Mash the gas on straightaways and the unrestricted twin-turbo mill delivers a sense of violence the regular SHO lacks. You can light up all four wheels in first gear now, while second pushes the car through the legal speed limit.
Now if someone (anyone) can shove this entire powertrain under a Mustang chassis and give it some T-Bird sheetmetal and badging I would appreciate it!
Now that I have a 2-car garage, I can make some long overdue upgrades to the REX. Problem is, I need a jack. I was planning to buy one from Sears, but the reviews have swayed me to look elsewhere. That coupled with the fact that my last Sears jack didn't last very long either. So now I don't know who to trust.
Anyone know of a reliable $200 - $300 low profile aluminum jack? I guess I can get some ramps in the meantime.
What are you guys using that was purchased new fairly recently?
The 2011 Thundercats Calendar is finally on sale now @ Lulu.com. The calendar is $15.99 plus whatever shipping method you select. I recommend the base shipping, 2011 is still a few months away.
Ford has built the first of a new breed of turbo engines designed to improve fuel efficiency. In the past, turbocharged engines have been used to boost power rather than save fuel. They ran at efficiency-killing low compression ratios and rich air/fuel ratios to prevent meltdowns. The 365-hp 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 uses several tricks to overcome these limitations. For instance, the direct fuel-injection system squirts fuel into the combustion chamber instead of the intake ports—this cools the chamber, allowing for a fairly high 10.0:1 compression ratio. The new V6 debuted in the Lincoln MKT and MKS, and the Ford Taurus SHO.
So about a week ago I put the Audi up for sale on craigslist. I actually spend the time to type out a pretty nice ad if I do say to myself, instead of the typical one-line description. To my dismay a couple days pass without one single phone call or email.
Curious, I do a search for the ad (partly to see if I can pick it out of the bunch, and to check out the competition) and I can't find it after several attempts. Now there aren't that many Avants for sale in the area (mine was the first I came across - ever) so I thought maybe I accidentally posted it in the wrong section. I pull up the email craigslist sends you (I didn't have an account yet) when you make a post to edit/delete your ad. It's in the right location alright, so what the hell is going on???
I delete the ad, sign up (thinking that will somehow verify me) and post it again. Look for it a few hours later and no dice. WTF??? I delete it again and this time I get the anti-spamming warning. They tell me if I confirm deletion of the ad I will have to wait a few days to repost, otherwise it will be automatically removed from this point forward. No problem since I can't find the ad anyway. I hit delete and wait. Meanwhile I search the forums as to why my ad isn't showing up. Turns out it is my photobucket images. Apparently you are not allowed to hotlink images into the ad anymore. New to me, I always use photobucket on craiglist. Now you have to use those py four little images within craigs. Nice!
Annoyed at first, because I took time out of my busy schedule to take some nice pics, but these are apparently the rules now so I comply. I repost the ad after the time limit expires and I stupidly think everything is a-ok. Let a couple days pass before looking for my ad again as my phone/email inbox are eerily quiet and sure enough it is gone. Fawk! But this time I get a message that it was flagged for removal.
Aha! Someone (or something) is flagging my ads!!! Problem is, I have no idea why and no explanation is given either. What a great setup! A quick google search reveals that some people flag the ads of competitors, while others have nothing better to do but to nitpick discrepancies of ads ad flag them. How f'n lame is that? Wrong location, spamming, commerical sales, multiple ads in different cities... you know the biggies I get all that. I don't like that either. But spamming other peoples ads to help your own is just downright douchebaggery to say the least if that is the case. And it turns out there is really nothing you can do about it other than reposting your ad every single time it's flagged, as though I really have time for that.
And I thought eBay was bad... looks like no more craigslist for me.
/Semi-Rant
(apologies for any typos, it's been a long day....)
Time for something else. :D (if you want to see the new car just scroll to the bottom)
The Audi is nice. I love Wagons. But I needed more in the fun department. After driving the Audi I knew exactly what I wanted in a car. More horsepower (preferrably in V Form), AWD, Manual Transmission, Handling out of the Box, 5-Doors, and good aftermarket support. Being domestic was on that list but I became apparent that I would have to sacrifice a few things on my list to keep it domestic.
The Ford Fusion Sport was nice, but it didn't come in Wagon form or with a man pedal. Man pedal could not be crossed off the list! So no Ford Fusion. The Focus SES had said man pedal, but no 5-door, not a ton of HP, and it was driving the wrong wheels. The RS would of changed my mind though. The Mustang was briefly on the list until I remembered my kid having to sit indian style when anyone was in the front seat. So no Fords for me.
From GM the only thing that interested me was the G8. But again, no man pedal without dropping 40 large for GXP. Which is a shame because I really like that car.
And the only thing that piqued my curiousity from Chrysler was the Caliber SRT-4. 280HP (with a 6-Speed Manny) definitely made me forget about it's looks and the fact that it was driving the wrong wheels. But the more I researched, the more I didn't like what I heard about the suspension. And the price tag was just too steep for doubt about it's handling performance and being FWD and being ugly. Sorry I'm a little shallow. :D
I had almost decided to give up on buying a new car altogether and then I found it. Although I thought for certain my wife would not go for it. But then I was shocked when she told me to give her cousin a call who works at the dealer. And I was even more surprised when she said "hey, let's go take a look at it", even though she was on a tight work schedule.
