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Throatwarbler posted:It's not glossy so you can tell its real wood. I don't like wood panelling on most cars so don't feel strongly about it either way but at least it wont blind you in sunlight. It looks like the kitchen cabinets in a cheap vacation home circa 1960s.
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Jan 2, 2012 17:37
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It's not NEW new (it was presented at the Geneva 2011 show), but gently caress me, the Citroën Metropolis DS9 concept is sex on wheels. Weird, laid back, silky-smooth French sex with a bit of jazz in the background. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PNcuG7N9Vc Considering how close the C6 turned out to be to the original C6 Lignage concept, I have high hopes for this one. I know with 100% certainty that there is a large, hydropneumatic Citroën in my future. My current plans are for a used C6, but with some luck, perhaps a DS9 could be in the cards someday.  I hope they raise the roof line or lower the belt line just a little bit, but that's modern car design for you. Big Citroëns. You either love to hate them, or hate to love them.
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Jan 2, 2012 21:02
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Throatwarbler posted:Looking at Audi.de, the GVWR of the V12 Q7 is 3405kg. The EPA's cutoff for "passenger vehicle" is 8,500lbs or 3856kg. All they would have to do is beef it up a little more (if that, GVWR is just a theoretical number anyway) and it would cross over into the same category as an F-350 Superduty and be emissions legal. I'm baffled as to why they haven't already thought of this because the demand for such a vehicle in the US and Canada must be enormous. A 500HP 6-liter V12 diesel SUV that gets 19MPG. Sure, why not? 
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Jan 5, 2012 16:51
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InitialDave posted:All of it, though, pales in comparison to manufacturers saying "Hey, we made the plastic silver, it's just like aluminium, right?". I hate metallic plastic so much. Shiny metallic plastic for reflectors and the like are great, but it seems like everything needs to be crappy metal-lookalike plastic these days. It's not just cars, it's everywhere. Goddammit. If you want something to look like metal, make it out of loving metal!
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Jan 6, 2012 19:53
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law abiding rapist posted:Fun game, count the number of cars you see with fake metallic plastic strips on both the trunk and grille. It's like some sort of cross-manufacturer design language to say "we have run out of good design sense so here's some bling" It's more or less all of them and it drives me nuts. Luckily, mine only has plastichrome strips on the front, on the other hand, the current loving Fiat logo itself is ringed with plastichrome  I'll admit it looks ok on some cars:  (I have no idea if that is actual metal or plastichrome) Actually, I dislike matte brushed aluminum-look plastic more. It looks so tacky and you know they could have used a proper color instead, but chose the crappy-rear end fake aluminum, like on hubcaps to make them look like alloys. MATLAB 1988 posted:"what's the cheapest way to make this poo poo look expensive?" Thankfully, VWvortex is battling the wave of plastichrome with plastidip spray. I like that $15k cars are riddled with plastichrome, LEDzzz under headlamps and bangle butts because luxury car makers Did A Thing in 2005. I think that's precisely the reasoning they use and it always ends up looking like rear end. I am highly tempted to repaint the thankfully limited plastichrome and fake-alu bits on my car. I'm thinking satin black for the plastichrome and satin black or body color for the fake-alu.
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Jan 6, 2012 20:47
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Cream_Filling posted:What ever happened to black nickel plate finishes? Weren't they all the rage for badge emblems and stuff in the 90s? That stuff is pretty boss. That would actually look pretty cool. But it's probably not "ooh shiny" enough for the buying public 
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Jan 7, 2012 10:15
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Throatwarbler posted:The Dodge Dart is revealed. I like the rear lights a lot and the interior looks pretty good. I'm not completely sold on the front, but I think they did a good job of integrating the crosshair grill without letting it dominate.
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Jan 7, 2012 17:49
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IOwnCalculus posted:Not in the USA. The 335d is automatic only here. All the 35d cars are automatic-only everywhere. Something about the torque destroying clutches.
