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A.Goldberg

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2015
2,549
9,715
Boston
So I really sealed up the garage, that's the been the only thing really impacted by hurricanes/flooding, but inside the garage I made "bags" for the cars. Get some 10mil spec visqueen, in 20' wide in 100 or 200 foot rolls, put it down in the garage, drive onto it, but leave a good 5 feet of extra material around the perimeter. Then just tuck and/or tape it all around, forming a "bag" around the car, we could've taken 2-3 feet of water in the garage and the cars would've been protected.

View attachment 856113

Historically I just have a giant life jackets made for my cars. :D

I just haven’t been able to work out the automatic inflation system like this:

Clever idea though with the tarp. Though not as clever as that Amphicar I saw getting towed down the Mass Pike the other day.
[doublepost=1568792367][/doublepost]
Did I miss something or has Acura always had a $50,000+ sedan? The Acuras I always remember were maybe $8-12K more than their Honda counterpart.

Apparently hahaha. In late 90’s/early 2000’s the Acura RL was a very popular full size luxury sedan- a lot like the Lexus LS only maybe a little cheaper. It eventually fell behind in terms of being competitive in that market. As time went on the replacement, the RLX, was really insufficient for the size and price. Given the market wants “sports luxury”, it has pretty much been a flop. And it now looks too much like an Accord.
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Original poster
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,467
Vilano Beach, FL
Got my orange tuner lug endcaps in, very cool, definitely needed a little color on the wheel. Also have ordered a GT350 track wing, it's made by BMC specifically for convertibles, the trunk deck is a slightly different curve/angle, so coupe spoilers don't sit flush and/or sit at a slightly odd angle (guy recently tried the new Perf Pack wing, it was conspicuously tilted forward)

Historically I just have a giant life jackets made for my cars. :D

I just haven’t been able to work out the automatic inflation system like this:

Definitely needed that for Irma and Matthew, when you figure it out, I'm a buyer :D Hurry please, the Atlantic is churning ...
 

A.Goldberg

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2015
2,549
9,715
Boston
Definitely needed that for Irma and Matthew, when you figure it out, I'm a buyer :D Hurry please, the Atlantic is churning ...

Retrofit one of those helicopter emergency water landing flotation systems or the inflatable slide from a commercial airplane.

Alternatively go on Amazon and buy 100,000 replacement CO2 cartridges for inflatable life jackets and 100,000 party balloons.
 

Alphazoid

macrumors 65816
Dec 5, 2014
1,011
861
I'm starting to cast my eye on the market for a new set of wheels. Part of me wants to own an AMG V8 before its too late. I'm torn between the NA C63 (W204) or the current Biturbo. Eitherway i don't plan to keep them forever. Just get my V8 thrill and move on to something 'sensible'

Would love the NA car but feel the biturbo would be easier to live with daily overall.

mercedes-benz-c-class-c63-4dr-auto-saloon-414031752-1.jpg
mercedes-benz-amg-amg-c-63-s-premium-S4090414-4.jpg


Ahhh im torn
 

jca24

macrumors 6502a
Jul 28, 2010
825
129
DFW
I'm starting to cast my eye on the market for a new set of wheels. Part of me wants to own an AMG V8 before its too late. I'm torn between the NA C63 (W204) or the current Biturbo. Eitherway i don't plan to keep them forever. Just get my V8 thrill and move on to something 'sensible'

Would love the NA car but feel the biturbo would be easier to live with daily overall.

mercedes-benz-c-class-c63-4dr-auto-saloon-414031752-1.jpg
mercedes-benz-amg-amg-c-63-s-premium-S4090414-4.jpg


Ahhh im torn

Meh, too much money and too much depreciation. Just go back a few years and get a V-12 AMG 63. Have your fun and sell it for what your paid for it!
 
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A.Goldberg

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2015
2,549
9,715
Boston
There are a lot on Twitter that post incorrect stories or outright lies in order to manipulate the stock.
Except these people are not representatives of Tesla. Anyone can state their opinion. Many of these opinions are based on legislate concerns. Every company has people, including analysts, making projections and criticisms. Any public traded company is subject to being shorted. In fact, if you wanted you could go short Ford and Exxon right now if you wanted.

