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Comments
Nicholas
~c
Nicholas
A very small boost from turbo power is not what that car needed.
Mine already is too rpm-happy, you need 5500 rpms to reach peak torque. Toss in some turbo lag, lower mileage, premium fuel, and keep the same cramped cockpit and it creates more problems for me than it solves.
It's heavier and more luxurious, with higher insurance rates. Three more strikes.
I'd almost rather see a Miata Ultralight, basically delete a few luxuries (like A/C and power steering) and lighten it by 200 lbs or so, keep the same 1.8l engine but tuned to run on 87 octane.
The '99 made 3 hp less but ran on regular, so even the 2000 and later engines hardly seem with the improvement since premium is required.
Right now, if mine had to be replaced it would be a low mileage '99, stripped down, cloth, with as few options as possible.
Or an Elise. Sweetness! $40 grand if you're already on the wait list, though.
I like the concept of the MR2, very light and fuel efficient, but the high cowl sort of spoils it for me.
Boxster is a hoot but I have other priorities. Like making the mortgage payment on the condo. :-)
-juice
VW will price it at $35k, watch. :-(
Beyond that, maybe a 4 seater. I could take the kids to the beach in it, would be the idea. But 3 hours each way in a cramped convertible with the top up? Dunno.
And the nice ones are pricey. Sebring is blah. Solara is high quality blah. A4 and 3er are small, maybe Saab 9-3? PT Cruiser feels cheap and the Mini Cooper S convertible, if you can find one without a markup, is smallish. Cabrio is too old, Beetle too cute.
All I want is a convertible 7 seater that gets 30mpg with 300+hp, am I really asking for too much?
-juice
~c
I guess I've had too many bikes stolen from me (3 total, can you believe it?).
1st was stolen from a parking lot.
2nd was stolen from my front yard at the time, would you believe my bedroom window was wide open and I didn't hear the thieves?
The 3rd one had the front wheel kryptonite-locked to a rack, can you believe they disassembled the wheel and stole the rest of it? This is at a Subway stop with guards and cameras covering that area.
That was that. I am jinxed!
Plus I like to take the kids for a spin when it's local. My daughter hits the hazard lights, which I call the CRAZY FAST button, and I punch the throttle and she giggles incessantly.
Hutch took a nasty spill recently, can you believe he hit a deer? Out of nowhere, Thwack! Broke the deer's neck, Hutch was carted off in an ambulance. He was OK, though, this was 3 weeks before that Mercedes event and he showed up with nothing but a few scars.
I guess if it was just me, sure, but when you have little dependents the priorities change a bit. The Miata's death rate is actually Average so I can live with that (pun intended).
-juice
~Colin
I've been warned. 'OK, so I almost crushed my leg and my friend Paul broke his back and almost ended up in a chair for the rest of his life. But honey they're sooo much fun to drive and I was less mature then. Pleeeeaaaaase?'
Nicholas
Kryptonite has pulled its locks from the shelves and is offering free replacement with a revised lock for anyone owning a lock purchased in the last couple of years.
Any horsepower on the Miata is welcome, IMHO
How much does the average superbike weigh?
tom
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=9160
This car is tiny, and using a 1300cc motorcycle engine! Sort of a "sports car" version of those micro '37 Ford replicar-racers using bike engines. Juice & Mike, remember those that we saw at Summit Point last year?
Bob
Interesting though that the 1300 Superbike has double the HP at 175 (I knew it was much more, just had to look up the number). Wonder why the difference?
In answer to Tom's question, the Hyabusa weighs 473lbs.
Nicholas
So would an average stock superbike beat, say, an F1 race car through a road course? How about an Indy car on an oval?
I remember watching a video of a BMW, a Porsche, a street motorcycle, and a racing bike. They all started in this order. While the cars were leaving the racing bike guy was slowly putting his gloves on. He started way late and ended up easily passing everyone in one lap. Pretty impressive.
tom
anyway, it would depend on the course, more high speed straights are going to favor the bike and more heavy braking zones would favor the car.
but an F1 car would mop the floor with a MotoGP racebike.
power-to-weight will always heavily favor the motorcycle, but it has serious aerodynamic disadvantages at high speed over the sportscar. add in real aero aids like ground effects and functional wings, and it's no competition.
the main problem though is braking. bikes have poor weight distribution under braking, and the front tire's small contact patch can only do so much. for this reason sportbikes are easily outbraked by most performance cars, although their stock brake systems tend to be better equipped for hard track use.
