The Car Thread

[Tugboat]

Has anyone seen an Inline-6 swapped into a Scion / Bubaru / Yoter GR86?

 

I so badly want to see that sort of Skyline family or Supra family engine in a little sports car again.  Seems like it might not be doable due to length?  It just feels like a car that deserves some proper love from a real engine.

[PARROTHEAD]

11 hours ago, Tugboat said:

The main thing about hydraulic systems is that...they're the most enormous finnicky pain in the ***.  If one single thing isn't working at optimum, the entire system suffers massively for it.  And it's dangerous to work with on top of that.  Everything under the sort of pressures that can motivate a heavy vehicle?  That'll cut your head off if you do something wrong.

Worked on/with plenty of hydraulics. Finnicky yes. Not anymore dangerous than anything else. A big rigs chassis can easily contain everything needed, safe and secure from everyone on the highway. Like I mentioned. Case was powering a 15 ton dozer that shoves 20 yards while dragging a 2 foot ripper.

Ran into this article from last Sept on Cats D11 electric drive. I wasnt expecting anything past the D6 to be getting such a makeover. D11 is about 4x the D6 weight and can handle many times the load. Its impressive.

https://www.constructionsales.com.au/editorial/details/caterpillar-debuts-d11-xe-electric-drive-dozer-132061/

[diehardlionfan]

On 4/20/2022 at 10:35 AM, AkronsWitness said:

Yeah but on the other end, if you are a buyer--every used car is marked up beyond belief.

I just bought a 18' Grand Cherokee Overland for 37.5k which is only about 7k less than the original MSRP on it and it is 4 years old with 42k miles--and that was considered a steal compared to similar models in a 150mile radius.

I probably paid 4-5k more than I should have if we were in a normal market.

Much like the housing market, its a good time to sell but you also have to turn around and buy in a sellers market.

Yup, crazy!

It worked for me because I got a four year lease on a new Tiguan at a very reasonable price point.

[Shanedorf]

On 4/19/2022 at 5:52 PM, diehardlionfan said:

Those prices are shocking. 

Indeed.
There's a lot of post-pandemic purchasing power out there and the auction brings the high-end buyers in.
Many of the vehicles are in top condition too, so that adds to the overall prices  - but its clearly a sellers market

[diehardlionfan]

On 4/21/2022 at 4:20 PM, Shanedorf said:

Indeed.
There's a lot of post-pandemic purchasing power out there and the auction brings the high-end buyers in.
Many of the vehicles are in top condition too, so that adds to the overall prices  - but its clearly a sellers market

I never for a moment thought there was a collector market for them. We regularly attend Barrett Jackson Las Vegas and I’ve seen a few but they didn’t go anywhere near those prices. That’s not to say they haven’t I just hadn’t seen any.

If I can ever get my Wifes Prelude completed a Scout would make a great project with my Grandsons.

[Tugboat]

On 4/22/2022 at 6:55 PM, diehardlionfan said:

I never for a moment thought there was a collector market for them. We regularly attend Barrett Jackson Las Vegas and I’ve seen a few but they didn’t go anywhere near those prices. That’s not to say they haven’t I just hadn’t seen any.

If I can ever get my Wifes Prelude completed a Scout would make a great project with my Grandsons.

I feel like there's a "collectors market" or at least a market in general, for literally anything that's solid and old school "mechanical" at this point.

 

There's like a crazy market for just old 2000s era BMW 3-series.  Just normal mid-level trim ones.  Especially with a manual transmission.  It feels like there's really two completely separate markets at this point.  The "techy new car market" and the "driver market".  People who still want simple vehicles they can just get in and drive and enjoy.  And it's become extra screwy with the pandemic artificial market nonsense, and the chip shortage killing new car availability and driving up used car prices across the board.

[BayRaider]

Loving my new Lexus IS 350, gonna try to keep this baby 10 years or close to it. 

Also trying to help my brother in law get a new Camry XSE. Hard to find them in stock at MSRP Dealerships, they usually sell the same day. It’s like finding a PS5/Xbox in stores for retail. 

Luxury dealerships sell at MSRP for the most part but Non-Luxury only the really big ones sell at MSRP, and they all sale asap. 
 

 

[///mcompact]

7 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

Loving my new Lexus IS 350, gonna try to keep this baby 10 years or close to it. 

Also trying to help my brother in law get a new Camry XSE. Hard to find them in stock at MSRP Dealerships, they usually sell the same day. It’s like finding a PS5/Xbox in stores for retail. 

Luxury dealerships sell at MSRP for the most part but Non-Luxury only the really big ones sell at MSRP, and they all sale asap. 
 

 

What year is your IS350?   
I don't think Lexus makes a model that won't last 20 years if reasonably maintained.   

I've been eying the ISFs for awhile now and will likely buy one within the next couple of years. 
 

[BayRaider]

12 minutes ago, ///mcompact said:

What year is your IS350?   
I don't think Lexus makes a model that won't last 20 years if reasonably maintained.   

I've been eying the ISFs for awhile now and will likely buy one within the next couple of years. 
 

