The Automotive Discussion Thread

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reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
Welp, Tesla really isn't very good at PR.

Setting out on a sunny 30-degree day two weeks ago, my trip started well enough. A Tesla agent brought the car to me in suburban Washington with a full charge, and driving at normal highway speeds I reached the Delaware charging dock with the battery still having roughly half its energy remaining. I went off for lunch at the service plaza, checking occasionally on the car’s progress. After 49 minutes, the display read “charge complete,” and the estimated available driving distance was 242 miles.

Fat city; no attendant and no cost.

As I crossed into New Jersey some 15 miles later, I noticed that the estimated range was falling faster than miles were accumulating. At 68 miles since recharging, the range had dropped by 85 miles, and a little mental math told me that reaching Milford would be a stretch.
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After a short break in Manhattan, the range readout said 79 miles; the Milford charging station was 73 miles away. About 20 miles from Milford, less than 10 miles of range remained. I called Tesla again, and Ted Merendino, a product planner, told me that even when the display reached zero there would still be a few miles of cushion.

At that point, the car informed me it was shutting off the heater, and it ordered me, in vivid red letters, to “Recharge Now.”
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I drove, slowly, to Stonington, Conn., for dinner and spent the night in Groton, a total distance of 79 miles. When I parked the car, its computer said I had 90 miles of range, twice the 46 miles back to Milford. It was a different story at 8:30 the next morning. The thermometer read 10 degrees and the display showed 25 miles of remaining range — the electrical equivalent of someone having siphoned off more than two-thirds of the fuel that was in the tank when I parked.
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But the Model S had other ideas. “Car is shutting down,” the computer informed me. I was able to coast down an exit ramp in Branford, Conn., before the car made good on its threat.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

Elon Musk via Twitter said:
NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn't actually charge to max & took a long detour.
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Someone made a thread about it here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512837
 
B

BrokenEchelon

Banned
N-Bomb said:
Any idea what the MSRP will be on it?
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$60,000 is what I've seen. Cayman, M3 fighter, etc.

I like most of the 4C's styling, minus the rear and my crusade against circular taillights. Aesthetically I guess It'll slot nicely as the poor man's Ferrari. Curious to see how it performs.
 
N

N-Bomb

Member
M

Mattlikewhoa

Member
Everytime I get the itch to jump into something Euro (I was thinking about a M3 4 door or RS4 a while ago), it quickly diminishes once I get on a few forums...

The elitism is strong my friends...

N-Bomb said:
Has anyone ever used a bidding service to buy off Yahoo Japan Auctions? Can anyone recommend one to me?
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I've used Them in the past to order stuff before my friend landed back in Japan.

What are you looking to buy?
 
T

TylerD

Member
We had snow today. I took some crappy pictures then attempted to salvage something.

iorr4jf8na8E.jpg


ib0f6NZQ7anN6h.jpg


ijbl9gJymyPkA.jpg
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S

Skunkers

Member
Mattlikewhoa said:
Everytime I get the itch to jump into something Euro (I was thinking about a M3 4 door or RS4 a while ago), it quickly diminishes once I get on a few forums...

The elitism is strong my friends...
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Oh god, is it ever. The funniest part about it to me is that it seems like the VW guys are the worst. Or even just the VAG guys as a whole, the ones perpetuating the "golden ratio" thing are absolutely terrible.
 
T

TylerD

Member
Mattlikewhoa said:
Everytime I get the itch to jump into something Euro (I was thinking about a M3 4 door or RS4 a while ago), it quickly diminishes once I get on a few forums...

The elitism is strong my friends...
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I know what you mean. Just make a point to not be one of "those" guys.
 
S

shinshoryuken

Member
N-Bomb said:
Has anyone ever used a bidding service to buy off Yahoo Japan Auctions? Can anyone recommend one to me?
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Ive used okshun.com to buy some rare jdm nsx parts.

overall I think its was a pain, customer service was slow to respond. Parts took forever to shipped. The seller ships the parts to the okshun warehouse, then they ship it to you. I wouldn't use any service like that again.
 
