does the group feel about the new Camaro? Like, vs the 370Z, the 2010 mustang, and the challenger? I think it's flirting with "best American sports car design ever" personally.

New Camaro? Meh. V6, sounds like ass, and you have to hunt for one that isn't an Automatic. I liked the design, and Mrs AnimeJ was head over heels for them until the day she heard one. Or perhaps didn't hear one would be more appropriate; the car is quiet as hell, even the SS.

Out of the three Muscle cars, I love the Challenger best based on looks alone. I would buy the Camaro SS based on bang vs buck, but I would buy the Mustang for livability.

Nah I lied I would keep my current ass old PT cruiser alive while I built that FFR with a crazy large engine in it for less than all three!!!

Seth wrote:

Don't get a pre modded boytoy car like a WRX. chances VERY VERY GOOD that person drove that car hard. VERY hard. And a lot of people that mod turbo cars forget to upgrade things like the clutch. Or add a wastegate (I don't think wrx's have one stock -- my DSM didn't).

Stock WRX's have a wastegate. Otherwise, you're bang on. WRX's and STi's can be rock solid reliable, 4 season cars. My STi is a daily driven 4 seasons car, has 40k on it, sees the track a lot, and has never skipped a beat. BUT, if you're looking into a car like that you're best off looking for one from a specialist website like iwsti or NAISOC, with a verifiable history, or a one owner stock example, again with a service history.

Seth wrote:

Of all of those, I would pick the bmw first, but the mileage makes me cringe a bit. It's not insanely high, but you're starting to get into the "regular and surprise maintenance" life of the car. That's something I have a hard time dealing with if I still have a loan out for the car.

Again I agree. BMW's are also fairly reliable, but parts and service costs can be very pricey. At 90k, even on a well cared for example, the ordinary, run of the mill recommended service might cost you upwards of $700, $800 depending on how much of a ripoff your local dealership is.

Seth wrote:

Hey how does the group feel about the new Camaro? Like, vs the 370Z, the 2010 mustang, and the challenger? I think it's flirting with "best American sports car design ever" personally.

I rather dislike it. The styling is trying too hard, the interior is claustrophobic, it understeers like a hog, and it tips the scales at nearly 3800lbs with a 6, 3900 with an 8. Weight is the enemy of performance, and at nearly 2 tons, the camaro is a pig. For my money i'd take the 370Z or a Mustang with the Track Pack any day of the week. I've never driven the challenger, so I can't comment on that either way.

I won't know for sure until I get a good look at them in person, but for looks right now I rank the new Challenger over the 2010 Mustang over the new Camaro.

But then IMHO the best American sports car design was the '68 Mustang GT fastback.

Seth wrote:

Hey how does the group feel about the new Camaro? Like, vs the 370Z, the 2010 mustang, and the challenger? I think it's flirting with "best American sports car design ever" personally.

On the Camaro, I love the front end and most of the lines but hate the tail lights and certain aspects of the interior. The rear end seems to look ok until you actually see one on the road and drive behind it. It just looks goofy when looked at from behind in another car. As far as the interior, the seats are a little weird and the gauge cluster is particularly bad. The interior on the new Mustang is better. If you look purely at performance numbers, stock for stock, the 370Z wins in pretty much every single category, albeit by pretty small margins. But then reviewers tend to complain that the 370 is a little harsh, and definitely not as nice to live with on a daily basis as either the Mustang or the Camaro.

The Challenger almost isn't even in the same category. It's huge, extremely heavy (over 600 pounds more than the Mustang...), has numb steering and a gooey suspension, and just isn't as refined a vehicle. It's all about the attitude and the look, which if you ask me, it nails better than all the others. If you were just after any muscle car for no reason other than to cruise around in, the Challenger probably wins. That sloshy suspension and numb steering probably make it the best interstate car of the whole bunch as far as ride quality goes.

You have to compromise in one place or another.

And to whoever it was that complained about the new Camaro SS being quiet... I've got news for you: all of them are quiet if you leave them stock. Period. The mustang gets a wee bit louder than the others at high rpm, but generally they're all quiet when they're just cruising around. The LS6 in the new Camaro can make just as much fun noise as any other V8, but you have to get away from the stock exhaust to do it.

