OT- Cars

[an]

[quote=flu]I wish Infiniti would really do something with IPL and bring an M challenger. As much as I like the GT-R. It’s in it’s own league…[/quote]
You mean like a 530HP+ V6 TT hand built engine? http://www.0-60mag.com/news/2012/04/next-infiniti-ipl-g-530-hp-gt-r-pricing/

I hope it’ll be priced like the M3/C63 instead of a GT-R. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[ucodegen]

[quote=flu]Sorry… I defer to you… I’m still under warranty so I haven’t had a need to take it apart yet… The ridiculous gimmick is that you can set the thing to sports+ mode (or something like that) and it “simulates” a road feel… Not really….Disconnected from reality imho… Well not my car, my dad’s… And he likes it so that’s all that matters…[/quote] Actually it doesn’t “simulate” road feel. My understanding is that it reduces the ‘assist’. When you reduce assist, more road feel/vibration gets back up through the steering.

Going back to the “Saginaw” steering, one of the things that hot-rodders would do to get steering feel back into old GM steering boxes, would be to take apart the steering box and swap torque rods withing the Saginaw steering box, increasing the strength of the torque rod. This would cause you to still have power steering, but the power steering effort would be increased.. you could no longer spin the steering wheel around with one finger while the car was not moving. The benefit was much better road feel and driving precision. It would cure the vague on center feel that GM vehicles had.

Note that the swap on the Saginaw box required dismantling the box to change the feel.. and it was a ‘permanent’ change. BMW is trying to make it such that the feel can be adjusted on the fly (when driving)… their implementation though, still needs work. Maserati also tried something like this on their Khamsin. (ironically, the steering system was designed by Citroën – see DIRAVI)

[an]

Too bad I don’t like the hard lines from Caddy, but this infotainment and dash looks killer and make everything else seems so 1999: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QigWHfZS2lc.

[svelte]

[quote=AN]Too bad I don’t like the hard lines from Caddy, but this infotainment and dash looks killer and make everything else seems so 1999: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QigWHfZS2lc.%5B/quote%5D

You know I didn’t like the hard lines at first either, I’m more into curves.

But the Caddys are growing on me. We rented a CTS for a trip last year and that car was awesome! Black inside and out, baseball stitching. Loved it! I had a hard time turning it back in. Still not sure I can see myself as a Caddy owner, but I gotta tell you it is no longer out of the question.

Lincoln, on the other hand, just can’t seem to get it right. I cringe in fear each time a new model is released. Time is running out, Ford. You can do it…invest the money!

[sdrealtor]

This is what happens when you share a household with a 12 year old boy. You get to see stuff like this.

Drive Recklessly! Not every pedestrian is a good person.

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]Too bad I don’t like the hard lines from Caddy, but this infotainment and dash looks killer and make everything else seems so 1999: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QigWHfZS2lc.%5B/quote%5D

You know…This to me looks like a recipe for disaster on the road. There’s something to be said between real buttons and knobs versus a touch screen…

With real buttons and knobs, you can fumble around with feelings…With a touch screen, you actually have to look at what you’re doing.

For example, just talk about cell phones. I think it’s possible to dial a normal/dumb cell phone with real buttons without looking at the phone (just by feel).. Trying doing that with a smart phone…..

Same thing with all this touchscreen gizmo in cars…People are going to have to take their eyes off the road more…

[sdrealtor]

C’mon folks how about some credit for invoking Godwins on a thread about cars?

[paramount]

Today I found myself at a car dealer; and the one thing I noticed is that most shoppers seemed to be most interested in full size suv’s and trucks.

Gas is still near $4.40/gallon – and I really believe many or most consumers are completely unfazed by high fuel costs.

It seems the economy really is coming back…

[an]

Who read the latest C&D comparo between M5/E63 AMG/S6? M5 came in dead last. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I had high hope for the M5 too. At least the E63 was close to the S6. The M5 is a distant 3rd.

