I finally bought a new car! Well, it's been a few weeks now, but this has been in the works for quite some time. I've been driving a 2004 Ford Ranger for a few years, which is great for my hobbies, but less so for family life. I'm the proud new owner of a 2013 VW Golf R! It's interesting, having a car that's faster than my motorcycle :icon_lol:
What do you drive?
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/a5a9b26cd065a3570b80dfb3591fbda0.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/b40b758d2917846ec111c0ab8eefb9ae.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/c5e80451f5e3ea4f9666802ead06aec2.jpg)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: rscottlow on February 19, 2018, 01:22:32 PM
I finally bought a new car! Well, it's been a few weeks now, but this has been in the works for quite some time. I've been driving a 2004 Ford Ranger for a few years, which is great for my hobbies, but less so for family life. I'm the proud new owner of a 2013 VW Golf R! It's interesting, having a car that's faster than my motorcycle :icon_lol:
What do you drive?
i dont drive but 4 wheeled vehicles? my battlecow . has 3 wheels, an outriggre wheel, and an engine. sooo it kinbda counts. btw those snow tires? or is snow not really an issue for you?
I drive an 05 Corolla that I bought when I was 18. It's nothing fancy but it gets me where I need to go. I do plan on upgrading probably next year or so, probably a Subaru WRX but maybe a BR-Z.
Most everyone already knows the two I have but I'll post anyway... awesome thread rscottlow!!
Congrats on the new ride :cheers: :woohoo:
1994 Dodge Caravan (the Ninja Turtle Van of Johnstown) 207k miles... bought in 2009, totally stock, for $500
1994 Dodge Spirit (graffiti and portrait paintjob with my own 'body kit') 156k miles... given to me as a Christmas gift in 2005, totally stock
This is an old pic (you can tell by the front end of the GS lol) cuz it's rare that all 3 of my vehicles are in the same place.
(https://i.imgur.com/a5inklCl.jpg)
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on February 19, 2018, 01:45:25 PM
Quote from: rscottlow on February 19, 2018, 01:22:32 PM
I finally bought a new car! Well, it's been a few weeks now, but this has been in the works for quite some time. I've been driving a 2004 Ford Ranger for a few years, which is great for my hobbies, but less so for family life. I'm the proud new owner of a 2013 VW Golf R! It's interesting, having a car that's faster than my motorcycle :icon_lol:
What do you drive?
i dont drive but 4 wheeled vehicles? my battlecow . has 3 wheels, an outriggre wheel, and an engine. sooo it kinbda counts. btw those snow tires? or is snow not really an issue for you?
Haha nice! A car is a must here with two kids, living in the suburbs.
They're all-seasons, but look more like a summer tire. Nitto Neo-Gens. There is a guy locally selling a set of lightly used blizzaks on VW wheels, off his mk5 GTI. My bonus should be here soon, so I'm thinking of picking them up. Either way, not a big deal as I kept the Ranger and will likely drive it if there's any meaningful amount snow on the ground.
Quote from: qcbaker on February 19, 2018, 01:56:47 PM
I drive an 05 Corolla that I bought when I was 18. It's nothing fancy but it gets me where I need to go. I do plan on upgrading probably next year or so, probably a Subaru WRX but maybe a BR-Z.
I really like the BR-Z, but it's not much of an option for me with the whole family thing going on. If I ever get a coupe for weekend driving with the lady, it would probably be a convertible...Z4 maybe.
Quote from: ShowBizWolf on February 19, 2018, 02:08:53 PM
Most everyone already knows the two I have but I'll post anyway... awesome thread rscottlow!!
Congrats on the new ride :cheers: :woohoo:
1994 Dodge Caravan (the Ninja Turtle Van of Johnstown) 207k miles... bought in 2009, totally stock, for $500
1994 Dodge Spirit (graffiti and portrait paintjob with my own 'body kit') 156k miles... given to me as a Christmas gift in 2005, totally stock
Thanks! It's a lot of fun...but we've got a warm front moving through with a break in the rain tomorrow, so I'm totally riding the GS to work!
I know I've said it before, but I love the turtle van!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't now, but I have had (in descending order) a 2001? Hyundai Accent 2dr, a 1995 VW Golf 4dr 5-spd, and a 1994 Jeep Cherokee 2dr 5-spd.
