[Xevion]

I wouldn't get a VW simply because the car magazines I have read show the clutch to be a major problem, particularly in new beetles, and people complain about them all over the place. The maintenence is also quite expensive too.

As for cars I like, I tend to prefer very small cars, and I would prefer a low boost supercharger to a turbo because of the way I drive (I don't like to have a revved up engine but I like tiny cars that generally have tiny engines. Go figure). Sure, it isn't as fast, but when you are in 10mph in second gear a supercharger is going to do a lot more for you then a turbocharger.

So, cars I would really love to own:

Mazda Miata
BMW Z3 (4cyl preferred, the v6 is heavy, but the M version would be best of course)
Mini Cooper S
Lotus Elise
Acura RSX (Although this is on the large side for me)
Honda Insight
Ford Focus SVT


Power be damned, space be damned, I want something that will get to 60 without getting me killed, give me good gas mileage, responsive handling, and feel TINY. I want to drive a Go-kart, nothing more. AC? Forget it. Automatic? No. Power windows? Hah! Radio? Absolutely not! CD player: sure, but NO RADIO! I WANT NO TUNER IN MY CAR! Is that too much to ask really? Ride? A Model T rides well enough for me. I don't like cars to be too buzzy though, which my Accent qualifys as. I also want a smooth shifter, and a light clutch, with the pedals close enough to heel and toe.

Something the size of the Honda Insight with a decent bit more power (A nice little torquey blown 1.5 would be perfect

), and of course a more performance oriented suspension. I wouldn't mind a 6 speed with a gear intended literally for highway use only, as the tiny engines tend to be buzzy.

I hate rice cars, I think they look idiotic, sound idiotic, and are usually accompanied by terrible drivers, and horrible sounding sound systems. To each his own, but 22" wheels on a car? Particularly Civics? WHY? It dosen't look right (Some nice 16"s on a Civic would look sweet, no larger) And lay off on the chrome, and no stickers, those should be illegal. Also, those Type R stickers don't scare me, particularly when placed on a Civic, or an Integra with an automatic transmission, or even worse - a non Acura vehicle. I have seen "Type R" Escorts and Cavaliers and Dodge Stratuses? I don't get it.


My mother's car (2001 Eclipse Spyder GT) Is a flaming piece of crap. First of all, it is pre-riced, with this horrible annoying exhaust note and oversized wheels, and it proceeds to handle worse then her old Accord. Not to mention the automatic is terrible and makes an already heavily overweight car seem even heavier! Do not go near that car if you want a fun driving experience! My Accent is quite a bit more fun to drive, despite being a lot slower, handles worse, and isn't dumb to look at.

Oh - for what it is worth, my Hyundai dealer has one technician. The Mitsubishi dealer next door has 6 or 7. The Hyundai dealer sells more cars.

 

[TimSchirmer]

forget all of that...go trabbi

 

[becomethemould]

azn reprazent

my 1337 paint skills

 

[gerG]

becomethemould, you need to check out one of my favorite web sites:

http://www.beaterz.com/

Don't forget to read the hate mail. It is priceless.

Xevion, I like the go-cart approach. The only problem is that I get tired of having to look under all of the SUVs that tower above my Mazda.

gaineso, I also enjoy driving trucks. Hell, I just enjoy driving (although I only get to commute 60 miles per day). I have a 97 Chevy with the port FI 454. Great sleeper potential. I haven't touched the engine (yet). I did go to low profile, sticky tires (Pirelli scorpion zeros). I have a lot of fun chasing down some of the gaudified Hondas that infest Phoenix. It is also fun dusting the high end SUVs up in Scottsdale. The drivers don't seem to understand the impact of HP/wt ratio. Some of those rigs weigh over 7000 lbs!

 

[Audio-Me]

Ricemobiles and the kids/old farts that drive them really disgust me, they are a discrace to the word "vehicle". I guess you can compare them to lousy cheap on the ear headphones that kids wear 'cause they think it looks "c0ol". Stickers, LMAO, back to kindergarten and bright lunchboxes.

I don't like small cars, I like large heavy all steel vehicles that roar with raw power with some class. Little boxes that move quick don't cut it for me, they coup you up, ride is too flangy, and that weak feeling coming from the small motor. I don't like the looks/styling of small cars either.

