The Official Automotive Thread Version the Second

[Shoota]

I need to see more pictures...but it doesn't look as good as the old one.

[Nobi125]

Originally Posted by Shoota

I hope not.

[MrVegeta]

Just test drove an 09 Lancer GTS with the flappy paddle gearbox, premium sound and Navigation. Sweet fucking car. The Lancer I end up with, if I end up with one, won't have the Nav or paddle-shifters (tradition 5-spd please), so this was actually about 3 grande more than I'll end up spending, ~$23k.

The paddle shifting was fun, but I can see that novelty wearing off fairly quickly. I'd much rather have the 5-spd manual. The ride was very nice, steering was responsive. Interior was very nice, IMO, though my basis of comparison is a Crapalier, so take that as you will. Comfortable seats, the Rockford-Fosgate sound system (w/ 10-inch sub) sounded awesome, damn nice for a factory sound system.

The 2.4L is really nice, though I didn't really get a chance to open it up like I would have liked.

Only bad thing is my preferred car, a GTS with a 5-spd and Sun & Sound thats NOT silver or aqua, may be hard to find. The salesperson found two, a dark grey GTS with just the standard equipment and a LOADED GTS with everything the one I drove had, but the 5-spd instead of CVT. Hmmm...

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Based on what I'd read, I figured I would, though.

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by lancerx

Hav you guys seen de the new Audi A4? it looks so sexy







that along with the new A5 and R8 are my favorites right now, Audi is so amazing this days....

I saw a brand new Audi in the parking lot as I left the movie theater last night. I wanted to go over and touch it because it made me feel all tingly inside.

[MrAmish]

LMAO vegeta is about to buy a chrysler product.

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

LMAO vegeta is about to buy a chrysler product.

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

LMAO vegeta is about to buy a chrysler product.

lmao gtfo

[MrVegeta]

I've got other cars I want to drive, though. I definitely want to check out the new Vibe GT.

[MrAmish]

you and ruben should talk cars

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by MrVegeta

I've got other cars I want to drive, though. I definitely want to check out the new Vibe GT.

Toyota will pull the fleece over your eyes!

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by Shoota

Toyota will pull the fleece over your eyes!

Thats my only reservation. Its not even GM's 2.4L Ecotec, its ToyoDUH's wheezy 2.4L. Which is why I want to drive it.

I don't have many options. I don't want to get the Mazda3 because its like a year from a new model and so is the Cobalt, and I don't feel like waiting another year for a car. Civic is out, its too overpriced once you put some options on it, Corolla is a granny car and the new NA Focus is ugly as shit.

[MrAmish]

I like the new Focus.

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

I like the new Focus.

I checked one out while the Escape was in for an oil change a few weeks ago. The interior is nice, actually. The Sync stuff is pretty cool. I think my biggest problem with it is the lack of power. All you get is the same 2.0L either with 130 or 140 hp. And the rear is terrible.

[Shoota]

The new Focus is ugly and shitty. The sedan is ok, but the coupe makes me want to vomit.

What about a Golf, Jetta or Sentra?

[MrAmish]

why does ford europe mock us so?

[MrAmish]

I mean that's seriously fucking gorgeous.

[Shoota]

Yeah, import a Mondeo

[Rogue Agent]

Ford Europe competes with BMW and Audi.

Ford USA competes with...anyone?

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by Shoota

The new Focus is ugly and shitty. The sedan is ok, but the coupe makes me want to vomit.

What about a Golf, Jetta or Sentra?

I don't like the Sentra, its too boxy. Its the Rabbit in the US market and, uh, sorry...I don't drive anything called a Rabbit with a little bunny on it. Its not the 80s anymore.

I plan on looking at the Jetta TDI when it comes out. If the fabled 60mpg fuel economy is true, it would be a helluva a economy car.

[MrVegeta]

Ford Europe is awesome.

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by Herrdoktor

Ford Europe competes with BMW and Audi.

Ford USA competes with...anyone?

All the regular peasant brands.

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by MrVegeta

I don't like the Sentra, its too boxy. Its the Rabbit in the US market and, uh, sorry...I don't drive anything called a Rabbit with a little bunny on it. Its not the 80s anymore.

