Cars, cars, cars...

Stevo_666

focuszing723 said:

Stevo_666 said:

New AMG GT looks quite good.

Yeah it does. I like fact they put a descent boot/drop rear seats (token gesture) on it so you could actually use it on a touring trip but still keep the agility.

Yep, it's vaguely practical and now AWD. But a bit on the heavy side as a result.

focuszing723

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1694634492403843248

I'm a big fan of greatness and everything, but ummm, well, God that looks like a dog $h1t on the shoe, and not from a little chihuahua, like one of those newfoundland things.

That reminds me, dog nappies! Do the right thing.

focuszing723

Even the model 3/Y looks embarrassed and is hiding behind the monstrosity.

focuszing723

I want a truck which looks like a Delorean, back to the future n' stuff...

Stevo_666

The Alfa 33 Stradale looks pretty tasty - available as a planet killing V6 turbo or tree hugging EV.

pinno

Err... 1.7m price tag for a car that is fugly at the back (not sure of the headlights either) and probably could not out perform a tried and tested £154k GT3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJy5X-gfTFA

Stevo_666

I only said it looked nice...and beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc.

focuszing723

If we're playing virtual top trumps, I'd go for a Ferrari 296 GTS. Looks good, convertible hardtop, 800 odd bhp more efficient V6 which they've managed to make sound good, EV mode for Cities and it's got a reasonable sized frunk so you could actually go somewhere with luggage.

The SF90's looks great too, but because of the extra two electric motors in the front you don't get anywhere to put anything. Pretty impressive being EV four wheel drive though.


With regards Porches. I think I'd go for a 992 GT3 Touring, that wing just looks a bit try hard. I bet the turbo in reality is a better car for road use with a more sensible setup, but I'd want that NA singing engine.

Phfffff...

focuszing723

I must admit too me the Alfa's lights look a big too big.

Stevo_666

focuszing723 said:

If we're playing virtual top trumps, I'd go for a Ferrari 296 GTS. Looks good, 800 odd bhp more efficient V6 which they've managed to make sound good, EV mode for Cities and it's got a reasonable sized frunk so you could actually go somewhere with luggage.

The SF90's looks great too, but because off the extra two electric motors in the front you don't get anywhere to put anything. Pretty impressive being EV four wheel drive though.


With regards Porches. I think I'd go for a 992 GT3 Touring, that wing just looks a bit try hard. I bet the turbo in reality is a better car for road use with a more sensible setup, but I'd want that NA singing engine.

Phfffff...

Turbo for the road, GT3 RS for the track and GT3 for a bit of both I reckon. No doubting the GT3 variants are brilliant driving machines, though like you say the looks are a bit 'marmite'.

focuszing723

Stevo_666 said:

focuszing723 said:

If we're playing virtual top trumps, I'd go for a Ferrari 296 GTS. Looks good, 800 odd bhp more efficient V6 which they've managed to make sound good, EV mode for Cities and it's got a reasonable sized frunk so you could actually go somewhere with luggage.

The SF90's looks great too, but because off the extra two electric motors in the front you don't get anywhere to put anything. Pretty impressive being EV four wheel drive though.


With regards Porches. I think I'd go for a 992 GT3 Touring, that wing just looks a bit try hard. I bet the turbo in reality is a better car for road use with a more sensible setup, but I'd want that NA singing engine.

Phfffff...

Turbo for the road, GT3 RS for the track and GT3 for a bit of both I reckon. No doubting the GT3 variants are brilliant driving machines, though like you say the looks are a bit 'marmite'.

Yeah, the RS with the aero/extra down force would be a great track car. It does look very purposeful akin to a Senna.


My Dad's favourite car as a kid was the GT40 and I think they nailed the design of the new one too, GT, stunning design. I was surprised they went with a V6 on that.

Stevo_666

focuszing723 said:

Stevo_666 said:

focuszing723 said:

If we're playing virtual top trumps, I'd go for a Ferrari 296 GTS. Looks good, 800 odd bhp more efficient V6 which they've managed to make sound good, EV mode for Cities and it's got a reasonable sized frunk so you could actually go somewhere with luggage.

The SF90's looks great too, but because off the extra two electric motors in the front you don't get anywhere to put anything. Pretty impressive being EV four wheel drive though.


With regards Porches. I think I'd go for a 992 GT3 Touring, that wing just looks a bit try hard. I bet the turbo in reality is a better car for road use with a more sensible setup, but I'd want that NA singing engine.

Phfffff...

Turbo for the road, GT3 RS for the track and GT3 for a bit of both I reckon. No doubting the GT3 variants are brilliant driving machines, though like you say the looks are a bit 'marmite'.

