General Car Talk Discussion Thread
#7001
and I've mentioned it a few times before, the the M6 GC is my favorite sedan of all time
It is too big for my taste, but it's such a gorgeous design.
It is too big for my taste, but it's such a gorgeous design.
#7002
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
I really don't understand GM sometimes.
So they finally added AWD to the GS but nerfed the turbo-4 down to 259HP. And no 6MT with AWD. Doesn't make me that interested when it's $45K for an automatic AWD Regal GS no matter how cool it looks.
Then there's Cadillac, which has a 321HP AWD V6 ATS for $45k. Now the ATS is using the 3.6L rather than the 321HP 2.8L turbo-6 from Opel/Vauxhall ... Which is the Euro Regal.
They're different cars, to be sure. But this is why I'm not a fan of GM (or any company that does this). By compromising one car to protect another, you ruin it.
The GS should be $45k with the 321HP turbo-6 and a 6MT with AWD just like the Insignia. It'd be an alternative to the ATS and a real alternative to Audi, Infiniti, etc.
If GM is afraid that a Buick Insignia would hurt sales of the ATS, why the hell do they sell it at all? What is the point of Buick?
So they finally added AWD to the GS but nerfed the turbo-4 down to 259HP. And no 6MT with AWD. Doesn't make me that interested when it's $45K for an automatic AWD Regal GS no matter how cool it looks.
Then there's Cadillac, which has a 321HP AWD V6 ATS for $45k. Now the ATS is using the 3.6L rather than the 321HP 2.8L turbo-6 from Opel/Vauxhall ... Which is the Euro Regal.
They're different cars, to be sure. But this is why I'm not a fan of GM (or any company that does this). By compromising one car to protect another, you ruin it.
The GS should be $45k with the 321HP turbo-6 and a 6MT with AWD just like the Insignia. It'd be an alternative to the ATS and a real alternative to Audi, Infiniti, etc.
If GM is afraid that a Buick Insignia would hurt sales of the ATS, why the hell do they sell it at all? What is the point of Buick?
#7003
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
C7R
#7004
Buick is around because it has a huge presence in China. It's pretty much BMW/Audi/MB over there as far as I can tell.
But the badge engineered models as mentioned, I don't know why they're here. They're trying to shed the geriatric image, but then again so is Cadillac.
But the badge engineered models as mentioned, I don't know why they're here. They're trying to shed the geriatric image, but then again so is Cadillac.
#7005
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
ahh forgot about the China connection.... thanks for the info
#7006
Fahrvergnügen'd
However, they can have a separate identity here. I would have seriously contemplated a GS AWD if it had been a proper Insignia instead of the half-assed car they gave us. Other than Cadillac, I wouldn't buy a GM car. They cannot help themselves but screw up good things trying to protect too many brands.
#7007
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
I think I'd have some trouble getting out of this thing. (P1)
#7008
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
Worth the struggle.
The following users liked this post:
Yumcha (02-08-2014)
#7009
China certainly helps sustain the brand.
However, they can have a separate identity here. I would have seriously contemplated a GS AWD if it had been a proper Insignia instead of the half-assed car they gave us. Other than Cadillac, I wouldn't buy a GM car. They cannot help themselves but screw up good things trying to protect too many brands.
However, they can have a separate identity here. I would have seriously contemplated a GS AWD if it had been a proper Insignia instead of the half-assed car they gave us. Other than Cadillac, I wouldn't buy a GM car. They cannot help themselves but screw up good things trying to protect too many brands.
#7010
Maybe the idea with the P1 is that you shouldn't want to get out
#7011
Fahrvergnügen'd
I too was really excited about the Insignia OPC coming here as a 2.8T, AWD + 6MT. What we get is a far cry from that, though if I put myself in their shoes, the bean counters won out and chose to cheap out. Buick doesn't have the brand cachet to ask ~$50k for an optioned out Regal, I guess. It would be like Acura asking $50k for a TSX.
So without VAT it's £26,375. That's $43K in a straight exchange rate.
That's LESS than what they are charging us for an inferior car.
I totally understand your point. I just think parts of GM are incompetent and full of crap. They could add $2,000 to every VXR sold as a GS and still give us a better car for the same money.
#7012
Here's why I think Buick/GM are full of crap. The Vauxhall Insignia VXR SuperSport is £31,630. That includes VAT.
So without VAT it's £26,375. That's $43K in a straight exchange rate.
That's LESS than what they are charging us for an inferior car.