R

robox

Member
i've used rinkya several years back to get a set of wheels. didn't have any problems. shipping can be slow, 'cos it's by boat. they arrived at the local post office where i then picked 'em up.
 
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The Abominable Snowman

Member
Hope this is the right thread guys:

Last year in March, I had a car engine in one of my cars fail. It was taken to a small shop in town, where the guy basically sat on the car until I started calling him about the car in November/December. He finally gets assed to take a look at the engine and see whats wrong. So he agrees to disassemble the engine, and quotes me 3K for a new engine.

I decide to say eff it and scrap the car.

I call him and he is quoting me a total of $900 for work done, removal of the engine being $600 and the teardown being $300.

$900 for him to charge me $3000. Does this sound right to anyone else?
 
W

Watevaman

Member
The Abominable Snowman said:
Hope this is the right thread guys:

Last year in March, I had a car engine in one of my cars fail. It was taken to a small shop in town, where the guy basically sat on the car until I started calling him about the car in November/December. He finally gets assed to take a look at the engine and see whats wrong. So he agrees to disassemble the engine, and quotes me 3K for a new engine.

I decide to say eff it and scrap the car.

I call him and he is quoting me a total of $900 for work done, removal of the engine being $600 and the teardown being $300.

$900 for him to charge me $3000. Does this sound right to anyone else?
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Depends on the shop rate, but removing an engine and tearing it apart is pretty high up there in the hours.
 
T

The Abominable Snowman

Member
Watevaman said:
Depends on the shop rate, but removing an engine and tearing it apart is pretty high up there in the hours.
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So it does sound about right? I want to pay the man, but it definitely feels like I should've never taken it to him. At first he quoted 1600 to cover everything, engine replacement from donor car and everything. then he changed his excuse to he couldnt find a matching car (It's a Dodge. A popular Dodge at that) and the only thing he can think to do is tear down the engine to replace the failed part

Then it changed from that to "I cant find a replacement part. I'll need to replace the whole engine." Just terrible
 
N

N-Bomb

Member
Mattlikewhoa said:
I've used Them in the past to order stuff before my friend landed back in Japan.

What are you looking to buy?
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A steering wheel. Possibly some doors and such later this year...


robox said:
i've used rinkya several years back to get a set of wheels. didn't have any problems. shipping can be slow, 'cos it's by boat. they arrived at the local post office where i then picked 'em up.
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Ah, I've heard of Rinkya before. Thanks guys!
 
R

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
audi-s3-sportback-628.jpg


Not content to let Volkswagen have all of the fun with its GTI and Golf R, Audi is rebooting its five-door S3 Sportback with rather monstrous power. Headed for an official unveil at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the new S3 rolls out with a 300-horsepower, 280-pound-feet of torque turbocharged 2.0-liter TFSI engine under the hood. The four-cylinder powerplant is strong enough to shove the Sportback to 62 miles per hour in just 5.0 seconds when connected to the optional S-Tronic gearbox, or 5.5 seconds with the traditional manual transmission. Top speed is said to be an electronically governed 155 mph. Almost as impressive as those performance figures are the fuel economy ratings: the S- S3 is said to average 34 miles per gallon.
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The car has a curb weight of roughly 3,186 pounds
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Audi's killing it. Will it come to the US?
 
MisterNoisy

MisterNoisy

Member
matmanx1 said:
I like the Sportwagon bodystyle. It's a shame it's not going to be continued in the USA but that's what happens when the sales numbers are terrible.
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The wagon style will come here, but only after they raise the ride height by about four inches, give it fender flares and a roof rack and call it a crossover so that soccer moms will buy it.
 
R

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
Rad Agast said:
What is the deal with GTi drivers? They seem to want to race everything they see on the road.
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They used to drive Civics in highschool, got a job out of college and are able to afford GTis. Does that answer your question?
 
P

PatzCU

Member
Rad Agast said:
What is the deal with GTi drivers? They seem to want to race everything they see on the road.
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It's a fun car to drive and they are making sure it's not being put to waste. As a GTI driver myself, I love pushing it when I get the chance (and it's safe).