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Jan 9, 2012 16:56
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ynotony posted:This Audi new spot is much better: The vampire one isn't bad, it's just sort of bland, but that one is brilliant.
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Jan 26, 2012 22:04
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SouthLAnd posted:That right there is drat sexy. They've become the standard go-to company car to replace the Mondeo over here, so there's like a million billion of them on the road, all driven by wankers.
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Feb 15, 2012 12:41
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dissss posted:I really think Holden missed a trick by not importing these to compete with the Mondeo - that awful Cruze isn't even available in a wagon and of course no diesel in the Commodore is increasingly becoming an issue. They really did. The current Opel lineup is very solid.
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Feb 15, 2012 23:34
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kimbo305 posted:I could use a few more extra vertical grill lines, but maybe that'd make it more  Perhaps?
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Feb 26, 2012 13:14
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Un-l337-Pork posted:It looks great from most angles, that just that one in particular made me think of... Welp, that knocks my suggestion out of the water.
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Feb 26, 2012 16:17
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davebo posted:Anything electric will never be just like an old V8, and shouldn't really try. Let's find something new and awesome they can do. Can we fix it so when you mash the pedal in an EV it emits a blinding white light and then 2 seconds later makes a booming thunder sound? All EVs have some serious management of the accelerator going on, otherwise the instant full torque will roast your tires instantly any time you aren't perfectly gentle with the throttle. This is even more important on electric motorcycles, otherwise the jump from no torque to full torque in only a few degrees of the throttle is a killer, literally. Think about it. Even the most basic electric car or motorcycle needs to be reigned in significantly to stop it smoking the tires everywhere or bucking you off like a mad bronco. Badass enough for you?
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Feb 28, 2012 21:30
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davebo posted:When I said it wouldn't be like a V8, I was referring to Keyser's desire for a Prius to "rumble" like a big V8. Badass performance is all well and good but Keyser wants the sound. I still say lightning and thunder is a good alternative, and if they want to implement some speaker system for all EV's so blind pedestrians can hear, you've got the thunder and just add some electric noises like your car is one big Tesla coil. Yeah, you'd never get sound like an ICE out of an electric motor. Noise equals wasted energy and electrics are simply too efficient. Personally, I like the new turbine-like whine you can hear in the cabin under full acceleration, but it's not particularly loud on the outside. I think thunder could be a good "powerful electric motor" sound, especially the whipcrack+lightning sound a lot of special effects guys love. Do a low rolling thunder for lower revs, too.
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Feb 29, 2012 10:41
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I'm not sure I'm completely sold on the new Panda's interior. The engines are obviously neat (I really want a turbo twinair) and from what I've heard, the ride is better and more refined, but the design is sort of odd. Old:  Functional and straight-forward, I really like the center console. New:  Squircles everywhere! Body-color accents! I dunno, it just looks odd to me.
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Apr 19, 2012 20:14
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InitialDave posted:This is a Panda interior: What kind of luxury Panda is that? Where are the hammock seats? 
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Apr 20, 2012 09:57
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I like it, it feels like they stopped while they were ahead and didn't end up overdesigning everything.
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Apr 20, 2012 20:00
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davebo posted:Well I'm not going to bother converting your wacky gigajoules or whatever to horsepower or your upside-down kangaroo dollars to greenbacks, but clearly this is the car I want instead of the Fusion I'll end up buying in the Fall. 1 kW = 1.34 HP
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Apr 23, 2012 19:19
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Seat Safety Switch posted:In the '04 STI, Subaru stripped as much of the sound deadening as they could out of it, including the doors. This meant that the doors sounded sort of hollow and lovely when you slam it, and people bitched. The well-known Mercedes bank vault-like thunk is apparently achieved by putting bits of styrofoam in various parts of the door to deaden the sound. The blocks even have Mercedes emblems stamped into them. At least, that's how it was in my parents 80s and 90s Mercedes 190s and C-class.
