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Boaz MacPhereson posted:That's what I mean. "GT" instead of "5.0". Pulled the trigger a little quick there, pal. I feel really sad for people with the same body style, but neither GT nor 5.0 and only one tail-pipe. I only feel moderately sad for people with a GT badge, and I don't feel sad at all for anyone with a new V6 because they're pretty awesome.
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Mar 14, 2014 00:33
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Kraftwerk posted:As for the CLA, I can't justify the price they charge for that thing. The CLA45 AMG approaches the territory of many V6 performance sedans. And yes, I agree with the other poster, Mercedes cars these days look way too melty and remind me of Infinitis. Many V6 performance sedans don't come with a three-pointed star on 'em. For many people, a Benz is a mandatory: it's an exclusive and prestigious brand, but not as ostentatious or expensive as an Aston or Maserati. I see more Benzes than BMWs in Miami, and way more in South Beach.
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Mar 14, 2014 01:14
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Kraftwerk posted:Is the ATS really all that great? While the 3 Series isn't what it used to be, most reviewers say it's still the class leader. I drove the F30 335xi myself and thought it was amazing. As much as I want to like the ATS, I dislike the rear taillights which scream "old man car" and it still seems cheap looking compared to the BMW. I also don't like GM's stupid haptic feedback touchplastic CUE system. I prefer old fashioned buttons and dials. I didn't care for the ATS myself. It is a lot smaller inside than the 3-Series, despite being slightly larger on the exterior. It drives well enough - better than the F30 and probably about as good the E9x - but the engines suck in a big way. BMW's turbo 4 is light years better than the Cadillac turbo 4, and their inline 6 really is one of the best engines in the world; certainly better than the V6 Cadillac uses in the top ATS. Sure the ATS has more power on paper, but power only tells part of the story. CUE absolutely sucks too; after much maligning in the early days, the iDrive in the 3-Series actually works surprisingly well.
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Mar 14, 2014 01:37
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The ATS is just slightly longer than the 3 series largely due to more ornate bodywork, it's narrower and lower. According to GM they were benchmarking the old E46 when they were coming up with it, so I guess it's the best 10 year old BMW money can buy.  All the magazine reviews out there seem to be saying that dynamically the best cars of the bunch are the ATS and the Lexus IS. Both are smaller and lighter than the equivalent 3 series - the IS was a tiny car to begin with and more targeted at the Asian market. Of course everyone will still buy BMWs because they are the only ones who will offer AWD and manual transmissions across the board. EDIT: Also Infiniti going completely off the rails doesn't hurt.
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Mar 14, 2014 02:39
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Throatwarbler posted:The ATS is just slightly longer than the 3 series largely due to more ornate bodywork, it's narrower and lower. According to GM they were benchmarking the old E46 when they were coming up with it, so I guess it's the best 10 year old BMW money can buy. While I agree that people are going to continue to buy BMWs, I don't think its because they offer manuals. The market of people who actually buy/lease a new 3 Series/ATS/IS/C Class doesn't really overlap with the market of people who want manual transmissions.
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Mar 14, 2014 02:51
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A MIRACLE posted:http://jalopnik.com/nissan-confirms-the-rear-drive-idx-concept-will-go-to-p-1501793053 They brought over the stipey one over to Jay Leno's Garage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2Rg3zH5EY The designer guy talks about bring it into production and things that could stray the same and others that would change. According to him, it 'needs' to be rear wheel drive.
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Mar 14, 2014 03:12
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KakerMix posted:They brought over the stipey one over to Jay Leno's Garage The other thing it needs to be is not stupid-looking. It looks like the bastard child of a Nissan Cube and one of Chad Ochocinco's football cleats.
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Mar 14, 2014 03:38
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Sole Survivor posted:While I agree that people are going to continue to buy BMWs, I don't think its because they offer manuals. The market of people who actually buy/lease a new 3 Series/ATS/IS/C Class doesn't really overlap with the market of people who want manual transmissions. No, but it certainly helps color the perception of BMW as being sporty in the US. Most car reviewers are enthusiasts, and the inclusion of a manual really does improve their opinion of a car. Image-conscious people care a great deal about how others will perceive them, and since most people won't ever get behind the wheel of a BMW, car reviews are really the only avenue that people have to experience them.