*edit*

High school students designed a diesel hybrid car that does 0-60 in 4 seconds and gets 60mpg. Their current aim is to get it up over 100mpg to win a contest. Check it out.

Thin_J wrote:

High school students designed a diesel hybrid car that does 0-60 in 4 seconds and gets 60mpg. Their current aim is to get it up over 100mpg to win a contest. Check it out.

Holy cow. That's awesome. And the design's not bad at all, either. All of this is from a high school team. How is this not national news?

Seth wrote:

Holy cow. That's awesome. And the design's not bad at all, either. All of this is from a high school team. How is this not national news?

Good question. Maybe it's being supressed by all the colleges whose teams are getting beat in the competitions these guys enter

The article mentions them beating a team from MIT in an earlier hybrid car competition.

Well that car Thin_J posted is a kit car with a hybrid powertrain the students have thrown together. I was dazzled by the car desgn itself when I first got a look but then found out they got a rolling chassis and put a diesel electric setup in it.

There is no details about what is unique about their drive train which is a disappointment, at least they know sex sells.

IMAGE(http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/therealedwin/makntucBswjvhBafEmovhvknxmfuACFGiiCpljpFiyqvIBbcmlEmraJdyrny/image.jpg.scaled1000.jpg)

Some updates. We towed the car from the previous owner to a mechanic who helped us out and an undercover cop shows up. He runs the VIN numbers, looks at our paper work and calls Michigan Department of Law Enforcement. The car was stolen and recovered to the owner over 10 years ago but someone f*cked up the paperwork. Apparently this is a 1970 Cuda, not a '71. So now we are waiting for the new paperwork to come in to get issued a correct VIN to replace our apparently fake/wrong one. They checked the secret serial number/vin/whatever under the radiator and engine and matched it up with the originals in Michigan database. We can't tag or insure it till it all gets sorted out.

Moving on, we replaced the battery, fuel pump, hoses, seals, gaskets, and carb. The carb is all new shiny and chrome. While working on the car one of the tires just exploded. Apparently these are the original factory tires from 1970. Four new tires later, and we turned her on. Absolutely gorgeous sound. Not loud enough to be obnoxious but a low toned rumble. She's insanely fast too! I honestly don't know which would win in a drag race. The 1970 Cuda or my dad's 2006 Charger SRT8. Off the line, it lifts into the air like int he movies. If I ever decide to take it to the track, i'll have to get some of those support wheels to prevent the car from flying up. We ordered a whole new air conditioner kit for the car. $800 to replace all the AC stuff that is missing.

IMAGE(http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/therealedwin/uvusquyyEECckIniIAbbHDdyEgzyygGzznijjkjHpiFtjcycavDdAhtzFdJf/image.jpg.scaled1000.jpg)

This is just after getting washed, waxed, and armor all. I didn't like the paint color at first but now I do. I can't wait to cruise around in it.

Beautiful!!! Love the purple! I will never get a "normal" colored car again.

I just got done detailing Greata for the winter..... I will do it myself in the future. Using the clay bar was so easy, and the paint looks better than great now! Wax took 15 minutes. I strongly suggest that clay bar to everyone, with any car, with paint in any condition!

I admit I haven't gotten to the wheels yet....

Sexy! Shame about the paperwork and the tire.

Edwin wrote:

I honestly don't know which would win in a drag race. The 1970 Cuda or my dad's 2006 Charger SRT8. Off the line, it lifts into the air like int he movies. If I ever decide to take it to the track, i'll have to get some of those support wheels to prevent the car from flying up. We ordered a whole new air conditioner kit for the car. $800 to replace all the AC stuff that is missing.

If the tires are equal and the suspension is any good on the Cuda.. it should win.

The Charger is heavier and has less off the line acceleration. The SRT-8's are all top end power. From a standing start in the quarter there's tons of cars that beat them simply through better power to weight ratio and better gearing.

F*cking hot.

I'm hardly a serious car guy but the car is OMFG sexy. Love the color!

That car is pants tighteningly awesome. How close to cherry was it when you got it, and how many hours did you spend to get it to look like that?

I keep expecting Sam and Dean to pop out of that car and start slaying some demons. Make sure to get some video of it at the track when you take it, I'd like to see that puppy launch.

Edwin wrote:

Feel free to drool.

