Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Apart from the extra cost, doing the winter/summer tire swap at these big-ass sizes is definitely more of a pain, especially if you need to mount/balance/torque it all solo. By the end of a swap, I feel like a (very poor) entrant in a strongman competition.

My next car will be a Peel P50.

There's no damn way I'll ever want to lift a 17" or greater steelie (and I've owned 17" steelies in the past). Those are fricken heavy. 18" alloys are damn heavy too. I can't imagine 19-20" wheels + tires. I just swapped on 16" steelies on a vehicle and that was already heavier than I remembered.

Strongman joke though... I wear a power lifting belt to swap tires. Otherwise, I would probably injure my back dealing with the swapping and storing two vehicles (4 sets) of tires to and from my shed/garage.

Side note though... I'm so much happier with a cordless impact driver for swapping the tires. No more stupid cables to get snagged and whatever.

[Bill Bumface]

At least all these giant wheels are worse for fuel economy and handling!

[browna]

Notice the chat about Eagle Talon; earlier this week saw a mint condition Eagle Vision in the neighborhood. Those were last produced in the mid 90s (I worked breifly at a Chrysler dealer one summer back then) and had to be rare even at the time as most people wouldve just ordered a Dodge Intrepid/Chrysler Concorde.

[Bill Bumface]

I saw a pre-facelift Laser in the wild a couple weeks ago. Haven't seen one of those in a very, very long time.


What an era that was, where you had 3 different brands hocking the same car.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

has anyone used a mobile mechanic recently and can recommend?
is it cheaper than getting it towed to a shop? I have an issue starting my van and it is mostly likely the starter (based on having charged the battery and a grinding noise)

lol, never mind, already suggested

[photon]

A little bit of sanity in the worst timeline.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10...heel-controls/

It's also not a problem unique to VW; both BMW and Mercedes have moved to capacitive touch multifunction steering wheels for their new EVs, like the iX or EQS. And as with VW, neither new wheel is as pleasant to use as the ones they replace.

But VW is going to ditch the new design. Thomas Schäfer, VW Passenger Cars' CEO, announced on LinkedIn that, following customer feedback—presumably almost entirely negative—VW will bring back the old design with real buttons.

[TorqueDog]

Capacitive touch controls in cars are already the worst thing in the world. Capacitive touch controls on the bloody steering wheel just seem like someone's taking the piss, frankly.

[Barnes]

Weird. I saw a mint white 3000gt a few days ago.

It’s like an algorithm is injecting these cars into the simulation for us.

I also saw a sweet 87-ish Thunderbird. No one has been talking about those though so maybe not.

[boogerz]

An older gentleman was driving a mint second generation Mitsu Eclipse down Southland two weekends ago.

It's been a minute since I've seen one of those. The wheel gap is atrocious, but the styling still looks great

[81MC]

The T-bird Turbo Coupes were dope AF, as were Mk VII LSC. That was a good run for FMC.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 81MC

The T-bird Turbo Coupes were dope AF, as were Mk VII LSC. That was a good run for FMC.

Never was a fan of that style of car. Screams cheezy banger to me.

[TorqueDog]

The Lincoln MK VII with the 5.0L V8 was a gem.

I mean, just look at this interior:


First you equip the thing with air ride suspension, then give it those seats? It was like driving a V8 Eames chair suspended in a cloud.

[Erick Estrada]

Man the early airbag steering wheels have not aged well. It’s sad to see some vintage 90’s sports cars with steering wheels that look like that.

[81MC]

Mustang GT performance in a car that doesn’t scream FLOWMASTERRRRRRRRR down the block and isn’t driven by some guy with frosted tips? ####ing sign me up.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Mustang GT performance in a car that doesn’t scream FLOWMASTERRRRRRRRR down the block and isn’t driven by some guy with frosted tips? ####ing sign me up.

I’ve been out of the Mustang community for a decade. Weren’t Flowmasters the cheap noise makers and Borla (I ran an S-Type and got a lot of compliments) and Corsa the more refined exhaust systems?

[you&me]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The Lincoln MK VII with the 5.0L V8 was a gem.

I mean, just look at this interior:


First you equip the thing with air ride suspension, then give it those seats? It was like driving a V8 Eames chair suspended in a cloud.

That steering wheel is curious in the Lincoln, but downright offensive in the 90s Aston Martin Vantages

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by you&me

That steering wheel is curious in the Lincoln, but downright offensive in the 90s Aston Martin Vantages

Early airbag steering wheels were pretty crap overall, though Aston was on an especially tight budget, so it doesn't surprise me how much of the switchgear and so on was lifted straight out of the Ford domestic parts bin. But that wheel is especially jarring when you look at interior shots.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The Lincoln MK VII with the 5.0L V8 was a gem.

The MKVIII was probably the most underrated coupe of all time. I owned one about 10 years ago briefly. The car was light years ahead of it's time. It's one of those cars on my Kijiji watchlist, as you can still snag a nice one for a song.

One of the best interiors ever too, these things were Lexus caliber inside.

[Sliver]

That does look sick.

Hey pylon, have you shared your thoughts on the mk8 GTI?

[TorqueDog]

The only thing that really puts me off about the MK VIII is the exterior styling (or lack thereof). Ford went through this "no hard edges, round blobs only" phase in their design language for most of their passenger car lineup starting around 1996 that also infected the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable, Escort/Tracer, and the Lincoln Continental.

No question, for its time the MK VIII's interior was stunning and looked like something from the future. I just don't think -- for me anyway -- it has the same cool factor, the "vintage luxury" cool that the MK VII Bill Blass I posted above gives off. But then again, good luck finding one in anywhere near that sort of condition these days.