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Jumping back to the Toyota/perceived reliability discussion for a second, autoblog posted this CarMD study which uses engine codes and repairs costs instead of happy/unhappy customer's feedback to rate reliability, and it looks like Toyota came out ion top of that too. http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/20/carmd-releases-entirely-objective-reliability-rankings/
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Nov 20, 2012 16:42
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Hyundai looks like it has fewer errors that cost less, why is toyota ranked above them?
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Nov 20, 2012 18:20
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Sir Tonk posted:This reminds me of some fanfic story from an old issue of Hot Rod about a bootlegger with an old Mustang and a panel of switches that each controlled a light system so he could "go dark" if he was being chased at night. He also had an extra twenty gallon fuel cell in the trunk, I think. Wish I could find the issue, it was a great story.
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Nov 20, 2012 19:23
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InitialDave posted:I believe rally driver Maurice Gatsonides (of speed camera fame) did this to his brake lights, so competitors couldn't gauge his braking points. A Baja desert racer told me he'd do this through sand traps, so people behind him would go too fast and crash out. Hell of a sportsman 
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Nov 20, 2012 23:24
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bull3964 posted:Nope. The 2.5 turbo in both the WRX and STI still use a timing belt. This will be the last year of that motor, right?
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Nov 21, 2012 01:08
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Doesn't the Cruze still use a timing belt on the 1.8 (maybe the diesel too)
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Nov 21, 2012 06:38
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A neat thing I noticed in the press shots of the new Panda: The gauge needles are transparent, so you can see the warning lights through them. I think it's a neat little thing, has any other manufacturer done this before?
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Nov 22, 2012 11:14
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Those are very attractive gauges, in my opinion. At the same time, that is how I imagine the "80s retro" motif looking in a few years.
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Nov 22, 2012 11:22
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It's an interesting use of otherwise wasted space. Interesting to note all 4 seats now have seatbelt monitors.
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Nov 22, 2012 11:48
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Talking about reliability, the new Toyotas seem to be quirky more than lovely, but like was said they'll do 200,000 miles so they still get to keep their reputation. Boring looking cars, though. How anyone still buys a Honda is beyond me. Ugly rear end cars and they definitely aren't as reliable as they once were. Any newer Honda comes in to our auction with 100k+, it seems like it has more lights on than a Range Rover. The cars that are starting to surprise me with reliability is the Charger, though. We're starting to see Hemi Chargers come through with 300k+ on the clock. I knew the Hemi was a great engine having owned a car with one, but I never thought the Charger was going to be like a new version of the Panther chassis Fords when they came out.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:15
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Insert joke about Italian cars REQUIRING constant visibility of warning lights.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:17
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VikingSkull posted:The cars that are starting to surprise me with reliability is the Charger, though. We're starting to see Hemi Chargers come through with 300k+ on the clock. I knew the Hemi was a great engine having owned a car with one, but I never thought the Charger was going to be like a new version of the Panther chassis Fords when they came out. A lot of the moving parts on the LX Chargers are from Mercedes. Merc doesn't quite have the reliability rep it used to but all of the Dr Z-infused Chryslers seem to be high-endurance runners.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:27
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VikingSkull posted:The cars that are starting to surprise me with reliability is the Charger, though. We're starting to see Hemi Chargers come through with 300k+ on the clock. I knew the Hemi was a great engine having owned a car with one, but I never thought the Charger was going to be like a new version of the Panther chassis Fords when they came out. I usually prefer European cars to American/Japanese/Korean cars, but the Charger is a car I really like for some reason. There's an SRT-8 driving around Copenhagen that I see from time to time. I can't imagine how much he had to pay for it. PBCrunch posted:Insert joke about Italian cars REQUIRING constant visibility of warning lights. That's not the startup warning light check, that's normal operating condition  (Rev counter is broken, obviously)
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Nov 22, 2012 14:29
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Snowdens Secret posted:A lot of the moving parts on the LX Chargers are from Mercedes. Merc doesn't quite have the reliability rep it used to but all of the Dr Z-infused Chryslers seem to be high-endurance runners. The longer a platform's been around, the more engineering failure data you have and the more reliable it gets. For instance, both Hyundai and (until recently) most of the Japanese manufacturers tend to launch their new products in protected home markets first to try and soak up some of the first generation bugs before letting the cars enter more competitive markets like the US.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:58
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The LX platform got its start with the Eagle Premier and possibly even earlier with the Renault 25. Then it went from FWD to RWD and later incorporated some design elements in addition to parts sharing with MB, which has lead to the latter's foamers declaring that the whole thing was based on the E-class. It's interesting to see just how many iterations the design has gone through to reach its current form. The whole story is in these links: http://www.allpar.com/model/premier.html http://www.eaglecars.com/eagle-cars/history-eagle-cars.html http://www.allpar.com/cars/lx/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/10/business/company-news-chrysler-delay-on-luxury-car.html LX engineer interviews: http://www.allpar.com/history/interviews/burke-brown-lx.html http://www.allpar.com/history/interviews/burke-brown-LH-cars.html
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Nov 22, 2012 15:48
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I had no idea the LX platform went that far back, that's pretty cool.
