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"Fake"?
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Apr 5, 2011 17:40
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Faerunner posted:After seven years of cars with it on the left, I still sometimes forget that it's on the right on the Saab, and we've had it almost a year. Luckily, it seems most places have long enough piping nowadays that you can rear both sides, so it's rapidly becoming a moot point.
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Apr 21, 2011 23:04
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Saw a road test of the Renault Twizy in the paper today, and it actually looks quite funky - I could see myself using one of these for 90% of my driving, especially given the free road tax and supposed £7k starting price. It's a tandem-style two seater, rear-drive with a 20bhp motor. Spiritual successor to the Messerschmitt bubble car, I'd say.  Treat it as what it is (a road-going quad with a roof, airbags and electric drive), and I can see it being bloody useful. I also think it implies "cool and modern" rather than the "driver disabled, probably not just physically" vibe that the G-Wiz gives off.
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Apr 23, 2011 13:29
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angryhampster posted:Effectively $10,000 for THAT?! Good god in the US you can get a basic commpact car for $10k. Hell, the Nissan Leaf is £30k list here. Who cares if the Renault's a two-seater if I can buy three of them, and still have change, even when you can get a subsidy from the government on the Nissan? As Linedance says, it looks like it could have a quality feel to it, which is important. Yes, you're limited to short city hops, but if that's what you need to do, it makes a hell of a lot of sense.
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Apr 23, 2011 18:05
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kimbo305 posted:It looks alright, but it also looks like a dressed up golf cart. 
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Apr 23, 2011 23:43
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Cream_Filling posted:Honestly, the London cabs seem much more suited to a dense urban area than this van.
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May 11, 2011 23:50
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kimbo305 posted:I don't see this being priced competively with the Cooper S. I dunno about other places, but in Boston, the S outnumbers the base Cooper about 4 to 1. Obviously there's saturation for the Mini, but if the Abarth SS is too expensive, it's not going to win many conquests.
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May 13, 2011 17:36
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heat posted:Ahahahaha it's almost as if they had never met an old person.
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May 25, 2011 21:53
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Throatwarbler posted:This "real world" stuff is seriously one of the dumbest things I read on car forums. Do people think the EPA tests are done on the Spectral plane? or Dimension X? The EPA mileage test is conducted by real live people on planet earth, they are "real world". They are also repeatable, verifiable, conducted to certain standards under carefully controlled conditions (elevation, air temp, fuel) and are thus valid data for comparison. So yeah, unless you have a climate controlled elevation adjusted dyno room in your garage, you may not get the same figures as the rating. The fuel economy you achieve falls under the category "anecdotal bullshit". What makes it especially fishy is that the mpg numbers are used to calculate CO2 emissions, and in the UK, that's what your tax is based on. While fuel economy testing is done in a rigorous and logical manner, that doesn't automatically mean that the tests reflect how end users actually drive. The intended use should always be like-for-like comparison between cars, not as an estimate for what mpg you'll actually get. Edit: also modern Audi = sales rep/manager/twat. They've always wanted to get hold of some of the BMW image, but I doubt the whole "driver is kind of a dick" was the bit they meant. InitialDave fucked around with this message at 13:16 on May 29, 2011 |
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May 29, 2011 08:42
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15% sales tax? 20% in the UK. Say you decide on an A4 Avant SE, with the 3.2 and Quattro system. £34k without options. First year's road tax is also £580.
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Jun 1, 2011 19:16
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Hog Obituary posted:Look like BMW has officially released more photos now:  If you buy this instead of an E30 touring, you need a good, solid punch.
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Jun 5, 2011 19:12
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havelock posted:The only thing left to ruin is the z4.
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Jun 5, 2011 19:19
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KozmoNaut posted:100% agreed. VVVV: I am that crowd, and yes, yes I do. InitialDave fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jun 5, 2011 |
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Jun 5, 2011 20:57
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The east and west coasts of America are both at sea level, therefore the entire country is perfectly flat and level.
