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What hot hatch do you own? This poll is closed. |
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| Golf GTI / R / R32 |
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196 | 0.02% |
| Impreza WRX / STi |
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133 | 0.01% |
| Mazdaspeed 3 |
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92 | 0.01% |
| Veloster Turbo |
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20 | 0.00% |
| Focus ST |
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149 | 0.01% |
| Other Hot Hatch |
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230 | 0.02% |
| Elantra GT |
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1000001 | 99.92% |
| Total: | 1000821 votes | ||
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We took our GTI down to Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown for the weekend to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and while we were out walking around our car made a friend in the parking lot of the Yorktown Battlefield's visitors center. Ours is a 2014 GTI Driver's Edition and the friend is a Mk. I (?) Jetta TDI. I say 'ours' because the GTI is mostly my wife's car, but I have visitation rights with it once or twice a week to make sure that it gets some highway miles to go with her mostly in-town driving. It's a proper three pedal model and the weather was perfect yesterday to make use of the sunroof.
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Apr 10, 2017 22:13
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 09:53 |
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I received our custom plates for the GTI earlier this week and slapped them on after work yesterday. It's my wife's car and she's from Southern France; go look it up, it's very appropriate especially when you dump the car into 3rd and suddenly find yourself doing 80mph.  Fake edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_(wind) Arishtat fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Apr 21, 2017 |
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Apr 21, 2017 10:40
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AvesPKS posted:I like the Maryland flag but I do not like the new Maryland plates for some reason. Not that I really like the 1812 plates either. The new design for the plates is definitely better than the 1812 plates, but I'm pissed that I didn't get in on the 2014 retro black and yellow plates when they were available. Oh well. The car is still a bucket of fun, it's a 2014 Driver's Edition in not-quite-black Carbon Steel Grey and both my wife and I love taking it out around town. It's my first 'fast' car and already it has me looking with a different set of criteria at what will replace my daily driver which is an '09 Jetta SportWagen, yes the dieselgate version.
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Apr 22, 2017 11:06
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I'm partial to the white sans center caps option.
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Dec 13, 2017 16:50
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angryrobots posted:I think the PCV baffle plate on my 13 FoST needs to be resealed, got a small oil leak from that area. Considering swapping it for the Radium plate which also comes with their PCV valve. They claim the OEM valve is leaky under boost. It also has a second hole for a dual catch can setup or whatever; everything I read says "don't bother" but hey, extra ports. I'm curious to see the pics because I just did a quick look-see on my 2009 R56 Mini Cooper which is supposed to be notorious for carbon buildup on the valve stems and it was really fricking clean in there. My car has ~118k miles on the odometer and I only really know about how it was cared for since ~90k miles as the previous owner just handed me his maintenance records folder. Unfortunately I didn't take pics but I do have a vacuum hose to reattach so when I take the intake manifold off to sort that out I'll see if I can grab pics. Curious: Which borescope did you get? The one I have was a gift and the frame rate is horribly bad. I'd like to get a better one but not spend a mint on it.  Pic for the pics gods, this is me doing an at-home block integrity test because I flubbed replacing the thermostat and boiled off most of the engine's coolant a couple of months ago. (It passed.) I am however still chasing coolant leak gremlins but the leak is now down to acceptable levels such that I can drive the car locally and only top off a bit every couple of days. BMW's plastics and overcomplicated piping can go die. Hopefully the part I have on order will once and for all sort this problem out because I'm tired of telling my spouse that I think I've fixed the problem only to have moved it to a different portion of the system. I really love driving this car but the troubleshooting is making me wish I'd bought a BRZ or or a Miata or an S2000 or something instead.
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Sep 23, 2020 11:33
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PT6A posted:Yes, I did that with my Mustang (not totaled but damaged) and it was dreadful in a completely different way. Yes these things are only objects, widgets created by man, but ultimately is it not a stranger person who holds no feeling toward anything, rather than a person who feels ways about a car, or a favourite shirt, or a treasured musical instrument, or a nice painting, or a houseplant? Our relationships with humans and pets are different, of course, but my life would seem empty if I didn't feel ways about things in general. Not in a consumeristic sense like "a more expensive, faster car will make me feel better," just that I am quite attached to certain things for sentimental reasons. I don't want a new Golf R, I don't want an RS3, I don't want a loving Ferrari to replace my car (though I'd have one in addition to it, happily, if someone were to hand them out), I want my car, it's precious to me as more than the sum of its parts. I hear you PT6A. It's not rational or even perhaps healthy to get attached to a car but here we are. I hope your R gets fixed and returned to you. Speaking of which I finally caved and delivered my Mini to my mechanic to hopefully solve the coolant leak once and for all (lol, just kidding it's a BMW product). The car isn't really that fast or comfortable or even safe but when it's working I get the dumbest grin on my face because it loves to be driven hard.  Hot hatch peeps: Please keep your fingers crossed for the health of PT6A's Golf Arrrrrrr and my little croissant getter.