I really don't like to rev my engine more than I need to, so Xevion explains my reason why I don't like turbos. High revs = more noise = annoying unless you're on a track and racing a real performance vehicle. Most of my pedal pounding comes from off the green light, so I can pass traffic before I have to make a turn from the other lane. This is where superchargers shine. Maximum torque off the line to let you haul major a**. =P

 

[gaineso]

Quote:

I really don't like to rev my engine more than I need to, so Xevion explains my reason why I don't like turbos. High revs = more noise = annoying unless you're on a track and racing a real performance vehicle. Most of my pedal pounding comes from off the green light, so I can pass traffic before I have to make a turn from the other lane. This is where superchargers shine. Maximum torque off the line to let you haul major a**. =P

Cubic Inches Equals Cubic Torque. No blowers, no 4 valve heads, no DOHC, just pure, raw, AMERICAN TORQUE.

LONG LIVE BIG V8's.

Ford and Chrysler have both come out with some pretty damned good multi-cam, multi-valve engines, but they don't seem to have that bottom end that the big old push rod bent 8s had/have in abundance.

 

[gerG]

I am quite fond of big blocks and lots of cubic inches. I've owned several, going all the way back to a 69 Dodge Super Bee that almost got me killed a few times. It is nice to be able to accelerate without looking like you are really trying.

Torque is important coming off the line, but only for about 30 feet. Torque delivered to the axles is also completely a function of gearing. Horsepower/weight gives a better indication of a cars ability to accelerate.

How an engine feels at high rpm depends a lot on the design. The wankel, for instance, gives no tactile indication of rpm until the beeper goes off at 8 grand. Reving it up is a pleasure because it is not screaming in pain.

The ideal setup, for me, is a big block with turbos. (Super-chargers waste too much power). Broad torque for relaxed drivability plus insane max HP output. I just can't figure out what to mount one in. Old muscle cars don't tend to corner worth a damned. I really hate slowing down for corners!

 

[Audio-Me]

Freeman - who cares about efficiency? It's a big block!

You can't even use that max HP unless you're drag racing on a strip. Or if you're nuts and go 160mph in fourth gear on the highway.

Cornering with huge beastly cars is so fun.

Why hug if you can slide in style? DRIFT.

gaineso - ya know what? You are completely right, why use a blower on a 427 Ford motor. =)

 

[gaineso]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me Freeman - who cares about efficiency? It's a big block! You can't even use that max HP unless you're drag racing on a strip. Or if you're nuts and go 160mph in fourth gear on the highway. Cornering with huge beastly cars is so fun. Why hug if you can slide in style? DRIFT. gaineso - ya know what? You are completely right, why use a blower on a 427 Ford motor. =)

When I learned to drive, early to mid '50s, there were lots of deserted roads and lots of dirt roads. Really evil handling Fords and Chevys, and even worse Oldsmobiles. Those big Rocket V8's would go though. Learned to do a lot of driving in full slide mode, power slides for the Country boys and 4 wheel drifts for more citified types. I was about half and half. Also a few Triumphs, MGs, Healeys, etc.

Took a Bug Eye Sprite and stuffed an 1800cc Volvo in it. Porsche killer. Healeys with small block Chevys. Porsche and Jag killers.

None of these cars would corner for s**t, so we all learned to drive sideways. Either that or went slow. My father raised hell with me for the way I drove and building hot rods until his mother told about his '33 ford V8-60 with Ardun heads. Yeah, she remembered. And yes, that was Zora Arkus-Duntov of 'Vette fame. He got his start as a hot rodder.

If you know how, you can get just about anything around a corner. How much work is it? How comfortable for your passengers? Who cares, it's a ball.

Big Blocks and Big Cars Rule.

BTW, Torgue is the only thing that provides twisting motion for a drive shaft. Horsepwer is great, but it's essentially a function of torque and RPM. Big engines have peak torque low and little engines have peak torque high.

Torque is twisting effort. Torque turns wheels. Horsepower makes good add copy. And you don't need any kind of blower to get power. Winston Cup engines: 358 Cubic Inches, Single Carb, Single Cam in Block, Pushrods, No Computers, 2 Valves per Cylinder, 800 HP, 500 Ft Lb Torque.

 

[gerG]

Audio&Me, did I mention efficiency? Not an issue for me. The issue is power thrown away just to run the blower. Turbos use exhaust waste heat to drive the compressor. Free boost! Well, mostly free. Mechanical blowers use engine shaft power, which could otherwise be put to good use. The tradeoff is that mechanical blowers are substantially easier to match and install. That is why turbo kits have disappeared from the market.