The Hyundai was a POS but I paid $300 for it and it got me through the winter.
I liked the Golf when it was working. Once it started having issues I hated it with a passion. Crank-pos sensor blew and took with it the Cam-pos sensor, the ignition, and the speedometer. The rest of the time I had the car it never idled quite right, and the speedometer would continuously spin backwards. I used an old smart-phone with a GPS speedometer mounted on the dash.
Also that winter I found out the thermostat was stuck open, so I basically didn't have heat. It would warm up, but when I got the car moving it would slowly drop temp. Commuting on the interstate meant that I was warm when I left and cold when I arrived. Looked into changing it, but it involved a total coolant flush, serpentine belt replacement, disconnecting the lower motor mount and the power-steering pump, and getting under the car, and when the average day was 10° outside and I was living paycheck to paycheck I just dealt with it.
The Cherokee, now there's a vehicle I miss. Paid about $1200 for it, it was already over 100k, and it needed some work to be road-worthy, but none the less it was reliable. New fluids, suspension, brakes, rebuilt the T-case, and welded on a new drive-shaft u-joint (yes, welded on, it's a long story), and it was solid for the next 80K or so. It was the kind of truck where if it had any issues it could be fixed with duct-tape and a hammer, but it never stranded me (unlike my Golf).
Took a beating, and I'll be the first to say I totally neglected it. At some point the clutch started slipping, it needed tires, the body had holes you could fit your foot through, and it started to develop small leaks up front (both coolant and engine oil), and I thought to myself I could put more money than the truck is worth into it and fix it all up, or I could sell it to some broke college kid, take that money and add to it what I would have spent on repairs, and get something else. Hence, the Golf...
Now I don't really want a car. If I got anything willingly I have a few ideas. Another 90s Cherokee, a K5 Blazer, a Bronco, something 4x4 with a manual transmission... Or something small and fuel efficient, likely a 2dr of some kind. Or something off the wall, like a Fiero.
Quote from: rscottlow on February 19, 2018, 03:07:02 PM
I really like the BR-Z, but it's not much of an option for me with the whole family thing going on. If I ever get a coupe for weekend driving with the lady, it would probably be a convertible...Z4 maybe.
I can understand that. I don't have any kids, and don't plan to for at least another 4-5 years. For me, a BR-Z would be a cool, not crazy expensive, fun to drive car that I could use as a daily. But, it being rear wheel drive is a bit of an issue as PA does get a some snow in the winter. I guess I could just get a spare set of rims to put winter tires on...
After my beloved Miata was totaled in 2015 (that's a car I bought new in 2000 and then restored it to a sort of retro race car on the street in 2014) I replaced it with a new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The Jeep has no carpet, a very small lift, 33" tires, recovery bumpers, will go anywhere and do anything. I really dig it, a lot. I take the top off or fold it down frequently, being a long-time convertible guy, and even drive it with no doors a lot of the time. After 1.5 decades of driving an open-top car, I just never feel right driving if I'm not "outdoors" while doing it.
As empty-nesters in our mid-40s my wife and I have had a long succession of cars. The GS500 is my first and only motorcycle. I've had a lot of sports cars including my beloved Miata and a '72 240Z a couple of cars before that, a '76 280Z, a MR2, even an RX7 that never would start. Before the Miata was an old VW Jetta GLI with racetrack-only suspension that was like a go-cart to drive. In fact, besides my first car when I was 16 and a brief time when I only had a pickup truck, since late 2015 when I got the Jeep is the first time I have been without a sports car. I figure the bike fills that need in my life now.
BTW after having owned two VW Jettas I can agree about the extreme unreliability of VW. We also bought an Audi A4 for my daughter and that was absolutely the worst car I have ever owned. We had a BMW that also was terribly unreliable, marking a time when we were basically forced to caravan as a family of four in a 240Z and an MR2 everywhere we went because that POS BMW was broken down. I was ecstatic when someone came and towed it off. I guess I became a pretty good mechanic after owning German cars. They were crap. And I say that after owning a FCA-produced Jeep. We swore off of ever buying another German car, even when my wife got on a "I need a luxury sports sedan" kick, we wound up with a Lexus, which was brilliant. I am kind of a lifer with cars and I tend to own them well into their 200K age which reveals a lot of serious quality and design problems that you might not notice if you are the newish-car-flipping type.
