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Comments
I also saw a bone white Silver Hawk at a car show on Sunday in PA. Couldn't be the same car, could it?
Ed
-juice
very nice, never saw one before. it was in excellent shape. quiet too.
-Brian
Kids (all 3 of 'em) have taken it before, and it worked great. Seems to be working for me, too... I'm gettin' there!
Cheers!
Paul
:-)
Ross
Ken
-juice
Anyway, some of you heard about my incident where an older gentleman clipped my M3 while it was parked at a store. I got the car back Friday and it looks GREAT! Was about $1500 total. I would post pics but it's a little dusty-- later this week.
Since I got it back, I really wanted to go to an autocross Sunday... I actually had planned to go to the previous event 2 weeks before but the damage changed things.
So I went for the first time in nearly 15 months. It was a lot of fun and while the results haven't posted yet I think I won the class I was entered in. (Street Open, a regional thing but it's basically STS for any car.) I showed up a bit later than I'd hoped to and managed to get registered for the second heat-- problem was, the first heat was already underway! The first time I saw the course was taking a parade lap and on my first run I blew a hairpin pretty badly... didn't DNF (go off course) but I did run something slow in the high 42 second range.
Every run improved and I felt more at home each time and my 5th run was 40.084. Fast normal cars were in the 38s, a Formula Vee ran 36-something. A lot of the old regulars were there and glad to see me, it was neat.
I'm not going to get back into it seriously, but I did have fun and would like to do it occasionally.
-Colin
-mike
You still riding, too? Racing the bike, I mean?
-juice
-juice
juice, passenger age depends on your region's rules. usually it's 12. but yes, I have been riding the motorcycle quite a bit lately. lots of fun, now that my wrist is finally getting better. (some repetitive motion problems, I use a left-handed mouse now.)
-Colin
-mike
Good to hear that you're enjoying your M3. How different does it feel on the course compared to your old RS?
Ken
Good question. I'm not entirely sure because of layoff I've had and the fact this was just one short event, versus the many events I did in my RS.
My gut reaction though was that the M3 had some body roll but really was awesomely controlled. I bruised my right shin bracing against the center console, but otherwise the leather seats weren't horribly bad. A harness and cloth seats would've been nice.
The brakes seemed very good, but there wasn't much for braking zones and I'm sure I wasn't using them properly anyway. I never felt ABS kick-in, even on the first lap when I understeered badly through a tight hairpin.
The course was tight and small enough that I was afraid I'd be waiting for power a lot since I had no intention to be downshifting to 1st a lot. I shifted to second after the first gate and left it there, and other than 2 tight hairpins second was undoubtedly the right gear and I could generate wheelspin at corner exits with no problems. But it wasn't excessive either.
There's something in my soul that likes a little bit of drift, a roaring engine, and some wheelspin.
Overall the car seemed much easier for me to go fast in than my RS. The RS did definitely grip harder when I had the (brutual) Tein coilovers and camberplates, but with true street tires I think the M3's stock suspension is plenty capable. The powerband is useful and strong.
-Colin
"a little bit of drift, a roaring engine, and some wheelspin". Amen, brother.
-juice
Decontenting in early 90's? Yes, everybody did it but Subaru was an exception. I remember how pleasantly surprised we were with our Loyale'92: it had EVERYTHING: AT, A/C, power everything, central lock, cruise control. Even some features like display of which door is open, gear display, and remote fuel lid that are not in my Forester. It was incredibly value-priced. To get a similarly equipped Civic or Tercel, we would have to spend many $K more.
Happily, they're adding stuff back. I just heard the 2003 TS wagon added cruise control standard. So now I think every Subie has AWD, ABS, and cruise.
-juice
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/roadtests/firstdrive/71191/article.html
But 15/20 mpg for 192 hp? With 2wd? 18mpg highway with 4wd? Weight is why, same with the Sedona van.
And why did they use a 4 speed auto, when they have a 5 speed in their van?
I find it very appealing for the price, though.
-juice
-mike
-juice
-mike
I don't like part-time only 4WD, in fact I'd probably never use it. Even if I did, I'd want 4WD Lo, not 4WD Hi.
-juice
-mike
Hooked up my 5x8 trailer to the Explorer, and loaded that sucker to the hilt; bed, dresser, tables, all sorts of mis. furniture, as well as her bike. Her surf board went on the Explorer's roof rack. The Explorer was so loaded with "stuff," that there was no room for my wife—so she had to ride in my daughter's Prelude for the trip! I have never had that trailer so loaded before; there wasn't any room left even for a tooth pick!
