Written by Lord Of Flies on 14.09.2007 at 23:35

After 300hp I want at least semi-automatic...

Please explain.

Here is my first car. 2001 Phoenix Yellow Acura Integra Type-R



My current car, 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S, 6spd, first and only owner at 14 km's on the odometer.



I use to be really into car's, mostly Euro's and Japanese tuner's. The car's I've owned aren't very metal that's for sure, and it's kind of odd for a "metalhead" to be seen driving a rice burner.. especially when you can hear Mayhem or Darkthrone being blasted out of it.
My car has a decent audio set-up, two 10" Pioneer sub's, 300 watt JBL amp, 6.5 (or maybe it's 6.25") audiobahn speaker's in the rear seat area, and two 5 and something inch audiobahn speaker's in the front, Panasonic MP3/CD deck up front.

Originally I wanted a MKIV Toyota Supra twin-turbo, but at the time I was able to buy a car the price had huge inflation from those rediculous Fast & The Furious movie's... $50k Cnd. for a 1993 car is way too much. Aside from that I really wanted a Porsche 911, so long as it was 89 or newer, but the cost of insurance and inevitable repair's made it a poor choice for future finance's... so I ended up with the '03 Celica.

I have my moms old 99 Chevy monte carlo Z34.. it gets me to where I need to go, and having 200Hp doesn't hurt either

Written by Remus on 16.09.2007 at 18:58

Written by Lord Of Flies on 14.09.2007 at 23:35

After 300hp I want at least semi-automatic...

Please explain.

I meen that if car's outbut is less than 300hp, I want automatic transmission. And cars whit over 300hp engine I wnat that semi-automatic transmission, coss it's faster to sift gears and you don't lose ass much power in transmission. And allso you have better control to car. Best woud be manual...

This is our main car - my husband is a mechanic so we have a few cars , but this is the best.

A Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 18.09.2007 at 05:58

my first car. 2001 Phoenix Yellow Acura Integra Type-R

My current car, 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S, 6spd, first and only owner at 14 km's on the odometer.

Ok, so i know the Honda had a 1.8l naturally aspirated engine, but we don't get the Celica's here so tell me, is it turbocharged, what with the scoop on the bonnet and the GTS?

How do the two compare? I assume you have to rev the crap out of both these cars' engines to get performance out of them, but hey, in my book, that's a good thing! Which one revs higher? And how high? Which one sounds better? Which one handles better? What's the fastest you've gone in them? Are you still running in the Toyota, or does it have enough miles on the clock to really abuse it?

Written by Remus on 22.09.2007 at 19:32

Written by Bitter Dawn on 18.09.2007 at 05:58

my first car. 2001 Phoenix Yellow Acura Integra Type-R

My current car, 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S, 6spd, first and only owner at 14 km's on the odometer.

Ok, so i know the Honda had a 1.8l naturally aspirated engine, but we don't get the Celica's here so tell me, is it turbocharged, what with the scoop on the bonnet and the GTS?

How do the two compare? I assume you have to rev the crap out of both these cars' engines to get performance out of them, but hey, in my book, that's a good thing! Which one revs higher? And how high? Which one sounds better? Which one handles better? What's the fastest you've gone in them? Are you still running in the Toyota, or does it have enough miles on the clock to really abuse it?

The Type-R is kind of the most "desired" 4 cyclinder (aside from the Honda S2000) in the import scene, it's basically a facotry track car since it's light weight since it has no insolation, and on a lot of model's it has no air-conditioning, such as the one I had. The perk's of the ITR aside from it's VTEC engine are it's superb suspension, I think it had independant double-wishbone suspension (which I know for sure my GT-S has), and it has a LSD (limited-slip differentiator) which I wish my Celica had.

The ITR redline is about 8400rpm while the GTS is supposively 8200rpm or so - but then we get into cut-off level's, because I believe the cut-off for the GTS is 8400 and I have taken my GTS up that high.

I would say that if you were to take a ITR and GTS, it would a driver's race because the car's are fairly equal overall, but again the ITR has the advantage of LSD, and since I believe the RSX Type-S has pretty much the same engine as the ITR (except it's i-VTECH which perform's just like the VVTL-i engine found in the GTS and the newer Lotus Elise), the "kick" or "lift" from the engine start's slightly sooner than in the GTS, so that is a definite advantage. Although, the Type-R is roughtly 2640lb's, while the GTS is a straight 2500 lb's.. unlike the RSX Type-S which is slightly more sluggish 2840 lb's. I think it come's down to who is behind the wheel, but I'll give the Type-R as being a bit better, but it was afterall designed for the track.

