[quote]AH-HUANG: (spraying betelnet juice in eight directions) I really want a sportscar like my pal Ah-Gyong but since I just blew all my money on KTV and gambling I don’t think I can quite stretch to a Porsche…
CHEESY CAR SALESMAN: well sir, with such rosy red lips as yours I can see that such a man of distinction is looking for style, grace, and most importantly … Complete Tosser?[/quote]
Funny stuff!
[quote]my mum likes her new maxda 3. well, she is nearly 70 and never revs over about 4000, so it might suit her. .
and if it is anything like her old escort mk II, which recieved no oil change for about fifteen years, it will be a reliable solid uninspiring car. until she handed it on to me and i broke it in short order. i thought ford escorts were meant to be thrown around dirt roads like that. ( i did actually change the oil though)[/quote]
I busted my Escort in two short months. Of course, I was 18 at the time, and was tearing around my city in the thing like it was an M3.
I drove one last week. Very sluggish, and the innards were nothing to shout about. It did have nice ‘Rice Rocket’ decals on the outside though…
Would you consider the 3 as the BMW-3 for the “dream-of-owning-one-but-can’t-afford-it”, as the Cefiro and Camri are the E-200 for the “dream-of-owning-one-but-can’t-afford-it”? Makes sense, indeed.
Lev[/quote]
They are totally different cars though. The 3, the Cefiro and the Camri are all FWD while the BMW and the Mercedes are RWD. I don’t think buyers would cross-shop these, especially in a place like Taiwan.
I don’t know if the average driver of a Cefiro or Camri actually knows that his car is a FWD and that a merc is not.
Looking around me in my company, these are middle-age, middle-management, middle-salary, middle-everything guys who are dreaming of the Benz status that their middle-salary does not allow them get.
Per KG, the Cefiro and Camry are very cheap cars, so not a driver’s or enthusiast choice. It’s just the biggest stuffs small money can buy.
For the 3, I don’t know anybody driving one, so, I’m just guessing…
Talking about RWD, my first car was a Volvo 360GLS. Built like a Panzer - but weighting a surprisingly light 1 Ton, 1.7L Renault engine with huge double carburetor (to be tuned every week end), that was REAL fun. Feeling like Holiday on ice all the time… Nostalgia…
I bought a new Honda Accord 2.0 a couple years ago…and it’s gutless in every way…but it’s built like a rock and hasn’t flinched at the thrashing I have to give it in order to constantly overtake fools on the roads…it handled like crap until I realised that that the dealership only inflated the tires (touring efforts from Bridgestone) to 32psi…I put them up to 40psi and the really crap handling has now become marginally crap…
I originally wanted a compact car, but at the time, the 5th generation VW Golf wasn’t out and all other European compact cars were fetching high prices with little performance on offer…I tried out a few Japanese compact cars but just didn’t fit into any of them comfortably…so the Accord wasn’t a bad choice for the money what it offerred at the time…and it seems to have a rather decent resale value…
…but I wouldn’t go as low as a Mazda 3 or Honda Civic. (the new edition’s interior was surely designed by a crackhead. Not to mention that it has no performance at all.)
yeah the old hondas are pretty tough, just like their bikes. as they age, they get very creaky and cranky and parts fall off the inside and the outside, but the engines and transmissions just cannot be killed with a big stick. well, under normal conditions…
i think they call that ‘overengineering’. some people would say its not worth carrying around all that extra weight.
so, votes for ‘bestest ever cars i could dream for’ seem to be falling into audi’s lap here. TT or RS6? we need a shootout. anybody know a friendly audi dealer?
maybe that’s hp measured at the crank, before the auto-transmission and the differential, and with the emission controls taken off, and with a 3 inch straight through exhaust, and with a 50mm throttle body with three injectors per cylinder…
I love big, bad German 'auto’s - Audi is doing really well at the moment, with their big front grill. BMW always fails with cosmetics, Merc has pullled up nicely with some super-power cars.
I’m young-ish, single, no kids - so Audi TT, or the Chrysler Crossfire…
Sounds a bit common and “cheap” for a “dream”, to me
That’s just cars that one could get with a bit more money, or a different family situation, or in another country… Lack of ambition, for a “dream”, IMHO
hey, i’d agree. ideally you’d have an endless garage, and no matter the environment or the cost. qa different car for each job, including just running to the shops to get a pint of milk in a 1927 Stutz bearcat, or ging out for a cruise along the beachfront in an open-top mustang mach III or a 59 t-bird… a stately drive through traffic downtown in a 1960s Rolls silver shadow… a few laps of nurburgring in a well-fettled d-type jag, followed by an F40 ferrari for comparison.
the car i’d really want to own would be a porsche 993 somethingie or other. i’ve been in a porsche, so i know what i am mising out on by not having one. but i have little to compare with it… who knows what other ars are like. its not like you realy win many friends by spending all your weekends at the same classic car dealers going for ‘test-rides’.
the car i’d like to have and use but not own would be a Bugatti Veyron. how could you ask for anything else?
but as an all-rounder, you’d be hard pressed to beat the audi S6 wagon…
or the Hummer. the big fat H2 i think. just the thing to park in taipei. anywhere you want, really. road too narrow? what road?