~c
The MSM does the 1/4 mile something like 0.4 seconds quicker than the regular Miata. Whoopee!
The Hayabusa looks cool, just make is a roadster. I don't care if it only seats one person!
-juice
I always thought the Cayenne was a dumb idea- you could easily afford 2 cars, one Suv and one Sedan or wagon, for the price of one Cayenne. I just don't see it- why do I need an SUV that does 130mph?
At least the Toureg is cheaper- but the W12 for 80K? At that point I'd buy the Porsche just for the name alone. I think I'm contradicting my self- I just said I wouldn't buy the Cayenne.
Actually, I wouldn't buy either. Get a Toyota- it's cheaper and more reliable. At least until Subaru comes out with a full sized SUV.
tom
What do you pick?
I think I'd take either a loaded up Land Cruiser or an LX470 just to get it up over that minimum.
What about you folks?
I don't think I'd ever really buy one, I'd get an S8 or something along those lines, but still, this could be an interesting exercise.
-juice
Nicholas
Didn't that CXT monster thing run over $100K?
I figure it would be an extra car that doesn't get driven much, so I'd get an H1. You never know- we might just get invaded by Al Quaida and a H1 would come in handy! Mount some machine guns and rocket launchers. . . ;-)
tom
I'm talking big, luxury, or both.
H1, for real or are you kidding?
-juice
my Evo tested at 110-115 feet 60-0 depending on the magazine. this can be easily accomplished by any fool standing on the brake pedal until ABS engages and then riding it to a stop.
my CBR 929 takes 140 feet, a number that it can be matched or beaten by a lot of modern cars but yet is very difficult for unskilled riders to approach.
~c
Mark
-Ty
-Ty
tom - H1
mark - 'sclade
ty - your rich uncle bought full replacement insurance for life, you must drive an indentical replacement for the next 8 years minimum. Would you still pick that CXT?
I took the wheel home just to make sure they had to at least buy a rim and a tire!
-juice
The LX470 sounds nice. Give me big, plush and luxurious.
Ken
Lingenfelter twin turbo Escalade, maybe Suburban if I wanted to be stealthy, blue. 700hp. What more could you ask for in a SUV? Only $56K for the engine mods.
http://www.lingenfelter.com/performance427suvturbo.asp
tom - H1
mark - 'sclade
ken - LX470
tsy - Lingenfelter 'sclade
eric - V10 TDI Touareg
Interesting, no H2s and no Navigators yet.
-juice
-Brian
Cheers!
Paul
Bob
A Landcruiser would be a good choice too, but they've gone too luxo for me. Can you still get 'em with cloth?
An X5 4.4xi would be tempting too, but those clear the $50k mark rather easily so add that to your list, Juice. Utterly untruck-like, of course.
~c
We need the 3 seats as well as lots of backback room in the 'way-far-back' (kids name for it). Otherwise, the Yukon/Tahoe would work.
Cheers!
Paul
H1's a joke. It just looks good with rocket launchers.
Hey, do you mean something you'd actually drive on a daily basis? Or have as an extra utility vehicle?
Colin- you can't get a landcruiser in cloth anymore. It's not a whole lot different from the Lexus version- I've driven both extensively. The lexus has a little nicer wood trim, adjustable ride height, and rear camera. Otherwise they're both quite nice inside. Performance stinks though.
I don't know about the rest of the country, but here you can get Landcruisers for much less than $50K. (I had to choose between the landcruiser and Sequoia, the bigger truck won out- not quite as nice though)
Paul- the CXT is for you then! Get a red one, you could park it in front of the station! ;-)
tom
I would use the vehicles I posted last about, though. that's why I mentioned them!
~c
That double-cab Tundra would be under $50k quite a bit, so it wouldn't qualify
-Brian
Tom: CXT? Is that the semi-sized cab & chassis? The Excursion was too big for us - I can't imagine anything THAT big as my daily driver!
Cheers!
Paul
Anyway, I get 17-20 MPG with my 99GMC Sierra 4x4 which ain't bad for a big truck, and to me it is a Suburban with a bed and a shorter cab at almost half the price of the 'Burban.
Looking at a new Legacy GT L wagon but think the price is a bit too high at $30k...
Steve
Bob