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Nov 22, 2012 16:08
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KozmoNaut posted:(Rev counter is broken, obviously)
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Nov 22, 2012 18:17
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InitialDave posted:It's being driven by an Italian, it's on its second lap. Shift by
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Nov 23, 2012 02:39
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InitialDave posted:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20384431  Quality is job # 1
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Nov 26, 2012 01:13
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KozmoNaut posted:A neat thing I noticed in the press shots of the new Panda: The Chrysler Pacifica had a pretty cool GPS screen inside the speedometer, surprised I havent seen that in any other vehicles.
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Nov 26, 2012 03:27
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D C posted:The Chrysler Pacifica had a pretty cool GPS screen inside the speedometer, surprised I havent seen that in any other vehicles. All 3 domestic companies have them, I thought at least one of the German ones did too. Dodge Dart  Lincoln  Cadillac 
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Nov 26, 2012 03:44
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VW has it as well. I love you Throatwarbler!
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Nov 26, 2012 04:37
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Those are tiny direction screens, the Pacifica had the full map. The Cadillac one is closest. Horrible picture but this: 
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Nov 26, 2012 04:54
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Bovril Delight posted:VW has it as well. I love you Throatwarbler! Other VW group cars have similar. The 9X7 Porsches have nav in the LCD center tach. However, it only displays the current instruction and distance to turn. This makes it worse than the VW's slightly cluttered display. The new 9X1 Porsches (you know because 1 comes after 7) have nav in a separate "instrument". Which is just a second display for the center console. I've not driven 991 over any distance so I'm not sure if this is better.  I personally want to know where they found a round LCD manufacturer.
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Nov 26, 2012 06:53
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Aurune posted:I personally want to know where they found a round LCD manufacturer. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that if you disassembled the dash, you'd find that the LCD itself is square, and you're just only seeing part of it. Though I could be wrong, that's how I'd do it. Many incredibly foolish things are done in the name of good design, and if the designer says "we want a round LCD," it's your job as an engineer to figure out how to make it work.
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Nov 26, 2012 07:02
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Actually, round LCDs seem to be readily available. http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/round-lcd.html
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Nov 26, 2012 07:39
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Well Mazda, it's been fun but my true calling is coming http://www.insideline.com/buick/grand-national-gnx-and-t-type-are-returning-to-buick.html quote:Grand National, GNX and T-Type Are Returning to Buick I love the new Buicks and if this is really happening I can't see myself not getting behind the wheel of one. Rhyno fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 26, 2012 20:45
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Please god let them be just as sexy as the originals.
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Nov 26, 2012 20:54
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Super Aggro Crag posted:Please god let them be just as sexy as the originals. The new Regal is a wonderful car so I would expect some of the design language to translate over. I was seriously considering a new Regal when I was down on my vast car collection a few months back.