Trip tidbits:
• Bad News, Good News
Going down, with full load, I barely got 11 mpg! Coming home, with empty SUV/trailer, I got 15 mpg.
• Kite-Surfing!
After we got her moved in, the wife and I drove over to Writesville Beach, a 10-minute drive, to check out the beach one last time before heading home. There we saw about a dozen or so kite-surfers. Deb and I were absolutely mesmerized by these guys! We watched them for a good 45 minutes or so.
Several of these kite-surfers were perhaps a 1/2 mile or so off shore. Others were in close to shore, riding the surf. They were leaping into the air, perhaps 20 - 30 feet or so, doing flips, twists, and whatever else the body can do in mid air. Simply amazing! We spoke to a couple of kite-surfers, and they said it costs about $1500, or so to get set up. You need to be in superb condition, and it can be VERY dangerous. The one guy we were talking to just dislocated his knee a few days ago kite-surfing. It's definitely an "Extreme Sport."
• Bears Everywhere!
On the way home, on I-95 between I-40 and the VA state line there were more cops and speed traps than I have ever seen on any one stretch of road, and I've been driving since 1962! If I saw one cop, I saw 30! About every two - three miles there was a speed trap! My radar detector was not needed, as nobody—I MEAN NOBODY—was driving over the 70 mph speed limit!
Bob
I particularly like the Cheyenne pickup with the side bed access-doors.
Bob
Noteable features:
Plastic grille and bumpers.
Solid rear Axle
Chassis looked very very similar to the suburban/Avalanche with a raised body and special rims and bigger tires.
Typical GM interior plastics
Tall and narrow
It's kinda ridiculous cause it has all the bad things of a true Hummer (bad aerodynamics, tiny windows) combined with all a bunch of other bad things like solid rear axle, non-hummer interior, narrow track, cheesy grille, plastic bumpers.
The funniest part of it all was that I was talking to the owner of it asking how he liked it and he said it was good, asked how it handled offroad and he said "dunno haven't taken it offroad" I proceeded to invite him to come on a run with us to the Pine Barrens, he laughed. I said it would be nice to see this out getting muddy, he said "YOU would like to see it muddy, not me!" I then asked "So what did you get it for? The image of offroadability? The "look" of it?" He said "Yeah I got it cause it is trendy and "looks" cool in the driveway" I turned to him and his wife and just said shaking my head "It's truely sad that people buy these things for "Image" and slowly walked away.
-mike
Bob
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/roadtests/firstdrive/71191/article.html
We didn't get a good look at it, but a quick peek from the rear and you could see the similar GM dash look it had.
Mike - At least the guy was honest! :-)
-Brian
-mike
-Brian
-mike
-Brian
-mike
My take on the G-wagen? It might be capable, but it's fugly.
Keep the 2400# limit and tell them to pack light!
That Buick concept looks kind of cool.
The idea of taking any $30k+ truck off road seems silly to me. Face it, you're gonna get banged up, how else will you know what it'll do? Either you wimp out, or keep going until you find the limit. Imagine the cost of a paint job for that wild yellow H2.
The only time they'll ever go off road is on a "double dare" just to prove a point.
It turns heads, though. They should sell a 2WD with none of the hardware and charge $1k less, and rake in the money.
-juice
It was either load the Explorer and trailer to the hilt, or rent a truck, and get even worse gas mileage.
Bob
Bob
http://www.auto.com/industry/bbuys20_20020720.htm
Ken
Anyway I can't fathom what they were thinking in the article by including the Beetle Turbo (and turbo S!) as good bargains for the money when a WRX spanks it handily in utility, performance and (subjectively of course) looks.
-Colin
The featured vehicles weren't doing too great, or have tough competition... and something slipped under the table? ;-)
I would think the later two for the WRX omission.
-Dave
I've got isuues with over half their choices but the PT Cruiser a Best Buy? Puhlease!!!!!!
-Frank P.
-mike
In Europe the G Wagen has had a patchy following outside of Germany. Bizarrely, one of the first ones in Britain was captured by The British Army from the Argentinians when they recaptured the Falkland Islands. It is now in a museum which I visited, having first been used fairly enthusiastically by the Brits who thought it was quite good.
I did run into one used by a country publican in Devon. He reckoned it was the toughest car he had ever owned. Not sure that it did anything for me though. Looks best described as "Homely".
Cheers
Graham
That's cause they were comparing it to the great reliability of the old Land Rovers! Hee Hee (I'm sure that tincup will have a funny response to this
-mike