Watcher:
Cherokees are great. My dad has a 2000 Cherokee Sport with 250,000+ miles on the clock, and it's still going strong. He's been waffling on getting something newer, but just put a new set of tires on the Jeep, so I think he'll just keep driving it.
More power to you for living with just a bike, but I couldn't do it. The weather in Ohio fluctuates way too much, and obviously having little kids makes motorcycle-only transportation impractical. Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to get rid of the truck when I decided to buy a car.
QC:
I agree with you...I really like those cars. I drove a Scion xB for a while, so the FR-S caught my eye when they came out. By that time, we had our first kid on the way, though.
I prefer a RWD car unless, of course, AWD is an option. I'm sure snow in PA is considerably worse than SW Ohio, though.
mr72:
I always thought I'd want a Wrangler until I drove one a few months back. I would consider buying one for recreational use, but I absolutely wouldn't want one for a daily driver.
My brother is a Mazda guy, and has owned 3 Miatas, so I understand your passion for that car.
Man, I hate to hear all the negative VW reviews. My Golf R has 72,000 miles on it, and I got it for about $3,000 under market value. I'm keeping on top of the things that tend to go wrong on these cars, so hopefully it serves me well. I've already replaced the cam follower, I'm doing a Haldex fluid change on the next nice weekend day, and I'm going to change the timing belt and water pump sometime before the beginning of June when I plan to drive it down to the Tail of the Dragon.
I've owned a 1992 S-10 with a 4.3 V6 that I bought when I was 15. It was a great truck, but didn't have 4WD. I drove that until I was 18 and decided I needed a new car to commute to and from college. I bought a 2006 Scion xB off the showroom floor, and drove that almost 200,000 miles. By that time, I decided I needed a truck to support some of my outdoor hobbies, so I sold the xB and bought an '04 Ranger with 178,000 miles. It has gotten me this far (232,000 on the clock now), but with two little ones, it was really time to get a car I could put carseats in. Queue the Golf R. I couldn't talk myself into buying something boring. The BMW 335i was atop my list for a while, but I needed a sedan (or 4 dr. hatch as it turns out) and I wanted a stick shift, so finding the right car in my budget proved to be pretty challenging. The Golf R popped up on an autotrader search only a couple hundred miles away, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: rscottlow on February 20, 2018, 07:19:09 PM
I always thought I'd want a Wrangler until I drove one a few months back. I would consider buying one for recreational use, but I absolutely wouldn't want one for a daily driver.
Truth is, it takes a kind of conversion of expectations to get your head around a Wrangler, or for that matter, an old Cherokee or any Jeep with two solid axles. If you are interested in the feeling and joy of driving as a thing unto itself, then a Wrangler is horrible. You are kind of riding along in a Wrangler, not really driving it in the sense that you drive a car with suspension developed in the past half century. But once you adapt from "driving" to "going somewhere" then everything changes. And there's something that appeals to me about the sort of hardcore nature of driving a Wrangler. You have to be able to tolerate and even embrace the noise, bouncy/rough ride, vague handling with no feedback, rattles, bangs, noise, wind, noise, and of course, the noise.
Switching from a good car (like, my daughter's Fiat 500 feels like a race car compared with the Jeep...) to a Wrangler is a lot like switching from a minivan to a trials bike. You really can't expect the same thing out of them, they are entirely different purposes and just happen to overlap in the area of getting from point A to B.
Quote
My brother is a Mazda guy, and has owned 3 Miatas, so I understand your passion for that car.
It was one of about 5 Mazdas I have owned, love them all. Miatas have their quirks but really they are very much the spiritual successor to the 240Z, nearly the same weight, wheelbase, power, etc. A "classic" sports car in every sense. I almost bought a new ND Miata instead of the Jeep but I figured I could give the Jeep a try and if I didn't like it after a year I could easily sell it for almost as much as I paid for it, but I could buy a year old depreciated Miata for $10K below the original price.