The number's on these car's really varies, there are so many differant tester's with differant result's, and there are so many small but important factor's that can play a role in the performance of a car.

As for the GTS, I still own it, and the fastest I have gone is between 135 and 140mph, that's roughtly 220 - 225 km/h. I use to street race my car often in Canada, but I find that the risk's are too much here in the USA, I can not afford to get in trouble here.
But I will say that the first time i went 200km/h in Canada I was on a busy secondary highway and once I hit 200km/h I saw some police light's in my rear-view, so I sped up a little and passed some car's and parked it amongst some slightly modified import's at a nearby Pizza Hut, and got out and had a smoke along the side of the building in the shadow's. I think what happend was the come was coming toward's me and noticed I was going double the speed limit and tried to turn around, but thankfully it was hard for him to turn around and catch me. I've done a lot of stupid stuff in that car.

^That's a very insightfull post (but you still didn't mention if the GT-S is naturally aspirated or turbo-charged) - wow another petrol-head on MS - amazing . I wouldn't mind owning any of these 2 jap screamers!

Hey, what's mr Scarrowed Muse's opnion on the '98 Nissan Maxima QX 2.0 V6?

Written by Remus on 28.09.2007 at 20:43

^That's a very insightfull post (but you still didn't mention if the GT-S is naturally aspirated or turbo-charged) - wow another petrol-head on MS - amazing . I wouldn't mind owning any of these 2 jap screamers!

Hey, what's mr Scarrowed Muse's opnion on the '98 Nissan Maxima QX 2.0 V6?

Sorry about that, I went off on a rant. I later realized that I didn't get to all of the actual question's you asked. The GT-S is NA, but there are some decent forced induction kit's out there, such as the GReddy turbo kit and Blitz supercharger, but they are pretty expensive.. I think the Blitz is roughly $3000'ish, I don't recall since I was more familiar with Canadian currency. The GT-S has a very high compression engine, so it has a high revving engine with short gear ratio's, and from 2000 to mid 2002 the tranny had fairly small shift gate's which a lot of people (mainly people that did not want to drive their car hard, ie: no track or street racing) disliked the small gate's because it was easy to mishift and hard to change gear's.

The VVTL-i engine is pretty fun though, once you hit 6200rpm the lift kick's in and an extra 40hp is opened up to utilize the entire 180bhp of the car's potential. I know there are some tuned naturally aspired GT-S's that run low 14's, maybe even high 13's in the quarter mile, but almost all of them use the Power FC chip, which I think is an engine managerment device, and of course the car usually has it's rear seat's removed and so on. But one of the cool thing's about the engine designed by Yamaha is that it put's out 100hp per litre, which is pretty unheard of, I think they were the first to do so until Honda released the S2000 the same year as the GT-S, in which the S200 put out over 100hp per litre, which is very cool because I believe the S2000 also has a 1.8lt engine, it's definitely a L4 engine - very nice car! The best thing about the GT-S is it's high revving, quick shift action, fast acceleration (for a 4-cyclinder) and it's acute handling, exceptional handling indeed.

As for the Nissan well, in all honesty I am not sure. It's been a while since I kept up with my car interest's, and I tried to do some research on that particular model and I coulnd't find much, I think that one wasn't sold in North America, and the closest thing is a 3.0L engine version.. probably more sluggish and suited for American's. My guess would be, that it's kind of a heavy car (since it's a sedan and a V6), and probably has potential powerwise since I know the Maxima's have a so-so power ratio, but it probably isn't much of a handling car, then again, since the car you are talking about has a smaller engine (2.0 vs 3.0) it might be better equipt for being a bit quicker with the lesser weight and maybe it has some other feature's that I am not aware of.
Nissan make's some decent car's, the 350Z and G35 coupe are very nice.. except I think the G35 (possibly both sedan and coupe version's) share the same suspension as the Infiniti SUV - which is very disapointing, and kind of odd! I can appreciate the Silvia line-up, a lot of them are pretty good RWD car's, most common amonst drag racer's and more particularily drifter's.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 06.10.2007 at 23:55