And after sitting at the dealer for two hours without seeing any numbers besides the low trade-in price for the Audi and our monthly payment (which was decent) we where ready to walk. Then they sold one of the two models left in the lot right on the spot. As we were about to leave out of frustration from the bankers, (I left the building first) my wife followed out with a piece of paper. It was a receipt for a deposit on the car. I wanted to kiss her but I was on the phone. lol.
Seems like she wants this car more than I do. And she can't even drive it yet.
Over the weekend I put the Audi up for sale. This morning I go to work and park in a different spot than normal because someone took my spot and of course when I get out of the car I hear a loud hissing noise. Passenger front tire is deflating before my eyes. WTF! I spent half the morning running around trying to get the lug nuts off because I am missing some special tool from the case. Thank you previous owner! Finally get the wheel off and to the shop, owner fixes me up free of charge. Which pretty much turns my day around.
Get back to the office. Put the wheel on. Thank God that the jack didn't kill me. Eat lunch. Wife tells me they accepted the loan without trading in the Audi or selling it first. Woo-hoo! We head to the dealer, sign some paperwork, pick it up and this is what we came home with.
Enjoy!
2009 WRX (sorry about the py pics... my phone sucks!)
I cannot explain how good it feels to be driving a manual transmission again. :D
Is there a "text only" option that I just can't find? I've seen it on other forums similar to this one... althought I usually discover it accidentally via a google search. It would be nice to use text only when I'm browsing the forums on my phone (obviously, I don't have an iPhone). For whatever reason my mobile browser likes to make this site as wide as possible.
Long story short... long term storage situation may of just turned extremely temporary. Got to fix the car now or lose it. So here goes nothing. Send me your prices of parts shipped to 35773 (Toney, AL) to ether947@gmail.com. Please include pics and I pay with paypal only for parts unless you are local.
I tell you what... if they EVERmake a set of 17-inch turbines I will blow up the 401k if necessary to get a set. But hopefully it won't come to that. :D
First Chrysler, now FIAT is going after GM Europe. Which if they acquired, it would pole vault them into the number 2 spot. Assuming they don't drown in their ambitious goals first.
(Reuters) - Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is trying to put together an automotive empire that combines the Italian group's core car business with the European operations of General Motors.
Including Fiat's planned takeover of U.S. car maker Chrysler , the combined group would be the world's second-largest automaker with about 80 billion euros ($106.3 billion) in revenue and annual sales of 6-7 million units.
Here is how Fiat and GM Europe line up:
FIAT
Europe's sixth-largest carmaker by unit sales posted 59.4 billion euros in group revenue last year and has almost 200,000 staff. It is Italy's largest industrial group.
Based in the northwestern Italian city of Turin, Fiat makes cars, vans, trucks and engines. Its brands include Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Iveco. Its U.S. unit, CNH Global NV, makes agricultural combines and tractors.
Marchionne has said he could combine Fiat's core car business with that of GM Europe and spin off the combined "Fiat/Opel" group.
The core Fiat Group Automobiles business (which does not include the luxury Ferrari and Maserati brands) had 2008 sales of nearly 27 billion euros. It delivered 2.15 million cars and light commercial vehicles and employed 52,634 staff.
The core car business has five plants in Italy, two in Brazil, one in Argentina and one in Poland, excluding joint ventures and plants producing under license.
ITALY
Plant Workforce
Mirafiori (Turin) 10,700
Cassino - Piedimonte S. Germano 4,000
Giambattista Vico 5,000
Melfi 5,200
Termini Imerese 1,400
BRAZIL
Betim-Minas Gerais 8,700
Sete Lagoas Minas Gerais 1,200
ARGENTINA
Cordoba 700
POLAND
Tychy 5,800
GM EUROPE
The loss-making European arm sold just over 2 million vehicles in 2008 and generated $34.4 billion in revenue. Its market share fell to 9.3 percent from 9.5 percent in 2007.
It operates 10 vehicle production and assembly plants in seven countries and employed 54,500 at the end of 2008.
Its top five markets were Germany, Russia, France, Britain and Italy.
German group Adam Opel GmbH and its British sister brand, Vauxhall, accounted for just under 1.46 million unit sales last year.
I was planning on upgrading my Xbox 360 20GB HDD to a 120GB HDD using this method but after I ordered all of the parts I got a sweet deal on a NIB HDD (open box special) from Gamestop that I couldn't pass up. I thought about putting it together just for the heck of it but I never got around to it due to work. So the whole kit for sale. It comes with the following:
1 - 120GB Western Digital Scorpio HDD 1 - SATA Cable 1 - IDE/SATA Power Adapter 1 - Xbox Data Transfer Cable 1 - Xbox Data Transfer Disk 1 - MS Referb'd 20GB Xbox HDD
$100 Shipped. Open to offers. Would like to sell before the week's end as I am moving soon.
Will post pics later. Be sure to google the mod before buying. Last I checked (which was a few months back) no one that has done this mod has been banned from XBL but do your own research!
