The Car Thread ... !

[2298754]

So this weeks rental I decided to try to get a Camaro to have it as an extended test drive. Well Avis didn't have any... So I'm in a Mustang.

Ugh, what an awful looking car.

I think the Camaro is a better looking car in every trim!

 

[quagmire]

Ugh, what an awful looking car.

I think the Camaro is a better looking car in every trim!

Sarcasm or serious?

And you realize the first picture is a 6th gen while the second shot is the 5th gen?

 

[2298754]

Sarcasm or serious?

And you realize the first picture is a 6th gen while the second shot is the 5th gen?

Fixed.

I'm serious. The Camaro looks so much better than the 'Stang

I can't get over the Mustang's rental car stigma

 

[quagmire]

Fixed.

I'm serious. The Camaro looks so much better than the 'Stang

I can't get over the Mustang's rental car stigma

Considering your avatar is right now is GM which if past behavior means it is meant to be satirical and you posted this a few pages back....

Definitely the best American muscle car. The Camaro and Challenger don't do anything for me.

I think I am being messed with....

 

[2298754]

I think I am being messed with....

Not really.

Anyways, have you considered a Chevy SS? I saw deals for 20% off MSRP. V8 + RWD + 6MT + sedan. Seems like a unicorn these days. I saw a green one on the road this afternoon

 

[quagmire]

Anyways, have you considered a Chevy SS? I saw deals for 20% off MSRP. V8 + RWD + 6MT + sedan. Seems like a unicorn these days. I saw a green one on the road this afternoon

The SS would be a great sleeper. A perfect way to stay under a cops radar and still have fun with a 415 HP V8. Plus it would be the LS3 which isn't DI so it shouldn't suffer from the carbon build up issues.

But it is bigger and heavier thus less nimble/agile. It is a model on an old platform that will be gone after 2017. If I needed a practical sedan right now in my life, the SS would probably be my choice over the Charger. But I prefer the Camaro over the SS.

Great car that no one knows about though.

 

[silentownage001]

Sarcasm or serious?

And you realize the first picture is a 6th gen while the second shot is the 5th gen?

I don't see a 5th gen Camaro on this page. Every Camaro pic is a 6th gen.

 

[quagmire]

I don't see a 5th gen Camaro on this page. Every Camaro pic is a 6th gen.

Look at the rear shot of the post I quoted( the actual post in the quotes, not his fixed post). It's a 5th gen. He fixed it after I quoted him.

 

[bunnspecial]

So, if you all will pardon me, I'm going to ramble a bit.

Since the MG engine pull(pictured a page or two ago) I've had a terrible problem with the engine flooding. In fact, when the fuel pump kicks on initially gas will spit out of the jet of the rear carburetor into the carburetor throat. Once the engine is started, it's GENERALLY okay when it's driving, but will bog at idle and can get bad enough that I have to shut it down and wait a few minutes.

I talked to John Twist, one of the most knowledgeable MG mechanics alive, last week and he mentioned a flooded float or stuck needle valve, both of which I had considered and was reasonably sure weren't issues since the parts are new. He mentioned a third, though, that I hadn't considered-a blocked overflow. The overflow actually serves a couple of functions-aside from just giving the gas a place to spill out if the valve sticks, it's also a vent for displaced air in the otherwise sealed chamber. He suggested pulling the overflow line.

That didn't do anything, but he was on the right track. After I got to work, I pulled the top of the float chamber off the rear carb and brought it inside with me. Looking it over, I realized that the overflow was nearly completely blocked-when we were putting things back together, my friend had epoxied the tube into the lid. The lid is sitting on my desk now and the overflow is completely clear, so I'm hopeful that the problem is solved.

 

[silentownage001]

Look at the rear shot of the post I quoted( the actual post in the quotes, not his fixed post). It's a 5th gen. He fixed it after I quoted him.

I see it.

 

[Suture]

The 718 sounds amazing. I was at a Porsche dealership in Virginia Beach this weekend and a salesman started up a 718 Boxster. I immediately regretted my recent Audi purchase.

