Yeah, definitely don't read that book in front of the kids.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Will start wrenching tomorrow :P

 

Yep, that's the one.

 

I got some extended seat time in my uncles 535i M-Sport yesterday.

Man, what a great driving car.. But I'm still not sure if I'd take that over my aunts A7.

My uncle kept switching the car into sport and sport+. My fiancée was riding in the back, and she didn't appreciate that too much

 

 

^ I particularly like the 911 pic.

 

You can have the 911, I'll take the Gullwing/SLS

 

We need an Accord/Mustang merge pic.

 

those tiny tires..

 

So I'm trying to talk my fiancée into a smaller, less boaty car.

I already tried an Accord EX-L or a CPO Hybrid Touring. She doesn't like the way they look for some reason.

Then she mentioned she wants another Toyota, so I showed her a few loaded CPO Rav-4s. (I like the idea of an SUV with a bigger tire to avoid the whole curb rash issue with the Avalon)

What does she decide that she wants to get eventually? Another fucking Avalon she said that she loves her car. It's drives great, and we've had ZERO issues with it.

She keeps looking at the base models too, because they're cheaper. I told her base cars don't usually hold their value well, and most of the ones she liked were prior rentals.

Help me talk her out of it! I told her to act her age and get something that doesn't scream old. It's just us. She doesn't need a full sized car!

 

 

Tell her it's not the size of the boat, but the motion of the ocean.

 

lol. You will quickly find out that it's not worth it to do or say these things. Happy wife, happy life. Live by those words.

 

Man, fuck that. You're not wrong, but fuck that.

 

 

nice wagen

 

Eh, once you figure out how to play the game it's not too bad. The key to success is to make them think that they want what you want and then it's fine.

Way more upsides than downsides overall.

 

ah so, the key is tricking them....

 

Hey hunny! does this smell like chloro.......

 

new ad.

I would guess some of you will remember it's origin.

 

After years of study.. I can finally afford the original cars in that poster, but not the house.

 

I'll take the house first and worry about filling it with cars later!

 

 

At the Baltimore, MD auto show going on this weekend, I picked up a 1/4" book quality brochure. Looks like Acura's gunning hard for business by saturating you with info compared to the puny several page summary sheets you usually see from mfrs. at shows.

2/3 hyping Acura engineering prowess, 1/3 model info. Would think this should be available at future shows.

 

Yeah, they're pulling all stops after fucking the pooch for the past several years. If they designed great cars, they wouldn't need more than a sheet of paper to sell them.

 

yellow LaFerrari

 

My wife and I took out the Avant to up to one of the nearest mountain to have a dinner last night. On the freeway, I saw this black object flying in toward our car from the left side. It was a tire. Within like 1 sec after noticing it, it hit the driver side's door. It was pretty good "thump" sound. We got out to check the damage, it left tire marks across the driver's side. Seems like no other damage at all, thank God. Good thing it didn't come from the head on. That would not have been fun.

I think it may just buff out with a car wash..

 

At the Baltimore show, exploring confirmed my satisfaction picking the IS 350. Did not like the Q40/50's thin steering wheel and shifter, kinda felt like a Nissan. Out of all the mfrs., I would buy a Lexus, Acura, Honda, Toyota in that order.

None of the others except maybe MB or Audi did anything for me (outside of Porsche/Jaguar/Aston Martin which were absent). Used to be a BMW fan but those new rectangular nav screens look horribly short, and a lot of non-luxury brands have just the small center screen.

Cadillac and Lincoln, ugh for interior control design. Hyundai and Kia, nice up and coming but not there with the Japanese 'feel' yet, even the Genesis. Love the Camaro and Mustang but would never live with one. So that's my analysis.

 

The Baltimore car show is not really that good. It's put on by Motor Trend and the local dealers which is why some brands aren't there.

The DC one is so much better.

 

Couldn't go wrong with free on NYD though. DC may have a few more lux and exotics but you still can't sit in them usually. Yeah I know these are just a dealer showroom basically.

 

If not, clay bar.