2022. I basically took advantage of the used car market that is super overinflated. Got 17k back for my ‘17 Optima when I paid 20k for it 5 years ago. Got my IS 350 at MSRP. Lexus only sells at MSRP. Mine was fully loaded/optioned with the Nav system, bigger screen, memory seating, moonroof, etc so I paid 47K for it. After the trade in, was 30k plus taxes. 

Overall I’m really satisfied with it. Handles very well. And the reason I chose Lexus was just in case I want to keep it for 10-15 years, Lexus basically will last you 300k miles if you really take care of it. I will probably get bored and trade it in after 8 or 9 years though. 

[///mcompact]

2 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

2022. I basically took advantage of the used car market that is super overinflated. Got 17k back for my ‘17 Optima when I paid 20k for it 5 years ago. Got my IS 350 at MSRP. Lexus only sells at MSRP. Mine was fully loaded/optioned with the Nav system, bigger screen, memory seating, moonroof, etc so I paid 47K for it. After the trade in, was 30k plus taxes. 

Overall I’m really satisfied with it. Handles very well. And the reason I chose Lexus was just in case I want to keep it for 10-15 years, Lexus basically will last you 300k miles if you really take care of it. I will probably get bored and trade it in after 8 or 9 years though. 

And if you do, you'll get really good resell value on it versus most other brands.  

I like the interior & dash layout in the new IS models. Stylish but clean and functional.  Especially compared to all of the wackadoodle dashes that are out nowadays. 

[BayRaider]

1 minute ago, ///mcompact said:

And if you do, you'll get really good resell value on it versus most other brands.  

I like the interior & dash layout in the new IS models. Stylish but clean and functional.  Especially compared to all of the wackadoodle dashes that are out nowadays. 

Yeah, I’d go for the bigger screen if I were you as well. 10” just looks a lot better versus the 8”. 

Also, I would avoid buying used in this used car market. It’s madness. Lexus, the manufacture, has a rule of no markup on new vehicles. So you will see their new cars at MSRP, and their one year used cars listed for higher. For example, you’ll see an 2022 IS350 at 45K MSRP, and a 2021 IS350 with 5k miles on it for 50K. This is because the dealerships are allowed to mark up the used cars, but not the new ones. 

[diehardlionfan]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:40 PM, Tugboat said:

I feel like there's a "collectors market" or at least a market in general, for literally anything that's solid and old school "mechanical" at this point.

 

There's like a crazy market for just old 2000s era BMW 3-series.  Just normal mid-level trim ones.  Especially with a manual transmission.  It feels like there's really two completely separate markets at this point.  The "techy new car market" and the "driver market".  People who still want simple vehicles they can just get in and drive and enjoy.  And it's become extra screwy with the pandemic artificial market nonsense, and the chip shortage killing new car availability and driving up used car prices across the board.

Crazy I say, just crazy. Of course Canada’s half hearted effort to spur electric isn’t helping.

[Tugboat]

On 4/27/2022 at 7:00 AM, diehardlionfan said:

Crazy I say, just crazy. Of course Canada’s half hearted effort to spur electric isn’t helping.

There's so much of Canada where Electric Cars just straight up don't make any sense.  It's going to be a problem sooner or later.  Even in the bigger centers, the infrastructure is really spotty when it comes to supporting that.  But there's so much of Canada that is more than an electric car's range from the nearest "major city".  So many areas where the power grid wasn't designed to accommodate that kind of draw from every household either.

So i kind of get why it's been such a half-hearted effort.  I'm not sure it's the technology to go "all-in" on investing in for a lot of Canada.  But it does make for a strain on supply of non-electric cars, and it's probably only going to get worse as models continue to drop off.  It'll just be people buying gas/diesel pickup trucks (which is i guess, more or less what it's like already).

[Tugboat]

On a somewhat related note...I just had my first actual three digit $$$ fill-up with my car.  That was kind of a milestone wakeup moment to appreciate.  But also, idgaf because i hadn't filled up since like January.  $100 bucks for 4 months of driving isn't hurting me much.  Can't leave a liquor store without spending that, and that sure ain't lasting a quarter of a year.  🙃

[PARROTHEAD]

7 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

There's so much of Canada where Electric Cars just straight up don't make any sense.  It's going to be a problem sooner or later.  Even in the bigger centers, the infrastructure is really spotty when it comes to supporting that.  But there's so much of Canada that is more than an electric car's range from the nearest "major city".  So many areas where the power grid wasn't designed to accommodate that kind of draw from every household either.

So i kind of get why it's been such a half-hearted effort.  I'm not sure it's the technology to go "all-in" on investing in for a lot of Canada.  But it does make for a strain on supply of non-electric cars, and it's probably only going to get worse as models continue to drop off.  It'll just be people buying gas/diesel pickup trucks (which is i guess, more or less what it's like already).

Also that level of cold destroys batteries. 7 year battery life for most places might only be 4-5 up there right now. So its more wasting resources that could be put to better use elsewhere. Like Mexico where theyre building them all anyway. Where 90% of vehicles in the country couldnt hit 20mpg while having nearly triple the population of Canada.