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Thread: The "I just drove a..." Thread

  1. #511
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    East Coast of the United States
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    Quote Originally Posted by pimento View Post
    I drive a 12 seater Toyota Hiace diesel with a 4-spd auto up to the hunter valley last weekend. Needed more gears, but it actually coped well with the shitty roads out there. I was surprised.
    Ahh... the HiAce- the default vehicle for Hong Kong triad members!

  2. #512
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Way Down South
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    2,734
    Last weekend we had to rent two cars. Got a Ford Flex to use at Road Atlanta, and rather liked it. Even got personal track orientation from EFRobinson in it, and he used it for a second group of four other drivers. Quite a hoot to have six aboard going down the esses, or turns 12 and one. It was quiet, comfortable, handled very well for a large vehicle, got decent mileage and everything except the nav system seemed well designed and constructed.

    On the flight home, our plane had to make an emergency landing at Tampa because of smoke from a compressor fire in the cabin. Rather than wait for Delta's lame offer to bus us home, we rented a Ford Edge. Not as impressed with the interior, but the car has decent power
    & handling and similar mileage to the Flex. Now if only they made the windshield washer strong enough for Florida insects...
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by csl177; 05-07-2011 at 06:29 PM.
    Never own more cars than you can keep charged batteries in...

  3. #513
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
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    33,489
    Seat Ibiza 1.2i 12v 5 door (70bhp).

    Pretty much the same as the Ibiza 1.4 16v (86bhp) estate I drove some time ago. Only slower, noisier and harsher due to the 3 cylinder engine.

    Also, they seem to have developed a HillHolder device that works properly.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  4. #514
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    Modena
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Also, they seem to have developed a HillHolder device that works properly.
    Yes, and it's a 65£ option on the Audi RS 5 (source: Evo UK).
    KFL Racing Enterprises - Kicking your ass since 2008

    *cough* http://theitalianjunkyard.blogspot.com/ *cough*

  5. #515
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Barcelona
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead View Post
    Yes, and it's a 65£ option on the Audi RS 5 (source: Evo UK).
    In the 11 grand Ibiza is standard apparently.

    Much smoother than Lancia's.

    PS. Why would you want a HillHolder in an auto?
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  6. #516
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    Modena
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    The question is why you want an RS 5.
    Wait, you're the wrong person for that question.

    Fully loaded as in the quoted article, it costs like a Maserati GranTurismo.
    You know which door I'd be knocking.
    KFL Racing Enterprises - Kicking your ass since 2008

    *cough* http://theitalianjunkyard.blogspot.com/ *cough*

  7. #517
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Audi A2 1.4

    This is the only car Audi has made that I can find interesting (that I can remember now, at least). Its aluminium construction makes for a light car, which helps performance and fule consumption. And in this case with 75bhp tap the low weight makes it feel relatively brisk, at least up to moderate speeds (100-120km/h). Handling is predictable if not terribly entertaining, body roll well controlled. Weight again shows, making the car feel nimble and agile.

    Inside it feels spacious and ergonomy is good. Driving position is correct, but not great. Rear visibility is blocked by the rear spoiler and the rear view mirrors are small.

    This car also had two big faults. First the big A-pillar and door pillar, which create a massive blind spot, making it difficult sometime to see car coming from your left (for example in roundabouts). And the clutch also had a very odd feeling, making it difficult to use smoothly and easy to stall it in low speed maneouvres (like parking).

    Such a shame that people didn't understand the car. And a far more clever car than the current A1, if certainly not as trendy.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  8. #518
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    5,456
    Spent a week driving around a VW/Chrysler Routan 3.6 minivan. Basically a rebadged Caravan. We had it for rental when we drove around Vancouver area for a week on vacation with my family. The car is just crap. It has 6 speed auto tranny with manual shift function(autostick like all Chrysler), the tranny shifts lazily and engine has very little power, with a very insensitive throttle. Driving around the up and down hills of Vancouver is just a bitch with that thing as it constantly needs to downshift to keep up with the grade change and you get so little room to modulate the throttle that it chirps the tire easily on the off. The front shock/suspension tuning is shit, massive wheel hop on any sign of serious throttle input. Surprisingly the driving position is actually ok and less van-like. Dash mounted shifter is much nicer than old column mounted style on older van. Turning radius is aircraft carrier like and is a pain to maneuver in the tight confine of the Vancouver street. The trim pieces inside is already falling apart, even though when the van was picked up it had 385km on the odometer(~1200km on return). The light on the inside of the tailgate pops out of its mount every time the door is closed, the front air vent trim pieces does not fit flush with the rest of the dash. VW is dumb IMO to badge this POS as their own....and Chrysler should be ashamed for putting this POS on market....
    University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
    Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
    www.fsae.utoronto.ca

  9. #519
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    7
    A battered old ford van - not so much fun but helping a mate move house.