 

[2298754]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/19/13328674/lynk-and-co-geely-connected-car-volvo-launch-official

Lynk & Co is a new car brand that was ‘born digital’

I’m in Sweden this week for the launch of a new car brand. The location: Gothenburg’s science park, a cluster of high-tech engineering talent and equipment nestled in a picturesque forested landscape. The purpose: understanding where Lynk & Co comes from, what it is and what it offers, and where it hopes to be headed. The connection between those things is Volvo, the 89-year-old Swedish marque that calls Gothenburg home and shares a parent company, China’s Geely, with the brand new Lynk & Co.

"Connectivity to Lynk & Co will be what safety is to Volvo," says Mats Fagerhag. He’s chief of the China Euro Vehicle Technology (CEVT) team of researchers who have been working for the past few years to unite the expertise and assets shared by Volvo and Geely (pronounced "gee-lee") into a new platform for developing the cars of the future. That platform is called the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) and it underpins Volvo’s upcoming 40 series, but more importantly it’s the foundation upon which the new Lynk & Co cars are built.

It’s not often that you hear of a new car brand launching with an open API, sharing services, and the first dedicated app store for cars, but those are the top-line items on Lynk & Co’s agenda and press release. There is a vehicle making its debut here, of course — the hybrid Lynk & Co 01 compact SUV — but the pitch is grander than just this initial model. Geely wants Lynk & Co to essentially be a Volvo for millennials: reassuring and secure, but also perfectly integrated and synced up with our constantly connected lives.

What’s more, like Tesla, Lynk & Co will be going direct to consumers, cutting out the substantial cost of middlemen dealerships and both delivering and picking up cars for servicing right at the customer’s door. Geely claims that as much as 25 percent of a car’s cost can be sunk into dealerships, so while it will have flagship stores around the world, its primary distribution method for Lynk & Co cars will be direct. The company hopes to get the first Lynk & Co vehicles out to China in 2017, to be followed by the US and Europe thereafter.

Every carmaker is presently addressing the challenge of how best to work with smartphones and a more connected world, but Lynk & Co’s advantage is that it’s not layering technology on top of what it already has, high-tech is already at the heart of its design. Fagerhag explains that Lynk & Co cars will offer not only Apple CarPlay, MirrorLink, and Android Auto (in some markets), but also "every single one of our cars will have onboard telematics for permanent connection with the world via the Lynk & Co cloud." That connectivity is handled in partnership with Ericsson, which happens to have a couple of gleaming R&D buildings only a minute’s walk away from the CEVT headquarters, which is itself within a stone’s throw away from Volvo's facilities.

Knowing only the name Lynk & Co and some of the backstory of its parent company, I arrived in Gothenburg with a healthy measure of skepticism. It seemed to me like a Chinese company was trying to buy its way into Europe, and to a certain extent, that’s exactly what this venture is. But after a day of learning about the literal hundreds of years of automotive design experience walking through the CEVT halls and around the four global Geely design studios, I’m now much more open to the idea. After all, there’s nothing wrong with throwing money at a problem if it’s spent wisely.

If Fagerhag is the engineering godfather overseeing Lynk & Co development, his design counterpart is the decorated Volvo veteran Peter Horbury. Horbury received the brief for the Lynk & Co design in the fall of 2013: it had to be a design-driven brand (something he recalls with a grin of pure joy) with global appeal that should nevertheless look and be designed in a northern European style. And the first car to lead that charge had to be a compact SUV. That’s it. Everything else, as Horbury asserts convincingly, was up to his 400-strong design team to decide. "With this all-new brand, there was absolutely nothing," says Horbury. "No history, nothing to constrain us other than our own imaginations."

Tempted by the offer of a completely blank slate to build both a car and a brand on, many automotive designers "left highly influential careers at major brands to come here and work with me," claims the Geely design chief. One of the other things I discovered on this trip is that Geely is already responsible for making London’s TX5 hybrid black cabs, so the parent company does have some credibility that stretches beyond Volvo’s pedigree and the high level of competence in the CEVT and Geely Design studios.