Yeah, the RS with the aero/extra down force would be a great track car. It does look very purposeful akin to a Senna.


My Dad's favourite car as a kid was the GT40 and I think they nailed the design of the new one too, GT, stunning design. I was surprised they went with a V6 on that.

Yep, the GT40 looked fantastic but it deserved at least a V8.

The Senna is like the GT3 RS - designed in a deliberate 'we don't care too much what it looks like as long as it goes fast' type of way. Similar to the AMG GT Black series.

focuszing723

The Mercedes GT's look like good cars, they look like you could have some fun and tour in them with comfort.

Stevo_666

focuszing723 said:

The Mercedes GT's look like good cars, they look like you could have some fun and tour in them with comfort.

True. They also make me happy as I get basically the same engine in my estate for half the price

focuszing723

Sounds good Stevo.

Stevo_666

focuszing723 said:

Sounds good Stevo.

The big V8 biturbo gets nearly everywhere in the Merc range and into the odd Aston Martin as well. Hand-built by one man and you get a little plaque on the engine with the signature of the builder. As a mate of mine once said of Mercs, "If they haven't got a Kr**t's name on the engine block, they're not worth having"

focuszing723

Stevo_666 said:

focuszing723 said:

Sounds good Stevo.

The big V8 biturbo gets nearly everywhere in the Merc range and into the odd Aston Martin as well. Hand-built by one man and you get a little plaque on the engine with the signature of the builder. As a mate of mine once said of Mercs, "If they haven't got a Kr**t's name on the engine block, they're not worth having"

Nice Stevo, it makes it a bit special with that personal touch.

Stevo_666

Another benefit of a performance exhaust
https://youtube.com/shorts/1aCWcFdgJn8?si=d-3Bm7y5mYGXDiJ7

Pross

Driving to my hotel for a race in Cheshire at the weekend and just down the road there were 4 garages in a row - Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren and Rolls Royce. I certainly had some car envy. I also had a 5 litre Mustang pull up on the pump next to me whilst I was filling up in the nearby petrol station (to make myself feel better I told myself my tank of fuel will last longer!). Obviously still plenty of money in that area until all the footballers desert the golden triangle for the Saudi league.

focuszing723

focuszing723 said:

photonic69 said:

I think we need to redefine what the purpose of a car is. Manufacturers/Marketing pretend its about moving people around. If that was the case then why are we making things that transport people weigh 20x more than the thing they are transporting (SUV ~ 1600kgs / Average Person 80kgs). It's more about moving the thing than moving the contents. No matter how you cut it, this will never be a "green" thing like this. At least my bike is about 7.5x lighter than I am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63wCfqSQp8c

Look what Manufactures in China are producing, it's damn impressive for the price.

Now being brought up in the EV thread. I thought an EV was a car?

focuszing723

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtrU6cyWmtQ

Aptera has entered our validation phase by conducting correlation testing of our Gamma vehicle at the renowned Pininfarina Wind Tunnel. This is the first step towards fully validating Aptera's ambitious aerodynamic requirements. With Delta builds on the horizon, we plan to perform a full suite of wind tunnel tests to obtain the final drag coefficient.

Interestingly, the battery pack in the new Pininfarina hyper car is supplied by Rimac.

Pross

Hopefully the competitive pressure from cars like that will bring down the price of their European equivalents. £11k for a reasonable size, fairly well specced brand new EV is good going.

pinno

Pross said:

Driving to my hotel for a race in Cheshire at the weekend and just down the road there were 4 garages in a row - Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren and Rolls Royce. I certainly had some car envy. I also had a 5 litre Mustang pull up on the pump next to me whilst I was filling up in the nearby petrol station (to make myself feel better I told myself my tank of fuel will last longer!). Obviously still plenty of money in that area until all the footballers desert the golden triangle for the Saudi league.

The Mustang is sh*t. Nothing to be jealous of (unless it was a classic).
A local boy has one and he tried it on with me in the 911 one day. I had to brake so hard because the thing won't go around bends that I ended up on the wrong side of the road as he started to brake for a bend that my 911 would go around without braking.
Never again I said to myself as I ended up on the blindside of the bend so as not to go into the back of him.

