Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[inteuniso]

This is a little-known fact on the forums, but well known on the DFC chat: I am a car fanatic. Not a day goes by where I don't think about cars in some form or context. I'm not talking about a tiny Toyota Yaris. I'm talking about fast cars, from Honda Civics with the Frankenstein swap, to my own Acura 3.2 CL Type-S, whose 5 speed automatic goes 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. I'm more of a Japanese tuner guy myself, but I respect American muscle (Roush Mustangs and Shelby GT 500s are beasts to behold), and I certainly don't mind European sports cars (except for Volkswagen).


tl;dr I'm a car guy. I'm looking for other car guys/girls to discuss automotive news, their own cars, their upgrades, their track times, etc. I'm making a car thread.

[Aqizzar]

I don't claim to be a "car guy" by any means, my realm of understanding is limited only to what I've driven.  But at the risk of starting a turf war in one post, hearing Honda Civics described as "fast cars" makes me bristle like a fucking guard dog.  I scrape Civics off my Thunderbird's bumper, hoping to one day match my father's awe inspiring trophy wall.  Of course, mine is just all-American stock power, his is a bona fide dragstrip legend.  At any rate, we should throw down as a matter of honor.

[sluissa]

As with Aqizzar, I don't claim to be much of a car guy. Other than a bit of experience here and there most of my knowledge is from internet or racing games. Still, I'll try to keep my commentary here based on my real world knowledge.

Spoilers in case anyone doesn't care to read my layman's view of cars.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Harsh blow on Volkswagens. Have you ever even ridden in one? I'll admit, the bugs leave something to be desired looking at them from the outside. They're unique, but don't look like a car. Driving one, however is a lot sportier than you'd really expect from that kind of car, even without any upgrades or tuning. (The new ones at least, I don't have any experience with the old ones.) From what I understand, the rest of their lineup isn't bad either. But I have no experience with those.

My experience with cars is mostly limited to my 2000 Saturn SL 4door which I owned for about 5 years before a tragic rear end accident at a red light. (My rear end, not anyone else's) and my current 2004 Chevy Cavalier 2door. Neither was really anything to be proud of, other than they were both 5 speed and the Saturn was my first car (Which makes me love it and be proud of it more than it might deserve, but it really was a great car, everything in it felt perfect to me.) The Cavalier is an okay car. Not really even good in any respect, but it's bright orange so I do get complements on it either way for some reason. I've had my share of trouble with it though, so I doubt I'll be buying Chevy in the future and I definitely won't be getting a Cavalier.

I've had tiny bits of experience with others. The BMW X3 is pretty good for what it is. (High praise from me, I hate the mutant van-truck abominations.) Nice power and decent handling. Mini Coopers leave a little to be desired though. Definitely don't use The Italian Job as a frame of reference as to what to expect though. That was my mistake.

[Sensei]

I wouldn't throw away Volkwagon, the Golf is a pretty good line of cars.

[inteuniso]

But at the risk of starting a turf war in one post, hearing Honda Civics described as "fast cars" makes me bristle like a fucking guard dog.

Not to anger you, but you clearly have never raced a fully upgraded Honda Civic Si. Those tiny beasts have a lot of horsepower coming out of a tiny engine, meaning that they will smoke you in any short street races. Stock civics are nothing to talk about, but once you put in a few thousand, they start ripping up the competition.

[Zrk2]

@Sluissa: Saturns just never die, they're great, we had one for at least 10 years, sold it five years ago, and last I heard it's still going fine.

[Max White]

There has got to be something wrong with me. Until I got to 'Honda Civics' I had been reading car as cat.

[KaelGotDwarves]

First off, I am no where near a "car" guy either. I only know the basics of taking care of my car, checking various fluids to make sure everything's good, battery, maintenance work. I am not a tune up person. I, however, love my 2001 toyota matrix. 100k+ miles still going strong. It's got the space of a small SUV and the gas mileage that makes me laugh my neighbors with SUVs complaining about high gas prices.

However, Honda civics are just dirt cheap cars with dirt cheap parts that can be tinkered with to go fast. Toyotas as well.

I mean, hell. I can open up any toyota and understand what's going on. I've looked under the hoods of Fords and other GM vehicles, and it just doesn't make sense. It was the same on a volvo my family used to own. Why would you place the oil check on the damn side of the engine where I had to reach my entire arm into a valley? As a former mechanical engineering student, I say "dumbshit car designers".

I got the same explanation from the guy that worked on my car back in Chicago who was about to retire, an expert auto-mechanic who worked over 40 years in the business. He said that for the longest time Japanese cars trumped American under-the-hood because the design just made common sense. It was almost as if American cars were made to be difficult to look at so you'd need a certified Ford/GM mechanic and be forced to buy a new car after some time. Meanwhile the other companies are making better cars which last forever- Hondas in good shape with 250k miles. you have to give it to Toyota, in the past they were eager to learn from GM, and sent their workers to study under GM and copied their best practices while GM at the time didn't take the international competition seriously. Now look at where we are. Camry best seller years in a row - with Toyota plants all over America while GM requires government bailouts.