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]Who read the latest C&D comparo between M5/E63 AMG/S6? M5 came in dead last. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I had high hope for the M5 too. At least the E63 was close to the S6. The M5 is a distant 3rd.[/quote]

They pit the S6 against an M5? What where they thinking? They should have did the comparo between the s6 and 550.. Still I think the s6 would have walked wiped the 550 on the floor.

Anyway, I see this coming. As much as the F series 5 are nice rides, I think it’s more of a luxury oriented these days that performance oriented. Something as minor as the “sports package” on the 5 series. There are two…There’s the standard sports package and the M sports package. Yeah, the standard sports package sticks you with touring tires.. I kid you not. Blasephemy to call this a sports package.

Anyway, I think F 5 series BMW will sell well, and it’s a great car. But I think true sports sedan enthusiasts will be slightly disappointed with the F 5 series (M5 included), and I’m afraid even with the latest F 3 series. The new 3 picked up more weight. I haven’t driven it yet to comment, but one of these days when I have more time…
I hope the M3 won’t be a disappointment,

BMW’s been spending more time on aethetics these days. Audi on the other hand has been spending more time on driving dynamics, and letting it’s the design get kinda bland imho. Both of them have their issues.

Oh well there’s always porsche.

[an]

You’re right, price wise, it should be compared against the 550. But performance wise, because of AWD, it’s only .1 second slower to the 1/4 than the M5. They complained about steering and driving feel. Which is what you mentioned before as well. So, it seems like BMW have lost its touch, at least for the M5 level. Losing to the E63 no less. The E63 actually wipe the competition in chasis portion. It’s also the lightest out of the 3. BMW have definitely gotten porky.

I hope the M3 doesn’t disappoint either. I’m going to be looking at a CPO car in 5 years or so. M5 was high on my list, but after this comparo, I have to test drive to see if the ranking is warranted. Hopefully the new M3 won’t gain more weight. I’m hoping it’ll come in at ~3300lb.

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]You’re right, price wise, it should be compared against the 550. But performance wise, because of AWD, it’s only .1 second slower to the 1/4 than the M5. They complained about steering and driving feel. Which is what you mentioned before as well. So, it seems like BMW have lost its touch, at least for the M5 level. Losing to the E63 no less. The E63 actually wipe the competition in chasis portion. It’s also the lightest out of the 3. BMW have definitely gotten porky.

I hope the M3 doesn’t disappoint either. I’m going to be looking at a CPO car in 5 years or so. M5 was high on my list, but after this comparo, I have to test drive to see if the ranking is warranted. Hopefully the new M3 won’t gain more weight. I’m hoping it’ll come in at ~3300lb.[/quote]

CPO of M5’s are better deals than M3’s. I guess folks that buy at this price point typically don’t buy preowned, which makes them great deals.

[an]

deleted.

[an]

[quote=flu]CPO of M5’s are better deals than M3’s. I guess folks that buy at this price point typically don’t buy preowned, which makes them great deals.[/quote]
I totally agree. I’ve been keeping an eye on M5 and M3 and that’s what I noticed too. The price difference is around $5k. I’d pay $5k to get the extra power and extra space. Maybe BMW will fix the steering and road feel problem in a year or two. BTW, this M5 is freakin’ porky. Last gen M5 barely broke 4000lb and it has a V10. For them to reduce it to a V8 and add 200lb is stupid. Too bad they can’t make this car weigh around 3800lb.

[jstoesz]

I know you all haven’t been talking reliability, but I have to sing Honda praises. It will be hard for me to ever leave this brand after my 13 year old 210k mile crv. Only regularly scheduled maintenance until a few thousand miles ago. I thought I would have bought a newer car by now, but this thing keeps begging for me to see how far it will go. At this point I feel like it will go to at least 250. The dealer where I buy fluids says they have a guy with over 400k on his CRV, same engine and transmission.

[Author]

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