Not that anyone will notice (unless you live in a 65 and over community), but Ford finally killed the Mercury brand.
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Not that anyone will notice (unless you live in a 65 and over community), but Ford finally killed the Mercury brand.
Whats it like to drive almost 270mph?
Interesting part was how at speeds like that, it all comes down to the asphalt.
Check this vid out guys... we saw these cars and drivers racing at Le Mans this year. The sound of the Corvette is absolutely out of this world.
Holy bumper flip Batman!
A hint of Deja Vu:
Brands Hatch has had it's fair amount of crashes, some being fatal. I'm going in August to watch Super League, Lotus Cup, GT Cup racing and i'm tempted to chillout at Druids Bend if thats where the action is.
Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday.
Schumacher showing what a fuckhead he is again, almost slamming Barrichello into the pit-lane wall at 180mph.
Disgustingly dangerous move.
Stewards certainly took a dim view of it and penalised Schumacher 10 grid positions in the next Grand Prix.
Awful piece of driving. :down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBO1m...eature=related
Pretty sure the commentator says "Red Bull, gives you wings!"
Aye I saw that. One heck of a smash. Webber walks out unscathed.
He's now leading the championship after winning at Hungary. :up:
Yeah, he is having a long overdue run of form and luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQzUVc_LOXM&feature=channel
Tiny working model of a V12 engine.
When he starts revving it it's wonderful. :up:
6000RPM - 6 to 8 HP :)
Caught speeding a couple of weeks ago - on the road where my office is located.
36mph in a 30mph zone. :(
Would be 3 points on my licence and a £60 fine.
Got a letter through the post this morning advising me that I have the option to go on a Driver Awareness Course, at a cost of £79, to avoid the 3 points. It's offered to people who were caught only marginally above the limit.
How long is the course?
I feel like 6MPH is little enough that one could contest it. But probably not win.
'4 hour Interactive Presentation and Discussion'.
So no biggie really. The £79 cost is a bit of a pain in the bum but it's a damn sight better than 3 points.
Certainly not worth contesting - taking to court could raise the fine from £60 to a maximum of £1,000 and the 3 points.
I'm assuming 6 MPH is after correction, and most speedometers give slightly too high results, so he was most likely doing over 40 on his own speedometer - that's 1/3 over the limit, so I don't see how that is little enough to contest...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Here they wouldn't even ticket you for anything less than 10 mph over - and even then it is highly unlikely.
I guess it depends on whether he says he was going 6MPH over or if the police says it was 6MPH over...Quote:
Originally Posted by Flixy
The Auto Show was in my city last weekend, had an awesome time going with my brother (also a car freak who recently bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee). Some observations:
-Japan is weak--very weak--in the looks department, at least in my opinion. No GT-R or 370z as far as I'm aware, and aside from some pretty Infinitis and strange, beak-nosed Acuras there wasn't anything to look at
-VW SUVs are looking nice lately. It's almost weird to think about a 50k Touareg, but damn it if the thing isn't high quality
-American muscle is for real. It's hard not to be gripped (pardon the pun) by the tight racing seats in a Camaro or Challenger, and the latter's pistol-grip shifter is a joy to hold. And while not exactly muscle, the ZR1 Corvette is so luscious :yum:
-The Ferrari 458 Italia is one of the most beautiful cars I've ever laid eyes on. Everything about it screams sexy and masterful. It's currently my desktop wallpaper
I agree about the looks of Japanese cars, though I actually think the Acuras are great examples of what's wrong. The headlights are narrow and slanted in weird ways all across their product line, and the front vent being blocked by that strange plastic makes the car look cheap.
Separately, the alleged new VW Beetle looks kinda cool style-wise. Though something still seems off. Part of me thinks they could literally use the same body with new interiors and people would buy them all up.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010...vorite-things/
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...LY-blog480.jpg
Quick thoughts:
The VW Ragster has been in concept form since at least 2005. VW has admitted for a long time that the current Beetle has two problems:
1) The Hipster Chick image hurts the rest of the brand
2) The body style is destroying the possible MPG the car could be reaching. CAFE rules and whatnot are seriously coming into play now.
To bad the production version of the Ragster stinks of PT Cruiser / somesort of crazy HHR Coupe idea. :down:
Automakers are moving towards global platforms to save costs. Sometimes this works wonders; Ford Fiesta, Genesis Coupe. Sometimes its a disaster; Kia Soul, Nissan Juke & Cube, Acura's shield signature. This happens every generation or so. Suzuki learned its lesson last time with the X90 design that almost destroyed its American presence. On the other hand Buick is fucking HUGE in China. :bulb:
Very happy to see American Muscle returning, but I'm afraid it won't last long enough :(. The Ford EcoBoost engine was life saving, but the 3 big dogs are highly polarizing. The Mustang is a chick car until you get into Taurus SHO territory, the Camaro is still to cartoony for some, even if its the best performer, and the Challenger (personal favorite) is luxury boat heavy, needs its ass reworked, and is already being blended into the Charger. I fear by the time American muscle gets its act in order the imports will steal the scene again. The Genesis Coupe is already considered a Mustang killer, and Hyundai wants to take it into Bimmer territory, Honda is taking a cautious step forward with the CRZ, and Nissan is considering reintroducing the 240SX (SO WANT!).
Car speedometers and tachometers are extremely unreliable, especially if you have aftermarket rims or wheels, or even if you have your tires over or under inflated. Few years ago Honda admitted that theirs could be off by as much as 10%. Track fiends know this first hand.