[quote]Sounds a bit common and “cheap” for a “dream”, to me
That’s just cars that one could get with a bit more money, or a different family situation, or in another country… Lack of ambition, for a “dream”, IMHO[/quote]
Well, I’d personally settle for a TT right now.
But in this situation, and this country, it’s feet and taxis…
Having been a car tuner here in the past, I’ve been exposed to countless of “A-Huang” types before… :fume: :s
Me: What? You want flames to come out of your exhaust?
A-Huang: Yes, a great big ball of fire! (spews a binlang fireball to make his point)
Me: When you see a car spewing flames from the exhaust, it’s not on purpose… it’s just the way the car is tuned!
A-Huang: Well, if you can’t do it then I’ll find someone who can!
*** The next day ***
A-Huang: Hey look! My car can make fireballs!!
Me: ???
A-Huang revs his car in neutral and presses a button resulting in a loud POP and a fireball from his exhaust. Upon closer inspection, I find a spark plug mounted to the exhaust tip wired to a control box. Apparently, when he revs the engine and presses the button, the control box cuts the ignition resulting in raw fuel spraying into the exhaust which is then ignited by the spark plug! Kids! Don’t try this at home!! :loco:
What I’ve done before to a friend’s A4 is exactly the opposite of what the A-Huang episode a couple of pages back described. We started out with a regular A4 1.8L turbo. Switched out the engine for a 2.7L Biturbo with a 6-speed gearbox, rebuilt the suspension to better than RS4 spec (IMHO), the usual tires/wheels package, and RS4 gauges. The new engine was retuned for better output (make that a LOT better output). The result was a car that cost half that of a RS4 and performed as good if not better. The lower weight of the 2.7L Biturbo engine (compared to the 4.2L V8 in the RS4) made for handling that was a lot more balanced resulting in a lot less front tire wear. Looking at that A4, you’d never know it was modded…
Total price of modded A4 including car: NT$ 2.2M
Cost of new RS4: NT$ 4.2M
Look on a 911 Turbo, Ferrari, RS4 owner’s face when their doors are blown off: Priceless!
Oh yeah… NAY on the Mazda 3. It’s a Taike car if I’ve ever seen one.
Don’t laught at the flames… They’re lovely - I actually had decent ones coming out from my exhausts, in a previous life… On a TL1000S . The Yosh lines, not properly tuned (I mean properly for the track, so-so for the city) PC. Nostalgia again… The wink… wink… wink… BoOom starting… Just pump enough fioul in the whole shit to make sure it’s full from admission to the silencers, and you get the lovely - and destoying, I must admit - BANG with a 40 - 50 cm flames… Gniark.
BTW, is that story for REAL, or you just made it off?
If it is… Wow.
Now, that’s exactly the point: Keep it low profile, keep the lines peacefull, harmonious, not “show off” kind of stuff, but get a f*(^& engine inside. I love that, and that’s why the S3 / S4 are so good to me. Looks like perfectly ordinary car, no show-off whatsoever, but can take on much nastier looking stuffs.
Unfortunately, Taiwan seems to be the kingdom of the exact opposite : Make it look nasty, sporty and racym but please keep the 1.6L / 100 BHP “engine” inside…
BTW, since you’ve been in tuning, what do you think about helping a 2L / 180BHP engine to breath a bit with a supercharger? Meaningless? Stupid? Fun?
[quote=“Leviathan22”]
BTW, since you’ve been in tuning, what do you think about helping a 2L / 180BHP engine to breath a bit with a supercharger? Meaningless? Stupid? Fun?[/quote]Here in Taiwan? Illegal I’m afraid, as are all modifications to increase output. :raspberry:
Sure, but it depends on what engine you’re talking about. Some engines just don’t work well with a supercharger. Properly done though, it gives good results. Note good, not great… For really high HP applications, a good turbo is the way to go.
As for what redwagon says about illegal modifications, a supercharger can be “concealed” better than a turbo.
[quote=“Nonsequitur”]
As for what redwagon says about illegal modifications, a supercharger can be “concealed” better than a turbo. [/quote]Well, if not intercooled… yes. Much easier to start with a car that is already pressure-charged and make subtle mods to that, both from the stance of detection and reliability.
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Nonsequitur”]
As for what redwagon says about illegal modifications, a supercharger can be “concealed” better than a turbo. [/quote]Well, if not intercooled… yes. Much easier to start with a car that is already pressure-charged and make subtle mods to that, both from the stance of detection and reliability.[/quote]
Hmmm, Lev mentioned a 2L/180HP engine… that doesn’t look like NA to me. Possibilities… endless possibilities…
I’m talking about a 1997 cc, 16V atmo engine - Pretty standard stuff, but most of what can be done on the pistons, cams, etc… is pretty optimized already I guess - even if it’s “stock”. The same block was giving 130BHP in 2001 / 2002, jumped to 174 in 2003, 177 in 2004, 180 in 2005 and is now slightly below 200 - So I guess that the factory is reaching its limits, and that only serious mods would really improve the output without giving too much reliability problems.
and ten years ago or more F1 cars were getting around 1,000 HP from a 1.5L turbo. of course, they didn’t last long at that boost setting, mostly just good for a couple of pole-setting laps. but still, 1,000 HP! makes your eyes water just thinking of it.
and most normally-aspirated motorcycle engines now are about 150HP per litre. so it is possible, but not very reliable.
Kids! Don’t try this at home!! :loco:
