Cars We Drive!

[TheFoo]

That has to be a joke.

Sadly no. That’s the production car.

 

[clee1982]

Which to me is kind of a myth...the 911 isn’t worse-handling for most drivers, it’s just less forgiving of your mistakes.

Speaking forgiveness have to give credit to old BMW, the new one is forgiving too, just not engaging...

 

[clee1982]

That has to be a joke.

nop, and think the real one is getting revealed soon

 

[HRoi]

Reading about BMW just makes me tired and sad now. It’s like finally breaking up with your girlfriend because she isn’t the same person anymore and has broken your trust too many times...and after you break up she falls in with the wrong crowd and gets into crack, bad plastic surgery and prostitution

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Identical to this (excluding the floor mats, obviously):

Seems like the ability to customize is nearly endless, but for now the only immediate plans are a new head unit (Continental/VDO makes a very nice period-correct looking HU with bluetooth and USB inputs), new floor mats, a Tequipment steering wheel from the 968, and freshening up anything which is overly worn.

But believe me when I say the thought of stripping the interior and installing Recaro Pole Position seats hasn't crossed my mind about a dozen times.

 

[VaderDave]

I remember back when BMW was putting out the E60 5 Series and the Bangle-butt 7 and people always said that BMW would never mess with the 3, because it was their bread-and-butter car so they would always stick with relatively conservative styling updates. I guess that isn't the plan this time around. Pictures like these have been floating around for a while and BMW fans have been saying "yeah, but the real design will show up...any day now!" I guess not.

 

[clee1982]

it's going to be sale that will do the talk, I hated E60 when it came out (especially when compare to E39) but it actually still looks modern today. Same thing with E65 vs E38 7 series, though somehow I still can't get over the E65's butt...

in either case the sale proved me wrong...

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

View attachment 1399374

 

[Texasmade]

View attachment 1399374

"I got a 911 with a quadraphonic Blaupunkt"

 

[clee1982]

you want to see more 4 series (I think not), here it is nonetheless

 

[clee1982]

whoever shoot the promo should not have done from that low of an angle, it's going to enlarge the teeth even further... side profile looks decent. I suppose had they just make it look like a smaller 8 series people would liked more (not here, but in general)

 

[VaderDave]

As a styling cue it's not really all that different from Audi's single frame grille, which was a pretty similar departure from Audi's prior, more horizontal grilles.

It's just that it's divided into two "kidneys."

 

[clee1982]

well BMW's center divider is it's brand image, so once you got that you go big grill you got a teeth

 

[A Y]

The PSM button in Porsches is called the "Please Save Me" button.

 

[Dino944]

I’ve spun the 997 GT3 in that manner. The thing is, the 911 is hardly the only car that you can spin with lift-off oversteer. It’s just that the rear weight bias makes the snap effect more violent, the same way it’s scarier to control the momentum of a 25 lb kettlebell than a 10 lb one. That plus the less-developed traction control technology of those times made the earlier 911’s earn the ‘widowmaker’ rep.

Which to me is kind of a myth...the 911 isn’t worse-handling for most drivers, it’s just less forgiving of your mistakes.

I wasn't suggesting that the 911 is the only car one can spin or that it was the worst handling car. Older 911s are blast to drive. However, the older models are a bit more tail happy one has to be a bit more cautious and learn the car's (and one's own) limits slowly. My dad went from a front engine 1982 BMW 633CSi with about 178 hp to a rear engine 3.2 Carrera with 200 hp...not a huge power difference but very different driving dynamics. I think the Carrera was the only car he ever spun with lift-off oversteer.

As for the "Widowmaker" nickname, it specifically applied to the 930 Turbo. The 930 had what many called a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality. 930s felt sedate and almost sluggish off boost compared to the n/a 911. They had serious turbo lag, and then suddenly the boost would kick in, catch people buy surprise, they would "lift off" and go flying off the road. In the late 70's early 80's there were a few wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche and the distributor Porsche + Audi relating to 930s. In California there was a $2.5 Million verdict against Porsche & Porsche +Audi for an accident involving a 930 in which the driver lost control and someone's husband (passenger) was killed. There was another involving a 930 and oversteer resulting in the car hitting a telephone pole and again killing someone's husband. It settled for an undisclosed amount. Hence, that's where the "Widowmaker" name came from. Aside from emissions issues, the law suits were one of the reason that Porsche pulled the 930 from the US market from 1980-1985. In 86, it returned to the US market with a bit more horsepower, but the boost and the way it kicked in were tamed a bit.