And speaking of bad information, Musk beyond his $420 secured tweet, we can talk about the use of the word “Autopilot”. We can also talk about how he claimed in 2 years (1 year optimistically) you will be able to turn your Tesla into a fully autonomous robo-taxi. That’s absolutely nonsense. No one believes the technology exists to deal with the vast number of circumstances that arise when driving. Like having to drive down a two way street that’s only one lane wide. How about following the directions of a cop directing traffic? What about pulling over for emergency vehicles? What about driving down a street with a crowd people walking in the road? What about poor weather conditions? Sure you can have the robotaxi customer intervene presumably, but As a taxi there won’t always be a customer in the car.

Driving down the highway isn’t the hard part, it’s these obscure events that are the problem. For reasons like these I can’t imagine they’ll have regulatory approval anytime soon. And it’s questionable if the technology in the cars is capable of full autonomy. Tesla has already made that claim before with previous iterations. Tesla has made some remarkable innovations and pushed the boundaries of car technology, but the 2020-2022 robotaxi is not happening. Especially in light of the the 737 MAX automation problems and the demand for a higher standard of oversight.

I truly believe that it is automobile manufacturers and/or oil companies who have the most to lose with the success of Tesla. They have their head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge that EV is the future.

I suppose if all the big auto companies and oil companies really wanted to kill Tesla, they could just buy a controlling portion of the company and tank it.

I have nothing against electric vehicles, though I personally wouldn’t buy one at this point. If I HAD to buy one today as an everyday I’d probably buy a Tesla due to the charging convenience. That said, I don’t think their cars are that nice compared to other luxury vehicles. And for all the talk about EV’s being more reliable everyone I know with a Tesla has had a number of significant problems. I do find Tesla’s business practices to often to be rather misleading/disingenuous/deceptive.
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
3-month roundup review with the Scat:

Overall, I put on about 5000-ish miles in the first three months, for the amount of power this car offers being a four-door sedan, I think it’s a ‘bargain’ for the price given V8’s have been a dying breed for quite some time now. If you wanted a four-door sedan with a V-8 other than the Charger [Which has 485HP/475TQ] , you'd have to look at the German sector.

Anyways, I’ll just list the pros/cons of this vehicle, but the most impressive thing isn’t just the crazy power with the Scat, it’s the transmission shifts are razor sharp, the 8-Speed ZF is as close to dual clutch as you can get, with incredible reliability with virtually zero issues. (Another YouTuber hit 100,000 miles with his Scat, and not one issue with the drivetrain.) That all said, this car has been far more enjoyable than my GT (Which needs more Drive time). But like most, my favorite thing has to be the exhaust, I have a full Mopar cat back exhaust on this car, The sound emanating from those pipes is straight brutal.😁 [Which...that’s not even when ‘sport mode’ is activated, which opens up the exhaust valves. ]

Pro’s:

1.) 6.4/8-speed ZF. Killer combination with the 6.4 power tweaked by the SRT team and the transmission shifts are insanely quick.

2.) 8.4 UConnect. Responsive/fluid and overall ease of use. Also, nice bright/vibrant display with no ‘glare’ issues.

3.) Fit/finish. No rattles/squeaks. The ‘Pitch black clear-coat’ paint has a really high gloss shine to it (More so when you see it in person), and then I added the ceramic coat to it, it made it pop even more.

4.) Beats Audio. Honestly, not a fan of Beats in general, but the sound is pretty good, the subwoofer can be a bit overpowering in the trunk, but you can tweak that setting where it doesn’t override the actual music/audio you’re listening to.

5.) Steering wheel/seats. Let me just say I’m very particular about my steering wheels for my cars, and I absolutely hate the steering wheel in my GT, kind of boring and not aggressive. Dodge nailed the steering wheel, has a great thickness and a 10/2 notches are are very prominent. The seats are very aggressive with the bolstering, and they hold you in comfortably.

6.) Brembo brakes. Not much to say here, Brembo is known for their stopping power and quality, and the braking power on this car is excellent.