I'm in love! Best looking car (muscle or otherwise) I've seen in awhile.

Seth wrote:

That car is pants tighteningly awesome. How close to cherry was it when you got it, and how many hours did you spend to get it to look like that?

That's actually a factory color called Plum. Chrysler/Plymouth used it for special editions and models.

Swat wrote:

I keep expecting Sam and Dean to pop out of that car and start slaying some demons. Make sure to get some video of it at the track when you take it, I'd like to see that puppy launch.

They drive a black Impala.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Swat wrote:

I keep expecting Sam and Dean to pop out of that car and start slaying some demons. Make sure to get some video of it at the track when you take it, I'd like to see that puppy launch.

They drive a black Impala. :P

I associate all types of muscle cars with Sam and Dean now! As long as there's a shotgun and rock-salt in the trunk, we're good to go!

Swat wrote:

I associate all types of muscle cars with Sam and Dean now! As long as there's a shotgun and rock-salt in the trunk, we're good to go!

What about this?
IMAGE(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f182/sfailey/antighostcar.jpg)

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Swat wrote:

I associate all types of muscle cars with Sam and Dean now! As long as there's a shotgun and rock-salt in the trunk, we're good to go!

What about this?
IMAGE(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f182/sfailey/antighostcar.jpg)

That's one of the best things I've seen on the internet. I love the satellite dish on the back too haha.

Edwin smash!

We got bad news yesterday. We have to go downtown and get a hearing before a judge to see if we can get a new title/VIN number to replace the borked one. So we went this morning and got nothing but no, no, no, no. So we got a ton of paperwork to fill out now and a $400 fee to maybe get a judge to approve this. Will probably have to lawyer up.

As for everything else, the electrical system seems to be in bad shape. The headlights don't work, and near the firewall there is a box, and if you wiggle the box the whole car turns off. Some sort of short by my guess. After that it seems like the gas tank and gas line are full of crap. I need to pull them out and clean/blow them out of crap. Hopefully I didn't gunk up the new fuel pump and carb with crap from the old tank/line.

Just one aggravating day.

I was doing my weekly browsing of Jalopnik and came across a fun video.

A Cadillac CTS-V, modified, pulls .99G acceleration and runs a low 11 second quartermile. Onstar detects the G force and determines there was a vehicle event and calls the driver after he's finished his run

*edit, because I don't want to reply to my own last post in a thread*

Ford is bringing back the 302ci powerplant for the Mustang GT. Early info from ford says 412hp and 390ft/lb of torque with a 7000rpm redline. And the motor itself only gains ten pounds over the old 4.6.

If they don't pile on 300 more pounds in the drivetrain to handle the new power the 2011 Mustang would win hands down over the Camaro at the drag strip. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the curbweight is with the new motor and 6 speed combo.

Ugh. Curse my horrid lack of foresight! I could have just packed away money for two full years and laid a huge down payment on a 2011.

I guess that's what superchargers are for. I think I hear a whipple whispering my name.

I really want to see what they do with the Cobra after this. Supposedly the new motor is all built out to handle forced induction. Seems to me that means they could ditch the old 5.4L iron block and all the weight gain that goes with it and just go FI on the new 5.0. I hope they go nuts and twin turbo the thing.

Arise, thread!

Eh, so I finally got around to buying my new (to me) car.

2006 Tiburon. That's not the car but same exact build and color (sunburst!). Got it for about 2k under the KBB suggested retail, so I guess that's cool. It's nice and peppy.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Arise, thread!

Eh, so I finally got around to buying my new (to me) car.

2006 Tiburon. That's not the car but same exact build and color (sunburst!). Got it for about 2k under the KBB suggested retail, so I guess that's cool. It's nice and peppy.

Congrats!

Is that the 4 cylinder or the V-6?

Very nice Blind, I really dug the new Tib re-design.

Secret Asian Man wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

Arise, thread!

Eh, so I finally got around to buying my new (to me) car.

2006 Tiburon. That's not the car but same exact build and color (sunburst!). Got it for about 2k under the KBB suggested retail, so I guess that's cool. It's nice and peppy.

Congrats!

Is that the 4 cylinder or the V-6?

The V-6, 6-speed.

I liked the headlights on the older models but this is just fine. Still under warantee for a couple years too, which is a plus.