So what is the Lynk & Co proposition? It aims to be the classic aspirational brand, slotting in between Geely’s own-brand budget vehicles and Volvo’s more premium-focused lineup. Speaking of the 01 SUV, Horbury says "this car gives a perceived value way beyond its price," giving away the ultimate goal of the initiative. The 01 has a bold and rather aggressive design, with its headlights protruding vertically as a signature visual feature. Horbury calls them "piercing twin blades of light." It has large wheels, low overhangs, enormous rear-view mirrors, and a flat-bottomed steering wheel. But most importantly, it is loaded with tech, which can be accessed most readily via a center-mounted 10.1-inch touchscreen.

With a Lynk & Co car, you’ll be able to manage almost everything via a smartphone app, including providing digital keys to give access to your friends and family. The entire user interface within the car is customizable, including rearranging icons and functions to suit your tastes, and the highlight color will sync up with your chosen background image. The all-digital instrument panel is also rearrangeable. One last quote from the endlessly quotable Horbury:

"The perceived quality begins in design. Every single component that comes into contact with the customer’s senses must reflect the highest possible quality for the price."

Lynk & Co vehicles will be even smarter, though. They’ll be able to share data among themselves, including things like available parking spaces and the correct speed to go in order to hit the next green light just in time. There’s a 4G antenna integrated into the roof of the Lynk & Co 01, keeping it permanently connected with the help of Microsoft and Alibaba alongside Ericsson. The one, quite significant, downside to all of this effort is that it also reads like a manual titled "let's make a car with the most possible hacking vectors." In the connected world, greater convenience always comes with the tradeoff of greater vulnerability.

In branding terms, Volvo wants to keep its distance and Geely stresses that this is a wholly independent brand. But in reality, the same humans are working on both brands and their offices are right next to each other. Geely CEO Conghui An acknowledges this, saying that "along this journey, we can’t go without the help of Volvo as a good mentor." And Volvo itself knows that "a strong Lynk will also be good for Volvo" — which, admittedly, might be the nice way of saying that it’s better for Volvo that its new sister brand doesn’t fail miserably.

As someone who’s unlikely to ever be tempted to buy an SUV, I’m not ideally positioned to judge the Lynk & Co 01’s looks, but I like the intent behind this car and the tech-savvy approach. I also like that it’s highly distinctive, and as Stefan Rosén, head of advanced design at Geely says, Lynk & Co "would rather be something special to someone, than be bland to everyone." That is the sort of attitude we need more of in the car industry.

Lynk & Co wrapped up its debut presentation by rolling out an aggressive Lynk concept car, also built atop the CMA, showing off the flexibility and versatility of that framework. Its headlights were even zanier than the 01’s, and it was laden with nightclub-like illumination and other touches of design excess. That was just for fun, but the Lynk & Co plan includes a 02, a 03, and further models to complete a full range of cars under this new brand. Electrification will play a central role in all of them, including, it seems, some all-electric models — though the initial 01 is a more conventional hybrid affair with a 1.5L engine to go along with its battery-powered electric motors.

More of Lynk & Co’s strategy will be revealed tomorrow, October 20th, at the formal launch of the 01 and the overall brand in Berlin. That’s when Geely will divulge the full details surrounding its unique approach to marketing and distribution with Lynk & Co, and how the company hopes it will help transform the modes of car ownership and operation. Whatever happens, though, it’s quite obvious that Lynk & Co will be here for the long haul. The designers and engineers assembled in Gothenburg today tell me that they’ve already completed most of the work on the other cars in the range and it’s simply a matter of rolling them all out now.

First impressions: Looks interesting. I'm curious how they will do. Geely did a great job on the Volvo reboot, but launching a new brand is pretty crazy.

[doublepost=1476915562][/doublepost]

 

[quagmire]

I see porsche in the front then grand Cherokee in the side profile and rear end.