As for the Nissan well, in all honesty I am not sure. It's been a while since I kept up with my car interest's, and I tried to do some research on that particular model and I coulnd't find much, I think that one wasn't sold in North America, and the closest thing is a 3.0L engine version.. probably more sluggish and suited for American's. My guess would be, that it's kind of a heavy car (since it's a sedan and a V6), and probably has potential powerwise since I know the Maxima's have a so-so power ratio, but it probably isn't much of a handling car, then again, since the car you are talking about has a smaller engine (2.0 vs 3.0) it might be better equipt for being a bit quicker with the lesser weight and maybe it has some other feature's that I am not aware of.

I asked you about the Maxima 'cause that's what i drive right now. Yeah, it's kinda' big (+/- 1380 kg, 4.7 m long) but for a FWD i think it handles really well. I drove a friend's Chrysler Neon(also FWD) the other day and man, what a piece of shit.

Anyway, where i live (South Africa), there's quite some differences between land elevation. We have towns at sea-level and then we have Secunda - where i live - at about 1800m above sea-level. Now, i don't know if you know this, but 1800m above sea-level pretty much robbs naturally aspirated engines of about 20% (yes 20%) of their power.

So yeah, the car is kind of sluggish. It's a manual though so it makes up for it a little bit. The engine is in a medium state of tune (2.0l 147 hp) and i'm thinking of dropping a turbo on it. Hovever it's current compression ratio is at 9,5:1 so i'd probably have to lower that first.

Anyway, would you recomend a turbo or a super-charger instead?

Written by Remus on 07.10.2007 at 16:08

Written by Bitter Dawn on 06.10.2007 at 23:55

As for the Nissan well, in all honesty I am not sure. It's been a while since I kept up with my car interest's, and I tried to do some research on that particular model and I coulnd't find much, I think that one wasn't sold in North America, and the closest thing is a 3.0L engine version.. probably more sluggish and suited for American's. My guess would be, that it's kind of a heavy car (since it's a sedan and a V6), and probably has potential powerwise since I know the Maxima's have a so-so power ratio, but it probably isn't much of a handling car, then again, since the car you are talking about has a smaller engine (2.0 vs 3.0) it might be better equipt for being a bit quicker with the lesser weight and maybe it has some other feature's that I am not aware of.

I asked you about the Maxima 'cause that's what i drive right now. Yeah, it's kinda' big (+/- 1380 kg, 4.7 m long) but for a FWD i think it handles really well. I drove a friend's Chrysler Neon(also FWD) the other day and man, what a piece of shit.

Anyway, where i live (South Africa), there's quite some differences between land elevation. We have towns at sea-level and then we have Secunda - where i live - at about 1800m above sea-level. Now, i don't know if you know this, but 1800m above sea-level pretty much robbs naturally aspirated engines of about 20% (yes 20%) of their power.

So yeah, the car is kind of sluggish. It's a manual though so it makes up for it a little bit. The engine is in a medium state of tune (2.0l 147 hp) and i'm thinking of dropping a turbo on it. Hovever it's current compression ratio is at 9,5:1 so i'd probably have to lower that first.

Anyway, would you recomend a turbo or a super-charger instead?

I didn't realize it had been so long since I was on here... doh.

I did know about the sea level and such, which makes sense since the air would be thinner at higher altitude's and oxygen helps out a lot with car's... especially cool air. Neon's are definitely POS, I don't even care what people say about the SRT-4, it's still a cheaply produced American car, glorified witth some big shiny wheel's, a spoiler and a turbo.

But anyway's. Turbo vs. SC eh? I think that really comes down to personal preferance, and although you seem to know a good amount about car's and performance, I'll list off what I know about the pro's and con's of these two means of force induction.

Turbo: More power, sound's great especially when combined with a nice BOV, and they can be more affordable than an SC since there are differant stage's of turbo's offered for a lot of car's. However, there is the prospect of turbo lag (the time it take's the turbo's to spool up once you reach the respected RPM to engage the turbo - however, this could also be a pro because, you don't have to always have the forced induction going since it only kick's in at a higher than regular rpm range... unlike the SC which I believe is always working). But, turbo's are more prone to breaking down than an SC, which is something that must be terrible for 3rd gen. RX-7 owner's, since their rotary engine's are problematic enough as it is.

