Vehicles of Guru3D

no... probably laziness. or physical conditions. I know the assistant manager where i work doesn't like stick just because his leg gets way too tired or starts to hurt over time. If i were my brother, i'd be wishing my truck was automatic, since the clutch pedal in his diesel pickup is a freakin WORKOUT! Hold that thing in long enough and your toes start to hurt. use it frequently enough and you can hardly feel your leg. haha

 

This is the car I drive ... my parents' car but I drive it



This is my family's car in HKG lol:


deltatux

 

^While I respect you opinion, I must say this is sad. LOL, I see your 19, but even at that age you should stand on your own two feet. While I didn't have a even decent car at your age, at least is was mine & I payed for it.

 

Dude, personally I rather spend money on my rig, hanging out (incl. beer costs) and food expenses than feed a car. Taking care of a car takes too much money and I want to enjoy life, not be a slave to my car =P

I'll get a car once I have enough money.

EDIT: Also, I'm not in a rush to get a car since I won't be driving it daily since parking on campus costs $15/day ... my monthly bus pass costs $105. It's ridiculous, my campus gouges their students lol.

deltatux

 

Not everyone has something to prove.

The man is probably a student, and his parents are just being good parents.

If that's the case (which I suspect it is), he'll be having a car of his own after he graduates and gets a proper job.



BTW, 5 series in HKG is a very big deal.
Your typical 5 series driver in the U.S. would be lucky to afford half of a base 3 series in HKG.

To put it in perspective, my R35 GTR (U.S.) costs less than half of a 335 (HKG). 5 series is more than a 335.

Why do I mention this?
Well, if he's rocking a lexus mini van, the guy is far from showing off with the parent's money.

-scheherazade

 

Ya I'm a student, can't quite afford a car lol, I could afford the car itself (a used rundown car), but not the gas, maintenance and the insurance (though the latter my parents covers but I would be a primary driver if I had a car which makes my insurance expensive).

As for the 5 series, I think you can parallel that with any car in Hong Kong, cars in Hong Kong are freakin' expensive because of its high taxes and the gas price is double of what we pay in Canada.

Personally, I find the Lexus a pain in the ass to park in reverse. I rather have a sedan lol that and the SUV consumes too much gas for my liking lol.

deltatux

 

my new banger I actually love it! this 1.8l zetec loves to be revved! Drove it round some B roads around here today as I was looking to do some photography and then I decided to take a quick snap of it so that I can show my parents

 

wat.

 

A= I was driving on I95 Leaving Florida.
B= The ZR1 vettes have the fender flares. I will eventually get for mine after the
Engine and exaust mods.

New corvettes do not look anything like a Lotus of any type bro.
Maybe the C7 2012 will look more like a lotus people are speculating since it
they are rummored to have a rear engine V6 with a turbo. Lol

 

Some people just don't understand what its like to have wide open, straight stretch of I35 in Texas. Its like a mini autobahn.

Nice C6. As mentioned a few simple bolt ons goes a long way with the LS2. Slap in a good cam and you're near Z06 performance.

 

Looks good. Most of the ones here have horrible cosmetic mods but yours is really nicely done. Good job, bet it flies

 

There is still a speed limit, amirite?

 

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=330384

-scheherazade

 

Yeah, to my knowledge, there are no unregulated roads in the U.S. right now. Montana(?) did have some for a while, but that ended a few years ago.

 

This is what I drive.....except yellow...and with steel wheels and cheap hubcaps...lol



Hopefully by this time next year I'll at least have the body kit for it...

 

Yes there is. And I'm not saying its not against the law or not illegal to speed here just as it isn't anywhere else. I'm merely saying if you're going to do it, the roads here in Texas are usually better suited than most.

 

Well... that'd be like saying just about any long, straight road is "better suited".... kinda like the Pennsylvania Turnpike.... route 22/78.... 61, 80, etc. It's not a matter of "more suited". It's a matter of being completely ignorant. My parents have a 2001 Pontiac Trans-Am. I drove that thing for quite some time between my Durango being more of a gas hog/running through brakes on a monthly basis, and getting my Smart. The fastest i've ever had that car was 90, and that was in one quick burst on an expressway where there was no other cars, and no on-ramps for a car to possibly get in my way. And that was only once. It's senseless to go that fast... and for what? To get to your destination one minute quicker? It's also costing you more to get there.