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Mar 14, 2014 03:48
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MrChips posted:The other thing it needs to be is not stupid-looking. It looks like the bastard child of a Nissan Cube and one of Chad Ochocinco's football cleats. I think it looks pretty great though, so I suppose we can argue about who is more right or not 
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Mar 14, 2014 03:54
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Who's right, you ask? I'm right, of course, that it looks nothing at all like the Cube. It has not a single curved edge on it, it's all pointy and sharp, but all I can see on the Cube is a bunch of rounded-off rectangles. It looks like the sort of thing I'd have to see in person, without a racing livery, to judge its aesthetics.
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Mar 14, 2014 04:07
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ilkhan posted:I could do with 10% less safety and 50% less weight/complexity/cost/design-restrictions, myself. We're way beyond diminishing marginal returns per unit of "safety" we require. Hell; seatbelts, crash standards from a decade ago, and improved driver training is all we actually need to require. The joy of being able to advertise 5 start safety ratings will do the rest for the everyday cars without requiring a thousand pounds and $10k of safety crap on the more specialized performance cars. We're stuck in the end result of trying to legislate equipment and technological solutions to a training problem.
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Mar 14, 2014 04:17
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Kraftwerk posted:As for the CLA, I can't justify the price they charge for that thing. The CLA45 AMG approaches the territory of many V6 performance sedans. And yes, I agree with the other poster, Mercedes cars these days look way too melty and remind me of Infinitis. Does it really matter that it isn't a V6 when it's got 355hp?
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Mar 14, 2014 09:58
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It is very unlikely that I will be in the market for a new car within the next couple of years, but I still find the Citroen C4 Cactus strangely intriguing, in a different take on an   
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Mar 14, 2014 10:57
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Tonton Macoute posted:It is very unlikely that I will be in the market for a new car within the next couple of years, but I still find the Citroen C4 Cactus strangely intriguing, in a different take on an Is that a front bench seat? If so, you should buy it.
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Mar 14, 2014 14:43
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Such a cool car. I'm sure it will be slow and terrible in curves, but that's not the point of a car like that. It is just a car with utility and economy to which great amounts of French style have been added. We get precisely zero of those in the US, and if we did nobody would buy them. We are a shameful people in this regard.
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Mar 14, 2014 14:52
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Such a cool car. I'm sure it will be slow and terrible in curves, but that's not the point of a car like that. It is just a car with utility and economy to which great amounts of French style have been added. There is no shame in not buying a car that looks like the doors have herpes, and the headlight area looks like an old poodle with runny eyes. Actually, come to think, that is pretty loving French.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:06
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I'm super biased since I bought one, but I think the F30 gets a bad rap around here. Coming from a 350Z (and before that a WRX) I found the 335i xDrive with the 6 speed manual and the handling package to be fun as hell while also being comfortable and practical. The ATS did nothing for me because the engines and transmissions seem notably worse and I dislikes the looks of the thing.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:29
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Mr. Wiggles posted:great amounts of French style have been added. Buddy, that is balls to the walls ugly.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:38
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sean10mm posted:I'm super biased since I bought one, but I think the F30 gets a bad rap around here. Coming from a 350Z (and before that a WRX) I found the 335i xDrive with the 6 speed manual and the handling package to be fun as hell while also being comfortable and practical. Have you tried driving one, though? I thought it handled better than the BMW and would probably cost less due to dealer demand and optioning. Of course, I also think the current gen BMWs are quite ugly.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:50
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Friar Zucchini posted:Who's right, you ask? I'm right, of course, that it looks nothing at all like the Cube. It has not a single curved edge on it, it's all pointy and sharp, but all I can see on the Cube is a bunch of rounded-off rectangles. It looks like the sort of thing I'd have to see in person, without a racing livery, to judge its aesthetics. The cube used to just be a bunch of rectagles before its disasterous third-gen redesign. Also they debuted two versions of the concept, one racing style and one normal, so you could just look at those and try to imagine the productionized version.    Personally I would say it looks like someone put a (2010 era) Dodge Challenger in a car crusher. Or maybe a flatter Scion tc.   They use a lot of tricks like angled body cladding, blacked out pillars and trim, etc. to disguise the fact that it's got an extremely high beltline, tiny windows, and is overall quite tall. Which means it's a relatively productionized concept, I suppose, but then again compare, say, the Volt concept to the production car to see how that can still all go wrong. edit: bonus rendering 
OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 16:07
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PCOS Bill posted:Buddy, that is balls to the walls ugly. You probably don't like the Renault Dauphine, either. 
