General Auto Chat

I was pretty lucky to get employee pricing on my Camaro so it came in pretty well loaded for $44K. I've heard many stories of people getting them still in that same price range. It's no secret that they did not sell well, so there should be room for negotiation at the dealers. I ordered mine straight from the factory so I did not have much room to negotiate. However, it was delayed by several weeks and after I got pissed and started cross shopping, they gave me the employee discount to convince me to accept the delivery.

I actually wanted a Mustang GT350, but at that time they were just out and had ridiculous dealer markups so it was pretty quickly eliminated from my list. This is the type of thing I will refuse to support. The GT350R had the same issue. It's not worth extra money to be in that boring interior. There's something special about those cars for sure but it's not worth extra tens of thousands of pesos compared to its competition. I don't have any street cred regardless of which sports car I'm driving.

 

*Russian accent* In capitalist America kid does not take car, car takes kid.

 

From this angle it looks like you kid playing with a iPad.

 

I feel fat just by reading this. I don't know what will become with my waistline within 20 years.

 

Here is a race from last weekend. The car I am chasing is a 2019 GT-3 Cup Car.

 

I was taught to go deeper into the corkscrew and come down the hill on the right. You've got gobs of terrain-induced downforce coming into the right-hander at the bottom so you don't need to swing as wide.

(That was in a open-wheeled car, though, so it could be different carrying a lot more weight around.)

Great video. Enjoyed that.

 

No, my line is good. I swing as wide as I have to which shows I am carrying just about as much speed as I can without running off the track (with some margin for error). It's very similar to this open wheel car:



He has better grip, more aero, and much lighter weight though....which accounts for the differences.

 

He he... the speed in your video is about what I was used to in an FF. That IndyCar video is insane.

 

Why are you questioning my line?? You have no idea what you are talking about in regards to the right line in my car.

I AM ON THE RIGHT LINE!!!

Jeez.....

 

This is more like it.

 

Not sure if you got your new car already, but my experience matches this - Mazda with AWD, preferably diesel, if I want lower price point. Q5 if I want to spend more.

Of course one could also get a bigger "real" truck/SUV, but that also comes with it's own set of problems, etc.

 

I sometimes regret not doing the same with my car (m240i). Factory order Jan 2018, was supposed to arrive late Feb to early March, arrives in early April instead. Needless to say I wasn't happy either. However I was already pretty set on the car and already got a very good deal on it, but a week after I take delivery of my car I realize in retrospect I should have waved my arms around and complained, etc...

On the flip side, there aren't that many m2/m240i available worldwide due to limited production capability for these models and for all i know they could have sold to someone else fairly easily.

or $9/hr engineers b/c that can't go wrong:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-29/boeing-outsourced-its-737-max-software-9-hour-engineers-0
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ax-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers

 

Not yet. Lease on the 328d is up in November, so we'll switch to an Audi Q3 then.

 

Ive currently got a 2000 Acura TL that is seemingly in great shape. But now that Ive got a solid internship for the next 6 months I kind of want to replace it with something at least a bit newer, its almost as old as my classmates.

i dont want to spend much more than 15k and want something 2010 or newer. Decent mileage and dependability are good. I was looking at either a 2010-2012 GTI or maybe an S5 with the V8, those are actually pretty cheap, but dont have the same timing chain problem as the S4 with the very similar motor.

any thoughts?

 

I would recommend a MkVII GTI. The B8 S5 is not a sensible choice because of the high running costs associated with its mechanical/electrical complexity, parts and labor prices. Your understanding of the updates made to the 4.2 liter V8 FSI engine's chain drive system is somewhat uniformed because although the design of the guides was improved, the guides, tensioners, camshaft adjusters, and other components may fail or eventually need replacement due to time/mileage. There are also many other modes of failure and tears for the 4.2 liter V8 FSI engine such as its well documented carbon buildup woes.

Having worked for a BMW AG and spent many years working for an engine builder/supplier to teams running in Le Mans, NASCAR etc. etc., I can only tell you to buy a Japanese car if "decent mileage and dependability" are your concerns.

 

Hahaha that last sentence is perfect timing! I'm currently looking for a new car after the accident and would love something that sits between my 05 350z 6spd and 04 LS430. I'm leaning towards a G37S coupe as it's one of the last affordable manual luxury coupes available that's not going to have high maintenance costs. Just missed out on an 08 that only had 58k miles on it...

 

This is an issue for just about any DI engine. The VAG DI engines at least get MP injection on a lot of models over in Europe, so there's opportunity to swap/drill manifolds and add another fuel rail and injectors/MPI controller. As far as the MK7/7.5 EA888 Gen3, carbon build up seems to be a ~40k mile service interval; ~$400 to get media blasted.

@SoupRKnowva, try to get to a VW dealer and take a MK7.5 GTI out for a test drive. The differences between a 2015 MK7 GTI and a MK7.5 are mostly tech, they're both on the MQB platform and will drive/feel pretty much identical. 2015 Mk7's GTI S with higher milage should probably be hitting $12k-$13k. SE and Autobahn should be $15k-18K.

 

So the S5 was mostly added cause you can get that V8 for a bargain these days, who doesn’t want a V8? Though it does sort of throw my decent mileage requirement out the window.

I’m just not that excited by anything Japanese unfortunately.

Are the gen 6 GTIs not as good as the gen 7 ones?