And i wouldn't exactly say that the new Vette's don't look anything like any type of Lotus. Take the Evora for instance. Stretch the nose out a bit.... get rid of the ventilation in the hood and next to the doors.... make the headlights a bit less elongated.... and smash the rear end into an almost brick-like shape.... voila. It wouldn't be EXACTLY like a vette.... but damn close.

Probably the only new Vette i'd like is if they actually put the current prototype Corvette Stingray into production. THAT is a drool-worthy piece of modernized classic automobile..... not the vast majority of "reborn classic muscle" out there now that looks damn near the same as every other "reborn classic". Hell.... the new Camaro's are a laugh.... same with the redesigned Mustangs. Think the only real sharp looking reborn classic is the Challenger. Which seems to be accurate, since a fair amount of the stylings of the new Challenger seem to have squeaked their way across the board in the rest of the big car manufacturers.

 

The Evora was designed 2009 the C6 are 2005+. So I would say the Lotus took some looks for the American Vette.

As for driving fast it is not about getting to your destination faster but the thrill of the ride and enjoying your car. I consider myself a very safe, aware and experienced driver spending about 3+ hours a day out of my 8 hour work day driving among less experienced drivers.

Having close to a million miles combined driven experience from the North East to the North West Coast and over 380 cities visited in the past 6 years.

Combined miles driven in the below cars.

1981 Caprice Classic Station Wagon, 1987 Honda Civic, 1986 Prelude, 1997 Saturn, 2006 Mustang GT and now my 2006 Corvette.

I just ordered a Hoyt dash camera.
http://www.hoyttech.com/index.cfm/product/28_2/msr-200-high-definition-motorsports-camera.cfm

 

Well.... the Evora doesn't look that drastically different from the Elise or Exige. Possibly a bit longer and a bit more rounded than the other two...

And i'm sorry.... but if you can't get the "thrill of the ride" out of your car just by... i dunno... "enjoying your car".... then i think you picked the wrong car. I enjoy my Smart every day i drive it, and i've never even hit it's electronically governed max speed, which is 90mph. Why do i enjoy it? because no matter what the situation, it's a fun car to drive. I've seen plenty of people who seem to love their SUV's.... putting utterly pointless low profile tires on them.... but i don't think they've ever gone that extremely far over the speed limit.... i don't see why one can't get their thrills from their car by just driving the car. The Lotus Elise and Exige are basically my dream cars.... i've already seen a red Elise right here in this tiny little town I live in (Trust me... "Lotus" and "Lehighton" go together just about as well as "Military" and "Intelligence").... If i ever got one... you think i'd be caught dead doing 105 down ANY patch of pavement? Hell no. You know why? It could all be over in far less time than it'd take you to read "these few words right here".

Safe.... aware.... experienced.... either way you sugarcoat it, driving irresponsibly kinda negates all of the above. It doesn't have to be something YOU do... hell... it doesn't even have to be something someone ELSE does intentionally. Just one little slip up, and there goes your car, and potentially your life. Someone talking on the phone... loses their focus for a second and veers into your lane. Would you have time to react? Probably. Would your reaction be the best chance scenario? Chances are.... unlikely. I say this because several years ago my mom was in an accident. My brother and i were at home.... i believe he was getting ready to go somewhere... i don't remember exactly, all i know is that he had just came out of the bathroom while i was in the living room talking to my mom on the phone. Her and my grandmother had been shopping at the Crossings Factory Outlets in Tannersville, PA... and were on their way home, and wanted to know if i wanted them to pick something up for dinner on their way home, like KFC or something. It didn't really matter to me either way. Out of nowhere... i hear a loud noise. No idea what it was exactly... but after calling her name a few times, and hearing her and my grandmother talking in the background (faintly hearing about something hurting), i had a bad feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. I remember saying "what's wrong?" on the phone, and my brother saying to me "Nothing's wrong." I handed him the phone and said "No.... SOMETHING is wrong." He was on the phone for a couple seconds before he handed it back to me and rushed to get out the door. Can you guess what happened?

Nope... not an animal... my mom wasn't a victim of a cell phone related crash.... a guy driving a small pickup truck in the oncoming lane dropped something on the floor, and bent down to pick it up, at the same time veering in front of my mom and grandmother in my mom's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both vehicles were totalled, the frame of the pickup was bent to the point where the cab and bed came nowhere close to lining up. My grandmother i believe had a severely sprained wrist... think she tried to brace herself at the last second (with airbags, probably not the best idea). My mom's ankle was basically shattered, and she has had issues ever since.... now wearing an ankle brace constantly because it doesn't hurt as much then.