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Oct 6, 2020 11:35
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The Mini lives! My friendly mechanic traced the problem to the water pump itself, replaced it and gave the car an actual pressure test which is something I wasn't able to do in my own garage.  He also pointed out that my shocks are pretty much done and that I should replace them ASAP so I'm shopping around for the best deal to be found on a set of Koni Special Actives for the R56.
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Oct 16, 2020 23:29
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This is happening: The car's on the stock suspension from Nov 2008 when it rolled out of the factory in Oxford, England. Some components have already been replaced, but at 120K miles it's past due. In addition to the above I have a complete set of shock tower mounts waiting in a box in the garage because I picked it up from ECS on special. HOWEVER in deference to the spouse's wishes before any of the above gets purchased I owe her (us) a bathroom rehab so there's that. For actual content though last weekend I hooked up a ScanGauge so that I can monitor some sensors that BMW saw fit to not display directly and instead use idiot lights to let you know when your Mini is about to boil over.  All routed, mounted, and zip tied up  Tried to match the gauge color, but the ScanGauge's color choices are very limited (0/33/66/100% of red, green, and blue respectively)  Went a different way and set it to bright blue and then changed the cabin 'mood lighting' (yes the car has that feature, it has RGB accent lighting in the overhead console and B pillars) to match it, we'll see how that goes for a while It's a little tough to read the gauge in the last image, but in person it's very crisp and clear. We'll see if that holds on a sunny day. I've set it to show intake air temperature, water temperature, and engine oil temperature in Centigrade and then manifold absolute pressure for the 4th gauge. The MAP gauge is driving me a little nuts because it's not as well documented as I would hope. I think it's showing PSI less normal atmospheric pressure. Does anyone else have one of these and can chime in? Originally I had it set to show estimated boost pressure but that gave wildly negative numbers even when the car was clearly on boost (or at least so I thought, it's hard to do data analysis and keep the thing on the road at the same time so not dying or hitting things took precedence, natch). Arishtat fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Oct 21, 2020 |
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Oct 21, 2020 12:22
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prom candy posted:I will basically say what up to anyone driving any enthusiast car prom candy knows what’s up.
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Jan 12, 2022 02:30
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Ok Comboomer posted:I really want one of those Gundam Type-Rs OK now I really want to see one fully dolled up...and they already exist because of course: Reddit r/Gundam 
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Sep 5, 2022 08:34
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MunchE posted:the Giulia is positioned as a direct competitor to the 3 series in size and price The only entity that thinks BMW is a true luxury brand is BMW.
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Sep 28, 2022 18:39
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Residency Evil posted:I mean I don't know what a "true luxury brand" is, but I bet most Americans would consider BMW to be a luxury car since we don't really get any of the low end/stripper models here. Sorry. I'm just a little salty at having to replace just about every plastic bit that I touch on my car. Dr. Lunchables posted:It has been concluded that since there is no wagon thread, the hatch thread must be their safe haven. I for one welcome our long roof friends. Hatches and wagons are like peas and carrots.
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Sep 29, 2022 11:06
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Hi thread, meet Snowflake: Snowflake is a 2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP, chassis # 2396.  OK cool that's a real mouthful, but what does that mean? The short version is that it's a special edition Mini track car which just so happens to be street legal. Mini produced a GP model for every generation of 'new' Mini since BMW bought the marque. This one is a 3rd generation Mini which oddly is the first generation powered by a BMW motor! Specs: Seats: 2 Horsepower: 306 HP @ 5000 rpm (225 KW) Torque: 331 Lb-Ft @ 1750 rpm (450 Nm) Curb weight: 2855 Lbs (1298 Kg) Performance: Top speed: 165 mph (266 km/h) 0-60 mph / 0-100 kph time: 5.2 s Drive type: FWD Transmission: 8-speed auto OK now that we have the boring numbers out of the way, let's talk about how this whole deal happened because that's the real story here. Refill your coffee, grab a cookie, and strap in. It was a dark and stormy night... I was eating dinner with some friends and mentioned that I was looking at buying a new daily and that I wanted something that could also be fun for autocross or HPDE. My friend gets this weird grin on his face, slides his phone over my way, and says, "How about this?"  Oh.  Oh my.   A brief swoon ensued. When I recovered my wits the conversation went something like this: Me "Who and how do you know them?"Friend  "He's a friend of my brother's, <brother> is visiting him at the moment." "And how much does he want for it?" "<ridiculously under market price>." "What, why?" "<seller> is getting divorced, it's his wife's car."There was more to it, but tl:dr is I asked my friend to let the seller know that I was very interested, but needed 24 hours to run this harebrained scheme past my spouse because I didn't want to be following the seller in filing divorce papers for buying the car! Shockingly my spouse agreed and I reached out to the seller, verified the price and made arrangements to travel to purchase the car. The deal came with two conditions: one, should I ever decide to sell the car he gets first dibs; two, when I take the Mini to the Dragon I have to let him know so he can meet me there in this:  After some minor schedule rearrangements I flew out to Dallas, TX bright and early on the 2nd of November where the seller met me at the airport in the Mini. (Side note: My wife really pushed to have me fly out, buy the car, and have it shipped home but that's not very AI now is it?) After putting away a 2nd breakfast we did the paperwork, ran around and collected various bits that belonged to the car, packed it to the gills and prepared to embark on a 1500 mile drive home.  Nothing to see here, just some wheels and stuff  Factory midpipe nestled under the luggage bar Next stop, Memphis, TN! To be continued...
