Cars, Man

[boo5ted]

They were decades ago, back then it was called the Sidekick or Geo Tracker.

 

[turbodog]

They were decades ago, back then it was called the Sidekick or Geo Tracker.

I remember when they first came out. Friend's dad worked from GM... got the very first ones that came out.

3 cylinder engine and a plastic radiator fan.

 

[Monocrom]

I wish Suzuki was in north America and sold the Jimny..

+1

Love the Jimmy. Would buy one in a heartbeat if I could.

 

[Vajer]

I used to have a powerful Subaru Impreza. Then I did not have a family. But then, when I had a wife and children I had to sell this machine and buy something inexpensive and family. After seeing the kia soul review, I realized that such a car would suit me.

 

[Monocrom]

I used to have a powerful Subaru Impreza. Then I did not have a family. But then, when I had a wife and children I had to sell this machine and buy something inexpensive and family. After seeing the kia soul review, I realized that such a car would suit me.

:welcome:

A good friend has leased multiple Souls. He finally broke down and bought the latest one because he loves it so much. He has the non-turbo charged version. The turbo isn't that good on the Soul. Otherwise, great vehicle. Heck, Jeep wanted a piece of the action. So they came out with their current version of the Renegade to get some of those Soul sales.

Jeep did a great job tricking customers into thinking the Renegade is a Jeep. But except for the sheet metal, it's actually a Fiat underneath. An unreliable one. Oops, there goes my blatant honesty rearing it's ugly head again. No worries, you'll get use to that if you stick around. Lots of good people still here on CPF.

 

[orbital]

+


"Powered by Mazda’s Skyactiv-G 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-4, the 2021 Mazda 3 will send 250 hp and 320 lb-ft of torque to the all-wheel-drive system."

from: autoweek.com



...likely automatic trans only

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

It's not a car, but it's got a car motor and it's too much fun not share. :twothumbs

 

[raggie33]

i still love the hot hatchback small petite car with a 4 banger engine makeing over 350 hp

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1, now has the 3 seater T50 (US$3.1 million, 100 will be made). Described by Mr. Murray as the "ultimate analog supercar". Interesting fan technology, amongst others.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/gordon-murray-t-50-launch/

Any member that can share more information on this machine would be appreciated.

 

[orbital]

Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1, now has the 3 seater T50 (US$3.1 million, 100 will be made). Described by Mr. Murray as the "ultimate analog supercar". Interesting fan technology, amongst others.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/gordon-murray-t-50-launch/

Any member that can share more information on this machine would be appreciated.

+

The fan out the back is very interesting.

50 years ago Jim Hall invented the 2J for Can-Am racing,, the fans were for downforce. https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a32350/jim-hall-chaparral-2j-history/
he also had the very first rear wing race car ever..

Maybe J. Bezos will buy two T50s', one shipped to the moon.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Interesting history, thanks orbital. Wondering if the T50 will blow road debris out the back end?

 

[orbital]

+

Talked to my brother the other day, I knew he had tons of issues w/ his Touareg TDi and VW couldn't fix it properly (not an opinion)
..so I asked him 'did you get a new car?'

He told me has an order placed on a F150 Hybrid, he also just had to tell me it went from 0~60mph in 5.4 seconds: Jerk

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

They were decades ago, back then it was called the Sidekick or Geo Tracker.

No, they were the same as the Suzuki Vitara, a more road biased vehicle with IFS.

The Jimny is the same range as the SJ40, I think N. America may have got them branded as the Samurai.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

+1

Love the Jimmy. Would buy one in a heartbeat if I could.

Will have had mine 1 year by next week. I can attest they are awesome!

 

[raggie33]

in 10 years eletric cars will be in the lead

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

in 10 years eletric cars will be in the lead

Very doubtful IMO. There just isn’t the infrastructure to support them and unlikely to ever be so. To make them viable you pretty much need a charge point for every car. Certainly more than one charge point per household at any rate.

Doing this will cost way too much.

Not too mention the vast numbers of people who don’t have off road parking. City streets lined with enough charge points for every parked car is again way too expensive. Plus they take up room that might not be available. And high voltage “super chargers” are potentially highly hazardous.

Talking of room and space. Towns and cities in the USA are all relatively young purpose built. But towns and cities across Europe are old and tend to have a lot less space and narrower roads. Huge limitations on places to put charge points.

 

[raggie33]

but there's is so many benifits to electric i predict a car with a eletric motor in each wheel hub for true all wheel drive. the new tesla is insane 0 to 60 in 2 seconds

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

but there's is so many benifits to electric i predict a car with a eletric motor in each wheel hub for true all wheel drive. the new tesla is insane 0 to 60 in 2 seconds

0-60 is hardly the main priority for the vast majority of cars on the roads. Although I do think electric drive will become more popular. Not sure if it will be 4 motors, 2, with a gearbox/transmission or direct drive.

 

[idleprocess]

Very doubtful IMO. There just isn’t the infrastructure to support them and unlikely to ever be so.

The electrical grid is everywhere in the industrial world. It's generally got surplus capacity - especially at night - and sees continuous growth.

To make them viable you pretty much need a charge point for every car. Certainly more than one charge point per household at any rate.

A dryer outlet (typically 240V 30A) is basically all it takes to charge a vehicle overnight. Home 'charge points' are essentially serial comms, a current sensor, and a contactor to prevent the breaker from tripping if the vehicle draws too much. With some ingenuity one can even share the same circuit with a dryer (or other high-power/low duty cycle load) and stay within the limits of many an electrical panel.

Not too mention the vast numbers of people who don’t have off road parking. City streets lined with enough charge points for every parked car is again way too expensive. Plus they take up room that might not be available.

EVs can't accommodate every use case for sure - least of all emergency trumpet repair and the "gas station" concept of being able to fill from empty in <10 minutes is not likely to succeed. The present deployment model is indeed heavily dependent upon dedicated parking and ideally private garages; some can make due with the greater range of modern EV's and public fast charging. I've seen a few deployments that utilized the incumbent infrastructure for old lampposts with wiring optimized for incandescent lamps that have the margin for overnight EV charging.

And high voltage “super chargers” are potentially highly hazardous

So are RV park hookups yet there's precious little hand-wringing over those. More concerned about the thousands of gallons of volatile fuel stored at gas stations and the tens of gallons of it sloshing around in vehicle tanks on the move.

0-60 is hardly the main priority for the vast majority of cars on the roads. Although I do think electric drive will become more popular. Not sure if it will be 4 motors, 2, with a gearbox/transmission or direct drive.

Direct drive with a single reduction gear has been the model for pretty much all modern production EVs I'm aware of. Tesla's first Roadster prototypes were equipped with a 2-speed transmission whose main attributes were additional cost, complexity, weight, and slower acceleration.

 

[turbodog]

Well the bug is back...

I'm looking pretty hard at the 64 cobra again.

For those that own similar cars... how many miles do you normally drive them each year?