I totally understand your point. I just think parts of GM are incompetent and full of crap. They could add $2,000 to every VXR sold as a GS and still give us a better car for the same money.
So without VAT it's £26,375. That's $43K in a straight exchange rate.
That's LESS than what they are charging us for an inferior car.
I totally understand your point. I just think parts of GM are incompetent and full of crap. They could add $2,000 to every VXR sold as a GS and still give us a better car for the same money.
It makes no sense...
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charliemike (02-08-2014)
#7013
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
Want.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Classic-Mini-MINI-TEC-1972-mini-cooper-with-mini-tec-b-16-swap-300-hp-type-r-transmission-honda-/131109291833?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1e86b90739&item=131109291833&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Classic-Mini-MINI-TEC-1972-mini-cooper-with-mini-tec-b-16-swap-300-hp-type-r-transmission-honda-/131109291833?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1e86b90739&item=131109291833&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
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charliemike (02-08-2014)
#7014
Senior Moderator
#7015
Senior Moderator
#7016
Senior Moderator
Callaway C7R went on sale for $150K but did not sell...Would you pay for it?
#7017
I'd rather get a Camry
That front end just screams kit car. Especially the headlights. Needs projectors!
That front end just screams kit car. Especially the headlights. Needs projectors!
#7018
Senior Moderator
Well, that front does remind me of the Yip Yip Martians (Muppets)...
#7019
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
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00TL-P3.2 (02-10-2014)
#7020
Senior Moderator
Worth a esp. if you're a parent and have dreams of a Porsche...that, or choosing to have a college fund for the kid...
From here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle16729040/
From here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle16729040/
Behind the wheel of a Porsche Carrera 4S, hitting 66 km/h on an ice-covered track, I drive down a slight hill getting ready to make a sharp left. Through the two-way radio I can hear my instructor, 55-year-old Kees Nierop. He wants me to blip the throttle. “That’s it,” he says, “a little brake, now blip, blip.”
Kees (pronounced “Case”) is my Obi-Wan Kenobi – the Jedi-driver voice in my head guiding me as I try to execute some tricky winter driving. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race in 1983 and he is the only Canadian to have his name on a Porsche factory car displayed in the new Porsche Museum in Germany. It’s his job to help neophytes like me at Porsche Canada’s Camp4 Experience navigate the Mecaglisse race track an hour north of Montreal.
“Now, blip.”
It’s a Star Wars moment to be sure – almost science fiction – time seems to expand and elongate. I meditate on the situation. I’ve driven Rabbits, Camrys, Jettas, Volvos, cube vans, plenty of cars. Prior to this morning, however, I’ve never driven a Porsche. In fact, you might say I drive the “anti-Porsche.”
I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. What’s it like to go from the Caravan to the Carrera 4s? It’s like spending your entire life eating bugs, dirt and bilge water and then one day being given prime sirloin steak and a glass of 2001 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir.
You kind of want more steak.
At Camp4, students drive three types of Porsches on man-made tracks covered in ice and banked by cushy snow banks. Started in Finland in 1996, it allows both novice motorists and Porsche aficionados to experience driving at a high level. There are now Camp4 programs in Finland, Italy, Switzerland, China and Canada. Participants spend two to three days driving the Cayman, the 911 Carrera S and the 911 Carrera 4S on three tracks. About 240 drivers will participate in the program, which runs until Feb. 15. The price ranges between $5,195 and $6,195 and includes accommodation and meals at the Esterel Suites and Spa.
I’ve done a one-day media course. It’s about to end and then it’s a bus to Montreal and a flight back to Toronto and then back to the Grand Caravan. No more Porsche. I contemplate my options.
Option 1: Slow to a safe speed. Push my driving partner from the Porsche. Accelerate towards the highway and attempt a high-speed escape to the border.
Option 2: Get home. Sit the family down. Tell the kids, “Guys, your dad has good news and bad news. First, the good news: Your dad just bought a new Porsche. The bad news? I’ve put all your RESP savings into what daddy likes to call “911 Mutual Funds.”
Option 3: Accept that a Porsche is “only a car.” Happiness doesn’t lie in material possessions. Find fulfilment in cultivating my inner life and a holistic connection to the world at large.
I’m inclined to go with “Option 1” as it guarantees more driving.
It feels good to drive a Porsche at fairly high speeds, to drift your car and play with understeer and oversteer and do stunts that would get you arrested on public roads. When Nierop says “Great skid,” he’s not being sarcastic. When drivers spin out into the snow bank, it’s no big deal. After a day of driving, I feel accomplished.