SC: Power on tap! Supercharger's are always in use (I am fairly certain), so there is no waiting for that extra power to kick in when you really need it, and they are pretty durable. A downside is they are generally expensive, such as the Blitz SC for the 7th gen Celica, which costs between $5000 - $7000 US for the part's alone! SC's are also not as powerful as a turbo, but if you have a car with decent high end then the SC is great for mid range and certainly doesn't hurt for launches. They may not sound as cool as a turbo, but it still sound's neat.. unless the high-pitch whine is bothersome to some people, but I personally like it, especially in the higher end Mercedes-Benz ala SL55, SL65, SLR and so on.

Personally, I'd go with a SC for daily use since the maintance is pretty minimal and it would for fun just booting around town. If you're into actual racing on the dragstrip then I imagine a turbo would be best.. but then you may as well just get a RWD car, like a 2nd gen. RX-7, Nissan 250SX, Celica All-trac or MKIII Supra turbo.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 09.11.2007 at 10:00

But anyway's. Turbo vs. SC eh? I think that really comes down to personal preferance

Nice post! So, you would go for the SC... Hmmm, you're probably right. For everyday-use an all.
But i read up on the matter and i think i'll stick with the car as it is.

See, the problem is that it's allready done 130 000 kms (+/- 81 000 miles) and apparently you shouldn't install turbos or SCs on old engines 'cause you never know which parts might fail in light of the increased strain upon them. And seing how raliability is my top priority, i'll stick with the current "0-100 in 9.9s" guise.

Regarding sound, i think the turbo wistle is over-rated. I mean every little Renault Clio/VW Polo diesel variants have it. It used to be cool in the begining as it was rare, but now....

The super charger on the other hand, now that's an amazing sound. I would describe it as pretty "metal".
Especially when you rev the car to, say 6000 rpm in 2nd or 3rd, and then let go of the gas - it gives this really cool "vuuu' sound as the engine decellerates.

Speaking of engine sounds, which car rocks your socks off when you blip the throttle?

Personally, i enjoy my Maxima's V6 sound. It kinda screams at high rpm. That's my kind of engine sound.
I don't like those deep growling-type engines.

And you?

Written by Remus on 09.11.2007 at 20:37

Written by Bitter Dawn on 09.11.2007 at 10:00

But anyway's. Turbo vs. SC eh? I think that really comes down to personal preferance

Nice post! So, you would go for the SC... Hmmm, you're probably right. For everyday-use an all.
But i read up on the matter and i think i'll stick with the car as it is.

See, the problem is that it's allready done 130 000 kms (+/- 81 000 miles) and apparently you shouldn't install turbos or SCs on old engines 'cause you never know which parts might fail in light of the increased strain upon them. And seing how raliability is my top priority, i'll stick with the current "0-100 in 9.9s" guise.

Regarding sound, i think the turbo wistle is over-rated. I mean every little Renault Clio/VW Polo diesel variants have it. It used to be cool in the begining as it was rare, but now....

The super charger on the other hand, now that's an amazing sound. I would describe it as pretty "metal".
Especially when you rev the car to, say 6000 rpm in 2nd or 3rd, and then let go of the gas - it gives this really cool "vuuu' sound as the engine decellerates.

Speaking of engine sounds, which car rocks your socks off when you blip the throttle?

Personally, i enjoy my Maxima's V6 sound. It kinda screams at high rpm. That's my kind of engine sound.
I don't like those deep growling-type engines.

And you?

I don't think that 130 000 km is terrible, it's getting high definitely but it doesn't mean the life of the car is ending. I don't remember off the top of my head but, I think my Celica is around 110 000 km's, which is kind of hard to believe.. then again, I have driven across the USA twice in one year.
It's true that you'll probably want to consider what may need replacing, and although I very well may be wrong, whether you get FI or not, those part's that are allegedly going to break down when you get FI are probably weak anyways, and aren't much longer for this world; as it were.

Also, there are plenty of older car's with turbo's that have high milage and they run fine. Like the MKIV Supra TT, 300ZX turbo, I'd like to say the 3rd gen. RX-7 but those are fickle car's on their own.