American company cars are getting there but I still wouldn't buy a GM or Ford. My friends have had nightmarish tales involving old Mercedes and BMWs that I have taken part of so I would never touch those either. Audis are pretty sexy though and heard nothing but good of them.

[Aqizzar]

See, I don't really understand the lingering distrust of American cars.  Sure, they were total shitboxes in the 80s and early 90s, but they're solid cars now.  Well, Fords are anyway, GM's have always been suspect.  More importantly I think, you can still work on them, they're not explicitly disposable (anymore).  That said, I do inherently distrust Japanese cars, but that's more because I've never seen one whose performance I was satisfied with, even with around-town cars, and their engineering leaves something to be desired when they do break down.

Even so, the two most reliable cars I've ever seen are my father's Thunderbird and my mother's Acura CL, so it's all really a question of taste and experience.

[Bauglir]

I, also, am not so much of a car person. The only cars I know the names of were the ones I looked at while shopping for one, and I ended up with a 2001 Mitsubishi Galant, which seems to have pretty shiny gas mileage but on the other hand a nonessential piece of exterior plastic keeps trying to tear itself off, and I should probably get that looked at once I have some spare cash... However, discussing crappy used cars may not be the point of this thread, so I'll let you get back to talking about awesome things.

[Vertigon]

There has got to be something wrong with me. Until I got to 'Honda Civics' I had been reading car as cat.

Well, it makes sense. Most people here are cat lovers and some of us are actual felines.

[Max White]

Well, it makes sense. Most people here are cat lovers and some of us are actual felines.

Is this something you would like to admit to? Being a cat that is. Because really, I would like to know how you would type with paws instead of hands.

[Nikov]

My Blazer has gotten me out of multiple snowstorms, blizzards and ice storms. Thus I am unphased by any lack of speed or fuel economy compared to other so-called methods of transportation.

[KaelGotDwarves]

See, I don't really understand the lingering distrust of American cars.  Sure, they were total shitboxes in the 80s and early 90s, but they're solid cars now.  Well, Fords are anyway, GM's have always been suspect.  More importantly I think, you can still work on them, they're not explicitly disposable (anymore).  That said, I do inherently distrust Japanese cars, but that's more because I've never seen one whose performance I was satisfied with, even with around-town cars, and their engineering leaves something to be desired when they do break down.

Even so, the two most reliable cars I've ever seen are my father's Thunderbird and my mother's Acura CL, so it's all really a question of taste and experience.

Acura is the luxury Honda brand. My aunt has had one now for 10+ years, and she runs it around like an idiot, and it still works somewhat well. I'm surprised, because I've checked it for her when she told me it was making weird noises only to find that she was running on ZERO brake fluid. How she managed to drive it to me without dying is a testament to Acuras. She also owns a prius.

Well, my own personal experience as far as our family car history goes:

ancient 70s Volk bug: shitty, unsafe, but cheap. Sold in the 80s
1986 volvo GLE: Built like a tank. Only thing that could take it out is a hummer or semi. It was hit by a SUV and the SUV was worse off for it. Great for awhile, then sinking more money into it than it's worth/the tax break we'd get donating it when the suspension gave out after about 20+ years of use. Volvos are great if you want to protect your kids in an armoured vehicle.
1994 honda accord manual: Sold it 2 years ago through Craigslist with 200k+ miles. Probably will last above 300k.
2000 toyota camry: still used by my mum, works great, tuneups required every once in awhile. About 119k miles
2001 toyota matrix: My car. Family loved it so much we bought another one. 110k+miles.
2005 toyota matrix: still in use by my father. We joke about it being his mid-life crisis car. He can easily afford any car he wants but doesn't give a shit.

Then of course there's my extended family and friends... but I can tell you that our toyotas and that honda are the most dependable cars I know of. And as far as I've seen the engineering is such that it's easy and cheap to fix. Not so with many others. But the recent Fords do look a bit nice, so I'd just have to wait and see how well they hold up.

What I find interesting is that following the government takeover of GM that big "Toyota causing runaway accidents" thing was blown up in the media when Ford had a similar issue with people dying due to slow recalls and that was merely settled in court without a huge media scandal.

[sneakey pete]

So um... there anyone here who thinks 'real' racing isn't who's fastest over 400m? You've gotta give credit where its due, a well setup civic will stick like the road like shit sticks to a wall. My dad has a '9- suzuki swift GTI with the interior stripped and upgraded suspension. It drives like its on rails, its amazing around corners.

Howerver, i'm more of a skyline man myself.