Quote
Man, I hate to hear all the negative VW reviews. My Golf R has 72,000 miles on it, and I got it for about $3,000 under market value. I'm keeping on top of the things that tend to go wrong on these cars, so hopefully it serves me well.
Well, remember my cars were older. The newest VW/Audi was a first-generation A4 with that godawful 2.8l V6. My summary of these cars has been that they are fantastic when they are working. If everything is dialed in and in perfect condition then they are great. But they are a freakin' disaster to work on, parts are expensive, and the engineers make trade-offs for long-term reliability. Case in point is the horrific Audi A4 vacuum operated door locks. The vacuum pump eventually dies and in between time all of the hoses and connectors dry up and crack and leak causing the doors to fail to unlock. The only real solution is once the car is over 10 years old you have to go through and replace the entire system. That's just a serious design flaw and a solved problem for every other car made in the past 40 years. In fact when we traded it, I had to climb out of the passenger side door because the driver door simply would not unlock. And don't get me started on repairs, changing the thermostat requires removal of the water pump which of course requires removal of the entire front of the car... grille, bumper, headlights, radiator, radiator support, everything ahead of the fenders. What should be a 1 hour max routine maintenance repair took me over 8 hours to complete. And then there are multiple water pumps for the same engine and no way to tell which one is required so after I got it all together the main pulley rubbed on the water pump and began to machine itself into the body of the water pump. Lovely. Or my beloved VWs which used a pressurized/sealed cooling system that was absolutely not up to TX summer time weather, and without the traditional radiator cap/overflow like every other H20 car on earth, if it ever began to get too hot it would blow all of the coolant out onto the ground and your only solution was to either carry gallons of distilled water with you everywhere you go and wait for the engine to cool so you can refill it on the side of the road, or two the car. And a plastic fitting on the side of that 1.8L engine would warp and leak coolant but only when it was hot. I shouldn't be an expert on H2O VW (Mk2 Golf/Jetta/16V) cooling systems but I had to become one just to own the car. I have just decided VW group doesn't know how to design or build serviceable automobile engines. Just a few years ago they were building new 2.0T engines that burned a quart of oil every 500 miles and Audi told their customers this was normal. NORMAL !! FOR A NEW CAR!
Sorry. I could rant twice that long about the BMW.
My Japanese cars OTOH have all been nearly perfect mechanically and far easier to keep running. I could swap the entire engine in a Miata quicker than I can swap the thermostat in an old 2.8L A4 or Passat. That's a serious problem.
I drive 40,000+ miles per year for work, so my company provides my 4-wheeled transportation. A 2016 Ram 1500 with 5.7 liter hemi, leveling kit and mud tires. We run them for ~3 year or ~120,000 miles and then replace. They never need anything other than tires and one full brake job in that time. I'll be up for my next rig in 2019, so I'm excited that most auto companies have recently updated their trucks.
We just bought my wife a car. She has been doing without one for the last 4 year. A 2010 Suzuki SX4 with AWD. Its a absolute blast to drive and it seems to drive as good or better than an Outback in the snow (I've driven a lot of friends/family's Subarus). The Suzuki also has the option for full 4 wheel differential lock in case you get stuck in some deep mud or snow. I want to get her some better tires and a ski rack next winter.
Quote from: rscottlow on February 20, 2018, 07:19:09 PM
I always thought I’d want a Wrangler until I drove one a few months back. I would consider buying one for recreational use, but I absolutely wouldn’t want one for a daily driver.
Man, I hate to hear all the negative VW reviews. My Golf R has 72,000 miles on it, and I got it for about $3,000 under market value.
The Wrangler is a box on wheels, and as a result it gets TERRIBLE gas mileage and handles like - well, like a box on wheels. I would agree they don't make good daily drivers. That being said, they make incredibly good utility vehicles that can also haul people and are really easy to work on (at least, in the case of the 90s-early 2000s they are. I know nothing of the modern V-6 engine versions).
Wasn't officially mine but I used a 97 Wrangler with the 4.0 I6 as a daily for a couple of years as my first vehicle, before I got the Cherokee.