If you want an eye opener, watch this (rather annoying) guy pull apart a Super cars and discover that they are made up of Ford parts and whatever. Kind of takes the gloss and mystery out of them:

https://www.youtube.com/@MatArmstrongbmx/videos

pblakeney

pinno said:

If you want an eye opener, watch this (rather annoying) guy pull apart a Super cars and discover that they are made up of Ford parts and whatever. Kind of takes the gloss and mystery out of them:

Big company parts bin isn't it?
A Lamborghini may well share parts with a SEAT.

pinno

Now, this is a thing to behold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AndH7Xm3ds0

I am a fan of this thing but not usually. You either track a car or have a road car. Not some sort of hybrid. However, at the upper level, there is Singer and a number of Porker conversion boys that will make what is ostensibly a track/road car. (I hate the Singers).
Average bods without unlimited budget, barbarise and mangle perfectly good classic cars. There's a caveat though*.
But - you have 2 options: keep it original or track it as a pure track car. The former (as I have discovered) is actually difficult as original parts and especially interior bits are expensive. I could have turned my 944 into a track car for £1000's less.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't have a car that I could take out for a spin without going deaf or having my organs rattled out of my body.
And - there are fewer and fewer classics in un-modified form.

*There are actually only a handful of cars from the 70's and 80's that perform well and keep up with modern traffic unless you go up the purchase scale. So you really have no choice but to modify them. (off the top pf my head), Audi Quattro, Sierra Cosworth. Porsche 964, Golf MK 2, 3, 4 Gti, Peugeot 205 Gti. Therein lies the irony: these things have so much money tied up in them, no one is really prepared to put the foot down, so they never get driven properly.

So the Porsche 911k, although contradicting my feelings about classic cars, works because it keeps those beautiful lines (unlike the Singers), keeps that simplicity of interior and instruments but perform like a modern sports car (in the right hands).

It's similar to the wonderful Alfa conversion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BuZmJmpTdk

pinno

pblakeney said:

pinno said:

If you want an eye opener, watch this (rather annoying) guy pull apart a Super cars and discover that they are made up of Ford parts and whatever. Kind of takes the gloss and mystery out of them:

Big company parts bin isn't it?
A Lamborghini may well share parts with a SEAT.

The 'parts bin' 924. Some find him annoying but he explains the evolution of the 924 to the 944 very well. In the early part of the video, you'll get the abbreviated parts list crossover. Worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qLwd44C4iU

veronese68

pblakeney said:

pinno said:

If you want an eye opener, watch this (rather annoying) guy pull apart a Super cars and discover that they are made up of Ford parts and whatever. Kind of takes the gloss and mystery out of them:

Big company parts bin isn't it?
A Lamborghini may well share parts with a SEAT.

Quite normal, VAG say that the same part number should be the same price across the brands.
Supplying a complete brake system for a Lamborghini about 15 years ago, pads, discs and master cylinder were all 4 figure numbers. The servo was £200 because it was a Golf part. Probably also fitted to SEAT, Audi, Bentley and all.

pinno

veronese68 said:

pblakeney said:

pinno said:

If you want an eye opener, watch this (rather annoying) guy pull apart a Super cars and discover that they are made up of Ford parts and whatever. Kind of takes the gloss and mystery out of them:

Big company parts bin isn't it?
A Lamborghini may well share parts with a SEAT.

Quite normal, VAG say that the same part number should be the same price across the brands.
Supplying a complete brake system for a Lamborghini about 15 years ago, pads, discs and master cylinder were all 4 figure numbers. The servo was £200 because it was a Golf part. Probably also fitted to SEAT, Audi, Bentley and all.

Due to the parts cross over form the early 924's and onwards, thankfully VW Heritage supply some Porsche parts and they are a fraction of the cost of OEM Porsche.
The last part I replaced om the 944 (the very last I hope) was the brake Master cylinder. Porsche wanted silly money. It's identical to the Mercedes w124 (190e) and @ a very reasonable £69.
The ABS unit is very similar to the w124 except the head where the brake pipes exit, you dismantle it and make it up. The ABS ECU is the same as the w124 (thank fook).
Wiper conrods - VW
Thermovalve - VW £9 (or £67 + VAT from Porsche).
Column stalks - MK2 Golf
A meagre £1300 + VAT for the 6 main torsion bar bushes and mount bushes from Porsche or just £280 for Poly bush

I could go on and on... you have to know these things or have an bottomless pit of money. 944's fetch very little and have never really appreciated because you pay 911 prices for parts. In fact, many 911 parts are cheaper because they are more widely available.
600 less registered on the road since lockdown. Only 2268 remain.
Too expensive and ageing to restore. Sad really but good for me as there is a good selection of parts available as a result.

briantrumpet

Went in a car-nut friend's electric BMW-something with about 550bhp, for which he's paying about £42-a-month on tax (as a company car), and even though I don't really like cars, and modern cars even less, it was pretty impressive as a bit of kit, I'd have to admit...

Stevo_666

briantrumpet said:

Went in a car-nut friend's electric BMW-something with about 550bhp, for which he's paying about £42-a-month on tax (as a company car), and even though I don't really like cars, and modern cars even less, it was pretty impressive as a bit of kit, I'd have to admit...

There's hope for you yet