6MPH seems like a weak catch but its still a catch. Getting to take a class for it is nice. Down here the classes are offered for up to 30mph over. I took one once for getting nailed at 89 in a 70mph zone :(, of course over here you are just as likely to get the ticket waved by simply showing up to challenge it in court. Sister had a boyfriend who had a lawyer on call for just tickets. 23 tickets over 5 years (none stuck), wrecked a GTI, WRX and a 370Z, and the guy still doesn't have any points on his license.
With my new job starting in the new year, where I'll be taking the train/tube into the city rather than doing a daily ~55 mile round trip commute into the country, I figured it was time to jack the 5 series highway armchair in for something smaller, cheaper and more fun.
Sooo ... arranged for pick up of the five series with BMW, which will happen once the agreement is fully terminated in a week or two, and I have just put a holding deposit down on a fully-specced 3 year old Cooper S. :)
Have just a few crappy, rainy images the Mini dealership had up on the Mini website:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...g?t=1292251967
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...g?t=1292251967
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...g?t=1292251967
Car has every available option, including
USB Connectivity for MP3 player
DAB Digital Radio
Uprated Hi Fi
Bluetooth Connectivity for phone
Fully integrated sat nav (you can see it in the middle of the central dial there)
Panoramic Sun roof
6 disc CD
Xenon headlights
Sports suspension
Rear Parking sensors
Rain sensors
DSC and limited-slip diff
Sports suspension
Buying through the Mini Cherished dealership gives 12 months MOT, 12 months warranty, 12 months breakdown cover, full Mini service history.
~
Have not gone down the hot hatch route before, and have spent the last 6 years in big, heavy, rear-wheel drive BMWs with powerful straight-six engines. Moving to a lightweight turbo-charged front wheel drive hatch is going to be quite a change.
But with ever-increasing petrol prices and heavier taxes on higher-emissions vehicles, it makes sense to move to a smaller, more lightweight car. The Cooper S has the same mpg and emissions as a little 1.4 Micra, so is wonderfully efficient. Yet it will easily out-perform my cumbersome 525i and would keep up with my old 330Ci convertible. But at half the cost.
Things I'm not too sure about on the Mini are, firstly; I'm not turned on by the faux-retro interior. It's a bit too chintzy and funky and, perhaps, girly.
Secondly it comes with run-flat tyres as standard. These are very hard tyres and make for an uncomfortable, hard ride, particularly with the sport suspension, and doubly particularly on Britain's awful roads. They are very expensive too. I will investigate swapping them out with standard tyres and a jack with spare.
But these two things aside, the Cooper S holds its value better than almost every other car out there so depreciation is great, has a chassis recognised as being the most dynamic and driveable in its class, is cheap and efficient, lightweight and fast, and I can't wait to pick it up in a week or two's time. :)
Did you not check out any smaller CC BMW Diesel engines? The 3/5 series have superb MPG if i remember correctly. Tax is fantastically cheap too!
I reckon you'll have loads of fun in the Cooper S. :up:i
Yeh the 118d and 320d are both very highly regarded, and both about as efficient as you can get nowadays, hybrids included. Award winning cars, both of them. Even the new F10 523d is remarkable in its efficiency.
But my current 5 is my 3rd BMW, so want to move away from the marque (even though, yes yes, Mini is BMW, it is still a very different flavour of car).
Plus, I don't like diesels, so to get better efficiency/lower emissions with a petrol, I need to go right down in CC and have a turbo/super to keep the performance up. The Cooper S is the right marriage between the two for me.
Since my annual mileage is going to drop from 16-17k to around 4-5k at most, my priority is to have a small, cheap, fun, city-runaround.
~
Still waiting for pix of the Clio btw.
I have spent a good while looking through Renault-sport Clios while making this decision. Fabulous little 2.0l performers those. Just slightly pips the Cooper S in 0-100kmh times. :up:
I looked at both the Clio/Megane sport range before my budget dropped. They are tasty motors! Shame you wanted to move away from BMW, was you not interested in an Audi?
I'll take some pics ASAP, I keep forgetting plus it's rather dirty - speaking of which i spent a while cleaning it Sunday only for the heavens to open, wasn't happy.
Yep saw a very flashy new Sport Megane today. Very sleek, me likey. New model is too new though, which puts it out of my preferred price range.
~
Audis, nah, don't really float my boat that much.
I had one of the older A4 cars, a 2.6, quite a few years back. Was a solid enough car, but rather bland.
Besides, if I go with a larger car, I'd stick with RWD, which restricts me to a BMW or a Merc. Or a Porsche, but you're getting into bigger money there. Although the Audi Quattros are much better drives than the standard Audis, that much is true. Audis tend to have fantastic interiors though. Their best feature by far. :up:
I really like the new Megane, I'd rather have that than the Scirocco if i'm really honest. I saw a '10 plate go for £10k while i was at the auction, had alot of extras and super low miles.
Not a fan on the Audi interior, much prefer the Merc interior if anything. My fathers '07 CLK is a dream to drive, so much torque available and utterly easy to drive (Cruise Control + Automatic = Win!).
A Megane over a Scirocco!? But the Scirocco is so sexy!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lor
You make this sound like its a concept thats limited in its adoption?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lor
I've rented a lot of Minis and I absolutely love them. Besides the steering wheel being on the wrong side that one looks great. :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
I actually had an issue once where the run-flat tires came in handy. Then again it was a rental so I didn't have to deal with long-term maintenance. But still, it's a great car. If I ever buy a car for actual use (instead of my Beetle) I will probably go for a Mini.