In regard's to engine sound's well, I am a huge fan of Porsche and as each generation of the Porsche is released they keep on sounding and looking better. I really like the sound of a flat-six/boxer engine, so with that being said I also like the WRX STi engine noise. Sometime's I can admire the gruff rumbling of Classic American V8's, but sometime's they sound more like they are about to die.

4-cyclinder: Honda S2000 or Lotus Elise (2zz-ge version - same engine as Celica GTS )
V6: 350Z/G35 sport coupe
flat-six: Porsche GT3
V8: Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG or Ferrari Maranello

^ You're right 130 000 kms isn't terrible - i'm sure the car will go on for longer(i hope) - but if i did something to it, then i doubt it will still last as long.

Anyway, there are other things to consider:

I think it has the same gear box as the 3.0l QX. That car has a torque output of 265 nm @ ?? rpm. If i added a turbo on mine i should expect a rise in torque to about 280 nm - will the gearbox be able to take the extra strain? I think the chassis should... Anyway, in about 7 - 10 years when i'll be a super-rich rock star, i'll buy a '97 Maxima QX and blow a substantial amount of cash on it, 'till then...

Engine sounds, let's see

4 cyl: I'd have to go with the S2000 as well, man 9500 rpm must be an awesome sight on the rev-counter
V6 : my baby, or the Noble M400 (Ford 3.0 V6 twin turbo, man that's an intoxicating sound)
Straight six : i'd have to go with any Beemer, probably the old 320i (2.2l straight six)
Flat six : well there is only Porsche and Subaru that make them so i'd go with the Porsche as well
V8 : Maseratti Quatroporte or Aston Martin Vantage V8. Possibly the Ferrari F360 modena as well

Never got a chance to listen to a V10 or V12 in real life. Or a W12 or W16 for that matter, but i hear the Bugatti Veyron souns more like a boat than a car.

One engine sound that really dissapointed me was the old BMW M5(V8). Sure it was fast but it emitted the crappiest engine sound ever. At low rpm it was quite deep but as the revs went up, well i can't explain it but it was definately not what i expected.

Another engine sound that dissapointed me was the Mazda RX-8's. Again, it's fast but i expected 9300 rpm to sound a lot better. Aftewards i read up, and it turns out that the actuall rotor only spins at +/- 3300 rpm, i don't know but the rotary thing really isn't for me.

Written by Remus on 10.11.2007 at 12:49

^ You're right 130 000 kms isn't terrible - i'm sure the car will go on for longer(i hope) - but if i did something to it, then i doubt it will still last as long.

Anyway, there are other things to consider:

I think it has the same gear box as the 3.0l QX. That car has a torque output of 265 nm @ ?? rpm. If i added a turbo on mine i should expect a rise in torque to about 280 nm - will the gearbox be able to take the extra strain? I think the chassis should... Anyway, in about 7 - 10 years when i'll be a super-rich rock star, i'll buy a '97 Maxima QX and blow a substantial amount of cash on it, 'till then...

Engine sounds, let's see

4 cyl: I'd have to go with the S2000 as well, man 9500 rpm must be an awesome sight on the rev-counter
V6 : my baby, or the Noble M400 (Ford 3.0 V6 twin turbo, man that's an intoxicating sound)
Straight six : i'd have to go with any Beemer, probably the old 320i (2.2l straight six)
Flat six : well there is only Porsche and Subaru that make them so i'd go with the Porsche as well
V8 : Maseratti Quatroporte or Aston Martin Vantage V8. Possibly the Ferrari F360 modena as well

Never got a chance to listen to a V10 or V12 in real life. Or a W12 or W16 for that matter, but i hear the Bugatti Veyron souns more like a boat than a car.

One engine sound that really dissapointed me was the old BMW M5(V8). Sure it was fast but it emitted the crappiest engine sound ever. At low rpm it was quite deep but as the revs went up, well i can't explain it but it was definately not what i expected.

Another engine sound that dissapointed me was the Mazda RX-8's. Again, it's fast but i expected 9300 rpm to sound a lot better. Aftewards i read up, and it turns out that the actuall rotor only spins at +/- 3300 rpm, i don't know but the rotary thing really isn't for me.