Cons:

1.) The USB ports are awkwardly located deep inside the center console, although Dodge does give you four of them (2 in the center console and 2 in the rear for the back seat passengers.)

2.) The dash material. Also Commonly referred to as the ‘basketball grip material’, and it looks exactly like that, like a black basketball type material-ish for the dash. It seems durable, but I just don’t think it’s very aesthetic.

3.) Fan speed. When controlling the AC, just doesn’t seem the fan is not that powerful, but maybe other cars I have had just seems like it’s stronger. Minor nitpick, but worth noting.

4.) Gas cap button release. It’s weird, because it’s actually built into the door, but it’s on an angle and you can’t really see it when seated in the car, you have to search with your hand to find it unless you have the door open. But at least Dodge was smart enough to make this a locking gas cap, where Ford Failed with the ‘Push style’ cap. 😁

5.) The doors. It’s a common complaint that the doors open _very_ wide, which means when you are seated in the vehicle, you really have to reach to shut them depending how wide they are open. That’s ‘by-design’, because Dodge is using the same type of fitment they use for the Police vehicles [The wide doors are used for cover in High risk traffic stops], but I understand the complaint how it’s uncomfortable to have to literally reach outside to shut the doors.

BE0AA6FB-D3A2-4B2B-9CE6-716414FDA53F.jpeg


37A7981E-12BB-45B5-9F7E-662B6BAB5492.jpeg
 
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vipergts2207

Suspended
Apr 7, 2009
4,414
9,884
Columbus, OH
3-month roundup review with the Scat:

Overall, I put on about 5000-ish miles in the first three months, for the amount of power this car offers being a four-door sedan, I think it’s a ‘bargain’ for the price given V8’s have been a dying breed for quite some time now. If you wanted a four-door sedan with a V-8 other than the Charger [Which has 485HP/475TQ] , you'd have to look at the German sector.

Anyways, I’ll just list the pros/cons of this vehicle, but the most impressive thing isn’t just the crazy power with the Scat, it’s the transmission shifts are razor sharp, the 8-Speed ZF is as close to dual clutch as you can get, with incredible reliability with virtually zero issues. (Another YouTuber hit 100,000 miles with his Scat, and not one issue with the drivetrain.) That all said, this car has been far more enjoyable than my GT (Which needs more Drive time). But like most, my favorite thing has to be the exhaust, I have a full Mopar cat back exhaust on this car, The sound emanating from those pipes is straight brutal.? [Which...that’s not even when ‘sport mode’ is activated, which opens up the exhaust valves. ]

Pro’s:

1.) 6.4/8-speed ZF. Killer combination with the 6.4 power tweaked by the SRT team and the transmission shifts are insanely quick.

2.) 8.4 UConnect. Responsive/fluid and overall ease of use. Also, nice bright/vibrant display with no ‘glare’ issues.

3.) Fit/finish. No rattles/squeaks. The ‘Pitch black clear-coat’ paint has a really high gloss shine to it (More so when you see it in person), and then I added the ceramic coat to it, it made it pop even more.

4.) Beats Audio. Honestly, not a fan of Beats in general, but the sound is pretty good, the subwoofer can be a bit overpowering in the trunk, but you can tweak that setting where it doesn’t override the actual music/audio you’re listening to.

5.) Steering wheel/seats. Let me just say I’m very particular about my steering wheels for my cars, and I absolutely hate the steering wheel in my GT, kind of boring and not aggressive. Dodge nailed the steering wheel, has a great thickness and a 10/2 notches are are very prominent. The seats are very aggressive with the bolstering, and they hold you in comfortably.

6.) Brembo brakes. Not much to say here, Brembo is known for their stopping power and quality, and the braking power on this car is excellent.

Cons:

1.) The USB ports are awkwardly located deep inside the center console, although Dodge does give you four of them (2 in the center console and 2 in the rear for the back seat passengers.)

2.) The dash material. Also Commonly referred to as the ‘basketball grip material’, and it looks exactly like that, like a black basketball type material-ish for the dash. It seems durable, but I just don’t think it’s very aesthetic.

