Car Thread - VROOM VROOM

[The Last Stand]

 

[Torque Wheeler]

I drive a lot for work and need to buy a company car before the end of the year for tax purposes. Joke's on me because I hate modern cars and have never bought a non-used car before. Unfortunately the IRS is unlikely to accept what I'd like to buy, which is a ratty old fox body Mustang with tons of white trash performance upgrades, as a company vehicle. So it unfortunately has to be new.

What's a new car that doesn't suck? No SUVs or crossovers, sedans and trucks fair game. Cannot be a shitbox and cannot be too high-end (>100k MSRP). Other than these factors I am open to absolutely anything.

Car: I like the V6 Accord. With some very light tuning you can run circles around the Civic type R without a turbo. I don't think you can still get it in manual, but that would make it a lot of fun. I agree with a Kia stinger, that's a really neat car. I'd also take a look at the Infiniti sedans too. I don't have much experience with them, but I believe they share parts with Z cars.

Truck: These are super expensive lately. I'm personally not a fan of the newer ranger. I test drove one and it was too tight for me, and I'm <6 foot tall. I think you should be able to spread out in a truck. I'm a fan of late model ram 1500s. They're super smooth. See if you can get the ecodiesel. It's a good mid-trim option and you get car levels of gas mileage. I wouldn't bother with a maverick if you have a lot of company money to spend. Late model fords are expensive to repair. The V6 turbos they put in them have a ton of power. Tacomas are neat but are very overpriced for what you get.

 

[Wahgonga]

Should have LS swapped it like that gen X'er did on YouTube, WatchJRGo.
Good luck chasing mineral oil leaks into your hair falls out/goes grey.

I've got a bunch of German junk
Porsche ( I'll never said Porsch-A)
Bimmer
VW.

Looked up that guy's vids. Highly entertaining stuff. I've never ventured down the Porsche path in 1/1 scale yet. Been building some 1/12 Tamiya kits. Putting together the Martini 935 right now, also have the Jaegermeister 934 and the 910. I'm thinking of doing a Porsche restoration one day.

Anyway, my other summertime daily driver is parked next to the Rolls. It's a 72 Nova. It was a ground-up restoration, far more involved than the Rolls. A west coast car, it sat in the SoCal desert for many years, so it had a solid body. Especially important since the Nova is a Unibody design. The engine is an original 327ci "Turbo-Fire" 350hp small-block with a 3 speed auto transmission.

Interior is all black leather, wheels are OEM Corvette Rally wheels, paint is Ford Grabber Orange. My paint guy had a surplus of that color from a previous cancelled job, it looked good, so I went with it. The silver rally stripes were his idea as well. The Nova was a relatively lightweight car for its time, and paired with the 327, it's got plenty of pep.

 

[Torque Wheeler]

Looked up that guy's vids. Highly entertaining stuff. I've never ventured down the Porsche path in 1/1 scale yet. Been building some 1/12 Tamiya kits. Putting together the Martini 935 right now, also have the Jaegermeister 934 and the 910. I'm thinking of doing a Porsche restoration one day.

Anyway, my other summertime daily driver is parked next to the Rolls. It's a 72 Nova. It was a ground-up restoration, far more involved than the Rolls. A west coast car, it sat in the SoCal desert for many years, so it had a solid body. Especially important since the Nova is a Unibody design. The engine is an original 327ci "Turbo-Fire" 350hp small-block with a 3 speed auto transmission.

Interior is all black leather, wheels are OEM Corvette Rally wheels, paint is Ford Grabber Orange. My paint guy had a surplus of that color from a previous cancelled job, it looked good, so I went with it. The silver rally stripes were his idea as well. The Nova was a relatively lightweight car for its time, and paired with the 327, it's got plenty of pep.

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This is likely the silliest question but what rear gearing are you running in the nova?

 

[Wahgonga]

This is likely the silliest question but what rear gearing are you running in the nova?

Not silly at all. Mine has a 10 bolt 8.5 ring gear rear end with a 3.08:1 ratio.

 

[Pee Cola]

All the time. It's what made me particularly wary when Nissans (particularly Altimas, Rogues and Sentras) are in my general vicinity. It seems that one does not come into modern Nissan ownership from a good place in life.