The power train thing is a good question, I for one and not entirely sure about your car and I know some vehicle's can be pretty touchy. I think it's usually a good idea to get either new header's or have them bored out when getting forced induction, just so the engine can breath better and it give's a nice little increase in power. Tuning is so damn expensive, I've always wanted to tune my car but if you want to do one thing, then generally you need to do another thing to balance the vehicle out, or at least that's my philosophy.

But there is always small and relatively affordable mod's that can be done. Pulley's are fairly cheap and make shifting quicker and smoother, plus cold-air intake (although a bit more "risky" than short-ram). The whole exhaust route seem's pretty minimal unless you have an illegal straight pipe, I just unbolted my pipe and haven't had any problem's with the police thankfully..up north in Canada I would definitely get in trouble. The whole header route can be affordable, moreso the boreing out aspect rather than all new header's. I'm sure you already know all this sort of thing though.

As for the bigger engine's out there, I've never been much of a fan of any of them.. I suppose Lambo's are alright, the Gallardo is a nice car. I kind of wish Jaguar was the car it use to be, they had some amazing machine's before the 80's, but for shame now Ford own's them.

BMW M5: I'm not too familiar with the older one's, I've never been a sedan fan but I do know the newer one's like '05+ are pretty nice all the way around. I've seen the M6 around a few time's and it sound's nice and look's nice. But again, I am not that big of a BMW fan, they're a bit too plain and their quality seem's a bit questionable.

Rotary engine's seem like a big pain, the RX-8 is overpriced and underpowered for what it is, it could have been an awsome machine, and the rear window is very bubble like which take's away from the styling imo.

I was also very surprised that one magazine (which are always subjective organization's) tested the 350Z, RX-8 and current gen. Mustang GT and the outcome was the GT in just about everything, the most frightening being that it outhandled the other two car's. I looked into the GT because it does look nice and for the price you can't beat the 300bph V8, but it turn's out their quality is still sub-par, at least to import car's.
I've always been a Porsche and Toyota sort of person, the Porsche need's no explaination but I really like the generation of MR2's before the MR-S, the Celica and the Supra.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 13.11.2007 at 05:58

But again, I am not that big of a BMW fan, they're a bit too plain and their quality seem's a bit questionable.

Well, plain is a matter of opinion. I think the styling is way more exiting than any Japanese or American offerings which are really bland. But, that is my opinion....

As for quality, my father owned a 2003 320i (2.2l straight 6) and now he owns a 2005 730d (3.0l, 218 hp, 500 nm, 6-speed automatic). The 3 series was awesome and the build quality was on par with any merc C-class or Audi A4. He sold it at 96 000 kms and had no problems with it whatsoever.

Now, for the 7 series, i know it's much critisised for it's looks and difficulty of operating the "iDrive" system.
Let me tell you, i learnt how to work it in 10 mins. It was much frowned upon when it came out, but now both audi and merc have it. Both have the same parking brake as well, and merc has the exact same column-shifter and it even sports that "hump" on the boot.

Dynamic wise, it's excellent though. For a 2 ton car it handles freaking well (of course it's a RWD and has the active damper control so that might have something to do with it). The materials used in the cabin are top notch as well.

Anyway, you get the point, but then you shouldn't really listen to what i say 'cause i'm one of those die-hard BMW fans so...

About the Jags, yeah the older ones kicked ass. I liked the XJ6 and XJSs, as for the E-Type, well... The S-type was cool though, very classy and retro but that new one... the XF i think it's called, man Ian Mcallum really made a piece of crap when he designed it. If it wasn't for the badge i wouldn't have guessed it's a Jag. Yup, nice going Ford!

Porsche. Now this is a car. If i could have anything in the world, right now, it would be a black 911 Turbo (997), manual with cream/tan leather. And no CD player, i mean who needs it when you got that beast of an engine behind you?? Ahhh... :

So, you seem to be an avid fan of japanese vehicles, right?

Written by Remus on 16.11.2007 at 23:00

Written by Bitter Dawn on 13.11.2007 at 05:58

But again, I am not that big of a BMW fan, they're a bit too plain and their quality seem's a bit questionable.

Well, plain is a matter of opinion. I think the styling is way more exiting than any Japanese or American offerings which are really bland. But, that is my opinion....

As for quality, my father owned a 2003 320i (2.2l straight 6) and now he owns a 2005 730d (3.0l, 218 hp, 500 nm, 6-speed automatic). The 3 series was awesome and the build quality was on par with any merc C-class or Audi A4. He sold it at 96 000 kms and had no problems with it whatsoever.