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Nov 26, 2012 20:59
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Oh god please yes. The new buicks even look pretty good, they could just remove some trim and only sell it in black.
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Nov 26, 2012 21:09
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This better be REALLY REALLY good. I hate when a company brings back an iconic nameplate, only to destroy it (I'm looking at you, Dodge).
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Nov 26, 2012 21:55
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Devyl posted:This better be REALLY REALLY good. I hate when a company brings back an iconic nameplate, only to destroy it (I'm looking at you, Dodge). They could have just called it the Coronet / Monaco. Or are you talking about the LOL 80s Challenger?
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Nov 26, 2012 22:04
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What are you guys talking about? I don't hate the Regal as a car or anything but what part of the Regal styling feels anything like a spiritual successor to the Grand National? Shouldn't they go for some sort of late-to-the-game modern retro styling like every other American muscle car did? If it's just some egg shaped Buick you might as well give it a different name. A new GN, like the old one, shouldn't take more than 50 polygons to render in any video game :P
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Nov 26, 2012 22:07
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Devyl posted:This better be REALLY REALLY good. I hate when a company brings back an iconic nameplate, only to destroy it (I'm looking at you, Dodge). the charger and challenger are pretty good cars. I mean bad interior and kind of fat but that describes the originals too. davebo posted:What are you guys talking about? I don't hate the Regal as a car or anything but what part of the Regal styling feels anything like a spiritual successor to the Grand National? Shouldn't they go for some sort of late-to-the-game modern retro styling like every other American muscle car did? If it's just some egg shaped Buick you might as well give it a different name. Well the old ones looked like boxes because all the cars at that time looked like boxes. The buick of now is attractive yet unremarkable, so a pretty good fit for the name. The real spirit of the Grand National is turbo charging and kind of aggressive yet generic styling.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:13
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Cream_Filling posted:They could have just called it the Coronet / Monaco. Or are you talking about the LOL 80s Challenger? I'm talking about how Dodge destroyed the Challenger name. It should've been a V8 only. I can see the R/T package, but a watered down V6 with automatic transmission? Weak.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:14
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davebo posted:What are you guys talking about? I don't hate the Regal as a car or anything but what part of the Regal styling feels anything like a spiritual successor to the Grand National? Shouldn't they go for some sort of late-to-the-game modern retro styling like every other American muscle car did? If it's just some egg shaped Buick you might as well give it a different name. The funny thing is that the Cadillac ATS, suitably blacked out, is closer to that ideal than the current Regal is. 
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Nov 26, 2012 22:20
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Devyl posted:I'm talking about how Dodge destroyed the Challenger name. It should've been a V8 only. I can see the R/T package, but a watered down V6 with automatic transmission? Weak. Err the original Challenger came with a Slant Six that only made like a 100 hp. All pony cars get subsidized by secretary specials. If you're talking about destroying nameplates, the 4 cylinder only rebadged Mitsubishi Galant from the 80s is a far better example. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 26, 2012 22:27
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Devyl posted:I'm talking about how Dodge destroyed the Challenger name. It should've been a V8 only. I can see the R/T package, but a watered down V6 with automatic transmission? Weak. They didn't destroy anything? Low end Challengers in 70s came with a Slant6. They are just doing with the Challenger what Ford and Chevy are doing with the Mustang/Camaro. V6 models for volume, V8s on the upper end of that, and than that cash get funneled into crazy town low volume projects like the GT500 and ZL1. Next gen Challenger is going smaller and on a different platform, if they even keep that nameplate.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:35
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Devyl posted:I'm talking about how Dodge destroyed the Challenger name. It should've been a V8 only. I can see the R/T package, but a watered down V6 with automatic transmission? Weak. hate to break it to you but watered down v6s and autos are just as much a part of muscle car history as V8s and sticks. If anything we're lucky some of these new v6 versions are decent enough in their own right.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:36
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Xguard86 posted:hate to break it to you but watered down v6s and autos are just as much a part of muscle car history as V8s and sticks. Everyone gotta lose sometime.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:37
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