Five Favourite Cars

[gfunkdocta]

it's the front that i don't like yet

and the rear fender flares is uncalled for

at least the S got matching front flares

[artificialsky]

[RSR]

A5/S5 is highly disappointing on the actual driving impression.

[gfunkdocta]

am lovin the new 'rari

[dismalfuture]

am lovin the new 'rari

I am too, it's different in a good way at a top-biased front 3/4 view. Then they bring out the low front-centered shots and I dislike it again, but that too will grow on me, but I definitely like it more than the Cali. 430's will drop in price over here though and the 430 is eminently beautiful....

[redX]

not really feeling it. from the front, with those elongated headlights and big air intakes it looks more like a gallardo than something ferrari would come up with.

that said, the whole car doesn't feel like it's a ferrari

[artificialsky]

A5/S5 is highly disappointing on the actual driving impression.

Really?

10char.

[dandandan]

the new SLS AMG is nice, but i don't understand how you would ever be able to park it in your garage/parking lot/whatever without destroying the doors or being trapped in the car

[RSR]

Really?

10char.

Yeah. I spent a few days w/the A5 for my job. It's nice, but it's still a FWD-based car in a segment dominated by RWD-based coupes. And it feels a little pedestrian.

Plus, the sunroof doesn't slide...it just tilts. For the kind of money they want, I expected a lot better on a variety of fronts. Plus it didn't even come w/DSG (or S-tronic as they call it now)...just a 6-speed auto slushbox.

[redgrail]

veyron sucks ass big time.

but the quattroporte is a very good car. there's 2 in my neigbourhood and i'm drooling each time i see those guys riding it.

Why Veyron sucks?

Even Gordon Murray had to semi-recant when he drove it. Every review I've ever seen has loved it. Just talking looks or what's the story here?

Just interested in hearing your opinion since you clearly seem to have one.

(and yes, from the limited experience of just having been a passenger in a qporte once, I'd have to say it's an amazing machine).

[RSR]

Veyron has made a lot of sacrifices to be the ultimate top-speed champ. It's not the well-rounded livable supercar that the McLaren F1 is and pretty much sucks at everything aside from going stupidly fast in a straight line.

If I were in the market for high-priced mid-engine exotics, the Veyron would be last on my list.

[Akira]

the new SLS AMG is nice, but i don't understand how you would ever be able to park it in your garage/parking lot/whatever without destroying the doors or being trapped in the car

If you have a car like that you don't park the car yourself, that's what the plebes do.

[artificialsky]

Yeah. I spent a few days w/the A5 for my job. It's nice, but it's still a FWD-based car in a segment dominated by RWD-based coupes. And it feels a little pedestrian.

Plus, the sunroof doesn't slide...it just tilts. For the kind of money they want, I expected a lot better on a variety of fronts. Plus it didn't even come w/DSG (or S-tronic as they call it now)...just a 6-speed auto slushbox.

Wait... isn't it AWD?

The sunroof thing doesn't surprise me. You have to get like every option package just to match the comparable beamer, and by then the Audi costs like $15k more... huh?!?

I wish I could just put a G37 interior in my G35 instead.

[RSR]

You and everyone else who owns one. Thankfully Nissan got wise to the fact that everyone hates their cabins and are trying to combat that perception with their new ad campaigns.

Honestly, I wanted a G35 for the wife and I, but I ended up just getting an Accord coupe instead because the interior was so nice.

Yeah, the A5 is AWD, but it's FWD architecture...the A4/A5/S5 etc are evolutions of the Passat platform, which is relatively pedestrian. Audis are very nice and their attention to aesthetics is truly admirable, but they are all FWD VWs underneath...even their mighty W16 motor (which is what I think the Bugatti uses) is essentially four VW Golf motors arranged in a W. Lame.

[newaesthetic]

am lovin the new 'rari

I really liked the first leaked photos, it looked a lot leaner and faster than anything else. But then I saw that head-on front view... it looks like someone's bad, decade-old idea of what a Citroen supercar might look like. Too flat. Profile and angled shots are ace though, and that motor is outstanding. Think the new McLaren will destroy it performance wise though.

Veyron has made a lot of sacrifices to be the ultimate top-speed champ. It's not the well-rounded livable supercar that the McLaren F1 is and pretty much sucks at everything aside from going stupidly fast in a straight line.

lol wut? The McLaren was woefully unstable in standard form at high speeds. Every review of the Veyron says it's as easy to drive at low speeds as a TT. I'm not much of a fan of the car, but I can't argue with the amount of engineering that went into it. It seems soulless to me, but whatever, I'll never drive one.

Wait... isn't it AWD?

Over here we only get it in Quattro, yeah. But over in euroland they all get the front-drive options too. It's too bad the S5 looks so nice and costs so much, the 335i just seems a better idea to me.

Yeah, the A5 is AWD, but it's FWD architecture...the A4/A5/S5 etc are evolutions of the Passat platform, which is relatively pedestrian. Audis are very nice and their attention to aesthetics is truly admirable, but they are all FWD VWs underneath...even their mighty W16 motor (which is what I think the Bugatti uses) is essentially four VW Golf motors arranged in a W. Lame.