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Mar 14, 2014 16:49
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Cream_Filling posted:The cube used to just be a bunch of rectagles before its disasterous third-gen redesign. After seeing these so often now I actually prefer the looks of the normal version. High beltlines are an eventuality with modern cars so that doesn't bother me, the only thing I would probably change is that weird blacked out C-pillar. I have a few friends with 510's and the whole appeal to me are the simple understated looks. Glad to hear the designer confirm they were looking at the 1.6T (a great engine) and reiterated it's RWD. I don't know if it's the same guy but one of the designers posts over on Japanese Nostalgic Car and said the concept rides on a S15 Silvia platform. They stopped selling those what 15 years ago? That seems like an old platform for a car that probably wouldn't see production for another couple years but then again it's just a concept.
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Mar 14, 2014 20:04
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I get the complaints about small windows but if you watch the Leno video, they do a backwards facing dashcam and the visibility looks really, really good
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Mar 14, 2014 21:18
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The new 510 is just ugly as gently caress. The best thing about the original 510 was that you could turn it from a grandpa car into a mean motherfucker by ditching the chrome grill. Of course, this is ruined by the "stance" because it might look badass, but it'd handle like poo poo.
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Mar 14, 2014 21:39
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sean10mm posted:I'm super biased since I bought one, but I think the F30 gets a bad rap around here. Coming from a 350Z [...] The 350z is one of the most boring sports cars ever made, the one I drove felt like I was driving a truck. The F30 gets a bad rap around here because most of us who've tried one have also tried/driven E30/E36/E46 3ers before and know how much has been lost in the latest generation.
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Mar 14, 2014 22:01
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sean10mm posted:I'm super biased since I bought one, but I think the F30 gets a bad rap around here. Coming from a 350Z (and before that a WRX) I found the 335i xDrive with the 6 speed manual and the handling package to be fun as hell while also being comfortable and practical. How dare you enjoy your car that is both faster and more comfortable than previous generations of said car. I can't wait to hear 10 years from now people pining for the halcyon days of F30s and how the new ones are poo poo. I remember around the time I joined people would go on and on about how terrible e36s were and how the e30 was the only true 3 series anyone should ever buy. Pretty hilarious.
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Mar 14, 2014 22:40
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Yeah, that's been going on forever and I find it amusing. In the BMW theme, it's already starting again with E90s gaining more enthusiast acceptance whereas five years ago the E90 was anathema to the True Car Enthusiast™. I think car enthusiasts are just cheap asses. I love my E46 and all but I'd gladly step into an F30 if I didn't have to drop 50 grand to do so.
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Mar 14, 2014 22:54
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Cream_Filling posted:The cube used to just be a bunch of rectagles before its disasterous third-gen redesign.
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Mar 15, 2014 01:43
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Stealth Like posted:How dare you enjoy your car that is both faster and more comfortable than previous generations of said car. I can't wait to hear 10 years from now people pining for the halcyon days of F30s and how the new ones are poo poo. I remember around the time I joined people would go on and on about how terrible e36s were and how the e30 was the only true 3 series anyone should ever buy. Pretty hilarious. Have you actually driven any of these cars though? I don't think there's rally been many complaints here beyond the looks and gradual increases in size
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Mar 15, 2014 02:40
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We will be waxing nostalgically on how we could drive our own cars. No matter how dull their setup.