I forget who said this (Clarkson?), but I remember reading somewhere that people who aren't interested in driving tend to be the worst drivers. The article was in relation to some terribly bland car bought by people that have no interest in driving whatsoever, so it was probably a mainstream Kia or Nissan he was referring to.

 

[Glowie Hunter Art Bell]

This is objectivly wrong

Land cruisers can and often do literally outlast everything. There's a reason why no one who runs 4x4s professionally in Africa, Asia or the ME uses Jeeps (the sole exception being straight six chinese reproduction XJs in certain areas of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan). It's all LCs, Defenders and the ever rare G-wagons running men, materials and weapons with the most shoestring maintenance schedules possible.

The survival rate to 500k kilometers has extremely few Grand Cherokees, because lifting a minivan and giving it a hilariously unreliable MOPAR engine half heartedly designed for them by Mercedes isn't a recipe for success.






Goddamit, that post was bait, wasn't it?

Lifted minivan? Mopar engine?

WJs and ZJs are XJ related and use an AMC 4.0 lol.

My WJ had over 400k MILES on the clock when I got rid of it. 4.0s approaching 1 million miles are not uncommon in the US and Canada, where they get the shit beaten out of them as fleet vehicles, service trucks and mud toys. The 4.0 has the same reputation as the 7.3: 500k miles is just after break in period. They are entirely indestructible. The V8s available in them were both old school, non shit mopar (5.2) or AMC (4.7)

Jeeps after 2005 are the shit ones, even then the Wranglers are still the best offroaders on the market, although the new Broncos are closing the gap

A Landcruiser is fine if you wanna go over some mild trails or something. Actual rock crawling, bogging, overlanding, etc in stock form requires either an American offroader or 4x4 pickup, or an old Landy. Toyotas regularly get dragged out of the "jeep trails" here by towrope lol

I think its funny you immediately jumped for the modern cherokees when I clearly mentioned the ZJ and WJ. Like i said, jeeps, along with most other cars, went to shit in the early 2000s when they did away with the good engines. Arguing toyota has built a capable offroader since the mid 90s is also laughable. The new ones have to go around obstacles in head to head testing lol

The regional use is due to preference and import differences. Yota has been exporting vehicles en masse for decades to the ME

 

[An automatic clown]

Looked up that guy's vids. Highly entertaining stuff. I've never ventured down the Porsche path in 1/1 scale yet. Been building some 1/12 Tamiya kits. Putting together the Martini 935 right now, also have the Jaegermeister 934 and the 910. I'm thinking of doing a Porsche restoration one day.

Anyway, my other summertime daily driver is parked next to the Rolls. It's a 72 Nova. It was a ground-up restoration, far more involved than the Rolls. A west coast car, it sat in the SoCal desert for many years, so it had a solid body. Especially important since the Nova is a Unibody design. The engine is an original 327ci "Turbo-Fire" 350hp small-block with a 3 speed auto transmission.

Interior is all black leather, wheels are OEM Corvette Rally wheels, paint is Ford Grabber Orange. My paint guy had a surplus of that color from a previous cancelled job, it looked good, so I went with it. The silver rally stripes were his idea as well. The Nova was a relatively lightweight car for its time, and paired with the 327, it's got plenty of pep.

View attachment 2818733View attachment 2818734

My old man has a matching numbers 68 Elky SS 396 he never drives in his garage.

My 911 sits in my garage until from April until end of October. It's a 996. Yeah yeah I've heard it all before, don't start. I got it for a killer price a few years ago before the market exploded.
My daily is between a Golf diesel or a deleted and tuned 335d that's a fucking rocketship.

 

[Glowie Hunter Art Bell]

Looked up that guy's vids. Highly entertaining stuff. I've never ventured down the Porsche path in 1/1 scale yet. Been building some 1/12 Tamiya kits. Putting together the Martini 935 right now, also have the Jaegermeister 934 and the 910. I'm thinking of doing a Porsche restoration one day.

Anyway, my other summertime daily driver is parked next to the Rolls. It's a 72 Nova. It was a ground-up restoration, far more involved than the Rolls. A west coast car, it sat in the SoCal desert for many years, so it had a solid body. Especially important since the Nova is a Unibody design. The engine is an original 327ci "Turbo-Fire" 350hp small-block with a 3 speed auto transmission.