 

[AustinIllini]

Got a ride in this bad boy today. I'm in the picture, so for my privacy, here's the logo.

707 HP

 

[0388631]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/19/13328674/lynk-and-co-geely-connected-car-volvo-launch-official

Lynk & Co is a new car brand that was ‘born digital’

First impressions: Looks interesting. I'm curious how they will do. Geely did a great job on the Volvo reboot, but launching a new brand is pretty crazy.

[doublepost=1476915562][/doublepost]

Jesus Christ that thing is absolutely hideous. It looks like it suffers from some mental syndrome with its eye-like headlights popping out like fish suffering from decompression. It looks like that drunk drawings of an a designer who fetishizes the Cayenne and various Jeeps. On top of that, you have possibly the most ostentatious name ever for a brand. It attempts of be old world, something high class given its structure, but it's not.

This would be the perfect car to be used in explosions scenes in Hollywood films because based on what's been presented and my personal opinion, it's the only thing it'll ever be good for.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I see porsche in the front then grand Cherokee in the side profile and rear end.

My thoughts exactly.
[doublepost=1476946414][/doublepost]

Jesus Christ that thing is absolutely hideous. It looks like it suffers from some mental syndrome with its eye-like headlights popping out like fish suffering from decompression. It looks like that drunk drawings of an a designer who fetishizes the Cayenne and various Jeeps. On top of that, you have possibly the most ostentatious name ever for a brand. It attempts of be old world, something high class given its structure, but it's not.

This would be the perfect car to be used in explosions scenes in Hollywood films because based on what's been presented and my personal opinion, it's the only thing it'll ever be good for.

Link & Co. A watch and jewelry company? Fine leather goods botique? Crate & Barrel-Esque modern furniture and housewares retail chain? Hipster Brewery? Or Chinese-Swed car brand?Very interesting.

Swedish + Chinese joint venture, I can only imagine what to expect from that. The "world's safest" cars team up with the world's... most unsafe cars . Volvo usually does a pretty solid job on interiors quality wise for what they are, Chinese? I doubt it. China will actually have to play by the rules on this one and not take a popular car and throw the design in a 3D printer violating every international automotive patent.

Sounds like an interesting business plan/concept though- Tesla style sales. Main demographic is the young technology oriented crowd, in a way very much like Tesla- paying for technology rather than quality or luxury features. It might just work.

Certainly a lot more creative than the schemes the US brands have been pushing for years... oh wait they're still thinking Buick will make a comeback in the US amongst millennials.

 

[D.T.]

Got a ride in this bad boy today. I'm in the picture, so for my privacy, here's the logo.

707 HP

Meow.

 

[0388631]

Drop the J word and Goldy comes along. There's a joke to be made here.

 

[determined09]

Sorry, this isn't the best photo of my new car. I took this photo about a two weeks ago and last weekend I finally got it waxed. But like I said before, I don't drive car to work during the week and I usually drive this car on the weekends. Parking spots are on the small size at my job, so for now I'll just drive my old Camry to work.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this car.

I have to remember to push the close button on the trunk lid, I tend to forget and I just push the trunk close with my hand instead.

 

[quagmire]

Nice car. Outside of their new ugly design language, Lexus have been nice vehicles. Not my type, but nice.

 

[determined09]

Nice car. Outside of their new ugly design language, Lexus have been nice vehicles. Not my type, but nice.

Thank you. I'm glad that I drove my old car during the week because after the first week of owning this new Lexus. I was behind a guy that had just purchased a Toyota Corolla recently, when I was going into a parking garage on a steep incline and I was a few feet behind him waiting for him to pull up to the garage arm and enter that garage. But this guy took his foot off the brake (and no the white reverse tail lights wasn't on either) and he rolled back into my old Camry. I was so happy that I wasn't driving my new car that I didn't know what to do. Thank goodness for that old Camry sturdier and firmer front bumper that day. I wasn't hurt and he wasn't either. But my car is ok.

