The Automobile Thread

JimN said:
Ha! Not sure if you're being factual or facetious, but that was a legitimately good car. Some pretty awful offerings from American car manufacturers started showing up about three years later.
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Factual.
But no, it was not a good car. External passenger door handle broke off, no glove box door (that was extra), heater blower didn't work, heat smelled like pancakes. I had to tap the starter (or alternator maybe?) with a hammer to get it to start quite often because the brushes would stick. The carburetor would ice up causing the engine to stall, and more! I did use it to transport me and my college ski team buddies to practice at Purgatory and races throughout the region, but we were not traveling in comfort or confidence. It was pretty good in snow with its 12" wheels, front wheel drive and a pair of Hakkapelittas.
 
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Now that I driven my wife's Mazda CX-5 numerous times, and at different speeds on different road types, I can compare it to my Gen 5 CRV.

Ride quality (smoothness and quietness): CRV wins by a small margin, cheapo tires on the Mazda probably don't help here
Fuel Economy: CRV wins by A LOT
Peppiness: Close, CRV off the line is stronger, CX-5 acceleration at speed is stronger
Interior storage/leg room: CRV absolutely buries the CX-5
Build quality/fit to finish: CX-5 buries the CRV, CRV seems "economy", CX-5 seems "luxury"
Interior: Too close to call, both have pros and cons
Handling: close but the CRV edges out the CX-5, probably because the CRV rides lower to the ground
Driving feel: Both are good but I prefer my CRV

Mazda is still the leader in appeal to me for a future new vehicle. I am interested in the CX-50 as well but it has even less interior storage space than the CX-5. I will not be buying another vehicle with a CVT transmission or forced induction motor. I don't like the way the CVT drives/feels but I do appreciate that it keeps the engine RPMs in the best fuel economy zone.
 
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herzalot said:
Factual.
But no, it was not a good car. External passenger door handle broke off, no glove box door (that was extra), heater blower didn't work, heat smelled like pancakes. I had to tap the starter (or alternator maybe?) with a hammer to get it to start quite often because the brushes would stick. The carburetor would ice up causing the engine to stall, and more! I did use it to transport me and my college ski team buddies to practice at Purgatory and races throughout the region, but we were not traveling in comfort or confidence. It was pretty good in snow with its 12" wheels, front wheel drive and a pair of Hakkapelittas.
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I seem to remember those cars having a pretty good reputation, although I never knew anyone that owned one back then. Perhaps it was just all marketing?
 
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Runs with Scissors said:
The 1965 Bonneville with the 389 was no slouch either. 21 mpg on the highway (maybe 7 mpg in town :gag:). $350 to buy it, $50 back to me to junk it, no costs in between. :D
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Amazing to think what we could buy used cars for back in the day. In my hometown, there was a house with a 1973 340 Plymouth Duster just sitting in the backyard. It was totally straight, low mileage, all original, with virtually no rot. Amazing for a car like that in Southeastern Massachusetts, which are typically all rotted out. It was a weird build with a bench front seat, 3-Speed automatic transmission with a column shifter, and it had power steering and brakes. I wasn't looking for a car at the time, but my friend really wanted it. We would knock on the door every few months or so asking if they wanted to sell it. After many declines, the owner finally decided to let it go. Selling price: $350. As I recall, all it needed was a new torsion bar on the driver's side, which was broken. New tires, and a new Carter Thermoquad carburetor. Last decent year for muscle cars during that period. That was another surprisingly fast car. Don't remember the rear gears, but it was balanced out nicely. Probably pretty underrated on horsepower. And, it was another light tin can of a car. Looked just like this, same colors, etc.:

Side View 2.jpg


Interior.jpg


Engine 2.jpg
 
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UPSed said:
Any talk about automobiles lately? Or are we just continuing to cut each other down?
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I think automobiles are at the bottom of the mobility food chain and should be restricted within half mile of a school from 30 minutes before school starts until 10 minutes after it starts and from 10 minutes before it ends until 30 minutes after it ends.

I suspect school tardies would plummet, and many kids would remain on campus longer than required. Win, win, win.
 
I love this little crossover I drove around Croatia. It’s nicer inside than my Tacoma. Way nicer, wish they had these in the US.

www.mg.co.uk

Welcome to MG

Tracing its history back to 1924, MG is the iconic motoring brand, famous for building sporty, exciting and value-for-money cars which are always fun to drive.
www.mg.co.uk www.mg.co.uk
 

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JimN said:
How does the Pinto not get mentioned in this discussion? Gremlin is the fastest, and maybe least ugliest. Pinto is the ugliest, but better performing than the Pacer. Pacer comes in last in my opinion.
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I had a '76 maverick, it was functional to be polite about it, but give all those a run for their money!
However, it did have enough room for my teenage self to be with teenage ladies, so not all bad.
 
Danimal said:
I had a '76 maverick, it was functional to be polite about it, but give all those a run for their money!
However, it did have enough room for my teenage self to be with teenage ladies, so not all bad.
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Ha! Yeah, I'm quite familiar with Mavericks. One of my best friends had a couple of mid-70s models. There were a few of them with 302 V8s (probably not original, although it was a factory option for certain years), as well as V8 Vegas (I don't think ever offered from the factory, but lots of mods out there) in my hometown. Simpler times...
 
UPSed said:
Any talk about automobiles lately? Or are we just continuing to cut each other down?
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OK. I'll bite.

A little over two years ago, I gave my '00 F-350 with 340K to my daughter and husband. The Bay area crime was taking a toll on their nice cars, so the big, white diesel became their new weekend errand runner. It is still clicking off the miles with no issues.

I picked up a '20 F-150 3.5 EcoBoost and I'm still thrilled with it. My run up to Portola for the Lost & Found Gravel Ride netted me just over 22mpg while I kept the speedo around 72.

This past weekend, I drove to Hayward and back to do some honey-do's at my daughter home in preparation for the newborn arriving in a few weeks. 810 miles, 20.7 mpg, kept the speedo around 76 thru some blistering heat. The cab and bed were packed with tools and gifts - not a light load.

I still miss the F350 on occasion, but I got to put a few miles on her this weekend. Yeah, I'm keeping the F150.
 
Danmtchl said:
I love this little crossover I drove around Croatia. It’s nicer inside than my Tacoma. Way nicer, wish they had these in the US.

www.mg.co.uk

Welcome to MG

Tracing its history back to 1924, MG is the iconic motoring brand, famous for building sporty, exciting and value-for-money cars which are always fun to drive.
www.mg.co.uk www.mg.co.uk
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I'm pretty sure they are all built in China so it would be easier to ship it here than the UK. The only bit of MG left in the UK now is a little bit of product development. I went and visited them for work not long before I left there. Its a shadow of its former self.

The new range is supposed to be cheap and cheerful though. Certainly better than some of the competition like Dacia etc. Theres an MG4 xpower version with 435ps which is supposed to be pretty fun.
 
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