Now, for the 7 series, i know it's much critisised for it's looks and difficulty of operating the "iDrive" system.
Let me tell you, i learnt how to work it in 10 mins. It was much frowned upon when it came out, but now both audi and merc have it. Both have the same parking brake as well, and merc has the exact same column-shifter and it even sports that "hump" on the boot.

Dynamic wise, it's excellent though. For a 2 ton car it handles freaking well (of course it's a RWD and has the active damper control so that might have something to do with it). The materials used in the cabin are top notch as well.

Anyway, you get the point, but then you shouldn't really listen to what i say 'cause i'm one of those die-hard BMW fans so...

About the Jags, yeah the older ones kicked ass. I liked the XJ6 and XJSs, as for the E-Type, well... The S-type was cool though, very classy and retro but that new one... the XF i think it's called, man Ian Mcallum really made a piece of crap when he designed it. If it wasn't for the badge i wouldn't have guessed it's a Jag. Yup, nice going Ford!

Porsche. Now this is a car. If i could have anything in the world, right now, it would be a black 911 Turbo (997), manual with cream/tan leather. And no CD player, i mean who needs it when you got that beast of an engine behind you?? Ahhh... :

So, you seem to be an avid fan of japanese vehicles, right?

Perhaps I just heard enough negative feedback from various owner's to think BMW's quality was questionablem but I did think that electrical's were more common amongst what problem's they more commonly experiance. Arlight, I will slightly retract my statement about the style, since '05 I have liked their subtle styling, I actually do like the "angel eye's" by Chris Barne - I believe he designed those. I can appreciate the higher end model's for obvious reason's. It is cool how they are a more refined vehicle, a lot of fine luxuries reside within the cabin and I know that their interior material's are of a good quality, unlike ALL American car's and some Japanese car's.

Mercedes on the other hand, I have read a number of review's online and in various magazine's that they require a lot of maintenance. I am fond of some of their car's though, predominantly the S-Class, but some of the C-Class car's are also very nice. I really dislike that almost all of their car's are automatic, and although that doesn't hinder the performance, I don't find it nearly as enjoyable or fulfilling as driving stick.

You and I (and certainly many other's!) have the same dream car, the 997 twin-turbo is an incredible machine but, I wouldn't have a problem with taking a 997 C4 either, same car but without the turbine's. I've been a big admirer of the GT3, and although it is one of, if not the best track car imo, for the cost I wouldn't want it if I could afford it. That was one of the reason's I got rid of my Type-R, it was too minimalistic for not ever going to the track.

It's funny, I am not like a die-hard Japanese fan but I do appreciate their car's. I like agility and style, combined with high revving and quick launches - thus a reason for my GT-S. They also build a durable vehicle for a pretty good price, I also seem to know the most about Japanese car's versus other countries because I spent so much time on a forum/community board dedicated to import's that I learnt a lot.

One thing I have not seen once yet since I've been in the USA (living in both Florida briefly, and then Washington,) is the Acura/Honda NSX, they were a rare sight up in British Columbia Canada, but I still got to see roughly 3 - 4 a year if nothing else. A perk to living in the US is their car variety, because in Canada we don't get certain car's, such as the Mitsubishi Evolution, Mitus GTO (3000gt), Lotus Elise, Toyota MR-S and some other's that I can't think of of the top of my head. Plus, the car's are so much more affordable here, and car's such as the 3rd gen. RX-7 and MKIV Supra are much more abundant, and again for much cheaper. Back in 2003 when I was in the car buying market, I so dearly wanted a '93 or '94 Supra TT but the two or three I could find were $50 000+ and the milage varied a lot, meanwhile I can now find one locally in the US for $25 000 or less. Same goes with Porsche's.

I will end this shortly. But since I am coming up on gaining my residency to the US, I am thinking about selling my GT-S to make moving easier (I don't think I can afford the import cost's, despite having the car in the US already), and I was debating on whether or not I could afford to pick up a WRX, like an '03 or '04 since they are well priced here, and it's the next step in vehicle's from the GT-S.

The most beautiful car i have seen so far is Chrysler/Dodge Viper SRT-10

and just look at his Mopar 2008 concept...love this car and wish i had one one day...

