OpenGambit
Banned
He doesn't actually respond to things, he watches youtube, pretends thats an education and comes here and says crazy things all the while lamenting how he is the only "englightened" one out there.
2012 Auto Show
- Thread starter SunnY S
- Start date
He doesn't actually respond to things, he watches youtube, pretends thats an education and comes here and says crazy things all the while lamenting how he is the only "englightened" one out there.
Actually they have been making GT 4 seaters for a long time.
365 was out in 1966
412 in 1976
Mondial in 1980
456 in 1992
It has been a while since there was something from Ferrari in this market tho.... and to be fair you couldn't fit two fully grown adults in the back of any of the above for more than a few minutes.
Loved the Ford Focus, but they back seat is so cramped. I can't really fit in the back and I am not exactly a big guy. It seems impressive, but for the price? I prefer to get something else. Love the videos they show tho.
Did u notice that all the BMWs start to look like if they were penned by a Japanese designer? I always say the e90 looks like an accord.
sorry, but the Toyotas have a boring interior. Its so bland and the LCD displays has no colour. There are nothing inside to tickle my fancy, no heated seat options and no bluetooth.
Infiniti=boring design. Look like it was penned by the ugly stick. No wonder there was nobody there.
Americans can make good interiors if they try. The Focus was decent and so was the Grand Cherokee. The guy told me the diesel option will not give better fuel economy and is not available until next year.
I couldnt say it better myself
Don't like the Hatch ELantra, there is no flow to it compared to the sedan. It appears that they did this one in a hurry.
I mis-read that and almost got a heart attack.
But yes Benz and Audi is doing a good job in the designing dept. I just can't stop staring at them. Before, Benz used to be into more luxury and BMW was more about performance, but it appears that there is not difference between the 2. Its just that if I order one, I would have to put in a special order for a manual transmission
I'd have to disagree with that. I've experience this 1st hand. 1st model year has a highly probability of glitches.
What they do in a lab or factory to test it might not apply to real world situations. Plus with the rate everyone is churning out cars, I highly doubt they take 10yrs for a car to be in pre-production.
Also I would like to add, changes in the shape of the chassis causes changes in the configuration of things and glitches in that new chassis.
No first model year for me
mma01
Well-known member
I understand gripes about the corvettes interior, but a claim that it lacks racing pedigree? Thats news to me... the C5R/C6R is the most dominant production based car in endurace racing: The C5-Rs have 31 class victories in the American Le Mans Series, three class wins at Le Mans, and one overall victory at Daytona (beating out prototype racers). What notable races has, say, the NSX won? How similar is the race car to the production car you or I could buy? The LS7 in the Z06 is essentially the production version of what the engineers learned from building the C5R. Sounds like trickle down technology to me.
Lack of innovation? How about magnetic ride control, which gm licensed out to ferrari:
Cadillac has just released a new commercial, shedding some light on what it feels might be a popular misconception about its new CTS-V Coupe. The car features what are known as “magnetorheological shock absorbers”, which essentially work by having metal particles in the fluid, allowing the onboard computer to control the stiffness of the shocks by adjusting a magnetic field at each end. As a result, they’re the fastest reacting shocks on the market.
As the ad suggests, this technology, while touted as an incredible performance advantage in cars like the Ferrari 458 Italia, was actually invented by Cadillac – and used in cars like the newCTS-VCoupe. That’s really only partly true, however, as magnetic ride shocks first made an appearance in the Corvette, and were later adopted by Ferrari for the 599.
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I don't agree with the protectionist policies of the Korean and Japanese. For example, Korea allows imports only 4% of their autos. Not to mention I support my own, much like they do.
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really?
Why not?
Do you think they wouldn't know how to make a good one or....?
Personally, I think Ford Focus has always sucked balls in North America given the offerings they have in the UK. Have you seen a Focus 500?
It's like when they made Escorts in the UK like the Cozzies and gave us.... the Escort.
Maybe someone high up lost a bet and HAS to make **** foci here for X amount of years as wager....
Hahahaha, I've heard Benz made a few trucks for the Canadian military. What can stand more abuse than bullets and bombs, lol
dr_sarcasm
Well-known member
I was waiting for someone to mention how successful the Vettes have been in endurance racing and you are bang on about how the engines are pretty much production. People still piss and moan about push rods and leaf spring suspension even though it works quite well for them and their "Ring" results speak for themselves.
...however, the NSX is a very successful Super GT car (what was formaly JGTC) and makes the same claim about being pretty much the same power plant as the production car.
Head to head the NSX gives up in power what the Vette gives up in agility so it would depend on the track, drivers all being the same...
Both excellent cars IMO.
I started before the Torino was phased out, and the land barge LTD / Country Squire / Marquis came in. I think Winstars were rolling out when I retired................I really don't care to remember - just glad to be gone.
Satisfying the govt with crash test results cause the greatest delays. Back that up with mandated gas mileage numbers, and you've got quite a long time from "car on paper" to "car on dealership lots".
There's more behind the scenes / closed doors, and omitted from any magazines / you tube that you'll ever see or read going on.
No point arguing - that's how the game is played.
My next toy is going to be a ZO6.
Not ALL cars take 10yrs in development, but I know for a fact some have.