Of course, that’s due to Porsche Camp4’s Star Wars, Industrial Light and Magic quality. We all think we’re driving well but the reality is that the cars are doing a substantial amount of the work. For instance, if the car starts to go off course, the Porsche Stability System (PSM) kicks in and “initiates controlled braking of individual wheels” and automatically stabilizes the vehicle. We try drives with the PSM on and off. When it’s off, the number of “spins” into snowdrifts escalate. We’re also driving on street legal Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 tires with 1.5 mm studs. These bad boys can make ice feel like dry pavement.
“Okay Andrew, now accelerate and brake and blip, blip, blip, now turn.”
I try to make the drift, the same one I’d done almost purely on instinct my first time around, one more time – but I don’t give it gas at the right moment and the Carrera 4S swings too far to the right. I don’t hit the snow bank but I don’t have the fluid drift that would have allowed me to drive right into the slalom without losing too much speed or time.
Nevertheless, Nierop is charitable: “Nice drive, Andrew.”
While Camp4 is almost a fantasy camp for sports car enthusiasts, many of the techniques we’ve been introduced to can be used in emergency situations out on winter roads and highways. Later, as we walk from the track, I ask Nierop, if he could only give one piece of advice about driving in winter conditions, what would it be? He doesn’t hesitate. “Eyes up. You have to look for what’s coming. In these conditions, if you are waiting to see what’s already happening, it’s going to be too late.”
Eyes up? Good advice whether you’re driving a Porsche 911 or a Dodge Grand Caravan.
Kees (pronounced “Case”) is my Obi-Wan Kenobi – the Jedi-driver voice in my head guiding me as I try to execute some tricky winter driving. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race in 1983 and he is the only Canadian to have his name on a Porsche factory car displayed in the new Porsche Museum in Germany. It’s his job to help neophytes like me at Porsche Canada’s Camp4 Experience navigate the Mecaglisse race track an hour north of Montreal.
“Now, blip.”
It’s a Star Wars moment to be sure – almost science fiction – time seems to expand and elongate. I meditate on the situation. I’ve driven Rabbits, Camrys, Jettas, Volvos, cube vans, plenty of cars. Prior to this morning, however, I’ve never driven a Porsche. In fact, you might say I drive the “anti-Porsche.”
I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. What’s it like to go from the Caravan to the Carrera 4s? It’s like spending your entire life eating bugs, dirt and bilge water and then one day being given prime sirloin steak and a glass of 2001 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir.
You kind of want more steak.
At Camp4, students drive three types of Porsches on man-made tracks covered in ice and banked by cushy snow banks. Started in Finland in 1996, it allows both novice motorists and Porsche aficionados to experience driving at a high level. There are now Camp4 programs in Finland, Italy, Switzerland, China and Canada. Participants spend two to three days driving the Cayman, the 911 Carrera S and the 911 Carrera 4S on three tracks. About 240 drivers will participate in the program, which runs until Feb. 15. The price ranges between $5,195 and $6,195 and includes accommodation and meals at the Esterel Suites and Spa.
I’ve done a one-day media course. It’s about to end and then it’s a bus to Montreal and a flight back to Toronto and then back to the Grand Caravan. No more Porsche. I contemplate my options.
Option 1: Slow to a safe speed. Push my driving partner from the Porsche. Accelerate towards the highway and attempt a high-speed escape to the border.
Option 2: Get home. Sit the family down. Tell the kids, “Guys, your dad has good news and bad news. First, the good news: Your dad just bought a new Porsche. The bad news? I’ve put all your RESP savings into what daddy likes to call “911 Mutual Funds.”
Option 3: Accept that a Porsche is “only a car.” Happiness doesn’t lie in material possessions. Find fulfilment in cultivating my inner life and a holistic connection to the world at large.
I’m inclined to go with “Option 1” as it guarantees more driving.
It feels good to drive a Porsche at fairly high speeds, to drift your car and play with understeer and oversteer and do stunts that would get you arrested on public roads. When Nierop says “Great skid,” he’s not being sarcastic. When drivers spin out into the snow bank, it’s no big deal. After a day of driving, I feel accomplished.
Of course, that’s due to Porsche Camp4’s Star Wars, Industrial Light and Magic quality. We all think we’re driving well but the reality is that the cars are doing a substantial amount of the work. For instance, if the car starts to go off course, the Porsche Stability System (PSM) kicks in and “initiates controlled braking of individual wheels” and automatically stabilizes the vehicle. We try drives with the PSM on and off. When it’s off, the number of “spins” into snowdrifts escalate. We’re also driving on street legal Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 tires with 1.5 mm studs. These bad boys can make ice feel like dry pavement.