Ain't nothing wrong with that, Aston's V12 is essentially two Taurus engines...

[dismalfuture]

Modular engines are really nice if they have the ability to shut down cylinder banks, I think BMW pioneered this with the very first 750i, which was 2 old 1980's 325i sixes mated at the crank. The Americans have it on their V8's but I don't think this message is exploited enough, they are always fucking up the simplest things though.

[Akira]

Modular engines are really nice if they have the ability to shut down cylinder banks, I think BMW pioneered this with the very first 750i, which was 2 old 1980's 325i sixes mated at the crank. The Americans have it on their V8's but I don't think this message is exploited enough, they are always fucking up the simplest things though.

The Cadillac Sixteen I posted earlier has the ability to drop to 4-cyl for most driving conditions, then increase to 8 and finally top out at 16 under max throttle

I dislike how so many fast cars are coming with auto trannys only, I don't care if the Veyron is one of the fastest things on the road, what's the fun of driving an automatic?

[dismalfuture]

I feel the same way, I like rowing a rubbery little Getrag box, just bounce off every gear and winding out a tiny little engine. I should just buy an old 318iS, I'd be mostly happy.

[freecat]

3lO4KQ74r3g

[Osmosis Jones]

the new SLS AMG is nice, but i don't understand how you would ever be able to park it in your garage/parking lot/whatever without destroying the doors or being trapped in the car

Just a thought and not any real information but the doors might open up first and THEN out. If you've seen the recent hardtops/trunks from mercedes, you'll know what I'm talking about.

[redgrail]

Veyron has made a lot of sacrifices to be the ultimate top-speed champ. It's not the well-rounded livable supercar that the McLaren F1 is and pretty much sucks at everything aside from going stupidly fast in a straight line.

If I were in the market for high-priced mid-engine exotics, the Veyron would be last on my list.

This is what Gordon Murray said...and then he drove it. He still doesn't think it beats the F1, but then, he designed the F1.

It's a solid piece of engineering.

Jeremy Clarkson drove it from Italy to London. Clearly it satisfies this arbitrary liveability requirement.

But it clearly isn't meant to be the "main car" of a household. It's not competing with an Audi A4 to go grocery shopping in.

If you said it was too electronic or "soulless" like newaesthetic, I would get it. I don't agree, but I would "get" the criticism.

[RSR]

I dislike how so many fast cars are coming with auto trannys only, I don't care if the Veyron is one of the fastest things on the road, what's the fun of driving an automatic?

Agreed 100%, and what pisses me off even more is that whenever a new Ferrari gets reviewed, the test car is always their automated manual...with no mention whatsoever of conventional manual transmission options. I know you can still get Ferraris with normal manual gearboxes, but you wouldn't know it by reading car mags over the past 5 years.

Redgrail: I also think the Veyron is soulless and too overloaded with gizmos. That's just the way cars are going these days and that's too bad. I'd rather have a car with 1/3 of the Veyron's HP and more tactile response, but that's just me (and apparently Dismal too these days).

[dismalfuture]

But real talk, how many people actually drive their F-cars at more than 1/10th for the entire cars life?

[poly800rock]

one of these days, i'm gonna buy a karmann ghia

my pops had a fastback way back in the day, he said he had never owned or driven a car before, never bothered changing the oil till it broke down and he left it on the side of the road.

[dismalfuture]

I would love a nice Karmann Ghia coupe.

Today and yesterday, I saw the new E-class, and the new Hyundai Sonata, both big deals here as they're volume cars that will litter the streets soon and they're both pretty bold redesigns. The E-class looks just like it does in the pics (ugly back end and the front is a step down from what they had before, just like the S class redesign), and the new Sonata is pretty weird but ok I suppose, a nice change.

[Mayhem13]

Favorite car (modern) Porsche GT2 or Ferrari F430 Scuderia

Classic: 69' Camaro

(hooray first post! heh)

[RSR]

Dismal: clear your inbox, want your input on a 540i FS locally...

[Osmosis Jones]

Dismal: clear your inbox, want your input on a 540i FS locally...

m-sport or go home imo.

actually, depending on price...

[RSR]

It's a 94, so not sure if M-sport was an option then.

$4400 for a '94 540i with 100,000 miles, it looks immaculate and not dogged out like a lot of BMWs are. Complete service records + original owner. Very tempting, though it's an automatic.

[entropy kid]

one of these days, i'm gonna buy a karmann ghia

my pops had a fastback way back in the day, he said he had never owned or driven a car before, never bothered changing the oil till it broke down and he left it on the side of the road.

My ex-boss had one of these (pre-1960) and let me drive a couple of times. Looks beautiful but drives like a lame duck. For me this even takes the fun out of cruising, at least around here, you DON'T wanna go into the mountains with this one.

STILL a beeaaaauuuuuuutiful car.