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Dec 28, 2023 18:11
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devmd01 posted:A hot hatch that can go faster than my V8 genesis did is bonkers. As is the aero on that thing. I just got tired of losing to Fiesta STs in my R56 and chose the nuclear option. (We should hang out.) And yeah, the #1 question I've gotten from people in parking lots is, "What is up with that wing?" And then they don't believe me when I say it's factory. It's not quite as boy racer as say a Civic Type R but it's got a lot of personality. Arishtat fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 21:16
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sarcastx posted:Hell yeah, nice ride Arishtat! As a friend of the previous owner put it, "This car will sneak up on you if you let it." Fortunately my previous car was pretty good training for this one, just nowhere near as powerful. Per the previous owner his rationale for the aftermarket wheels was twofold: one, additional width to run wider tires for grip; two, they'd be easier to repair than the factory wheels in case the driver curbed them I'll probably end up using them as track wheels. It seems like a waste to just keep them in the basement as lightweight as they are.
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Jan 5, 2024 22:23
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Travic posted:I've been driving a Civic Si and I absolutely love it. I've also gotten the car bug and now I want more. I was thinking about an FL5 Civic Type R. I know they're hard to get, but I might as well try right? I'm looking for the increased power and sharpness from the Type R. I'd be using it for my daily driver and some spirited back road driving. Little to no track time. That's funny because virtually all of the reviews that compare hot hatches against one another call out the Civic Type R as the most daily-friendly of the bunch.
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Jan 17, 2024 21:20
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Last weekend I corrected an oversight on the part of Mini's engineering department; to wit, they neglected to put any tie downs in the trunk area. I am a firm believer that every vehicle in my household must pull its own weight and a staunch believer in cargo staying in the cargo area so I took it into my own hands to correct Mini's failing. First I researched OEM cargo tie-downs, found a part number which of course cross-references with a bunch of BMW models so I was able to source a set of four used ones for less than I would have paid for a pair of new ones from the dealer. Then I commenced drilling:  I used two existing holes in the chassis crossbar, but needed to enlarge them to fit an M6 rivet nut. Also I drilled two additional holes for the locator pins on the back of the tie-down loops. Et voila!  And a gratuitous 'If it fits I sits' pic: 
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Feb 16, 2024 19:07
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I still have no frigging idea of how I haven’t gotten a ticket on any of the three Minis in the household. My daughter and I took their red one out for a run with the DC Metro Minis crew and I drove that thing like I stole it. Any time a twisty bit came up we were in 2nd or 3rd with that little B38 3 cylinder singing the song of its people at 4000+ rpm.
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Feb 21, 2024 05:22
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I, err, wildly underestimated how much I'd be driving the new Mini in a year. It didn't help that ownership kicked off with a 1500 mile drive back home, but it looks like I'll be hitting the 5k miles mark around May 1st and I entered myself for a full season of autocross competitions so it's getting an oil change and tire rotation because some jerk can't stop hooning it. Slightly less fun was cleaning up copious amounts of brake dust from the wheels  I regret nothing! 
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Apr 10, 2024 20:08
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carticket posted:I don't have any context for how long it has taken you to put on 5k miles, but my car that has 25 miles on December 12th is about to pass 10k miles right around the 4 month of ownership mark. Whoops, I'll have owned it for six months on or about the 1st of May this year.
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Apr 10, 2024 20:36
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Roundup Ready posted:Question for mini owners. Since my GTI is basically grounded while I figure things out, I'm trying to get an 08 Cooper s roadworthy again. It needs a new battery, but I'm seeing conflicting accounts online about needing to have a tech program it, which I obviously lack to equipment to do. I saw something about an IBS (lol) system, which seems like a little box attached to the negative terminal, which I do not have. Any advice? Don't want to go but a battery and swap it for it to not work. Really glad I was lazy and never got around to selling it now that my primary is functionally f'd for a while. If your battery’s negative cable has an electronics box on it near the battery terminal then yes you’ll need to use a diagnostic tool to tell the IBS that you’ve replaced the battery so that the alternator charges it properly. If that box isn’t there then no IBS and no calibration required. On early 2nd generation ‘new’ Minis (2007-2010) odds are there will not be an IBS module. If your car does have the IBS module it can be managed using BimmerLink (tell IBS that your replaced the battery with a new one of the same spec) and Bimmercode (tell car you have a different Ah battery from stock). Arishtat fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 01:52
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 09:53 |
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Roundup Ready posted:Replaced the battery today and the mini lives again! Now just to get tabs, swap insurance, rotate the tires, oil/fluids... Nice, it's good to hear about a 2nd generation Mini going back on the road!
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Apr 15, 2024 21:01
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