I plan on looking at the Jetta TDI when it comes out. If the fabled 60mpg fuel economy is true, it would be a helluva a economy car.

Mini Cooper?

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by Shoota

All the regular peasant brands.

GM left Ford behind a long time ago.

GM can easily compete with any non-specialty car (Nissan GTR for example is a specialty car) coming out of Japan or Germany.

[MrAmish]

Ford Europe does not compete with BMW and Audi.

Peugeuot, Renault, Vauxhall, VW are more what their competition is.

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

Ford Europe does not compete with BMW and Audi.

Peugeuot, Renault, Vauxhall, VW are more what their competition is.

I should rephrase that. Of course they don't openly compete with them, but Ford of Europe does what BMW and Audi does only at about the 1/3 of the price.

Their newest cars are ridiculous.

[MrAmish]

Right, but BMW's and Audi's usually have like twice the horsepower and performance numbers.

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by Herrdoktor

GM left Ford behind a long time ago.

GM can easily compete with any non-specialty car (Nissan GTR for example is a specialty car) coming out of Japan or Germany.

Ford continually makes great cars but then gets cheap and doesn't update them for a decade - see the Focus, Escort, Taurus, etc. They'll do the same thing with the Fiesta, MK2 Focus and Mondeo when they bring those out here, four years after they came out in Europe.

GM's small cars are just rebadged Daewoo's, their midsize stuff is getting really good though.

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

Right, but BMW's and Audi's usually have like twice the horsepower and performance numbers.

Surprise, surprise not everyone cares about performance or horsepower numbers.
The majority of people like reliabilty and ergonomics.

It's pretty much the only way Toyota stays in business.

[twisted by dezign]

The new Scirocco GT24 is nice indeed And Vegeta, you can just debadge the Rabbit and put a good ol' Golf badge on it (or leave it debadged).

Posting from my brand spanking new office!

[Shoota]

Originally Posted by twisted by dezign

The new Scirocco GT24 is nice indeed And Vegeta, you can just debadge the Rabbit and put a good ol' Golf badge on it (or leave it debadged).

Posting from my brand spanking new office!

GET BACK TO WORK!

[twisted by dezign]

Originally Posted by Shoota

GET BACK TO WORK!

Today was so busy. I pretty much had everything thrown at me from the start. Got to go to some Heritage Building Award ceremony, free lunch! Met like 234908209384 people today whose names I already forgot. Too bad my e-mail and Facebook are banned from the work computer Job is pretty cool so far though, I have to prepare a lot of stuff for an Intern Orientation back in Edmonton next week, I'll give you a shout since I'll be in town from like Wednesday-Sunday or so.

So yeah, I can do heel-toe downshifts now, it helps to wear size 12-12.5 shoes I was driving down the Albertabaun with my gf in her black Mk4.5 Golf and just playing around, doing lots of 6-4 downshifts and pulling bus lengths on her. Now I REALLY want to get this car chipped and big turbo'd!

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by Shoota

Mini Cooper?

Out of my price range and honestly, its too small.

[Shoota]

I can't believe Vegeta is considering a Chrysler and a Toyota....what the fuck is going on? My world is coming down around me!

[MrVegeta]

Originally Posted by Shoota

I can't believe Vegeta is considering a Chrysler and a Toyota....what the fuck is going on? My world is coming down around me!

[MrAmish]

Originally Posted by twisted by dezign

Today was so busy. I pretty much had everything thrown at me from the start. Got to go to some Heritage Building Award ceremony, free lunch! Met like 234908209384 people today whose names I already forgot. Too bad my e-mail and Facebook are banned from the work computer Job is pretty cool so far though, I have to prepare a lot of stuff for an Intern Orientation back in Edmonton next week, I'll give you a shout since I'll be in town from like Wednesday-Sunday or so.

So yeah, I can do heel-toe downshifts now, it helps to wear size 12-12.5 shoes I was driving down the Albertabaun with my gf in her black Mk4.5 Golf and just playing around, doing lots of 6-4 downshifts and pulling bus lengths on her. Now I REALLY want to get this car chipped and big turbo'd!

It sounds to me like you're just blipping the gas with your heel. That's not a heal-toe downshift I doubt you've mastered it in 2 days.