3.) Fan speed. When controlling the AC, just doesn’t seem the fan is not that powerful, but maybe other cars I have had just seems like it’s stronger. Minor nitpick, but worth noting.

4.) Gas cap button release. It’s weird, because it’s actually built into the door, but it’s on an angle and you can’t really see it when seated in the car, you have to search with your hand to find it unless you have the door open. But at least Dodge was smart enough to make this a locking gas cap, where Ford Failed with the ‘Push style’ cap. ?

5.) The doors. It’s a common complaint that the doors open _very_ wide, which means when you are seated in the vehicle, you really have to reach to shut them depending how wide they are open. That’s ‘by-design’, because Dodge is using the same type of fitment they use for the Police vehicles [The wide doors are used for cover in High risk traffic stops], but I understand the complaint how it’s uncomfortable to have to literally reach outside the to shut the doors.

View attachment 861686

View attachment 861687

We have the same weak A/C fan in my wife’s Challenger. That’s probably her biggest complaint with the car overall.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
We have the same weak A/C fan in my wife’s Challenger. That’s probably her biggest complaint with the car overall.

Glad it’s not just me that’s being overly particular, it just seems like the fan speed is relatively not very strong (7 is the Max setting in the Charger). I mean, there is some really hot days where I have the recirculation on, which seems to make it a little bit stronger exerting the air out of the vents, but still, it’s not even close to being as strong as my GT with the Fan speed in comparison.
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,353
6,496
Kentucky
I admit to not having followed things TOO closely, but IIRC R-134a and other halogenated refrigerants are being phased out in favor of hydrocarbon based refrigerants. In fact, a propane/isobutane mixture is a near perfect drop in replacement for R-12, although most R-12 systems are out of circulation and it's technically not legal to use that in a vehicle.

Regardless, the Germans started using hydrocarbon refrigerants a few years ago, and I wonder if FCA and the other domestics are just now switching over. They may not have COMPLETELY ironed out how the systems perform in the real world if that's the case.

I frequently find myself a bit toasty in my girlfriend's '18 Compass, but I also attribute that to the fact that she and I have somewhat different internal thermostats :) . The last time I drove it without her in it, I was comfortable but it also wasn't terribly hot outside.
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
57,009
56,027
Behind the Lens, UK
I admit to not having followed things TOO closely, but IIRC R-134a and other halogenated refrigerants are being phased out in favor of hydrocarbon based refrigerants. In fact, a propane/isobutane mixture is a near perfect drop in replacement for R-12, although most R-12 systems are out of circulation and it's technically not legal to use that in a vehicle.

Regardless, the Germans started using hydrocarbon refrigerants a few years ago, and I wonder if FCA and the other domestics are just now switching over. They may not have COMPLETELY ironed out how the systems perform in the real world if that's the case.

I frequently find myself a bit toasty in my girlfriend's '18 Compass, but I also attribute that to the fact that she and I have somewhat different internal thermostats :) . The last time I drove it without her in it, I was comfortable but it also wasn't terribly hot outside.
No climate control for different zones?
Not uncommon for me to have the AC on and Mrs AFB with her heated seat on.
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,353
6,496
Kentucky
No climate control for different zones?
Not uncommon for me to have the AC on and Mrs AFB with her heated seat on.

There's a reason why we often take my car on longer trips :)

The only thing I get in hers is a heated seat on the passenger side.

Her's is one HVAC control for everything.
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
57,009
56,027
Behind the Lens, UK
There's a reason why we often take my car on longer trips :)

The only thing I get in hers is a heated seat on the passenger side.

Her's is one HVAC control for everything.
Well Mrs AFB’s car (Kia Picanto) does very few miles. Less than 1000 miles a year so sadly I have to take it to work every now and then to give it a run.
No AC at all. Or DAB radio. Or heated seats.

But worse of all it’s a 1 litre. No guts at all!
 

0388631

Cancelled
Sep 10, 2009
9,669
10,823
RP, glad to see you're enjoying your Scat.

We've been experiencing some very weird weather patterns ourselves over here. We're currently going through yet another but very short heat wave. I suspect we'll have a few more of these before the fall really sets in. And it's doing my sinuses in.
 