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Mar 15, 2014 03:25
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Cream_Filling posted:Have you actually driven any of these cars though? I don't think there's rally been many complaints here beyond the looks and gradual increases in size Yes, I have (and own an e92 335i). There have been plenty of complaints about how they don't drive like true BMWs and other such nonsense. I'm sure the F30 will be accepted as a BMW purist car in 30 years when they're all electric or something.
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Mar 15, 2014 05:32
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Xguard86 posted:We will be waxing nostalgically on how we could drive our own cars. No matter how dull their setup. A few weeks ago I had to spend a week doing a 100 mile each way commute, mostly motorway, in a rental A-class. Self driving cars can't come soon enough.
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Mar 15, 2014 08:39
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Has anyone see a 2 series on the road yet?? I want to see how they look in real life. I imagine im going to get bored of my brz, and get fed up with its ride quality eventually, and just move onto a 2 series in the next couple of years. I paid $27700 before tax for my completely base brz with the subaru "maintenance package", not that far away from a new 228i invoice 
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Mar 15, 2014 12:15
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coolskillrex remix posted:Has anyone see a 2 series on the road yet?? I saw one at the KC auto show. It looked pretty big. Not sure what the dimensions are compared to the old 1 series, but it looked bigger. That's all I really noticed about it.
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Mar 15, 2014 12:29
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coolskillrex remix posted:Has anyone see a 2 series on the road yet?? Not technically on the road, but they have a "M235i" on display at the airport here. Impressions: reminds me a lot of the 3 series coupe 20-odd years back. Feels similarly sized, and not too large nor too small to my sensibilities. For reference, my company car is a 5 series wagon and it feels like a land barge. The 235 also looks much better than the 1 series. No pork belly, does not look stunted. Handsome car overall.
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Mar 15, 2014 13:14
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fknlo posted:I saw one at the KC auto show. It looked pretty big. Not sure what the dimensions are compared to the old 1 series, but it looked bigger. That's all I really noticed about it. I think it's something like a foot longer. It's right around the same size as an E46 coupe now IIRC.
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Mar 15, 2014 19:07
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PeterWeller posted:I think it's something like a foot longer. It's right around the same size as an E46 coupe now IIRC. So about 2 more cycles before they start with fractions to slot a model under the now 4 series sized 2 series?
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Mar 15, 2014 19:25
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coolskillrex remix posted:Has anyone see a 2 series on the road yet?? I want to see how they look in real life. I imagine im going to get bored of my brz, and get fed up with its ride quality eventually, and just move onto a 2 series in the next couple of years. I paid $27700 before tax for my completely base brz with the subaru "maintenance package", not that far away from a new 228i invoice I sat in an M235i at an auto show here recently, it's about the same size or slightly bigger than my E46, and the interior felt kinda chintzy. There's better cars for the money. Also keep in mind the cheap 228i doesn't include the sport or m-sport packages, and by the time you get a few options on it (like anything other than plain white or black paint), it's a $40,000 car. You'd be paying $5000 more than your BRZ for a car with less features than your base BRZ has (other than the more powerful engine) - stripper base model BMWs are notoriously stingy with any kind of goodies, in an attempt to upsell you on the (hugely expensive) option packages and higher trims.
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Mar 15, 2014 20:50
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fknlo posted:So about 2 more cycles before they start with fractions to slot a model under the now 4 series sized 2 series? Aren't they already planning a set of FWD compacts under the 1- and 2-series names? That Kia Rondo lookign thing posted above was called the "2 Series Active Tourer" and is I believe a FWD platform shared with Mini. Basically, BMW's naming is now completely hosed up again since the FWD microvan is called a 2 series.
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Mar 15, 2014 20:52
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Cream_Filling posted:Aren't they already planning a set of FWD compacts under the 1- and 2-series names? That Kia Rondo lookign thing posted above was called the "2 Series Active Tourer" and is I believe a FWD platform shared with Mini. BMWs naming has been hosed for years. they split the 4 series off to be the 'coupe' of the 3 series, and now they're making a 4 door 4 series.
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Mar 15, 2014 21:13
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