The Car Thread

[Dome]

On 1/28/2020 at 4:04 PM, ET80 said:

Toyota Camry or Nissan Maxima? 

FWIW my neighbor just bought the new TRD Camry and it’s making everyone jealous 

[Forge]

On 2/1/2020 at 11:48 AM, theJ said:

Probably going to buy a VW Jetta today. While at the dealership I was looking around. Someday I'll buy a Lexus lol. Those are nice cars. 

They are okay. Depends on the Lexus. Mine is basically a Prius in a nicer dress lol

[Tugboat]

On 01/02/2020 at 7:52 AM, MrDrew said:

It’s always little stuff that goes wrong. I’ve been troubleshooting a headlight for a long time now, but no real engine issues. The seats are awesome, but the plastic peels. Still the most fun cars to drive for the money.

Yeah.  That's been the book on VW forever.  They're solidly built cars, with nice interiors that age pretty well, solid road feel.  But an endless barrage of idiotic tiny little (mostly electrical) things that can, and will go wrong.

I grew up on VWs and i'll always have an affinity for them.  But i'm baffled about where they're headed right now.  It seems like they spent decades building themselves into more and more of a middle-tier brand in most segments.  Kinda...a half step up from the competition in whatever segment.

Now it seems like they've reversed course in most cases, and started trying to be the "cheap option" or something.  Cutting corners everywhere they can find.

It's like...The Touareg vs Atlas thing, kinda sums it up.  They had a wicked and kinda semi-premium, but also very expensive mid-size SUV...and shifted to replaced it with a bigger, but cheaper and less wicked bigger SUV.  Seems like they're angling to do that pretty much across the range.  The Jetta has become...something else.  The Passat sorta got stuffed through that portal a bunch of years ago.  Not the biggest fan of the current direction, but seems like they're feeling a lot of pressure from the Korean incursions into that market they used to be pushing for, and made a pivot.

 

On 01/02/2020 at 12:48 PM, theJ said:

Probably going to buy a VW Jetta today. While at the dealership I was looking around. Someday I'll buy a Lexus lol. Those are nice cars. 

Lexus dealers are a nice place to be.  The cars are nicely built too for the most part, but i'm not sure they have an exciting car in their entire lineup right now.

 

 

On 03/02/2020 at 6:16 PM, Dome said:

FWIW my neighbor just bought the new TRD Camry and it’s making everyone jealous 

The TRD Camry always makes me laugh, because it's such a goofy concept.  Lipstick on a pig style.

 

But i guess they've got credibility in NASCAR, winning championships with a car that has...literally not a single thing in common with the TRD Camry road car.

[MrDrew]

5 hours ago, Tugboat said:

The TRD Camry always makes me laugh, because it's such a goofy concept.  Lipstick on a pig style.

That was true on the older stuff because it was mostly a body kit. The new one actually did some performance stuff, just not the engine. The suspension is way different than the standard Camry, the brake rotors are a lot bigger, and bigger wheels/tires. The older TRD kit, except the supercharger, was for a mom that wanted to look sporty. The new TRD is for somebody that wants a practical car, but wants to take a spirited drive down the windy back roads sometimes. It also helps that the new Camry V6 puts out 301HP too.

[Tugboat]

7 minutes ago, MrDrew said:

That was true on the older stuff because it was mostly a body kit. The new one actually did some performance stuff, just not the engine. The suspension is way different than the standard Camry, the brake rotors are a lot bigger, and bigger wheels/tires. The older TRD kit, except the supercharger, was for a mom that wanted to look sporty. The new TRD is for somebody that wants a practical car, but wants to take a spirited drive down the windy back roads sometimes. It also helps that the new Camry V6 puts out 301HP too.

Doesn't even ****in' register.

 

Get back to me when the Camry TRD got a V8 with pushrods, a live rear axle...and is frankly, RWD in the first place.  Toyota motorsports racing development spent exactly one half second on the current Camry "TRD" road car as pertains to NASCAR.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Tugboat

[theJ]

6 hours ago, Tugboat said:

Lexus dealers are a nice place to be.  The cars are nicely built too for the most part, but i'm not sure they have an exciting car in their entire lineup right now.

 

You don't do it for exciting, you do it for the fully loaded package and Lexus engineering.  A car that has everything you want, feels like plush comfort, and almost never makes a trip to the mechanics.

Of course, my opinion may change if/when i ever have enough money for such a thing.  

[MrDrew]

34 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

Doesn't even ****in' register.

 

Get back to me when the Camry TRD got a V8 with pushrods, a live rear axle...and is frankly, RWD in the first place.  Toyota motorsports racing development spent exactly one half second on the current Camry "TRD" road car as pertains to NASCAR.

You don't really buy a Camry as a performance car, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun to drive. They make the Accord Sport, and people think it's great. They make the Camry TRD, and it gets made fun of. They're basically the same car/performance.

[Tugboat]

13 minutes ago, MrDrew said:

You don't really buy a Camry as a performance car, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun to drive. They make the Accord Sport, and people think it's great. They make the Camry TRD, and it gets made fun of. They're basically the same car/performance.