Interior is all black leather, wheels are OEM Corvette Rally wheels, paint is Ford Grabber Orange. My paint guy had a surplus of that color from a previous cancelled job, it looked good, so I went with it. The silver rally stripes were his idea as well. The Nova was a relatively lightweight car for its time, and paired with the 327, it's got plenty of pep.

View attachment 2818733View attachment 2818734

Love this. I am erect

 

[Pee Cola]

My 911 sits in my garage until from April until end of October. It's a 996.

There's nothing wrong with the 996 once the IMS bearing is upgraded.

I'm still kicking myself for not pulling the trigger on one in the late '10s, just before prices went crazy. idk if they'll ever be as cheap as they were a few years ago ever again, but last time I checked they were still the cheapest way to join the 911 club.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Lifted minivan? Mopar engine?

WJs and ZJs are XJ related and use an AMC 4.0 lol.

My WJ had over 400k MILES on the clock when I got rid of it. 4.0s approaching 1 million miles are not uncommon in the US and Canada, where they get the shit beaten out of them as fleet vehicles, service trucks and mud toys. The 4.0 has the same reputation as the 7.3: 500k miles is just after break in period. They are entirely indestructible. The V8s available in them were both old school, non shit mopar (5.2) or AMC (4.7)

Jeeps after 2005 are the shit ones, even then the Wranglers are still the best offroaders on the market, although the new Broncos are closing the gap

A Landcruiser is fine if you wanna go over some mild trails or something. Actual rock crawling, bogging, overlanding, etc in stock form requires either an American offroader or 4x4 pickup, or an old Landy. Toyotas regularly get dragged out of the "jeep trails" here by towrope lol

I think its funny you immediately jumped for the modern cherokees when I clearly mentioned the ZJ and WJ. Like i said, jeeps, along with most other cars, went to shit in the early 2000s when they did away with the good engines. Arguing toyota has built a capable offroader since the mid 90s is also laughable. The new ones have to go around obstacles in head to head testing lol

The regional use is due to preference and import differences. Yota has been exporting vehicles en masse for decades to the ME

That's all fine and good but one of the points you made was about longevity in Toyotas rigs as being subpar when it's exactly the opposite. The UZ and UR family of V8s all have a great reputation for reliability. The ISF and RCF will run the track all day without skipping a beat.

In regards to hitting the trails, almost no one does it on a stock setup so it's kinda silly to compare a stock 90s/2000s American rig to a stock Lexus, especially when Lexus's in their stock configuration are aimed at a completely different market. Naturally, these design compromises make Lexus rigs less capable than more dedicated offroading platforms, but doesn't mean they're totally incapable either. The benefit Lexus rigs have is their ridiculously long generation cycles, so the chassis fundamentals don't really change unlike the more drastic changes seen in Stellantis and Ford products.

 

[An automatic clown]

There's nothing wrong with the 996 once the IMS bearing is upgraded.

I'm still kicking myself for not pulling the trigger on one in the late '10s, just before prices went crazy. idk if they'll ever be as cheap as they were a few years ago ever again, but last time I checked they were still the cheapest way to join the 911 club.

If you look hard enough you can get a 997.1 for a decent price. My 996 is an early 99 with real fried eggs and a dual row IMS which has a 1-2% failure rate. I'm not worried about it.

 

[Glowie Hunter Art Bell]

That's all fine and good but one of the points you made was about longevity in Toyotas rigs as being subpar when it's exactly the opposite. The UZ and UR family of V8s all have a great reputation for reliability. The ISF and RCF will run the track all day without skipping a beat.

In regards to hitting the trails, almost no one does it on a stock setup so it's kinda silly to compare a stock 90s/2000s American rig to a stock Lexus, especially when Lexus's in their stock configuration are aimed at a completely different market. Naturally, these design compromises make Lexus rigs less capable than more dedicated offroading platforms, but doesn't mean they're totally incapable either. The benefit Lexus rigs have is their ridiculously long generation cycles, so the chassis fundamentals don't really change unlike the more drastic changes seen in Stellantis and Ford products.

Everyone I've ever known thats had a UZ has had it eat a timing chain/belt before 150k

Biggest issue besides poor RTI and weak axles in the landcruisers and lexuses is their size.

Thing is, stock is important. Once you start modifying stuff, comparisons about anything go out the window. Anything can be anything when it comes to modifications. Plenty of guys I know hit the trails in stock C/Ks, F150s, Rams, Wranglers, Cherokees, etc.

