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picture of your car

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pilotkid said:
You know whats funny? That was in the garage AND our garage is insulated! Outside it was about 115!!!!!!! Gotta love AZ:rolleyes:
EDIT: Wait, I just saw your location, your in St. Louis!? I lived in Chesterfield for 5 years, I would rather have 115 and 5% humidity than 95 and 80% humidity! Anyday!
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Yep, I'm between Chesterfield (home) and Rolla (college). And yeah, the humidity is hell here. A couple weeks ago, it was well over 100 (I know we set a new record on one day, I think 106) and the humidity was close to 100% too. I took my dog out for a walk (and she normally loves to be outside) and she dragged me right back in....I think if she could talk, she would've said "wtf are you taking me out here before, bring be back inside now dammit!"

It was hot to the point where a car A/C just couldn't do anything. The only thing that made it worth the drive to work (well, other than the paycheck) was that my cubicle was right above a huge datacenter and the cool air from that would keep us nice and cool upstairs :D
 
Finally had a chance to detail the car, get my camera all set-up, and find a nice backdrop:

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quagmire said:
To the 3800 V6 making 210 HP, GM let it rot on the vine. Here GM had an engine despite GM's reputation of making POS cars, where people would say it was bulletproof, but they let it die. Although it makes sense to kill it now due to it being a 90 degree V6 and would require a huge engine bay to fit it in. While the newer 3500 VVT V6 and 3900 VVT V6 are much smaller due to them being 60 degree V6's. But, how their killing it is unacceptable. Letting it rot on the vine without major updates. They should of updated it, but gave the notion it will be killed.

To the S2000's engine. Yes, it is impressive that it can make 237 HP from a 2 liter engine. But, the torque is a pathetic 162 lb of torque. Look where it develops the power. 237 HP at 7800 RPM( redline is 8000 RPM) and 162 lb of torque at 6800 lb of torque. So the motor itself is rather gutless in the low range, but since it is in a rather light vehicle, you can't tell since it can still move the S2000 pretty well. The people who put high value in the HP/litre talk are pretty much ricers. IMHO, it is only acceptable in Europe due to them being taxed based on the size of the engine. But, here in the US where we aren't taxed on the size of the engine, who really cares? Let's use the LS7 for example. It makes 505 HP, but requires 7 liters of displacement to do that. But, why should we worry about it being 7 liters? We don't get taxed on the displacement of it and it makes incredible HP yet gets pretty respectable fuel economy( 16/26 using the 2007 EPA tests and 15/24 on the new '08 tests in the Z06). So why really go into it being such a large displacement?
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The 3.8L V6 is an extremely reliable engine that GM has been using for a while now. The new 3.9L V6 might make more horsepower and low end torque, but it's longtime reliability is unknown. The 3.8 has been used in many forms and is really powerful when SuperCharged. It's also extremely smooth even though the technology is outdated. The 3.8 also had a variant (I believe it was the 3.1L V6 SFI used in Malibu's, previous generation Monte Carlo's, etc.). I find the power of it in the Grand Prix very decent for a sedan of it's size. It also gets very decent gas mileage while delivering decent performance.
 
yg17 said:
Yeah, Clarkson may have something against American cars, but what about all of the people in the US refuse to buy a foreign car and hate them? I suppose that's OK?


Hell, I'm an American, lived here all my life and hate American cars.
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I am an American too and I dislike most American cars, but they are the only people out that make 3/4 ton, ton, or higher pickup truck or SUV.

Anyways. The thing I dislike about Clarskson is that he'll drive a 150,000-300,000 Bentley or Aston Martin and show how poorly it is built and how bad it's ergonomics are. Then he says they are the greatest thing in the world and loves them. Then he'll drive a $60,000 Corvette, say how great it is to drive and how it outperforms a $180,000 or w/e Ferrari and then continues to say he'd never buy one because they have cheap interior. Meanwhile, in the Bentley when you shut the center console the ashtray pops open. And to him it seems German cars are fun to drive but too complicated to operate.

That BBC Propoganda:p

Oh yea and on their off-road test they had a Range Rover vs a Grand Cherokee vs an X5 vs a Land Cruiser. What about a G500 offroad, that thing has a significantly better 4WD system then the Range Rover. The G500 is also based off of a military truck similar to the Hummer. Also the Range Rover is obviously going to be the best because it has an $80,000 interior not a $30,000 one in the jeep.
 
ErikCLDR said:
I am an American too and I dislike most American cars, but they are the only people out that make 3/4 ton, ton, or higher pickup truck or SUV.
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Which means nothing to me when I don't plan on ever owning a truck or an SUV and hope that the last time I ever drive an SUV in my life was 2 months ago when I was given one as a rental.
 
yg17 said:
Which means nothing to me when I don't plan on ever owning a truck or an SUV and hope that the last time I ever drive an SUV in my life was 2 months ago when I was given one as a rental.
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I know, but I am just stating a fact. No other country makes a 3/4 ton pickup thats sold in America.
 
I bought a scooter recently. Yes, not a car, but a replacement for it (at least before winter comes). I absolutely love it.



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kainjow said:
I bought a scooter recently. Yes, not a car, but a replacement for it (at least before winter comes). I absolutely love it.

