Automotive News Discussion

[Jake]

The new Civic is a textbook example of "tragic overstyling" in every trim level.

[.RJ]

The new Civic is a textbook example of "tragic overstyling" in every trim level.

This. Want to like it to please my inner honda fanboi, but no way.

[JPolen01]

The new Civic is a textbook example of "tragic overstyling" in every trim level.

This. Want to like it to please my inner honda fanboi, but no way.

Agreed as sad as it is to say.

[Steve85]

Completely agree that this is overdone. I simply could not see myself driving that. I think the Si and lower trims are mostly OK though and improvements over more boring previous gens. I mean, just...put the pen down..now.

Previous Si / Type R versions were pretty understated...what happened to that tradition?

I think the hatchback design just makes the back way too big and they try to fill it with a bunch of different design elements. :dunno:

[*insertusernamehere*]

I've been seeing the regular civic around and they've grown on me alot. I actually kind of like them now. I think the same will happen for me with this type R. Looks weird now and my eyes will adjust in a couple months. I actually kinda like the entire thing tbh.

[Beej]

Even the regular ass new Civic seems a bit busy for me. The Hype R is way too much.

But I felt the same way about the C7 and I'm coming around on that, so...check in with me in a couple years if it gets like 650hp.

[JPolen01]

The new civic hatch is pretty sweet. I looked at one when we were at the dealer buying the crv. The hatch is huge and energy the base model with cloth has heated seats.

[G.Irish]

Y'all are just getting old and conservative. Yeah it's wild, but it's not boring, it's fast, and it's lighter than all of the competition. Hope I get to ring it out at the press launch, but who knows if they're gonna be tight with the cars the way they were with the NSX.

[Goodspeed]

Some pretty cool news out of TX yesterday. The engineering and cubic dollars it must take to keep a car like this together, and eke out every last mph within a mile is kind of mind boggling.

M2K Motorsports Ford GT set the TX mile record yesterday at 293.6 mph




To put that in some perspective, the Veyron SS needs whatever is safe to use of Ehra Lessien's 5.4 mile straight to reach ~268 (still climbing, IIRC).

[ScottyB]

that's freakin crazy. i have no idea how you can keep a car like that stable enough to accelerate that fast to even get to that speed in less than a mile.

i'm also honestly amazed that what looks like standard Hoosier slicks will hold together at nearly 300mph. i remember they veyron had to run some insane one-off michelins to withstand any time at those top speeds.

[Senor_Taylor]

i'm also honestly amazed that what looks like standard Hoosier slicks will hold together at nearly 300mph. i remember they veyron had to run some insane one-off michelins to withstand any time at those top speeds.

Same thing as the "Caution Hot!" labels on coffee. I'm sure you've got more liabilities when being a manufacturer so you just play it safe and tell people to replace their tires so often to ensure they DO hold up and they don't get sued.

[Goodspeed]

Found a very detailed article on MotoIQ (which is basically the reincarnation of the old Sport Compact Car magazine, May It Rest In Peace) detailing the car. TL;DR: stock brakes, stock suspension save for Ohlins, minor aero tweaks, safety gear and a $%&*load of power :lol:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/I...rd-GT.aspx





Sidenote, y'all racecar dudes need to get some quilted alacantara covers for your cages. So ballin'

[SlimKlim]

This isn't really "news", I just can't think of a better thread for it.

I had like, a lot of time to kill last month, the vast majority of my responsibilities at my old job had been shut down or moved to other teams but I still had like a month to kill before my exit date.

So I read, a lot. One of the books was about "Fordlandia" a company town Henry Ford built deep in the Amazon jungle in Brazil in an ill-fated attempted to produce his own natural rubber to control cost and supply. It's a pretty fascinating glimpse into the brilliant yet completely delusional mind of one of the most powerful men in history. My favorite quote from the prologue summarizes his worldview pretty well.

Fordlandia, however, moved to rhythms set not by suppy and demand but rather by the ups and downs of American life, which Henry Ford pledged to reform. Ford's frustrations with domestic politics and culture were legion: war, unions, Wall Street, energy monopolies, Jews, modern dance, cow's milk, the Roosevelts, cigarettes, alcohol, and creeping governemnt intervention.

Anyway, the author of that book briefly quotes an Op Ed by EB White in the New Yorker in 1936 mourning the disappearance of Model T's from daily life. It was so well written I had to go find the rest of the article. Its a quick read and describes the origin of car enthusiasts. I hesitate to pull an interesting excerpt out because it's hard to say any one paragraph of it is better than the rest.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1936/0...-my-lovely

[Jake]

That New Yorker piece is a great read... nice way to start off my morning

[ScottyB]

Anyway, the author of that book briefly quotes an Op Ed by EB White in the New Yorker in 1936 mourning the disappearance of Model T's from daily life.http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1936/0...-my-lovely

that was wonderful. its hard to believe people of all kinds used to travel that way, and you were simply supposed to know how to attend to a car like that like a living animal. nowadays my mother in law won't even get in a car if the AC doesn't get it frigidly cold inside of a minute :lol: i'm sure in another 100 years people will be complaining about all the buttons you have to push to get your teleporter to warm up properly.

i've heard some similarly unique "T" stories, like what he says about the Number One bearing...something about people had to climb the very steepest hills in reverse, because not only the bearing issue but the fuel tank would starve past a certain grade angle. just bizarre stuff that only people involved in the pioneer ages of something like that would ever experience.