I had a bad experience with my VW, I don't particularly like how it was engineered and found it rather difficult to work on (I like to say that the famous German Engineering is more like they engineered me into their pocket). That being said, my dad had a 2005? Jetta Wolfsburg Edition with the I5 engine and it was rock-solid reliable for the 100K+ he had it. Only reason he traded it in is because he's the type of guy to not do any major service work (like timing belts) and has the money to just trade it in and get something else.
Quote from: Watcher on February 21, 2018, 08:32:40 PM
The Wrangler is a box on wheels, and as a result it gets TERRIBLE gas mileage and handles like - well, like a box on wheels.
Well, it's not THAT terrible, not mine anyway. It's only about 2-3mpg worse than either the Honda Element AWD/5sp we had or our '07 Pilot 2WD with the cylinder deactivation, and just about the same as my wife's '13 Expedition.
I think it's typical of a similar SUV, and probably identical to any other similarly-sized SUV with the same tires. I bet if I put 32" highway tires on my Jeep instead of the 33" ATs it would probably get over 20 mpg.
The bad handling, well that's because of two solid axles. Not much you can do when you can't change camber under cornering, and it has about a ton of unsprung weight.
My girlfriend owned 2 German cars, both of them caused me a bunch of grief so I don't really hold VW/Audi in high regard. But to be fair, I don't really think either car was properly taken care of prior to her owning them so take my experiences with a slight grain of salt.
The first was a 1990 VW Cabriolet. Her mom bought her this car as her first car because it was dirt cheap and she liked the "classic" look and the fact that it was a convertible. The engine never really ran at 100%. There was some kind of aftermarket intake installed and it idled kind of weird. But it never really stalled or died so :dunno_black: But, the major problems were not with the engine. The brakes literally gave out one day and she ended up driving into a field and hitting a hay bale. Another time, the coolant return hose also spontaneously ruptured and sprayed coolant all over the inside of the engine bay. The wiring and electrical in the car was also garbage. The plug for the coolant temp sensor would never stay snug and if you went over a large enough bump it would become unplugged and the dash light would come on stating that the car was overheating. And one time while driving at night, I went to put the high beams on and instead of coming on, when I hit the switch all the lights turned off. No dash light, no low beams, nothing. Engine stayed running though. Also the shitty aftermarket head unit the PO had installed was also soldered directly into the car instead of using a wiring harness. So, when I went to replace it with a better unit, the job was much more annoying than it needed to be. Also the convertible top leaked pretty badly.
Her next car was a 2000 Audi A4, and it was also kind of a turd. The engine was okay, but it had a myriad of other problems. For example, it had this weird issue where sometimes (but not always) turning the key did not start the car, but if you released the steering column height adjuster and moved the steering wheel up and down a bit while holding the key in the start position, the car would start. Never did find out exactly what caused that... The rear amplifier was also missing and the aftermarket rear speakers that were installed were not wired into anything. One of the car's front axles also broke and that was rather expensive.
Quote from: qcbaker on February 22, 2018, 10:53:16 AM
My girlfriend owned 2 German cars, both of them caused me a bunch of grief ..
The first was a 1990 VW Cabriolet. ...
Her next car was a 2000 Audi A4,
Yeah I had an '88 Jetta 8V and an '89 GLI 16V (same engine as that Cabrio). You didn't experience the worst of the problems, sounds like you had a ringer!
And my daughter's A4 was a '96, same generation as that 2000. I am guessing your girlfriend's car was a turbo I5, not the V6, otherwise you'd be complaining about the engine :) But that A4 was by far the worst car I have ever owned. There was so much wrong with it, going wrong, intermittent, and so many different kinds of systems breaking... disaster. Being fair, this was an old car that likely suffered from imperfect repair or maintenance from previous owners, but that's kind of the thing. Once they begin to get old, they are basically impossible to maintain or repair such that they are fully restored to proper condition. This is a design flaw IMHO. Cars need to be repaired, that's all there is to it. A car that can't tolerate wear is a lemon, you just don't know it yet.
Quote from: mr72 on February 22, 2018, 11:39:42 AM
You didn't experience the worst of the problems, sounds like you had a ringer!
I kind of miss the Cabrio in a weird way. For as many problems as it had (and that one time it tried to murder my girlfriend...) it was still a fun car to drive around, being a convertible and all.