You know what she told me a long time afterwards? When the truck veered into her lane, she had a very short time to react, and she turned off towards the shoulder on her side of the road, which is when the truck hit her. She said that had she turned the OTHER way.... towards the oncoming lane... would have probably missed. But that also leads to the possibility of escalating the issue even further. When it comes to objects moving at high speeds towards each other... "experience" isn't really a viable thing to rely on. Even gut feelings could result in disaster.

How about if you're doing 105 down the highway and a tire blows out? Have you had such an "experience" to know that you will be able to keep the car 100% under control? I'm almost willing to bet that would be a negative... otherwise you probably wouldn't be willing to try giving it a second go.

I may only be 25... but sometimes i think i'm one of the most sensible and logical drivers on the road. Sure as hell not the typical "kid" you see driving around nowadays... with their sh*tty rap music blasting on their subwoofer-less stereo system... or same music with a subwoofer rattling their car to pieces because they think more bass = better music.... throwing massive rear spoilers on their car as if the negligible downforce they'd be getting by doing so would aide them in any way.... putting a 5" "performance" muffler on a 4-cylinder which only makes it sound like someone ate way too many bean burrito's before getting in the car and really needs to get to the nearest bodily waste facility on the double. Yes... i like to get places quick... but i won't drive like a complete idiot just to do so.

 

This statement applies to everyone who wants to like a car.

As far as lotus goes, I love them. Most fun I've ever had in a car.
They get great mileage, and they are super grippy. Stop on a dime, swerve around anything.
They're my perfect daily driver (I don't need fancy interior, and they're softer riding than my current car).
When the 2005 elises drop low enough, I'll pick up the cheapest one I can find as a daily flogger.






The unfortunate thing with fast cars, is that what you consider fast changes.
(The unfortunate part is that you're used to it, and it's not exciting any more).

Eg. My car from 0-100mph takes only 2/3 the time that yours takes 0-60. Know what I feel when I floor it? Nothing. It's the usual.

When 100 mph is just a couple seconds away, it stops feeling fast. Especially when the car is rock solid at that speed.
You get a fast car, and all you feel is how slow you drive. It's a joy kill.

That's the wonder of the lotus brand.
They are sprung so well, and are so low, that you feel like you're flying when you're only going 45.

Which is exactly why lotus' are so good to daily drive for a 'car guy' : You can have more fun, and be more legal.

(This is also the miata / mr2 / del-sol [/ s2000] attraction... for those that don't know why a man would be caught dead in such a "puny" car.)






"Fast" is also a relative term.
What's fast for one car, is slow for another.
NOT because one car has a higher top speed.

What I mean is, the things that make a corvette harder to live with (rougher on the human body), are there because they bring stability and poise to the car at speed.

You can take a crown victoria to 120, and the motor is screaming, it's bobbing around, shaking, every bump makes it steer left/right, etc.

At the same time, you take a corvette to 120, and the car feels like it's parked. The motor is humming along with no effort, the car is sitting in place, composed, no shaking, no vibrations, goes straight as an arrow. It rides better than a crown vic does at 55.

Which also means that, once you get used to a fast car, 105 feels slow - because for that car, it is slow.

(No, a fox body doesn't count... I do not mean cars that can be made fast in a straight line. I mean cars that are built to handle well at high speed. Eg. corvette, viper, gtr, noble, etc)

I've had one at 85.
What happened? Nothing.
I slowed down, pulled over, and put on a spare.

There is nothing hard about maintaining control.
The problem is people freaking out, slamming brakes, swerving, etc.
If you have imbalanced load and traction, you coast. No brakes, no acceleration.

Overreaction is the problem - just like people that clip a shoulder and jerk the wheel away from it, sending them flying into oncoming traffic.

Same goes for driving on patchy snow.
If your left side is on snow, and right side is on asphalt :
- Braking hard => spin to the right
- Accelerating hard => spin to the left

The solution is developing good habbits - and practice.
105 is not a magic number. In fact, there is no one magic number.
Vehicle dynamics vary, each car needs to be understood and felt.
With a blowout, a short tall narrow car (like a smart) will likely roll and oversteer harder at 60, than a long low wide car (like a corvette) would at 100.
Ultimately, driver development is paramount.



There are other [equipment based] blowout solutions.
You could equip your car with run flat tyres, which deform less after pressure loss.
You could run lower profile wheels/tyres, which have a lower diameter change after pressure loss.
You could get treated tyres which don't leak on puncture, such as the rhinotire service (http://www.rhinotire.com/videos/).



-scheherazade