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Apr 25, 2012 22:31
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Throatwarbler posted:
I was going to say that it's the most transparent ripoff ever of a Fiat Multipla, but it seems they're building them under license. Good for them, it's a great and ridiculously practical car.
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Apr 28, 2012 01:07
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kronix posted:Does anyone know how the overboost function will work? From what I understand you get 15 seconds of extra boost when you push it. How are those dyno numbers going to look? I don't know, but I'd sure as hell rewire it as a toggle switch rather than a button.
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May 1, 2012 16:41
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davebo posted:MazDodge is fine but Fiysler? Sometimes I have a hard time with all your wacky names, AI. Chrat? Chryfi? Fisler? There is no good option.
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May 24, 2012 08:25
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Linedance posted:chriat - pronounced "kree-at" A Skoda+Fiat merger would have been so much better. "Fiasko".
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May 24, 2012 11:34
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VikingSkull posted:Ma Benz taking over Chrysler was one of the worst things that ever happened to it. They took a profitable company and loving destroyed it. Sergio Marchionne is a pretty cool guy. He's also a supercar enthusiast and logs a lot of track time in Ferraris, Maseratis etc. And he's lived in Canada for a number of years, so he's not completely foreign to the automotive needs and wants of North America. He's probably the best thing that has ever happened to Fiat. He even moved his CEO office from the penthouse down to the engineering department to promote a more collegial style. That's a pretty cool move if you ask me. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 14:16 on May 30, 2012 |
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May 30, 2012 14:12
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Looks like it's installed longitudinal in this application. I don't think it'd be all that easy to stuff a twin turbo V6 into an FWD car nowadays, even ignoring the fact that GM would have a hard time selling it (both at the price point as well as the inevitable insurance premiums). Isn't the Verano FWD and isn't the 250hp 2.0L Ecotec an I4? Why would they install it longitudinally?
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Jun 12, 2012 20:16
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I thought we were still talking about the twin turbo in the Cadillac CTS up above and missed the Buick Verano post. Sorry everybody. It is possible to fit a twin-turbo V6 in an FWD car, BTW. The Opel Insignia OPC has a transverse 2.8L twin-turbo V6 and AWD, but the base car is FWD. I have no idea why GM doesn't bring it to the US as a new GNX. But I'll never own one, because gently caress doing any kind of service in that engine bay. Opel must own the biggest shoehorn in the entire world.
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Jun 12, 2012 20:41
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I doubt you could trivially fit it in the Cruze (the Insignia is mid-size, right?), but probably someone will eventually try even if GM hasn't. I'm sure it's possible. Hell, some nutter put two VR6s in a Lupo, so anything is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1aKoNlaBWs 
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Jun 12, 2012 21:17
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Throatwarbler posted:Right now you can get: "None of those are RWD with a stick shift  "
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Jun 13, 2012 12:57
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Ford just doesn't offer enough fun cars in its lineup!
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Faerunner posted:You've got a weird idea of "fun" You've got a very narrow definition of "fun".
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Jun 13, 2012 14:30
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Faerunner posted:Well... I can't deny that. Enjoy your minivan I guess. You bet I would if it had a twin-turbo 355hp V6 and AWD.
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Jun 13, 2012 14:45
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assfucker420 posted:The days of [...] fun-driving econocars are gone Look at how wrong you are. Hot hatches today are more capable than ever. The Ford Fiesta and Focus, and the Mazda 2 and 3 are among some of the best-handling cars you can get for reasonable money. Even Kia and Hyundai are getting into the small fun car segment. If you can't find an economical car that is still fun to drive in today's market, you're just not looking hard enough.
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Jun 15, 2012 09:38
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davebo posted:Give me the tl;dr version. Is that wagon version coming to America? I will be pissed either way. You're so cute when you're being naïve like that :bigtran:
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Jun 19, 2012 16:50
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sanchez posted:Is the Astra not an astonishingly boring econobox anymore? I've only heard good stuff about the Astra J.