  10. #520
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    NEW YORK
    Posts
    6,985
    Some of the cool stuff I've driven lately

    2002 BMW M3 Coupe 6MT (very fun to drive)
    1984 Corvette Targa with the L83 and a autotragic. (Was slow and smelly buy still fun to take the top off and cruise)
    2007 BMW 335xi 6MT (almost just as much fun as the M3)
    2001 Ford Mustang GT with about $6,000 in performanc parts and about 700whp. Second fastest thing I've ever driven. Sounded incredible.
    John says:
    so i had to dump acid into the block tank today
    i'm afraid to fap
    cause i got it on my hands

  11. #521
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    └A & Connecticlump
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    First gen CTS.
    It's a friend's mother's car and he wasn't sure of the exact spec and year, but I think it was an early one with the 3.2 V6 because they've had it for a while.

    Inside it was a very nice place to be, even though the fake wood was a bit too shiny and my stupid self couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat beyond forward-back and lean (and I didn't want to screw up the presets), so my seating position was a bit awkward.

    Firing it up and blipping the throttle, I was surprised that it had a reasonably nice bark, though being the engine configuration of Satan, it was a bit uneven at idle, especially when I first started it up. This could be due to its age, but I prefer to blame it on the inferiority of V6s as a configuration. At speed it provided plenty of grunt to accelerate at will, but nowhere near enough to rip my face off. The gas pedal did have a strange feature that caused pedal effort to increase the farther you pushed the pedal. I guess this is a GM thing, because the '06 GTO my family briefly had had the same feature. However, with 400 horses underfoot it was helpful for staying out of trouble in the Goat, with 220hp (when new) pulling a 3,600 lb car it was much more of a nuisance in the CTS.

    On the road it handled its mass nicely; the chassis was taut and responsive and the springs (possibly a wee bit too soft) and dampers were also a well thought-out compromise between ride and handling.

    The steering was, in my opinion the car's greatest weak point. The wheel was large and there were nine or ten million turns lock-to-lock. I also wasn't able to get the wheel positioned correctly, but, again, the fault is mine.

    I was pleasantly surprised by how well the CTS handled its weight, but I still don't see the point of sporty sedans of this size. If its characteristics were scaled down to a 3,000 lb car it would be excellent.
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  12. #522
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Surrey, England
    Posts
    4,000
    Of recent;

    1998 Phase 1 Volvo V70R
    Decat Miltek sounds awesome, mighty shove on boost makes front end go light, tidy gearbox, completely unexpected performance to the untrained eye. Shame I missed the chance to buy a tidy Phase 3 last year...

    Today;

    2010 Fiat Panda Eleganza 1.2
    Epic around town, epic but bloody bouncy on a B-road, corners tidily -on the sidewalls- and emits a cheeky chirrup from the tyres on most turns approached with anything that might verge on enthusiasm. Brilliant little car.

    2007 Audi RS4
    Epic, Epic and just a little more epic. Anywhere and everywhere. Weapon of mass destruction. Did I mention it was epic?
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    Last edited by Waugh-terfall; 09-03-2011 at 06:59 PM.
    V0R5PRU7NG DUR6CH T3CHN1K

    Motion & Emotion

  13. #523
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    nr Edinburgh, Whisky-soaked Scotland
    Posts
    27,775
    forgot about this thread.

    Well while in Rome do as Romans.
    So while in Modena you have to ......

    blast a 458 Italia around the streets and country roads at the Ferrari factory and museum
    Peter's Facebook

    "Touched" Jims P4/5 at Turin too but coudlnt' find the keys
    "A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'

  14. #524
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
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    33,489
    Nissan Leaf.

    Nissan has set up test drives very near to my office, so I thought I'd go and take a look to see if I could drive one, and it turns out I could.

    On the outside there's little to be said, it's pretty much an inoffensive looking five door hatchback, hardly anything remarkable about it. Except possibly the massive headlamps, but I don't think you'll be buying it for the styling. On the in the inside it's a different story, quality is good if not excellent (perhaps the test car had been abused?) but for me the profusion of screens on the dashboard feel confusing. Especially the ones in front of you (there are two).

    This the first electric car I've ever driven, and to me it felt both normal and odd to drive. The electric motor provides 109bhp and at low speeds the cars feels responsive and fast (say from 0 to 30km/h). Once over that it performs normally. There's little to be said about the gearbox (it's a single speed...) but the two modes, normal Drive and an Eco one, bring a clear difference in performance. In Eco mode the car is much more sedated, and only really "goes" if you get past the "kick-down" point.

    The handling is predictable at most but the tires offer low grip, and they are 205/55s!! I even manage to spin the wheels under accelerations. The steering doesn't offer any information at all and the brake has a very odd feeling as well, sometimes being hard to stop smoothly. You have acknowledge that there's no engine braking at all (or it doesn't seem like so). Something that surprised me was the stiff ride, I was expecting something far more comfortable.

    Overall a good effort, but not really an alternative yet. Although if you overlook constraints like range, recharge points and recharge time it does the impersonation of a normal car quite well.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  15. #525
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
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    I'm guessing the tyres are low resistance ergo low grip, the steering is pure electric assist so no feel and the brakes have that regenerative thing going on that people say feels weird. Still, nice to get some reliable info about driving one.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

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