A.Goldberg

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2015
2,549
9,715
Boston
There's a reason why we often take my car on longer trips :)

The only thing I get in hers is a heated seat on the passenger side.

Her's is one HVAC control for everything.

Personally I never found the driver/passenger two zone climate control particularly useful. Surprisingly both my 5-series BMW and my previous Grand Cherokee Limited and my GF’s S60 all lack the “sync” or “dual” button to pair the temperatures on both sides. It drives my OCD crazy and is a surprising feature not to have on a luxury car. I’ve always felt the far more relevant adjustment was the fan speed. Unfortunately very few cars offer separate driver/passenger fan speed controls which I consider true “dual zone climate control”... essentially limited to flagship luxury cars like the 7-series BMW.
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,353
6,496
Kentucky
Personally I never found the driver/passenger two zone climate control particularly useful. Surprisingly both my 5-series BMW and my previous Grand Cherokee Limited and my GF’s S60 all lack the “sync” or “dual” button to pair the temperatures on both sides. It drives my OCD crazy and is a surprising feature not to have on a luxury car. I’ve always felt the far more relevant adjustment was the fan speed. Unfortunately very few cars offer separate driver/passenger fan speed controls which I consider true “dual zone climate control”... essentially limited to flagship luxury cars like the 7-series BMW.

Two zone control can work okay if one person wants it at 80, the other below 70, and the fan needs to blast if that's the case. Unfortunately, that's often not the case in my car, and one of us ends up cold and the other hot. Still, though, regardless of how much air is blowing, having one side blowing out warm/hot and the other cool/cold does make a difference.
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,353
6,496
Kentucky
Just as a bit of "nothing really happening" update on the Marina:

This was a busy week at work, so I didn't get a LOT done other than ordering some parts.

Since one of the radiator hoses was peeing coolant when it was hot(didn't pop the hood to see which, although I suspect upper), I decided to order both upper and lower. Much to my surprise, what came were NOS hoses, complete with the sphincter still on the label(not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing). I also ordered a new transmission pan gasket and screen, and I hope that that along with some fresh fluid will fix things.

There are still a bunch of nagging electrical issues I need to fix to even make it road legal-I hope that they are just a matter of cleaning grounds. Even though it's not exactly a luxury car by any means, it's definitely more up-market in terms of creature comforts than the MGB, and consequently even though the electrical system feels somewhat familiar there is still a lot more going on in it. I also don't have the benefit of the wonderful redraw, full color wiring diagrams that one of the wiring companies did for the MGB and a few other popular sports cars, so I'm stuck with the tiny and convoluted service manual diagrams.

With all of that said, I did accomplish SOMETHING this week in getting the carburetor rebuilt. It's not my prettiest/best work, but at least should be functional. I really had just intended to put a new float and needle valve in it along with a solid throttle butterfly(the emissions mandated poppet valve butterflies have issues). Some of the stuff I needed, though, was only available in the complete "gasket pack", which also included stuff like choke seals and the throttle spindle seals. I'd never worked on an HIF-type carburetor before. It was a learning experience, especially considering that it actually reading the instructions(horror of horrors) the understand how the "enrichment circuit"(choke) works, but ultimately I think I understand it.

I didn't get to do the cosmetic clean up I would have liked either, but at least I know it's mechanically sound. The only wear parts I didn't replace were metering needle and jet, but honestly since those theoretically at least don't always even contact, and when they do have a thin film of gasoline between them, I'm not too worried. I may need to change the needle anyway after the engine work I'm planning, so I'll replace both then.

IMG_0285.jpg
IMG_0287.jpg
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
XPEL PPF and ceramic coating has been installed...

View attachment 861756 View attachment 861756

I have to ask, did the dealership ceramic coat the whole car or just the hood/front facia? (Some car owners want the cost saving ratio when applying clear bras/ceramic kits) Also something else I did, [but it’s not as common, because it is more expensive], but I also ceramic coated the wheels, it’s an adequate protectant against brake dust/road grime that cleans much easier. Plus, they have a really unique sheen to them, looks stellar. :cool:
 
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