(snip)

(click for more)
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Wow, very nice. Wear your helmet! I see to many good people forget about that, I miss them. ;) (Case in point, be safe.. which I'm sure you are)
 
mpw said:
While I agree that he does come out with some idiotic ***** sometimes, there's no denying he knows his stuff. Care to mention some examples where he's come out with wrong information? I'm not talking about dumb opinion stuff, just poor info.

As for his hate for American cars, I don't think he does per se, indeed he spent a huge amount of his own money on a GT40.
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Here's a few that i've seen. He said that the Mustang GT500 has a Supercharged 4.6, when it's a supercharged 5.4. He had one skit that he put a Mustang against an actual horse. Which would have been a real funny skit except for the what he said as a 300HP V8 was actually a 200HP V6.

It's fine if he doesn't like the car, but go that far out of his way to embarrass the thing is insane. My favorite was when he put a new Mustang GT against a Lotus Elise with full race setup, slicks and all!

You're right that torque is important, but different cars have different characters and a high power light revvy suits the S2000, whereas it wouldn't suit a Mustang which prefers a big 'lazy' V8 or whatever. Neither is the 'better' engine until you use it in situ in the car it was designed for.
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Your absolutely right, neither is the better engine and I wasn't implying that on was. I was just saying that theres more to a motor then just Horsepower and the small high revving motors like in the S2000 make good HP numbers but pay the price in other areas.
 
yg17 said:
Yeah, Clarkson may have something against American cars, but what about all of the people in the US refuse to buy a foreign car and hate them? I suppose that's OK?


Hell, I'm an American, lived here all my life and hate American cars.
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Your only 21 years old how many bad American cars could you have actually owned? I have owned many(American cars) and have not had a problem with any of them. I have my first honda and that great also.
 
I believe (hope you dont mind me adding stuff to what you said) that any car be it domestic or import will serve well if properly taken care of. My Ford Contour is one of the most unreliable according to all kinds of books (calling it a lemon...etc), yet this was my mileage 2 months ago... had to take a pic of course :) One more thing. Lots of people actually see wear and tear items like clutches, suspension, brakes and tires as problem items so if they need replacing, all of a sudden the vehicle is unreliable! How crazy is that. I've met people that refused to change struts because they felt they shouldnt have to.

300km.jpg


coffey7 said:
Your only 21 years old how many bad American cars could you have actually owned? I have owned many(American cars) and have not had a problem with any of them. I have my first honda and that great also.
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contoursvt said:
I believe (hope you dont mind me adding stuff to what you said) that any car be it domestic or import will serve well if properly taken care of. My Ford Contour is one of the most unreliable according to all kinds of books (calling it a lemon...etc), yet this was my mileage 2 months ago... had to take a pic of course :) One more thing. Lots of people actually see wear and tear items like clutches, suspension, brakes and tires as problem items so if they need replacing, all of a sudden the vehicle is unreliable! How crazy is that. I've met people that refused to change struts because they felt they shouldnt have to.

[/QUOTE]

Man, that's awesome. That's on the original engine? Love those Contour SVT's, BTW. Very nice cars. I've always liked those...and the Taurus SHO. :cool:
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Thanks :) It is the original engine and transmission but the clutch was changed at 193,000KM and very soon to be changed again. I do run synthetic in the engine and transmission so maybe that helps. Also the car gets driven hard on a daily basis. I definitly dont baby it and I'm not scared of the tach ;)


FadeToBlack said:
Man, that's awesome. That's on the original engine? Love those Contour SVT's, BTW. Very nice cars. I've always liked those...and the Taurus SHO. :cool:
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coffey7 said:
Your only 21 years old how many bad American cars could you have actually owned? I have owned many(American cars) and have not had a problem with any of them. I have my first honda and that great also.
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Kids to young adults have today have a preset notion that German> Japanese> American. Or at least in my area. You should see my schools parking lot. Filled with German vehicles( BMW's and MB's no less spoiled brats) and my friends swear by German vehicles. But, what can I say? Perception sucks sometimes doesn't it?
 
contoursvt said:
Thanks :) It is the original engine and transmission but the clutch was changed at 193,000KM and very soon to be changed again. I do run synthetic in the engine and transmission so maybe that helps. Also the car gets driven hard on a daily basis. I definitly dont baby it and I'm not scared of the tach ;)
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I was under the impression that it had 300,000 miles on it. :eek:

That's still a lot of kilometers, though. 186,411.36 miles worth, according to the Unit Converter Dashboard widget.

I usually don't baby my car, either. ('02 Elantra GT) It sees over 4k just about every time I'm in it and it has seen the redline quite a few times, as well. I don't consider it driving the car hard, at least not in my case. More like just giving it a little workout. :cool:
 
quagmire said:
Kids to young adults have today have a preset notion that German> Japanese> American. Or at least in my area. You should see my schools parking lot. Filled with German vehicles( BMW's and MB's no less spoiled brats) and my friends swear by German vehicles. But, what can I say? Perception sucks sometimes doesn't it?
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Uh, thats basically true. I'll tell you this - my '05 Jeep has gone through two MAJOR recalls involving life-critical problems (one was the breaks dieing prematurely). The 1984 Benz? None.
 
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