 

[quagmire]

I'm glad that I drove my old car during the week because one week after owning this new Lexus. I was behind a guy in a just purchased a Toyota Corolla, when I was going into a parking garage on a steep incline and I was a few feet behind him waiting for him to pull up to the garage arm. But this guy took his foot off the brake (his white reverse tail lights wasn't on) and he rolled back into my old Camry. I was so happy that I wasn't driving my new car that I didn't know what to do. Thank goodness for that old Camry sturdier and firm front bumper that day.

Was it a manual transmission Corolla?

I am afraid to daily drive the Camaro once I get it. I wish I could keep my Saturn as the DD( to drive to work, in the snow, etc). But I can't afford it and need the trade in value of the car( or what remains of its value ). My Saturn is now 10 years old and I still get mad when people ding it, I still get it detailed once a year, etc. I have had people see it and never guess it is a 10 year old car. I can't imagine what it is going to be like with the Camaro. I will walk 2 miles in order to park it in the middle of no where to prevent people dinging it( and some asswipe in a 1989 Geo Metro parks next to it despite 100 free spaces around and is inches off my car ).

People have zero respect for other peoples property. Yet I wonder how they feel if they spent $40K plus on their dream car and they have people swing their doors into the car.

 

[determined09]

Was it a manual transmission Corolla?

I am afraid to daily drive the Camaro once I get it. I wish I could keep my Saturn as the DD( to drive to work, in the snow, etc). But I can't afford it and need the trade in value of the car( or what remains of its value ). My Saturn is now 10 years old and I still get mad when people ding it, I still get it detailed once a year, etc. I have had people see it and never guess it is a 10 year old car. I can't imagine what it is going to be like with the Camaro. I will walk 2 miles in order to park it in the middle of no where to prevent people dinging it( and some asswipe in a 1989 Geo Metro parks next to it despite 100 free spaces around and is inches off my car ).

People have zero respect for other peoples property. Yet I wonder how they feel if they spent $40K plus on their dream car and they have people swing their doors into the car.

I'm not sure if it was a manual transmission Corolla but that incline is so steep that your car will roll back even in an automatic when you take your foot off the brake. Camaros are very nice. Good Luck with your Camaro purchase. That's good that you take car of your Saturn and most people are shocked to find out that my Camry over 15 years old. I agree with you, I just hate it when people park right next to you and there are several other open parking spots that they could have used instead.

I hear you about how people don't respect other people's property, today.

 

[0388631]

It's not about not respecting others property, it's simply apathy. Actually disrespecting someone's car would mean they key'd your car on purpose or slammed their door into yours on purpose. Some people view a car as a utility and neglect their car. Ironically, these are the same people who long for a Model S and think it's the best thing since sliced bread. The same people who've never driven, been driven in, sat in or seen a Model S up close. Just about every S I've seen up close has build quality issues you wouldn't see on a Euro spec commuter MBZ or BMW with cloth seats and basic everything running a tiny engine. Mind you these are the same people who'll blindly state the Model S beats all exotics based on its immediate launch performance while ignoring what happens halfway down the strip or that it's better than an S Class. I took more issue with a reviewer who said it's as luxurious as a Rolls Royce. I made the mistake of listening to a sat radio show today where host and guest were barking about the Model S for 2 hours.


I don't have any cool car doom stories apart from the tree one I mentioned ages ago.

 

[D.T.]

It's not about not respecting others property, it's simply apathy. Actually disrespecting someone's car would mean they key'd your car on purpose or slammed their door into yours on purpose. Some people view a car as a utility and neglect their car.

Terrific post.

It doesn't even matter about the value involved either, a guy with a P90 in SF at the company where I was working abused the hell out of it, at one point he tossed a big heavy tripod right on (not _in_) the trunk, didn't even blink.

That being said, you also have to have some perspective: I see exotics parked at the curb in NYC, because, well, it's a car, and the owner (presumably) enjoys owning and driving it and that requires using it like a car, that involves parking, driving in inclement weather, scraping curbs, getting scratches in the paint.

Honestly, if you can't handle that in some capacity, just buy something you won't worry about.