If you don't like 1st yr builds, you better not buy a car built on a Monday...........LOL.
mma01
Well-known member
I agree - both are great cars. However, the production based corvette is a lot more similar to its racing brethren than the nsx is to its track-only counterpart.
i.e.
NSX: 3.2 litre vtec with conventional wet sump redlining at 8000rpm with 290 hp vs jgtc nsx: 3.5 litres, non-vtec, dry sump lubrication + whatever unobtanium internals necessarily to allow it to redline at 9000+ rpm to make 500 hp.
C6 Z06: 7 litre dry sump v8 redlining at 7000 rpm with 505 hp vs C5R: 7 litre, dry sump v8 redling at 7000 rpm with 600 hp.
I also agree with you that C5Z06 vs NSX would come down to which track, drivers being equal.. but it would be no contest at all with the current gen z06. The nsx is an absolutely fabulous car, but development pretty much stopped on it in the mid 90's whereas vettes have been getting better each year. Hopefully the new nsx will take a leap forward.
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invictus43
Well-known member
The ZR-1 may have more horsepower, but I'll take the titanium connecting rods and dry sump in the Z06 any day. Pushrods aren't all bad..depending on what you're trying to do. They package very nicely..they aren't a big problem if you're not revving too much..low maintenance.. The current engine being used in the Z06 is an extremely distant relative of the original small-block..
Pushrods aren't all bad..depending on what you're trying to do. They package very nicely..they aren't a big problem if you're not revving too much..low maintenance.. The current engine being used in the Z06 is an extremely distant relative of the original small-block..
true true except there are both GT 500 (the engine you posted) Toda built NSX and GT 300 NSX running (well, ran in) that series.
The lower end 300 series cars ranged from "almost stock" to stroked stock factory blocks.
Quite dated but kinda cool that it ran so long with only a facelift changing the production model for all this time.
As far as the "do not buy a car made on Monday OR Friday" there has always been one problem with that logic, it takes multiple days to build a car so something was assembled on that car either Monday or Friday!
For first model year it can be very true, specially the first ones off the line. If it was a major change many things on the line are new (and may not be put on right...). There are also design changes made in the first year to fix NVH issues as well as assembly issues. I would hope that major failures should not be a problem though.
The original SBC came out in 55 IIRC and was in production until the 90s (still made in Mexico). The LT series was the generation 2, a lot of things are very close to the same as the SBC but it has reverse flow cooling (allowing for higher compression) and a lighter rotating assembly. Some items will interchange with a little creativity between Gen 1 and Gen 2.
The LS series motors (gen3+) although philosophically the sames (eight cylinder, pushrod, 2 valve per cylinder, etc.) are pretty much a reset. Valve angles changed, WAY better flowing heads, lighter/faster/stronger etc... I cannot think of any part that interchanges between them and gen1/2. It does not need vvt, 4 valves per cylinder etc. to make serious power.
For first model year it can be very true, specially the first ones off the line. If it was a major change many things on the line are new (and may not be put on right...). There are also design changes made in the first year to fix NVH issues as well as assembly issues. I would hope that major failures should not be a problem though.
The original SBC came out in 55 IIRC and was in production until the 90s (still made in Mexico). The LT series was the generation 2, a lot of things are very close to the same as the SBC but it has reverse flow cooling (allowing for higher compression) and a lighter rotating assembly. Some items will interchange with a little creativity between Gen 1 and Gen 2.
The LS series motors (gen3+) although philosophically the sames (eight cylinder, pushrod, 2 valve per cylinder, etc.) are pretty much a reset. Valve angles changed, WAY better flowing heads, lighter/faster/stronger etc... I cannot think of any part that interchanges between them and gen1/2. It does not need vvt, 4 valves per cylinder etc. to make serious power.
u are right. it's not major problems, it's things like wind noise, door closing efforts etc that show up in the first JD Power score shortly after launch
Gary........race you for pinks??
Since there is no current NSX yet, I'll have to make do with Honda's other finest.
Bud, Honda's currently produces V8s for Indy cars for years and years. They've dabbled with V12s and V8s and turbos in F1 for years as well with tremendous success.
Its pretty weak to suggest that they can't "figure out" how to put these types of engines in passenger cars.
Lay off on the weak sauce, man.
.
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invictus43
Well-known member
You have to make market decisions. What makes sense for them to sell? How can they make money? What do they want their brand image to be? Maybe turbo or super-charged engines isn't what they want to be about..up to them I suppose.
I have to say though, Honda has not impressed me over the last decade for various reasons. I feel like they've abandoned their roots to some degree. The last Honda product that really excited me was the Integra Type-R. Since then, I feel like they're shuffling parts and cars..no real direction or soul. They totally missed the rear-drive segment..instead sticking with FWD or AWD on their luxury cars like the TL. They really kind of remind me of GM in the late 70's, early 80's..irrelevant and wandering into mediocrity. The CR-Z could have been so much more..reminds me of the Fiero..instead it's a 10.5sec 0-60 car. Like, really???
And you know what? I agree with you. They've definitely lost their sporting edge. Remember cars like the CRX? Prelude? Integra Type Rs? the NSX? the S2000??
They seem to be catering to the masses now, instead of the enthusiasts.
On a brighter hope, the new NSX which has been and on and off again project for years will make a return, and hopefully this will energize Honda again to start making cars that we want to enjoy for the driving exprerience again.
It seems that Mazda took the crown now for sporty asian cars.
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