Quote
And my daughter's A4 was a '96, same generation as that 2000. I am guessing your girlfriend's car was a turbo I5, not the V6, otherwise you'd be complaining about the engine :) But that A4 was by far the worst car I have ever owned. There was so much wrong with it, going wrong, intermittent, and so many different kinds of systems breaking... disaster. Being fair, this was an old car that likely suffered from imperfect repair or maintenance from previous owners, but that's kind of the thing. Once they begin to get old, they are basically impossible to maintain or repair such that they are fully restored to proper condition. This is a design flaw IMHO. Cars need to be repaired, that's all there is to it. A car that can't tolerate wear is a lemon, you just don't know it yet.
Yeah, it was the turbo I5. The car was fun to drive at least. Turbo, manual, moderately powerful.
And yeah I think one of the problems with older luxury-brand cars is that the cars themselves become affordable, but the parts and labor are still way more expensive than a "normal" car of the same age. So the cars end up getting neglected.
These are all good points. I did get the CarFax on the Golf R, and it looks as though it's been pretty well maintained. Except for the black VW rims that the first owner put on about a month after he bought it, everything else appears to be stock. Because of what it is, I'm sure it's been driven pretty hard, but I don't put a huge number of miles on a car so I expect it will do what I need of it until I decide to sell it and get something else. Work is a 30 mile round trip, and I ride the GS for most of the summer. For right now we've been driving the Golf on the weekend a lot, but once the novelty wears off, my wife's CX-5 is definitely a more reasonable vehicle to drive for errands and whatnot. Better fuel mileage, more spacious, and a much more comfortable ride.
Quote from: Bluesmudge on February 21, 2018, 10:43:22 AM
I drive 40,000+ miles per year for work, so my company provides my 4-wheeled transportation. A 2016 Ram 1500 with 5.7 liter hemi, leveling kit and mud tires. We run them for ~3 year or ~120,000 miles and then replace. They never need anything other than tires and one full brake job in that time. I'll be up for my next rig in 2019, so I'm excited that most auto companies have recently updated their trucks.
I've thought about applying for a field job with my company to get the benefit of a company car. It's a nice perk! My brother-in-law drives a Ram 1500 Crew Cab, and man is that thing nice. I had strongly considered just selling my Ranger and buying a full-size pickup, but to get 4x4 and a crew cab (which I would almost have to have in order to install carseats), I'd be spending far more than I ended up spending on the VW.
Quote from: Watcher on February 21, 2018, 08:32:40 PM
The Wrangler is a box on wheels, and as a result it gets TERRIBLE gas mileage and handles like - well, like a box on wheels. I would agree they don't make good daily drivers. That being said, they make incredibly good utility vehicles that can also haul people and are really easy to work on (at least, in the case of the 90s-early 2000s they are. I know nothing of the modern V-6 engine versions).
Wasn't officially mine but I used a 97 Wrangler with the 4.0 I6 as a daily for a couple of years as my first vehicle, before I got the Cherokee.
I had a bad experience with my VW, I don't particularly like how it was engineered and found it rather difficult to work on (I like to say that the famous German Engineering is more like they engineered me into their pocket). That being said, my dad had a 2005? Jetta Wolfsburg Edition with the I5 engine and it was rock-solid reliable for the 100K+ he had it. Only reason he traded it in is because he's the type of guy to not do any major service work (like timing belts) and has the money to just trade it in and get something else.
Yeah, I don't know why I was expecting something different when I hopped into my father-in-laws Jeep to go pick him up from the airport. I can honestly say that short of buying one for the purpose of off-roading, I wouldn't own one. I know the people that drive them love them, but I just don't see the huge attraction.
Quote from: mr72 on February 22, 2018, 11:39:42 AM
Once they begin to get old, they are basically impossible to maintain or repair such that they are fully restored to proper condition. This is a design flaw IMHO. Cars need to be repaired, that's all there is to it. A car that can't tolerate wear is a lemon, you just don't know it yet.
Thankfully, at least thus far, the Golf R doesn't seem too hard to work on. I've read a couple of different DIY walkthroughs for the timing belt, and it doesn't sound too hard. Once that's done I should be set for a while...I hope...
2005 VW Golf TDi
Yes, they cheated on the emissions Kobayashi Maru. And yes, it kills polar bears.