With that said, if that S3 Hatch ever comes stateside, I'll be looking forward to pushing that around too!
 
P

PseudoKirby

Banned
The Abominable Snowman said:
then he changed his excuse to he couldnt find a matching car (It's a Dodge. A popular Dodge at that) and the only thing he can think to do is tear down the engine to replace the failed part

Then it changed from that to "I cant find a replacement part. I'll need to replace the whole engine." Just terrible
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listen, from my experience in cars, I have found american cars to be worse, not trying to start an argument here, but as far as parts it can get pretty exclusive, not sure if its that way with dodge, but my old chevy blazer was a nightmare, I had pulled the engine and put a whole new one in, it was a 95, so I made sure to get the exact 95 engine that should go in, but in even that there are annoying ass differences WITHIN the same YEAR, huge noticeable differences like the entire intake manifold on the same 6 cyl eng, to ones you couldn't even tell unless you just know the cars IE:

I pulled the whole engine, did all the work put in a warrantied 100k mile 95 blazer motor, took a month by myself (but this was because of the engine hoist not being available at all times) after everything was said and through the engine wouldn't start, for nothing, the reason? the engine I bought had no crankshaft position sensor, nor any hardware to mount the damn thing.. they just didn't design that one to have a sensor, same car, same year, same V6, even same Intake, but they just decided not to use one in that particular vehicle. its that exclusive and annoying...



if I want an engine for my Subaru or Toyota, I get to pick from many of that same family spanning YEARS, so much available...

american car companies like to change things up year by year, and even in the same year, its ridiculous..

Point being: his claims are valid
 
A

ascii42

Member
PseudoKirby said:
listen, from my experience in cars, I have found american cars to be worse, not trying to start an argument here, but as far as parts it can get pretty exclusive, not sure if its that way with dodge, but my old chevy blazer was a nightmare, I had pulled the engine and put a whole new one in, it was a 95, so I made sure to get the exact 95 engine that should go in, but in even that there are annoying ass differences WITHIN the same YEAR, huge noticeable differences like the entire intake manifold on the same 6 cyl eng, to ones you couldn't even tell unless you just know the cars IE:

I pulled the whole engine, did all the work put in a warrantied 100k mile 95 blazer motor, took a month by myself (but this was because of the engine hoist not being available at all times) after everything was said and through the engine wouldn't start, for nothing, the reason? the engine I bought had no crankshaft position sensor, nor any hardware to mount the damn thing.. they just didn't design that one to have a sensor, same car, same year, same V6, even same Intake, but they just decided not to use one in that particular vehicle. its that exclusive and annoying...



if I want an engine for my Subaru or Toyota, I get to pick from many of that same family spanning YEARS, so much available...

american car companies like to change things up year by year, and even in the same year, its ridiculous..

Point being: his claims are valid
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On the flip side, Ford sold the Crown Vic basically unchanged for a couple of decades. Don't generalize.
 
N

N-Bomb

Member
coldfoot said:
Why do you hate practicality?
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I don't hate practicality. It's not practical to carry around a whole half another car when I'll never use it 90% of the time. I don't haul stuff. The only things I ever put in my car are: people, hockey sticks, groceries, knick knacks. Why would I need a wagonback?


PseudoKirby said:
if I want an engine for my Subaru or Toyota, I get to pick from many of that same family spanning YEARS, so much available...

american car companies like to change things up year by year, and even in the same year, its ridiculous..

Point being: his claims are valid
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I can swap out almost any part in my Scooby from 1993 to 2007, without needing to fab anything. It's also amazing for the aftermarket.
 
C

coldfoot

Banned
N-Bomb said:
I don't hate practicality. It's not practical to carry around a whole half another car when I'll never use it 90% of the time.
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How is a hatchback "a whole half another car" compared to a sedan? If anything they are shorter than their sedan versions.
 
C

CryptiK

Member
Reven said:
I hate these stories, just throw it in neutral. They need to add more emergencies procedures in to drivers ed courses.
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I think they would have figured that out when they had the renault tech on the phone. Its not a simple fix as throwing it in neutral.
 
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