DrBoost
SuperDork
12/26/11 2:14 p.m.
I'm with you carzan. Look at the Veyron or F1 and try not to be impressed. EVERY thing about those cars is about speed. They account for the weight of the paint ferchrissake! Yeah, it's expensive but it's a factory car with a warranty that can do better than 250 miles per hour, how can that not impress people?
I bet wheels777 could beat a Veyron for a lot less money. Now the warranty part...
C5 Z06
Fast = check
Handles = check
Reliable = check
Fair to decent fuel economy = check
That undefinable something that makes me love it = uncheck
The last one would have to go to my Jeep XJ
What doesn't impress me is large boosted diesel trucks. I just don't get it. They smell terrible and are painfully noisy. Being in one on the freeway is a migrane waiting to happen. At idle they sound like a UPS truck and smell like a tire fire.
It is pretty much taking 80 years of NVH advances and throwing it out the window.
rotard
HalfDork
12/26/11 2:40 p.m.
a401cj wrote:
C5 Z06
Fast = check
Handles = check
Reliable = check
Fair to decent fuel economy = check
That undefinable something that makes me love it = check
The last one would have to go to my Jeep XJ
Fixed that for you. I hated Corvettes until I spent some time with my Z06. It checks all the boxes, unless you want a drop top.
ditchdigger wrote:
What doesn't impress me is large boosted diesel trucks. I just don't get it. They smell terrible and are painfully noisy. Being in one on the freeway is a migrane waiting to happen. At idle they sound like a UPS truck and smell like a tire fire.
It is pretty much taking 80 years of NVH advances and throwing it out the window.
yeah i do hear you. I choose this weapon if I need to pull something heavy a long distance. Going to work or to Wal-Mart this stays plugged in at home
DrBoost wrote:
I'm with you carzan. Look at the Veyron or F1 and try not to be impressed. EVERY thing about those cars is about speed. They account for the weight of the paint ferchrissake! Yeah, it's expensive but it's a factory car with a warranty that can do better than 250 miles per hour, how can that not impress people?
didn't know the Veyron was on a diet. It's a heavy pig and I doubt they worry about the weight of the paint. dat true for the F1 though
In reply to carzan:
I think that technology wise, the Veyron is very impressive. However, I don't like the way it looks and I'm tired of hearing about it in magazines and on shows like Top Gear.
Curmudgeon wrote:
Drove one. Wasn't impressed. I guess it's because I don't see the point in a car that expensive. To me that's just a waste of $.
This has always been a tough thing for me to argue. One one side I see your point why do you need this car it is after all a 280K car. But then again several of my friends have the $$$$ and can afford them. They purchase extremely expensive cars like I purchase 20 year old 944's and RX7's . Having had the opportunity to see the world through they eyes of a person that has earned it the hard way by building there companies over 30-40 years of hard work I completely understand why they purchase these types of cars.
I am not arguing with you here because I can't. But please understand that from the stand point of some one that can afford one of these cars they are not about the $$$$$ it is about there perception of automotive perfection. Cost is not part of there decision in purchasing it. Does that make sense?
Porsches have consistently disappointed and/or underwhelmed me. I've tried to like them; they've made some damn pretty cars, but none of them have than intangible, undefinable aspect that makes one love a car. I respect the history and the engineering, but I'll never have room for one in my garage.
Uh, forgot to add newer Lamborghinis to the list. New Ferraris don't do it for me either. Both have boatloads of power, all the tech toys you could ever want, exclusivity and I am sure they are fun to drive. But the ones that set me going? Here they are. Sure each is a PITA to own and drive, but there is just an indefineable something about these two cars that grabbed and held me over the years.
The Miura.
The Ferrari 250 GTO.
The newest Ferrari that I would really like to have is the F40.
This one's appeals I can list and define. 2425 pounds. Yep, that's right, 2425 pounds. A snorty 471 HP mid mounted V8. It looks like a purposeful weapon, not a cartoon caricature. An interior stripped of just about anything that gets in the way of performance driving. Yes please. Sure the newer cars have more HP etc but they simply do not have the raw visceral appeal the F40 does. Enzo was a minimalist, it was his last hurrah and it shows. Maybe the old coot knew what he was talking about.
In comparison, a Veyron looks like a bloated... something. Toad, maybe?
dean 1484, each of these probably cost as much if not more than the Bentley. I guess I just don't like pimpmobiles and when driving the Silver Spur I felt like maybe I should dress a certain way.
carzan wrote:
You guys who aren't impressed with the Veyron, you're a tough bunch. Any production (even if limited) street-legal car that comes from the factory with over 1000hp and capable of over 250mph with no drama is impressive to me.