#1 Polar bears are mean and #2 in a cradle to grave comparison, I'd bet it's less damaging than a Prius (actual data is tough to find as EVERYBODY CHEATS).
I have lots of other vehicles because I have this problem where I think I can fix them all... There should be a support group.
Quote from: mr72 on February 22, 2018, 08:53:03 AM
Quote from: Watcher on February 21, 2018, 08:32:40 PM
The Wrangler is a box on wheels, and as a result it gets TERRIBLE gas mileage and handles like - well, like a box on wheels.
Well, it's not THAT terrible, not mine anyway. It's only about 2-3mpg worse than either the Honda Element AWD/5sp we had or our '07 Pilot 2WD with the cylinder deactivation, and just about the same as my wife's '13 Expedition.
Well, the Element is also sort of a box on wheels and the Pilot is a slightly larger and slightly heavier vehicle than the Wrangler.
When I was driving the Wrangler I remember it getting around 16+/- with road tires. When I got the Cherokee, as long as I was doing my part to not drive it like a total ass I would get around 20. Both had the same engine, though the Wrangler was Auto and the Cherokee was 5-spd. Cherokee was also lower to the ground and not as much a box on wheels. It was also quite a bit lighter. I remember it being a much faster vehicle if you got on it, as well.
Quote from: Watcher on February 23, 2018, 02:35:19 PM
Quote from: mr72 on February 22, 2018, 08:53:03 AM
Well, it's not THAT terrible, not mine anyway. It's only about 2-3mpg worse than either the Honda Element AWD/5sp we had or our '07 Pilot 2WD with the cylinder deactivation, and just about the same as my wife's '13 Expedition.
Well, the Element is also sort of a box on wheels and the Pilot is a slightly larger and slightly heavier vehicle than the Wrangler.
The Element was significantly smaller than the Wrangler and not nearly as boxy, even though they worked really hard to make it look boxy. It's downright swoopy compared with a Wrangler.
The Wrangler is also bigger, at least in terms of wheelbase and overall dimensions, than the Pilot. A lot taller, somewhat wider, longer wheelbase if not longer overall. IDK the exact weight but my feeling driving them is that the Pilot is probably 400+ lb lighter than the Wrangler. There's a LOT of weight in those axles, the frame, and the wheels. The wheels and tires (counting all 5 incl. spare) alone are probably 400 lb heavier than the wheels and tires on the Pilot.
Quote
When I was driving the Wrangler I remember it getting around 16+/- with road tires. When I got the Cherokee, a... I would get around 20. ... It was also quite a bit lighter. I remember it being a much faster vehicle if you got on it, as well.
A 5sp Cherokee with that 4.0L engine definitely felt quick back in the day!
I think the 5sp had a lot to do with it, and being lower makes a big difference in overall wind profile.
Anyway, I get about 18 avg. in routine driving in my 4000-lb light-lift-and-33s 6sp Wrangler Unlimited. Not horrible. We got better gas mileage in the rental Wrangler Unlimited(s) we rented in Hawaii with hard tops, no lift, and much more highway tires.
The new Wrangler 3.6L V6 is a far better (more efficient, more powerful, etc.) engine than that old 4.0L I6.
My boys Rocky and Flick
Rocky is an 08 Nissan Versa I need to get a paint job the clear coat is coming off the roof. But, other than that 138000 miles and he is still running like a top.
Flick is 04 with 36,000 miles and my goal is to have him ready by June got some gaskets for the carbs because I have a small gas leak. Before the stroke I could get the carbs off in 12 minutes. Might take a bit longer now.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/0d4a409e6d6901abbebcc71be65e3aa6.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/d885dd15aaf979b76bd9cc6a0d326f7b.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/41421be07a72db0fc76dbe0b069de2a6.jpg)
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Mary,hun at keast you have a very good chance of returning to the saddle :icon_mrgreen:
Aaron
The 89' gs500 project for my girlfriend(she doesn't know yet)
My 2004 volkswagen passat and our german shepherd.
