Cars We Drive!

[Thrift Vader]

I hate it.

It's like "B is for Build" bought a new car.

 

[Texasmade]

I'm not liking the front fascia. I don't mind the rear though.

 

[Dino944]

I might have to come find you when I drive home to my parents in PA in the miata next time. Would be cool to see what you think of a car that came with 110 rwhp when it's pushing closer to 330

When you have a free Sunday morning in the spring or summer, you should come down to our local cars & coffee meet...its about an hour from Wustah. We usually get a bunch of Honda S2000s and a few other Japanese cars to join us, most are modded and they are always interested in checking out the mods other guys have done. That's in addition to the Euro cars that attend. Remind me in the spring, and I'll send you info if interested. When its over from there you and the girlfriend are close enough to spend the day in Newport, RI.

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

So do you guys like the styling? Personally I think I’d need to go straight to the aftermarket and make it look more like the GR concept. Maybe a less crazy wing and rear diffuser

View attachment 1104688
View attachment 1104689

I’m not a fan of the current liberty walk trend of ‘wb all the things’ but this Supra is crying out to make someone make it look more over the top...

I think like the new NSX, it doesn't know what it wants to be, like most teenagers these days. Is it a BMW? No. Is it a Supra? Hell No. Is it luxury? Eh. Is it performance orientated? I guess. Do I like...Can't say that I do, but then again I said that about both the Ferrari FF and the Ferrari California. Both of which grew on me the more I drove them.

 

[clee1982]

By the way any option for no drill front license plate... (not the off center mount ugly solution...)

 

[Thrift Vader]

Regarding the "Fupra", Toyota missed the boat. they have a perfectly rapid v6 in the "Crown Athlete" saloons. which is what the Highway patrol here drives. (-or a Legacy.) Those Crowns will chase you down. so why wouldn't they use the engine?
or a revision of the JZ platform? wtf??!!

They failed with the 86 ,they failed now with the Supra. . . what are they doing?
btw, Mk3 Supra fo life.

Subaru failed with the whole range, going to an engine with doubts about the valvetrain,and made their cars so bloated and uninspiring,that you can't really be sure what you are looking at unless you read the badges. just why? stop it.
Mrs Vader wants an XV. but we will probably just buy the lowest kilometer Sg5 Forester turbo in the country instead.
or put 10k into the current Fozzy. (207 block,suspension refresh,paint correction,etc)

Mitsubishi has completely removed itself from the conversation.

Props to Nissan. for giving us the GTR. the only Japanese street racer still in the game. and the Z cars. they keep it legit.

Honda?
I never liked the NSX. (not sorry) because it tried to be a Japanese Ferrari. why would you even want to?

Looking forward to what Mazda is up to.

but in short. The car industry has shot itself in the foot.and *********** aftermarket. if anything? it has driven up the prices of pretty much every pre 2013 performance car. raising the stocks of the JDM staples. i wouldn't be surprised to see 90's JDM take over the classic car scene for big dollars and desirability. if it hasn't already.


also,
The 300zx was and is a GT car. it's main rival being the Toyota Soarer/Sc300-400. i love both of them.

 

[Dino944]

By the way any option for no drill front license plate... (not the off center mount ugly solution...)

A friend of mine has a retractable license plate holder (there are manual ones and remote control ones, on amazon). My friend's goes under his front spoiler, but his is a 911 that he doesn't drive year round. Not sure how well that would do in snow if it got scraped by snow while under the vehicle in a storm. Another friend had a detail shop install a magnet in his bumper and create a soft padded backing of some sort and he just puts it on his bumper when he want to or takes it off when he wants to. But most people I know just use the tow hook plate holders if they are going to use a plate on their car.

 

[clee1982]

Regarding the "Fupra", Toyota missed the boat. they have a perfectly rapid v6 in the "Crown Athlete" saloons. which is what the Highway patrol here drives. (-or a Legacy.) Those Crowns will chase you down. so why wouldn't they use the engine?
or a revision of the JZ platform? wtf??!!

They failed with the 86 ,they failed now with the Supra. . . what are they doing?
btw, Mk3 Supra fo life.

Subaru failed with the whole range, going to an engine with doubts about the valvetrain,and made their cars so bloated and uninspiring,that you can't really be sure what you are looking at unless you read the badges. just why? stop it.
Mrs Vader wants an XV. but we will probably just buy the lowest kilometer Sg5 Forester turbo in the country instead.
or put 10k into the current Fozzy. (207 block,suspension refresh,paint correction,etc)

Mitsubishi has completely removed itself from the conversation.

Props to Nissan. for giving us the GTR. the only Japanese street racer still in the game. and the Z cars. they keep it legit.

Honda?
I never liked the NSX. (not sorry) because it tried to be a Japanese Ferrari. why would you even want to?