Is it not believable that some people are simply not interested in such an egregiously excessful luxury car?
It's a pile of German techno-luxury and American "too much is not enough" mentality.
An impressive car, to me, is one that doesn't make me think "This is sweet, but I could make it sweeter if I..."
Thus: All of 'em.
Curmudgeon wrote:
The newest Ferrari that I would really like to have is the F40.
This one's appeals I can list and define. 2425 pounds. Yep, that's right, 2425 pounds.
But the Delta S4 weighed something like 400-500lb less than that, and that included AWD.
Granted, the Stradale weighed a wee bit more than the F40. But then there's that whole "could be better if I..."
carzan
HalfDork
12/26/11 4:39 p.m.
In reply to Knurled:
I said nothing about being interested. I just find a street-legal production car that can go 250+mph impressive. That's it.
Apparently, others don't.
oldeskewltoy wrote:
anything Break My Window. I've yet to meet anyone who owns one who thinks their poop don't stink
I've been driving Break My Windows since '71 (with a few other brands now & then) & I've been lead to believe that my poop is still odiferous in an unpleasant way.
The Veyron's 250MPH top speed is a helluva accomplishment, so from that POV it's very impressive. But it requires 8 liters between 16 cylinders to accomplish that prodigious feat and its styling is atrocious. It weighs 4162 pounds and will hold 2 people.
Cadillac has a $70,000.00 5 passenger station wagon that will do 200 MPH on 6.2 liters of pushrod V8. To me that's a much higher accomplishment.
In keeping with the 'less is more' philosophy, the Lotus Evora squeezes 162 MPH out of 335 HP/3.5 liters (S model) and is much better looking than the Veyron IMHO. It weighs ~3000 pounds. It will carry 4 people. Plus it's $66K base/$76k S model. How much is the Bugatti again?
The soon to be released Evora GTE makes either 438 or 444 HP (depending on who you read) from the same 3.5 Toyota V6 engine and weighs ~105 lb less.
I'm thinking that may put it much closer to Veyron territory and it's still a factory production car. Sure, it's a limited production beast, it loses the 2 back seats when it becomes the GTE and it's iffy as to whether it can truly be licensed over here, but that car still impresses me much more than the Veyron. Pre intro pricing seems to be around 100K British pounds or $156K US. (Hmmm, what could I do with that extra $844K? I'm sure I'll think of something.)
ddavidv
SuperDork
12/26/11 5:28 p.m.
They want how much for an Austrian ex-military vehicle???
Anything made by Toyota currently.
I know there is one defender on this board, but I still think the name is an antonym for what it really is.
Woody wrote:
geez, some guy at work has a Dodge w/ dat, he think he too kewl
In reply to Woody:
Thats not really a specific vehicle. That just a tasteless modification.
NOHOME
HalfDork
12/26/11 9:47 p.m.
Ranger50 wrote:
Anything remotely considered an everyday appliance.....
I might have to disagree to a certain extent.
For my purposes, any car that I can not wad up on the track and then catch a cab to the dealer for an un-insured replacement, is not FUN.
This is a sliding curve that will change with circumstances, but one that I have stuck with.
a401cj wrote:
ditchdigger wrote:
What doesn't impress me is large boosted diesel trucks. I just don't get it. They smell terrible and are painfully noisy. Being in one on the freeway is a migrane waiting to happen. At idle they sound like a UPS truck and smell like a tire fire.
It is pretty much taking 80 years of NVH advances and throwing it out the window.
yeah i do hear you. I choose this weapon if I need to pull something heavy a long distance. Going to work or to Wal-Mart this stays plugged in at home
This especially. I do find it funny when they are at the drive through and have to shut the engine down to order their food. So coooool.
Luke
SuperDork
12/26/11 10:49 p.m.
ditchdigger wrote:
What doesn't impress me is large boosted diesel trucks. I just don't get it. They smell terrible and are painfully noisy. Being in one on the freeway is a migrane waiting to happen. At idle they sound like a UPS truck and smell like a tire fire.
It is pretty much taking 80 years of NVH advances and throwing it out the window.
As much as I want to agree with you, I was beside one of these monstrosities at the lights a little while ago. He even had the requisite douchey, personalised number plate. It was late at night and we were the only two cars around, so as the light turns to green he floors the throttle, spins his rear tyres then leaves me behind in a cloud of stinky diesel fumes. The raw power of the thing was a little bit impressive.
New Lamborghinis do nothing for me.