“Okay Andrew, now accelerate and brake and blip, blip, blip, now turn.”
I try to make the drift, the same one I’d done almost purely on instinct my first time around, one more time – but I don’t give it gas at the right moment and the Carrera 4S swings too far to the right. I don’t hit the snow bank but I don’t have the fluid drift that would have allowed me to drive right into the slalom without losing too much speed or time.
Nevertheless, Nierop is charitable: “Nice drive, Andrew.”
While Camp4 is almost a fantasy camp for sports car enthusiasts, many of the techniques we’ve been introduced to can be used in emergency situations out on winter roads and highways. Later, as we walk from the track, I ask Nierop, if he could only give one piece of advice about driving in winter conditions, what would it be? He doesn’t hesitate. “Eyes up. You have to look for what’s coming. In these conditions, if you are waiting to see what’s already happening, it’s going to be too late.”
Eyes up? Good advice whether you’re driving a Porsche 911 or a Dodge Grand Caravan.
#7021
Senior Moderator
Yeah, I'd go with Option 1 too.
#7022
Someday, an RS6 Avant+
Here's why I think Buick/GM are full of crap. The Vauxhall Insignia VXR SuperSport is £31,630. That includes VAT.
So without VAT it's £26,375. That's $43K in a straight exchange rate.
That's LESS than what they are charging us for an inferior car.
I totally understand your point. I just think parts of GM are incompetent and full of crap. They could add $2,000 to every VXR sold as a GS and still give us a better car for the same money.
So without VAT it's £26,375. That's $43K in a straight exchange rate.
That's LESS than what they are charging us for an inferior car.
I totally understand your point. I just think parts of GM are incompetent and full of crap. They could add $2,000 to every VXR sold as a GS and still give us a better car for the same money.
All the problems with GM noted above, here's what I can buy at a price that is below their inflated cost:
Audi A4 quattro well optioned
BMW 335i Xdrive optioned
Mercedes CLA 250 4Matic well optioned
Mercedes C300 well optioned
Why would anyone spend north of $40K on a Buick when other cars can be had that are superior? It's annoying. If the Vauxhall was brought over, in tact, itwould be worth considering. Damn GM.
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charliemike (02-09-2014)
#7023
Oderint dum metuant.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Lake Wylie
Age: 46
Posts: 12,496
Likes: 0
Received 534 Likes
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446 Posts
RWD V8 you tard, not just a coupe . Hell, RWD V6 would be nice.
Yes, RWD conversion. And I don't like the LFA
Yep, although I wasn't too impressed with the concept. Production is horrible.
I was wondering wtf you guys were talking about the Camry (more impressed than a LFA????) but this was before I clicked the link... wtf..... 680 hp at 8500 rpm?? but I couldn't find any info about the drive wheels at the link - please tell me they converted it to RWD. and how did they get that engine to clear without a hood bump or cutout??? oh yeah LFA > all lol
Yep, although I wasn't too impressed with the concept. Production is horrible.
Last edited by chill_dog; 02-09-2014 at 08:22 AM.
#7025
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
I love how that one garage has a F1, Enzo, F40....then a Mini
#7026
Senior Moderator
Thread Starter
it didn't occur to me how similar these cars are in dimensions and shape, until now
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Costco (02-09-2014),
speedemon90 (02-09-2014)
#7028
Senior Moderator
Well, regardless, I'm in the R8.
Followed by the Porsche...then, coin-flip for the Jag and Corvette.
Followed by the Porsche...then, coin-flip for the Jag and Corvette.
#7029
Senior Moderator
Something about a mid-engined car that just makes me salivate...mmmm...
#7031
Senior Moderator
#7032
Senior Moderator
Thanks for making me look like a babbling idiot, CM.
I'll get you for this.
I'll get you for this.
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Yumcha (02-09-2014)
#7034
Your Friendly Canadian
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Age: 32
Posts: 17,433
Received 1,492 Likes
on
1,050 Posts
#7035
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)
Spotted a RLX for the first time on the road.
It's very meh.
An very old grandpa was driving it like a crazy monkey.
It's very meh.
An very old grandpa was driving it like a crazy monkey.
#7036
Moderator
#7037
Senior Moderator
#7038
Senior Moderator
Just some jaw-droppers for sale here: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21768/
Don't click unless you're as rich as Altegris.
Don't click unless you're as rich as Altegris.
#7039
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)