The engines used in the Bronco have been used for thr better part of a decade. The V6s offered in modern Wranglers, while not as stout as the old 4.0s, are based off nearly 20 year old architecture. The old 4.0s in old jeeps were in use for 40+ years across a variety of cars/trucks, as was the 318 and the amc powertech lineup

GM is the king of making old stuff work like new tho.

Im not knocking Toyota. Probably the only brand worth a fuck from Japan, their late 90s/early 2000s Corrolas/Camrys are dead nuts reliable, and the A80 is probably my favorite import of the era. Their trucks just fucking suck, besides the Hilux which seems to be somewhat better, although WD managed to bend the frame on his in the first test episode.

 

[Torque Wheeler]

Probably the only brand worth a fuck from Japan

What about Honda? I love working on the B series engines

And to a lesser extent I've had really good success with air-cooled Yamaha and Suzukis

 

[An automatic clown]

What about Honda? I love working on the B series engines

And to a lesser extent I've had really good success with air-cooled Yamaha and Suzukis

I need a couple of Spoon engines for Racewars. Can you supply?

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Everyone I've ever known thats had a UZ has had it eat a timing chain/belt before 150k

Biggest issue besides poor RTI and weak axles in the landcruisers and lexuses is their size.

Thing is, stock is important. Once you start modifying stuff, comparisons about anything go out the window. Anything can be anything when it comes to modifications. Plenty of guys I know hit the trails in stock C/Ks, F150s, Rams, Wranglers, Cherokees, etc.

The engines used in the Bronco have been used for thr better part of a decade. The V6s offered in modern Wranglers, while not as stout as the old 4.0s, are based off nearly 20 year old architecture. The old 4.0s in old jeeps were in use for 40+ years across a variety of cars/trucks, as was the 318 and the amc powertech lineup

GM is the king of making old stuff work like new tho.

Im not knocking Toyota. Probably the only brand worth a fuck from Japan, their late 90s/early 2000s Corrolas/Camrys are dead nuts reliable, and the A80 is probably my favorite import of the era. Their trucks just fucking suck, besides the Hilux which seems to be somewhat better, although WD managed to bend the frame on his in the first test episode.

Any belt driven car is expected to have its timing belt replaced at regular 60k mile intervals. Leaving a timing belt on for 150k miles is asking for disaster. That's not a difficult job and pretty silly to consider that an issue in a otherwise stout engine. This isn't some Audi belt service where it's basically an engine out job. The UR moved to chain and doesn't have that issue.

 

[Glowie Hunter Art Bell]

Any belt driven car is expected to have its timing belt replaced at regular 60k mile intervals. Leaving a timing belt on for 150k miles is asking for disaster. That's not a difficult job and pretty silly to consider that an issue in a otherwise stout engine. This isn't some Audi belt service where it's basically an engine out job. The UR moved to chain and doesn't have that issue.

And the rust issues? The head gasket issues both those engines have? The issue with Yota's shitty truck frames?

Etc etc etc

 

[Car Won't Crank]

And the rust issues? The head gasket issues both those engines have? The issue with Yota's shitty truck frames?

Etc etc etc

The frame rust is definitely an issue and I wouldn't buy a Tacoma or Tundra because of that. However, the problem isn't as bad on the GX and LX based off my time on iH8mud, which are the rigs in question here. Again, this is probably due to the market for these Lexus rigs. Most first owners are suburban soccer moms and thus rarely see any offroading in their initial stages of life.

The UZ and UR aren't GM Northstars that have head gasket issues due to improper stud sizes. They'd fail if cooling system components aren't replaced at this age as they should be. I think you're taking some small cases and making it into some huge deal when it's really not. An actual problem is transmission temperature heat, which can overheat when towing since they don't come with a trans cooler.

I'm no Toyota fan but it's pretty silly to point at some weird edge cases of failures on these engines and dock the whole platform as rubbish. Credit given when due, the GX and LX are solid rigs and very capable off roaders.

 

[Bassomatic]

What about Honda? I love working on the B series engines

And to a lesser extent I've had really good success with air-cooled Yamaha and Suzukis

Did we become best friends? I have a 2l gsr in my civic and have built a fair share of B motors.

 

[Torque Wheeler]

I need a couple of Spoon engines for Racewars. Can you supply?

I have a B20BZ with a dropped exhaust valve and bent flexplate in the barn with your name on it!