InitialDave fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 00:23
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Don't forget that the gear grouping on dual-clutch transmissions is very specific to the nature of them, switching between two different gearsets, each of which always has a ratio engaged. The PDK picture above shows the input gears for 3rd and 4th engaged onto their respective shafts, but only third is connected to the engine, 4th being preselected to engage with the disengagement of the "odd" clutch and the engagement of the "even" clutch. Technically speaking, you could fully manually control that setup, but you'd better not lose track of where you are, or you could well be looking at a nice money shift from 4th into 1st instead of third. Assuming they are indeed going to be using the PDK hardware, my prediction is the full transmission as-is, but the control system being a standard H-gate shifter and clutch pedal. However, you don't need to have it running linkages, it can be a fly by wire setup. You have a computer to actually run the gearbox, and it preselects the next appropriate gear based on your inputs (high rpm in third while on the throttle is going to be 4th next, while braking and dropping rpm is likely to be heading towards needing 2nd, just like the normal PDK. That gives you the fastest shift when you actually flick the lever, but if you put the shifter somewhere it wasn't expecting, it can still do it. Or refuse, if the result would be an over-rev condition. You can run the clutches so that depressing the pedal disengages both, but raising it again only engages the appropriate one for the shifter position. Using hydraulic valving to switch between the two clutches would preserve pedal feel. I think they could make it work well enough that no-one would be able to tell they weren't driving a mechanically-controlled manual, and allow them to give you a tickbox option to select clutch pedal or automatic clutch, combined with your choice of H-gate or sequential shifter. Other than that, and the fact the transmission unit itself can be the same across all cars regardless of spec, it doesn't have any real advantage over a traditional manual. Also, don't forget that a true sequential manual such as that in a rally car is really a normal h-gate shift gearbox, with the sequential shifter using a complicated rotational actuator to give the gearbox the same fork actions as an h-pattern input. They aren't like a dual-clutch transmission or planetary-geared automatic. TLDR: You could "manualise" a PDK, but it's not going to be quite as straightforward as just some linkages, and makes sense more from a business/parts commonality standpoint than pure fitness for purpose.
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Jul 8, 2011 16:30
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SwashedBuckles posted:Clearly not. Maybe this will end up stealing 5 series sales like the 5 GT did to the 7 series. Hopefully it will have a blessedly short model life before BMW figures out the GT models and the X6 were terrible ideas and buries them all next to the copies of the ET video game.
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Jul 18, 2011 22:08
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Ugh. No one needs a bloody van just because you have a couple of kids. If a hatchback really won't handle all the primary-coloured plastic detritus you've suddenly decided you absolutely must carry everywhere, buy a Skoda Yeti: And that Porsche ad is right on the money.
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Jul 20, 2011 23:22
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thesurlyspringKAA posted:Absolutely, THIS. If Ford doesnt respond with a diesel Fiesta/Focus of their own, this will be my next auto purchase. Any thoughts on what kind of mileage it would get?
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Jul 22, 2011 19:54
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MarsellusWallace posted:How reliable are Ford and GM diesels in europe, compared to their German counterparts? To be honest, most diesels sold by major manufacturers here over the last decade or so have been reasonable. Some better than others, of course, but we pretty much got rid of the "Yeah, you partsbinned this out of a truck, didn't you?" days a long time ago. Honestly, for the average driver, modern diesels are just about perfect. My mother runs one now because, driven exactly the same way she usually does, the only difference she notices is much better fuel economy.
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Jul 23, 2011 21:40
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Skyssx posted:I press the accelerator, wait... wait... 1700 RPMZOOOOOOOOOMshift!
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Jul 24, 2011 00:01
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dissss posted:As far as the Jetta goes I don't think there is much emphasis on small sedans in Europe - hatches don't carry the same stigma they seem to in North America. I don't actually understand the appeal of a saloon version. For some ungodly reason the "I need to go somewhere" pool car at work is a Mondeo saloon, rather than the hatch. It doesn't look or drive any different, it just means you can't fit as much stuff in the back. There is a supposed argument about shell stiffness with a saloon, but really? We're not talking about performance vehicles and 10/10ths driving here. It doesn't help that most "it's meant to be a hatch, but we'll build a saloon too" designs are really ugly with that boot on the back. As for the rear torsion beam setup, there's nothing that bad about them. Might not be perfect, but as a cheap way of building a trailing arm system with an anti-roll bar function, it does the job. From a manufacturer's point of view, there are other things they could spend money on rather than proper IRS, and these are things that are more appealing to the average buyer.
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Jul 24, 2011 12:27
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Throatwarbler posted:The cost to add a Watts linkage isn't very much for the manufacturer, and if you don't care about the 10/10th driving, the simpler suspension is lighter and less maintenance intensive. The reviews I've read comparing the Watts linkage back to back with IRS cars generally are quite positive, so I think it's a pretty good way to go about it.