They're just not sporty cars.  You can't just put extra HP in a thing and call it that.  That's not how it works.  Big FWD sedans just are fundamentally NOT sporty.  You can't fix that.

[Tugboat]

47 minutes ago, theJ said:

You don't do it for exciting, you do it for the fully loaded package and Lexus engineering.  A car that has everything you want, feels like plush comfort, and almost never makes a trip to the mechanics.

Of course, my opinion may change if/when i ever have enough money for such a thing.  

 

Absolutely.  That's the archetype Lexus buyer.

 

Just buying this real comfy car, to wrap over oneself like a comfy *** blanket of peace and serenity.  With like 5 different iPads or whatever unnecessary things draped around the interior and probably a bidet if you order it special.

 

 

They're phenomenal at that.  I'm honestly not sure there's anyone out there who can beat Lexus on that level.

[theJ]

1 hour ago, Tugboat said:

 

Absolutely.  That's the archetype Lexus buyer.

 

Just buying this real comfy car, to wrap over oneself like a comfy *** blanket of peace and serenity.  With like 5 different iPads or whatever unnecessary things draped around the interior and probably a bidet if you order it special.

 

 

They're phenomenal at that.  I'm honestly not sure there's anyone out there who can beat Lexus on that level.

I will say though - as a guy who's 3 most recent vehicles were a '99 Mercury Sable, a '99 Dodge Ram 2500, and an '05 Honda Civic Hybrid, pretty much any car post 2015 is pretty cool.  The Lexus LC would be really freaking exciting.

It's all about perspective haha.

[Shanedorf]

1 hour ago, theJ said:

pretty much any car post 2015 is pretty cool. 

My issue with the "newer" cars is the insane amount of beeps, buzzes, alerts and non-stop assault on my ears from all the safety features
I can't stand driving my wife's 2018 CX-5 because it never shuts up.
Maybe there is an aftermarket guy who can turn all the crapola off.... I don't need another beep every time I change lanes on the freeway

I's also like to shut off all the tracking software too, its my ******* car and none of your damn business how I choose to drive it ... 

[theJ]

2 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

My issue with the "newer" cars is the insane amount of beeps, buzzes, alerts and non-stop assault on my ears from all the safety features
I can't stand driving my wife's 2018 CX-5 because it never shuts up.
Maybe there is an aftermarket guy who can turn all the crapola off.... I don't need another beep every time I change lanes on the freeway

I's also like to shut off all the tracking software too, its my ******* car and none of your damn business how I choose to drive it ... 

I feel ya. My car beeps about 60 seconds into every ride and flashes the temperature. I always think something is wrong and it's just the damn temp haha. 

[Uncle Buck]

I recently got to check an entry off of my bucket list.  I've been wanting one of these since they first came out way back in 1992.  It's a 1998 Mercedes-Benz S320.  Yeah, it's an old guy's car, but I'm an old guy, so it works for me.   Unfortunately, it only has an inline 6-cylinder engine, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it.  One of these days I'm hoping to get the same model with a V-12 engine.  

Edited February 13, 2020 by Uncle Buck

[Uncle Buck]

On 1/28/2020 at 9:28 PM, ET80 said:

Is that a 4cyl engine? I'm trying to stick with V6 and above - both the Camry and Maxima come with V6 trims with 300hp. I THINK the Accord comes in a V6 trim, not sure. The Infiniti G50 Red Sport has a Twin Turbo V6 that pushes out a filthy 400 HP with AWD, but the basic upkeep on Infiniti's is too expensive for my liking (it requires Premium fuel, I'm not trying to pay that). I loved my G35 back in the say, but I'm not interested in paying extra to avoid engine knock.

The Genesis line is really intriguing, but I'm not wanting to drop $65+k on it. Used is an option, but that's still $45k for a we'll equipped G80. The Kia Stinger has an AWD with a 365 hp twin turbo V6, but starting at $55k? No thanks.

I'll start sharing some examples of what I'm looking for soon.

It's tough to go wrong with a Toyota Camry.  They are excellent cars.

[Uncle Buck]

 

 

 

1

On 2/6/2020 at 12:10 PM, MrDrew said:

That was true on the older stuff because it was mostly a body kit. The new one actually did some performance stuff, just not the engine. The suspension is way different than the standard Camry, the brake rotors are a lot bigger, and bigger wheels/tires. The older TRD kit, except the supercharger, was for a mom that wanted to look sporty. The new TRD is for somebody that wants a practical car, but wants to take a spirited drive down the windy back roads sometimes. It also helps that the new Camry V6 puts out 301HP too.

Boy, how times have changed.  I remember back in the mid-80's thinking about how great it would be to have a Porsche 911 Turbo.  Back in those days, those cars put out 300 horsepower and they were one of the quickest cars on the planet.  Zero to 60 in 5.0 seconds.  That's pretty pedestrian by today's standards, but it was incredible back then.