[twisted by dezign]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

It sounds to me like you're just blipping the gas with your heel. That's not a heal-toe downshift I doubt you've mastered it in 2 days.

I'm not using my heel at all on the gas, I use the ball of my right foot to depress both the brake and the gas. I'm not saying I mastered them but I can do them, they're not that hard. And I've been driving my car for a week now and have already put on around 1000km so I've been driving quite a bit.

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by twisted by dezign

I'm not saying I mastered them but I can do them, they're not that hard. And I've been driving my car for a week now and have already put on around 1000km so I've been driving quite a bit.

For fear of being called a 'know it all' or whatever I'll simply say, yes...yes they are.

Do a simple youtube search and you'll see what true heel-to-toe shifting involves.

[MrAmish]

Originally Posted by Herrdoktor

For fear of being called a 'know it all' or whatever I'll simply say, yes...yes they are.

Do a simple youtube search and you'll see what true heel-to-toe shifting involves.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Real heal toe shifting is insanely hard to master.

[twisted by dezign]

Originally Posted by xgod 3testicle

Yeah, that's what I meant. Real heal toe shifting is insanely hard to master.

I know what they look like, I've been looking at heel toeing well before I even got the car. I've been practicing them a lot lately so I do think that I am pretty decent at them considering my experience with a manual. Of course I don't believe that I am good at them in terms of racing applications, those are wickedly fast. I'm good enough to do them on the street/highway easily, though and that's all that matters at this point since I don't race

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by twisted by dezign

I know what they look like, I've been looking at heel toeing well before I even got the car. I've been practicing them a lot lately so I do think that I am pretty decent at them considering my experience with a manual. Of course I don't believe that I am that good at them in terms of racing applications, those are wickedly fast. I'm good enough to do them on the street/highway easily, though.

It's not only the speed of the shift, but it's the rev matching that you have to do.

Again, I'll just leave it at 'they are hard, but good luck' because I know if I get into my racing experience/past someone is going to come along and shout bullshit from the high heavens.

[twisted by dezign]

Originally Posted by Herrdoktor

It's not only the speed of the shift, but it's the rev matching that you have to do.

Again, I'll just leave it at 'they are hard, but good luck' because I know if I get into my racing experience/past someone is going to come along and shout bullshit from the high heavens.

I know about the rev matching The GTI's brake and gas pedals are not at the same height but my feet are big enough to cover both pedals as I slide the ball of my right foot over.

Anyway, it's such a fun car to drive. I love it!

[eafo]

goddamnit herkador, stop being a pompous know it all douchennozzle!

[Rogue Agent]

Originally Posted by eafo

goddamnit herkador, stop being a pompous know it all douchennozzle!

[MrVegeta]

So...we're trying to sell the Escape. *sigh* This is going to suck.

[Shoota]

I can only imagine.

[MrVegeta]

We still owe just over $12k, Kelley Blue Book says its worth $14.7k private seller. I'd like to try and get $2k more than we still owe.

Its just killing us. We paid $2k down and financed $24k at 0% APR for 60 months, so our payment is $400 a month. And she's filling it up twice a week so we're spending almost $400 a month now in gas. So its costing us $800 a month to operate the damn thing.

The sooner we can offload it and get her into a 4-cyl midsize, the better. Looking at Accords, Altimas and Malibus.

[MrVegeta]

Edmunds is saying its worth $15k private seller. $13.7k trade-in.

If we can get a dealer to give us $14k for it, we'd trade it in.

[MrAmish]

Originally Posted by MrVegeta

We still owe just over $12k, Kelley Blue Book says its worth $14.7k private seller. I'd like to try and get $2k more than we still owe.

Its just killing us. We paid $2k down and financed $24k at 0% APR for 60 months, so our payment is $400 a month. And she's filling it up twice a week so we're spending almost $400 a month now in gas. So its costing us $800 a month to operate the damn thing.

The sooner we can offload it and get her into a 4-cyl midsize, the better. Looking at Accords, Altimas and Malibus.

New or used?

[MrVegeta]

New.

[MrAmish]

Accords aren't really midsize anymore. My dad got that shiny *almost* new 05 Accord and it's bigger than his Buick was