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Jul 24, 2011 19:48
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Throatwarbler posted:Space is no issue at all really.
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Jul 25, 2011 00:00
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Not a new car, but this is the best thing I've seen all day: http://www.extremeoutback.com/product/19/No+Loss+Tire+Caps.html Metal valve caps you can't lose and won't seize on!
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Jul 27, 2011 21:31
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Yeah, I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with the other guys here, it looks not bad. I'd say it's filling the same "sportier than a normal hatchback, but not actually a sportscar" role that the VW Scirocco occupies, and at first glance I think I prefer the Hyundai.
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Jul 30, 2011 13:49
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Boiled Water posted:It'll most certainly be much cheaper, not sure how S. Korea does in the reliability department compared to sie Germans.
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Jul 30, 2011 16:19
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Faerunner posted:We had an '05 Civic and I miss it daily, even though we replaced it with a Saab convertible.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:11
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Cat Terrist posted:I wish I DID just look at the pictures, the fallacies and outright bullshit damaged my brain.
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Aug 7, 2011 14:48
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Also, in those kinds of collisions, a heavy truck with a separate chassis and a lack of crumple zones really isn't what you want. A nice big oak tree doesn't give a drat if your vehicle weighs 2,000lbs or 6,000lbs, it ain't moving. Hope you got something to give you some measure of controlled deceleration.
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Aug 8, 2011 19:05
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The RX-8 sold decently enough, no reason why that shouldn't, it looks like it's going for the same kind of idea. Leave the turbo off or spec a smaller engine to give a ~200bhp version as well and I think it could work nicely.
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Sep 13, 2011 23:43
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Boiled Water posted:Sounds design is not new, sorry to burst your bubble. Though I think the aftermarket guys are missing a trick - sell one for four-cylinder Wrangler owners that replicates the thrudding and turbo spool of a big diesel...
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Sep 24, 2011 13:16
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:as long as you can turn it off i don't really see the issue
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Sep 26, 2011 22:13
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Wait, you use your hands?
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Sep 29, 2011 00:05
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Guinness posted:Mazda has been kind of wishy-washy on whether they're definitely continuing with Wankel development. I've never owned a rotary, but I've always been intrigued by the technology and have always kind of rooted for it just because it's different and an underdog. It's quite possible that the rotary hasn't blown it's last apex seal just yet.
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Oct 8, 2011 15:46
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jeff8472 posted:I came across this a while back
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Oct 8, 2011 23:44
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Fuzzy1 posted:It's interesting to see how wildly different the times can be when a car is tested by the factory and then by independent magazines.  "Excuse me, Mr Factory-Test-Driver, but this car won't do 0-60 in your book time" "Sure it will!" *Makes a 1-2 shift without using the clutch or lifting the throttle*
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Oct 15, 2011 21:29
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I remember when Subarus were what farmers bought.
InitialDave fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Oct 21, 2011 |
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Oct 21, 2011 18:13
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Linedance posted:because in Europe there's this thing where every cheap lovely hatchback you've ever owned has been a manual transmission so when you can finally afford to lash out a wad of cash on an ultra-deluxe grown up car it had better well shift its own gears considering the money you're paying.
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Nov 15, 2011 00:19
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Linedance posted:I'll take your word for it, you'd know better than me. That's just the impression I've been given, speaking to friends and coworkers. It could just be because of where I live and work, most people I know who drive spend most of their driving time stuck in traffic on the M4/M25. Everyone does just fine without luxuries like cruise control and automatics, but they all moan wistfully about driving in America/Canada in a big car with a big engine, cruise and automatic. So it follows (in my mind at least) that if you were going to spend big on a luxury car with a big engine you're also going want an auto and cruise control standard, and even if they were options you'd still tick the boxes because why wouldn't you want cruise control on a £80k car? Now, DCTs and the like, that's a different kettle of fish. I personally don't see the appeal, but I can also see how they aren't necessarily in direct opposition to the idea of a driver's car. VVVV: Fastest isn't necessarily more fun. InitialDave fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Nov 15, 2011 |
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Nov 15, 2011 17:58
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:11 |
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In the US, wouldn't that have to be a single seater? 
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Nov 18, 2011 01:21
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