[rherold9]

Dodge Challenger Demon: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/11/follow-along-for-the-2018-dodge-challenger-srt-demon-live-reveal/">http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/11/foll ... ve-reveal/</a><!-- m -->

Stats -

• 2.3 seconds to 60 mph
  
• 9.65 second 1/4 mile @ 140mph
  
• 840 horsepower

Lmao.

[Senor_Taylor]

This isn't really "news", I just can't think of a better thread for it.

I had like, a lot of time to kill last month, the vast majority of my responsibilities at my old job had been shut down or moved to other teams but I still had like a month to kill before my exit date.

So I read, a lot. One of the books was about "Fordlandia" a company town Henry Ford built deep in the Amazon jungle in Brazil in an ill-fated attempted to produce his own natural rubber to control cost and supply. It's a pretty fascinating glimpse into the brilliant yet completely delusional mind of one of the most powerful men in history. My favorite quote from the prologue summarizes his worldview pretty well.

Fordlandia, however, moved to rhythms set not by suppy and demand but rather by the ups and downs of American life, which Henry Ford pledged to reform. Ford's frustrations with domestic politics and culture were legion: war, unions, Wall Street, energy monopolies, Jews, modern dance, cow's milk, the Roosevelts, cigarettes, alcohol, and creeping governemnt intervention.

Anyway, the author of that book briefly quotes an Op Ed by EB White in the New Yorker in 1936 mourning the disappearance of Model T's from daily life. It was so well written I had to go find the rest of the article. Its a quick read and describes the origin of car enthusiasts. I hesitate to pull an interesting excerpt out because it's hard to say any one paragraph of it is better than the rest.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1936/0...-my-lovely

Thanks for sharing! That was a fantastic read.

[SlimKlim]

Anyway, the author of that book briefly quotes an Op Ed by EB White in the New Yorker in 1936 mourning the disappearance of Model T's from daily life.http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1936/0...-my-lovely

that was wonderful. its hard to believe people of all kinds used to travel that way, and you were simply supposed to know how to attend to a car like that like a living animal. nowadays my mother in law won't even get in a car if the AC doesn't get it frigidly cold inside of a minute :lol: i'm sure in another 100 years people will be complaining about all the buttons you have to push to get your teleporter to warm up properly.

i've heard some similarly unique "T" stories, like what he says about the Number One bearing...something about people had to climb the very steepest hills in reverse, because not only the bearing issue but the fuel tank would starve past a certain grade angle. just bizarre stuff that only people involved in the pioneer ages of something like that would ever experience.

Glad you guys enjoyed it too.

The whole experience of owning and operating a Model T almost begs belief compared to any sort of remotely modern vehicle.

You didn't just turn that crank handle on the front to start it. You had to pull the choke and set the crank lever at the front of the car, then get in and insert the key and set it to "magneto", then you set the timing stalk to "retard" and set the throttle lever, yes, lever, to "idle." Then you set the handbrake, which also engages neutral, most of the time.

Then you go back to the front of the car and crank the starting handle, but you have to use your left arm, because it's less likely to get snapped in half if the motor backfires. The left most pedal engages 1st if it's all the way down, 2nd if it's all the way up, and neutral if it's in the middle. Every time you come to a stop you have to get that spring loaded pedal in the middle position, sort of like a motorcycle, but there's no clutch pedal. The middle pedal engages reverse, and the brake is on the right.

[ScottyB]

Then you set the handbrake, which also engages neutral, most of the time.

don't forget that even in neutral, the planetary transmission preload will mean it'll still try to creep over you if you're standing in front of it :lol:

this also reminded me of another really fun and insane aspect of owning old automotive tech - twin-stick or triple-stick manuals. can you imagine driving this insane circus act with a loaded trailer behind you, in rain or snow or traffic?
[youtube]8lEYaTvvq4g[/youtube]

anyway, just amazing to see where we've come from with how we get around.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nahh come on man! I mean I guess if it sells and leads to more innovation it's fine but that starting price is a little steep given that it starts at $61k and thanks to the continued Jag depreciation I could probably find a bunch of lightly driven V6 S for that

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/new-york-auto-show/news/a33202/jaguar-2018-f-type-four-cylinder-engine-option/">http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/n ... ne-option/</a><!-- m -->