Looking forward to what Mazda is up to.

but in short. The car industry has shot itself in the foot.and *********** aftermarket. if anything? it has driven up the prices of pretty much every pre 2013 performance car. raising the stocks of the JDM staples. i wouldn't be surprised to see 90's JDM take over the classic car scene for big dollars and desirability. if it hasn't already.


also,
The 300zx was and is a GT car. it's main rival being the Toyota Soarer/Sc300-400. i love both of them.

of all the things, I would have thought I6 from BMW is the least to complain about

 

[clee1982]

only bunch random iphone pictures, love the imperial blue, though parked in NJ for a hour, 2 bird drop already...

 

[Thrift Vader]

love the color combo.
pics of the interior?

congratulations!

 

[Dino944]

View attachment 1105868 View attachment 1105869 View attachment 1105870 only bunch random iphone pictures, love the imperial blue, though parked in NJ for a hour, 2 bird drop already...

Congrats on your new 5 series! Looks great! I love the color...then again, I may be biased since all of the cars we have spec'd in the last 15 years have been dark metallic blue.

 

[TheFoo]

By the way any option for no drill front license plate... (not the off center mount ugly solution...)

I have one from Carbonio. It clips on to the mesh of my GT3's front grille. They have ones for BMWs as well:

 

[clee1982]

I have the adaptive cruise control, I think anything blocking the bottom grill is no go (that’s where the radar for ACC is).

Looks like if I want no drill I have to stay with the hook off center thing (then f around to make I’m sure it doesn’t false alarm park assist)

 

[clee1982]

Oh and interior pictures to come some time when I get a chance. it’s cognac Dakota, on picture it’s probably going to show more orange than it really is.

And on a side note, unless i’m doing forever inter state I can’t see myself ever put it in eco pro mode, it’s just too annoying the start/stop engage really quickly and gear do not really kick down even if you press quite a bit...

 

[TheFoo]

Different cars mean different things to different generations. Yes, I remember Senna's involvement, but it didn't make me dream of owning one.

Yes, but generational context matters, no? If you were a teenager in the '90s, the NSX was much more likely to be a car you aspired to and you were much more likely to favor Japanese performance cars overall. Seeing an NSX or Supra on the road was exciting when I was 12-14 years old.

I'm also not exactly of the same mind with Foo on the new NSX in large part because I think that these high end sports cars are selling a fairy tale. I don't disagree that from a pure performance standpoint the NSX could be seen as a fail (although not as much as the i8 which I have harped on more than enough times in this thread). There are just so many conflicting factors - manual vs automatic, powertrain tractability and flexibility, etc. - that impact the analysis but seem to be left out depending on what the proponent is trying to achieve. For example, I would be surprised if Foo could hustle his manual GT3 around a track faster than he could a new NSX. I would be shocked if the difference in performance between the GT3 and NSX would be noticeable on the street. The main difference between the cars is in feel; the performance envelope difference for most drives is about as meaningful as the difference in depth ratings between the Rolex sub and seadweller. The nurburgring times are also apples to oranges because as far as I can tell he is quoting the official time for a new GT3 (which is like 13 seconds faster than the PDK GT3 that was available at the time the new NSX came out) against an unofficial NSX time. I don't believe there is an official ring time for the new NSX but happy to be proven wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the GT3 (and RS) aren't far superior cars for track rats than the NSX, that isn't in doubt. I think the fact that Porsche sells so many GT3s to people who aren't track rats proves that it's a bit silly to discuss ultimate performance as if it would be meaningful to the way the cars are used by their drivers. In large part it's symbolic.

I'm not saying that track times matter more than driver enjoyment. However, minding the former does help keep manufacturers to task as they continue marketing increasingly complex sports cars. All else being equal, why pay for added complexity when performance is not commensurately improved? My contention with the NSX is simply that it comprises a bad trade-off: more tech for more money, but less performance. Maybe the driving experience is phenomenal, but I have not heard such to be the case, and there are similarly and lower priced alternatives that both perform better and are known to be great driver's cars.

That said, I do think actual performance should matter when we are assessing performance cars. Such cars are almost always far more capable than the drivers who buy them. I didn't buy a GT3 because I think I can replicate the factory's time around the Nurburgring--but that time does enhance my respect for the car and influences my enjoyment of driving it. If none of us cared about actual performance and only focused on driving enjoyment, we'd all be in Miatas.

On the NSX time around the Nurburgring--yes it is a non-factory time, but it is also 20+ seconds slower than the GT3! Maybe the factory could go a bit faster, but not likely enough to close such a huge gap. Anyway, don't you think if Honda could hustle the car around the Nurburgring quick enough to achieve a marketable lap time, they would have?

It’s all e-pissing contests. Only 1% of these jackasses arguing Nurburgring times have even driven on the Nordschleife.

The big issue with ‘Ring times is that it pushes automakers to maximize their performance on that metric, and to make trade offs we might not want them to make. It’s all good when you’ve got GT3 RS duking it out with Huracan Performantes, because those are singular purpose cars...but when you’ve got dual track/street use cars like Giulia QF’s, M3’s and C63’s going after the same bragging rights...you end up with a complete package that is shittier overall

Agreed that developing cars for the track can force changes less suitable for the street. But that's why it's important to assess driving experience on your own.