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Jun 19, 2012 19:55
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grover posted:That's.... not really any better. Competent well-handling small car platform with a perky engine and good gas mileage. What's not to like?
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Jun 22, 2012 11:56
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Whip Slagcheek posted:
I don't think so. RWD just doesn't matter to most people, in everyday driving you'd be very hard pressed to feel any difference, especially in a small car like the 1-series when compared to say, a Mazda 3 or a Honda Civic.
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Jun 23, 2012 16:15
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Jesus. A lot of stupid car owners out there.
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Whip Slagcheek posted:I'm saying more along the lines of, if you own a car you should know the basics like whether your car is FWD, RWD, or AWD. Its not asking a lot. The problem is that most people just don't care. They get in the car, push the pedals and turn the steering wheel, and it gets them from A to B. Sometimes they take it in for a service, but they have no idea what actually goes on during said servicing. They look at the bill, conclude that it all sounds very technical and pay whatever the nice salesman asks them to. These people buy a BMW because of the prestige associated with the badge and because it's a luxury car with added Euro-exclusivity on top. They care about comfortable leather seats, good air conditioning and most often a smooth automatic gearbox.
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Jun 23, 2012 17:10
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Sinestro posted:My favorite BMW in modern times was the 1M, so I am sad that it presumably isn't coming back/will be turned into a piece of poo poo. Yeah, because all FWD cars ever are like basically just turds on wheels. Right, man? 
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Jun 23, 2012 23:55
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PT6A posted:FWD correlates strongly with "lovely" even if it's not responsible for it. I think it's more a case of "being fun to drive" is rather low on the priority list for most manufacturers' mainstream cars. They're designed primarily for comfort, economy and practicality, because that's what most people want. Of course, some manufacturers try to buck the trend a bit, which is why companies like Alfa Romeo, Mazda, Ford etc. are generally praised for their great-handling everyday FWD cars. On the flip side, they're also generally criticized for stiff suspensions, road noise and lacking interior trim quality. AI is an enthusiast forum, so of course we value "fun to drive" higher than most people. Which is exactly why my list of cars I'm looking to buy next contains stuff like the Mazda 3 and the Ford Focus. I don't care much about interior quality or a pillow-soft ride, but I do care about how fun the car is to drive. Cream_Filling posted:To be fair, 335+ hp like in the 1M in a FWD car would be pretty bad. They could still have a performance model, but it wouldn't be a mini-M3 like the 1M is supposed to be. They'd have to either cut the power and cut a lot of weight or else do up some sort of AWD system to handle that level of power, both of which makes it less likely that a future 1M would be more available than the current one. There is definitely a limit to how much power you can put through FWD before it starts to get unwieldy. Watch the Top Gear review of the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA. 250HP through the front wheels and no LSD nor AWD is just too much. Same with the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra OPC/VXR. Too much power for the chassis to handle. But as the Mazdaspeed 3 and Focus RS has shown, with an LSD and a proper setup, 260hp or even 300hp to the front wheels can work pretty well, if you know what you're doing. I don't think BMW would ever make a FWD M-car. But then again, we also didn't think they'd ever make an M-car that wasn't naturally aspirated, and look at their current line-up. Turbos everywhere. AdmiralViscen posted:I disagree, I think it is very obvious even in normal driving. That depends on your definition of "normal driving"  I drove my parents' Mercedes 190 2.5 turbodiesel for years, and that had plenty of torque for various shenanigans. But compared to their current Citroën C5? No difference in everyday driving at all. If anything, the C5 feels a lot more confident on roundabouts and long sweeping corners. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 12:45 on Jun 24, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 12:39
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dissss posted:And most RWD cars don't? Considering most RWD cars these days are outright sports or muscle cars, the statistics get skewed a lot. There aren't a lot of new humdrum workaday RWD cars anymore. I guess you could make a case that the lower-tier BMWs are humdrum and workaday, but they're about the only ones left. Even then, they're still towards the luxury end of the scale.
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Jun 24, 2012 20:53
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