And finally my current bike '2010 hyosung GT650' (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180331/919dd73220b1755f935728c89f751f70.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180331/037c5c7e56388af7d3ab120c2febc4d3.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180331/85fe8f2aa04a9a673d0cc75f14e68525.jpg)
Sendt fra min HUAWEI VNS-L31 med Tapatalk
Well, I talked before in this thread about getting a BR-Z but as I looked I realized I preferred the FR-S's look. Over the weekend, I traded in my POS Corolla and came home with a 2013 FR-S. ~56K miles, manual transmission. Driving it home to PA through NYC traffic after not having driven a manual car for a few years was a bit nerve racking to say the least. Got through it though and here it is in my driveway:
(http://i66.tinypic.com/33dxutc.jpg)
Congrats on your purchase, QC! How are you liking it? If I didn't have kids, or had the room and the budget for more cars, this one would definitely be on the list. I really like the looks of them.
Quote from: rscottlow on July 06, 2018, 10:23:12 AM
Congrats on your purchase, QC! How are you liking it? If I didn't have kids, or had the room and the budget for more cars, this one would definitely be on the list. I really like the looks of them.
Thanks! I'm really liking it so far. It handles like a dream, and I forgot how much more satisfying driving manual is (especially when the shifter and gearbox are as good as the 86's are). I wouldn't call it "fast" but going from a Corolla to this, it definitely feels quick enough lol. For me, the lack of space hasn't really been an issue. I very rarely have more than 1 other person in my car, so the lack of seating space doesn't really bother me. On the 2 times I've had an additional passenger, the rear seats did the job, even if they are pretty cramped. Probably wouldn't have anyone back there for a road trip or anything like that, but just giving someone a ride home or whatever, they work well enough. Plus, the trunk is big enough to hold my fishing poles and tackle box with room to spare, so I haven't run into any real space issues yet.
Driving back from my lunch break today on a clear stretch of highway in my FR-S, some dude on a Yamaha FZ (couldn't tell the engine size, but definitely an 07 or 09) rode up close behind me, so I moved into the right lane to let him pass. He then paced me and pointed forward to get me to race. Normally I wouldn't do stuff like that, but there was nobody else around and work has been super boring lately, so I figured why not have a little fun. Downshifted to 5th with a rev match to let him know I was game, then downshifted to fourth and away we went. Kept up with him for the most part, but I think I was just a little ballsier than he was. He would've won in an actual serious race, I'm sure. Still, a bit of mid-day fun to break up the monotony of work felt good. I'm not condoning real street racing or riding like a hooligan in traffic, but I think a little clear highway roll race is basically harmless.
Nothing terribly special. My work van is a Chevy Uplander, my wife's van is a mid-0's (Piece of) Chrysler. I had a '96 Corolla until the sprog got his license, now I just move it out of the way so I can go to work, and pay the insurance of course. There's also the 33' RV but that has 6 wheels.
Pov-pack 1996 Ford Falcon, 4.0 I6/BTR 4spd auto/3.23:1 LSD BW78
(http://i.imgur.com/VesAjkM.jpg)
Mostly I drive my employers '08 Chevy Uplander. Evenings and weekends I drive my wife's Town & Country, so I'm mainly in one mini-van or another. Used to have a '94 Corolla but that went to the kid upon licensing. I still drive it now and then but not much. Then there's the 33' RV but that mostly sits and soaks up cash. And of course the GS500 and a Jonway 250 scooter. I'd like a new car but I'm too busy paying insurance and registration on five other vehicles.
I drive a 2007 Civic Si coupe. It is the GS500 of sports cars :-)
2003 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally Manual Trans. Awesome in the snow, great steering feel, and gives me 35-36 mpg consistently. I bought it 2 years ago for $1,200 with 135,000 miles on it. It needed a lot of front suspension work so I replaced inner and outer tie rods, the front struts, and new sway bar links. Then I took it in for an allignment and 40,000 miles later haven't done a thing but routine maintenance. It's a college beater but I like it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/wtmx7sb5/20181210-152941.png) (https://postimg.cc/wtmx7sb5)
Quote from: GSChesler on December 10, 2018, 02:40:15 PM
I drive a 2007 Civic Si coupe. It is the GS500 of sports cars :-)
I guess I agree that the gs500 is kind of the Honda Civic of motorcycles, but it's hard to think of a Civic as a sports car.
But these days that term seems meaningless.