Gaineso, you have confirmed my theory that the hot rodding disease is hereditary. You are also correct that torque is twisting force. However, the measure of an engines peak torque (which is usually quoted) means nothing, since twisting force at the rear wheels (assuming that the engine is connected to the correct end of the car) is a function of both engine torque and gears. An engine/driveline with a bazillion ft*lb of torque will jump off the line, but if it can't rev, that is the end of the fun. This is sort of how diesels work. This is not how winston cup cars work. Watch the tach (and listen to the music) from one of those machines.

For sustained acceleration a broad torque curve is desired, with as high an upper rpm limit as possible. Since HP is torque times rpm, it is a better indicator of an engines ability to accelerate a vehicle. Thermodynamically, power (expressed as HP) is the ability to do work. Work is force through a distance, which is what we need to accumulate velocity, and quick! It is also what the Winston cup cars need to push air out of the way.

As for power sliding, it is fun, but it is typically not the fastest way around a turn. It also cannot overcome a vehicles inherently poor cornering stability. Believe me, I tried!

None of this really matters. Everyone has their own criteria for the vehicles that they own. Fun to drive is number one on my list, but what I find fun is likely not what the next person into the showroom will. Thank heaven for that. I would get bored if the streets were full of 360hp RX-7s blasting all over the place! I do, however, have a problem with those who think fun is driving continuously in the passing lane, right next to the vehicle that they should be passing. What is behind this behavior?

Have a good weekend.

 

[Audio-Me]

Stock car racing vehicles are crazy, I want a street legal replica of the new Dodge Intrepid Winston Series version.

They consistantly run them @ what sounds like 9000 rpm don't they??? But that's racing, not good ol' right angle fun. =P Besides, nascars have straight exhausts, LOUD! Awesome for the track, awful for the streets.

Rofl, I generally find myself passing more cars driving on the "slow" lane because the inconsiderate slow drivers clog up the left lane!. It's very anger inducing.

Wasted power is what I meant by efficiency (of use). Since you have so much of it with a well built humongous engine, no need to worry.

I don't think high RPMs are necessary for everyday driving. Off the line is where it counts (for me anyway), no sense to go over 60mph on a large road, or 100mph on the highway.

 

[gaineso]

My only point about Cup cars was, Huge quantities of real power through hard work, not high tech gadgets such as blowers computers, OHC, etc.

Cars are fun. Driving is not as much fun as it used to be. To frelling many cars on the roads.

It should be legal to use canon on Left Lane Bandits, idiots going 60 in the left lane of the Interstate.

Besides which, unless you are on a race track, the fastest way around a corner is not necessarily the funnest, (Is that a word?) way. Sideways is fun.

 

[Audio-Me]

Hehehehe.

 

[gerG]

"Slideways" is a LOT of fun!

Wouldn't it be great to have a couple of minivan seeking missiles mounted on the roof rack to deal with the LLBs? After a few incidents lane discipline would creep back into the collective consciousness. I am kidding of course, but I can fantasize, can't I?

A few weeks ago I made the mistake of flashing my headlights at an SUV that was driving in the left lane in lockstep with it's twin in the right lane. Flashing lights is not my style, but I had been behind this duo for several miles, and kind of wanted through. I believe that it actually pissed the driver off! Not only did he not move over, but he made sure that he didn't allow any misalignment with the other vehicle whatsoever. This went on for another 5 miles. What goes through people's minds? I think that it is a hoarding instinct, and they just can't resist all of that apparently unused pavement over there.

I am seriously considering oscillating headlights that I can activate temporarily. It might spook some violators out of the passing lane. Or it might just piss them off more. Who knows.

 

[Audio-Me]

lofl!

Flashing spotlights, haha! Riot dude. Get a siren too!

I flash my headlights all the time at LLBs, but I also honk really fast to scare them (causes them to hit brakes, gives me room to pass from the right).

But, if they decide to be a**holes, I just go twice as slow as they were going when I finally pass them (I am acustomed to finding tight spontaneous passing spots), swirve, tap the brakes, turn on blinkers, almost stop, then blast off again, rofl...

But the good thing about driving a red truck is if you tailgate them (w/ all lights turned on including fog lights), most will go back to right lane, or pull over all together. If that doesn't work, and I've been trailing for 5 mins, I get really pissed off and I'll rev the engine to very loud levels, and violently make them believe I am about to rear end them @ high velocity. =P That usually does the trick, but I only do it as last resort with careful look out for possible difficulties.