 

check out this options list for 2015 911 Turbo

BASE 911 Turbo 151,100.00

24891 Seat Stitching in Deviated Thread (Front and Rear) 1,100.00
24901 Dashboard Stitching in Deviated Thread 390.00
24902 Upper Door Panel Stitching in Deviated Thread 390.00
24905 Rear side panel stitching in deviating thread 390.00
26741 Center Door Panel Stitching in Deviated Thread 390.00
26751 Armrest stitching in deviating thread 310.00
26761 Door handle stitching in deviating thread 390.00
342 Seat heating (front) 0.00
352 Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) 3,160.00
581 Luggage net in passenger footwell 0.00
583 Smoking package 0.00
640 Sport Chrono Package 4,090.00
653 Electric Slide/Tilt Sunroof in Glass 1,990.00
658 Power Steering Plus 270.00
90003 Rear Section of Center Tunnel Stitching in Deviating Thread (Comparable to Color of Seats) 80.00
90017 Sport Seats Backrest in Leather with Stitching in Deviating Thread 80.00
90027 Steering Column Casing in Leather with Stitching in Deviating Thread 80.00
90051 Inner Door-Sill Guard Stitching in Deviated Thread 80.00
AZ Leather interior in Black 0.00
CCN Air Intake and Outlet Grilles Painted in Black (High-Gloss) 1,465.00
CFX Personalized Floor Mats with Leather Edging 645.00
CGE Sport Chrono clock dial in Racing Yellow 500.00
CLN Belt Outlet Trim in Alcantara 550.00
CLU Steering wheel rim with deviating stitching 1,025.00
CNL Side mirror painted (lower trim) 645.00
CPE Leather key pouch 165.00
CPK Vehicle key painted 365.00
CTK Air vents in leather 1,720.00
CUJ Fuse box covers in leather 380.00
CUR PCM Display Surround in Leather 2,225.00
CVW Rear-view mirror in leather 675.00
CXE Personalized Door-Sill Guards in Carbon Fiber, Illuminated 1,640.00
CXM Extended Interior Package, Door Panel in Leather 690.00
CXN Extended Interior Package, Rear in Leather 1,545.00
CZW Extended Interior Package, Dashboard Trim in Leather 1,720.00
EEJ Carbon Fiber Interior Package 1,990.00 P07

$199,995

 

Yeah. I used a quick detailer and got rid of most of it. Will try more this weekend. Thank God it didnt mess up the panels at all!

 

I'm feeling like it won't be long now before that Audi goes on an all out attack on your wallet... One bump and the entire electrical system will go haywire. Next time you get in the car and start it, the driver seat will automatically go as far forward as possible (this actually happened in my old Passat lol), the horn will randomly honk, strange lights will start appearing, and the dealer will get that smug smile on their face like they are about to hit that pay day.

 

Pics of before and after?

 

This guy MEANT to do that...

 

Thanks for your concern. I think this is like 1284th time I'm getting this from AZine members. It's a little weird that me getting hit by a random tire on the highway warrant a concern like that.

Our Avant has been rock solid so far. Still has like 51K miles after five years. I've been keeping a close eye on Audizine B8 section to see if there's any recurring problems with higher mileage members. Thankfully, there's none that pops up at the moment.

Don't get me wrong though, I am fully aware of the post-warranty problems with German cars and its cost to fix!

It's funny though. My wife and I usually got bored of cars after three to four years, but this Avant is a little different. It still feels pretty new, if that makes any sense. haha

Yeah, I'll take some after pics tonight. The before picture looks so scary... a long strip of black tire mark on the driver's side. haha I shit my pants when I saw it for the first time.

 

That right front suspension is definitely messed up.

 

Yeah, as a car guy, I can imagine your stomach going into a knot seeing that.

 

Yeah.. when that tire hit the car on the freeway, my wife freaked out and said WHAT WAS THAT!???

I was like nothing. it's just a tire probably. Acted super cool but inside I was like HOLY FKING SHIT WTF WAS THAT? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When I saw the black mark, I was like NOOOOOOOOOOO. I tried to wipe couple spots with my finger, it came off.