Last night I drove my moms Pontiac Grand Am and topped it out 110 mph or so. It was fun, but stupid.

Written by Lord TJ on 17.11.2007 at 19:19

Last night I drove my moms Pontiac Grand Am and topped it out 110 mph or so. It was fun, but stupid.

So long as you didn't put anyone else at risk it's not that bad. When I topped out my car at 135/140mph I was on the interstate in Montana in the middle of nowhere and it was like 3am.

Ha. Yea I never do anything stupid when people are riding with me. Id rather people to feel safe than to have them think im "badass". When I hit 110 this thing automatically made me slow down. Bummer. When I speed at night (which is the only time I speed) I slow back down to the limit when I see headlights, you never know whos a cop and whos not. Some nearby town have Chargers for squad cars!

@ TJ: It was fun but stupid, hey? Nah, when you're having that much fun who cares if it's stupid. Plus doing 110 m/h in a car would only be stupid if the car was like, a 25 yr old piece of crap that would fall appart at the slightest ripple in the road surface. So don't beat yourself up about it.

@ Scarrowed Muse: If you purchase a WRX i will seriously not talk to you anymore (because of envy, of course ), unless you make a video and upload it on ytube... Do you get the STI's over there or just the "standard" WRX's?
P.S. I raced a guy last night with a riced-up old Toyota Corolla. I dropped him in first and 2nd, but when i hit 3rd he started to slowly crawl past me. But hey, it was at night and the streets were empty, so it was some good clean fun.

@ Chris Amber: The Viper is one of the better American sports cars. I think it should sound pretty good. BTW you should check out the Dodge Tomahawk, it's like a motorbike with the same 8.3l V10 engine used in the Viper. It looks like this http://www.exoticcars.ws/cars/dodge-tomahawk.jpg
But before you start saving up money for it, make sure you buy Singstar! first, it is arguably just as entertaining !

I have had quite a few driving lessons now and I can pretty much drive perfectly now - I have my driving test booked for new year's eve - the 31st of December!

I would love to get a car as soon as I can - it's just car = costs = need of income = need job = no!
hahahahaha

Haha don't want guys from Inverell seeing these cars. They would want them and get them done up and new parts and everything.
must admit those pics that Chris Amber post are pretty mad though.

I used to drive a Mazda 3 2007, well but God didn't want me to keep it so I had an accident in which the car was crushed like a pie....
I had 2 broken ribs and lotsa other minor injuries, two of my friends were with me, one got her leg broken and the other one who was actually my best friend died in this accident......
and all that coz of a stupid guy who stood in front of me while I was high-speeding....

^ That bastard, the nerve on some people!

So i was in an accident myself. I was just merrily driving along (@ +/- 40 km/h) when this asshole just smashes in the side my car. Apparently he did not notice the yield sign... Still, it was his fault so he payed for it.

Any other MSers involved in accidents?

Written by Oracle on 28.11.2007 at 06:56

must admit those pics that Chris Amber post are pretty mad though

means this "mad" what it means usually or it´s just some special expression i am unable to translate

Written by Ellrohir on 02.12.2007 at 18:39

Written by Oracle on 28.11.2007 at 06:56

must admit those pics that Chris Amber post are pretty mad though

means this "mad" what it means usually or it´s just some special expression i am unable to translate

Yes it is some special expression. Mad means awesome, cool etc etc.
so i was saying that your car ;pics were awesome coz ive never seen a car like that before.

oh...i think so, but i wasn´t sure...thanks for explanation

i am driving green Viper STR-10 in NFS Most Wanted...and it looks nice, but this MOPAR (and "live" ) version is simply fantastic

didn't even know there was a car thread until now, so i figured i'd jump in on the conversation.

i have a 2002 nissan sentra se-r spec-v: 2.5 liter with a short-shift 6-speed transmission. it's not an insanely fast car, but the thing handles amazingly. that's the main reason i bought it in the first place.

the only mods i've done to it so far is the cold air intake and motor damper, which is the coolest little device i've come across (and the most expensive). that thing alone raised the horsepower at the engine up 25+ horses. all said and done it pushes about 205hp. like i said, not too fast, but no one can keep up with me through bends.

if anyone's interested in seeing pictures let me know and i can take a few for posting. the only ones i have right now i took with my cell phone, so they aren't the greatest.