Rochester

iTrader: (9)

That's quite a coincidence. I would say driving a friend's brand new 1987 Supra, while I had a modified Trans Am, that was the moment that gave me a new respect for Japanese cars. His parents gave that car to him as a graduation present after college (sigh).

Going backwards to the 300Z doesn't feel realistic, but going forward to a 400Z... Possible.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

I still have posters of the '89 Supra Turbo, 94 300ZX TT, RX7 etc in the bonus room. It's like I never left high school

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

We'll have to see. I like the idea of a 400Z - or a 370 convertible - instead of the ND Miata we're starting to budget for. But I do like the idea of having a garage queen that I can tinker with without substantial daily living impact. I thought hard about converting an old FB RX7 (84-85) to electric for the giggles - with a forklift motor they need wheelie bars to keep the front wheels close to the ground... but finding a clean FB (motor condition irrelevant) for reasonable $ has proven to be difficult.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Funny how women (and probably fond memories of our youth) play into a strong fondness for a particular car. My family had a 5 spd. 1989 Nissan Maxima that was our family's first new car. It was still my mom's car when I was in high school, but I got to drive it a bit. One of my dad's friends picked up a brand new bright red 300Z (non-turbo) with a manual transmission. It must have been a 1995 or '96 model. He was flying to Greece for a week and wanted to store it in my grandfather's garage since he had an extra stall. He half jokingly said that we should drive it regularly. So of course I took it out the next day to give rides to all of my friends.

This was the same time that Nissan was running some cool ads with their sports cars including one with this exact same car as a toy and GI Joe stealing Barbie from Ken (see below). On my way home I passed a girl I had a huge crush on out for a run. I pulled up and asked if she wanted a ride. We drove quite fast and hit some twisty roads. On one sharp turn I failed to notice that she had her hand resting on the e-brake. As she was holding on she inadvertently pulled up on the E-brake sending us very sideways. It gave us a good scare, but I was able to recover ok and dropped her off in one piece. At the end of the year, she wrote in my yearbook, "Thanks for the spin!" So yeah, it's safe to say I have a soft spot for the 300ZX.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

This week I reviewed the new 2021 Hyundai Veloster N and its changes. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!

ryanwhite74115

Brutal review of the stereo woof.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I think if you had a wireless, clip-on mic then the audio would be more consistent and less windy. The audio quality suddenly spiked and sounded good once your cameraman leaned into the car. But outside, eh.

Invest in a simple cell-phone gimbal. They aren't that expensive, and will do amazing things for video quality. With a gimbal, you could do a beauty roll around the car that would look amazing (without the shipping tape.)

Your commentary and delivery was very good, but the car is the hero of car reviews, not the comments. And in this segment the car was just in the background. At a minimum if there were a go-pro moment where you were driving it... that would be nice.

Slacks and a button down dress shirt make you look like a salesman, or a middle school math teacher. Either go casual, or full-on suit & tie professional.

N-mode exhaust note sounds awesome.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the honest feedback. I have been experimenting with my days and locations as it relates to sound quality. You don't think a mic would pick up even more wind noise? Would that link to the cell phone video via bluetooth? Gimbal for stability of the shot? (Sorry, I'm good with car tech, not video tech)

These videos are just something I thought I would do with down time at work so I don't know if the attire will change much or if I really need to be in the video at all. Then again, the response rate on this video is significantly higher than any of my videos without me in it for some reason. I thought it might be cool to have some in car footage too, but all the videos I saw like that they seem to say really basic things at a weird pitch and rate due to concentrating too much on driving. Then I need to pick up a good video editor and spend a lot more time. I certainly can do it, but I am quite new at it and not entirely sure anyone really cares about these videos.

I want to try to convey the true feel of the car and other things you don't get elsewhere to let people know if it is actually a good car or not. Unfortunately, with just a bit of free time here and there it is hard to remember to cover everything important that I just experienced from the drive.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, compared to our Bose stereos, it's garbage. That was about as nice as I could put it.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Windscreen on a mic would make all the difference. Yes, bluetooth. Yes, a gimbal is a motion stabilizer.

You're doing fine. Keep going.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

FWIW, one of the best car shows ever cinematography-wise (BBC Top Gear in later seasons) (yes, I said it - fight me!) had a trick - the in-car video where the driver/star is talking to the camera about the car's characteristics were filmed with the car going 20 or so. They edit it with the high-speed scenes where Clarkson (for example) blurts out something but that's ALL editing. You could do the same - drive hard, then slow down and talk about it. Especially effective if you have a passenger filming.

Nevertheless, I like where you're going with these. Keep it up!

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Oh, now I see what you mean about that type of mic. Nice! That wind was a lot worse on youtube than it was when I watched the video on my phone. Whoops! Good catch.

I was thinking of trying to edit some footage of the car driving, exhaust, view from the driver's seat, etc. since I have a GoPro as well that I hardly ever use. I could also probably edit the audio in later. I wonder if it would be hard to match the GoPro volume/video quality with what comes out of my cell phone or if a good editing program could fix that. Anyone have a good video editing program they recommend? Sorry for all the noob questions about making decent videos for you guys, but I promise I am not a noob when it comes to the cars. I just thought these videos might be a bit more interesting.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

I got a gimbal to help steady these videos, but it was very clumsy to use, took a while to get the phone centered just right, and took forever to link up via bluetooth. The bigger issue was that phones can only connect to one bluetooth source at a time so I would always be limited to using the microphone on the phone- and we know the issues with that. So I returned it as soon as I discovered that I can buy a much more sophisticated camera with a microphone for not much more money. I still have a few videos to post before I get the new camera (see below). With all of these Hyundai hatchbacks lately, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the hot hatch OG to see how it stacks up.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Seems that today's cell phone gimbals are mostly designed for Samsug Galaxy and iPhones, but more so iPhones. And only current models. I went down that road and sent it back a few months ago, pretty disappointed. Someday I may revisit the idea, but I also just wanted to play with a new toy, and don't really have a need. The manufacturer "DJI" seems to be top-shelf stuff.

I enjoyed your GTI video. What would have made gimbal recording more interesting (other than stability) would be pulling the perspective down lower and more straight, rather than your 6'1" perspective. Know what I mean?

I had a curious respect for the GTI Rabbit back in the 80's. And once got to beat on a friend's brand new Omni GLH-S. That was a blast to wind up and shoot down the road.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, I noticed the same thing about the gimbal. You are right about the perspective and stability. I think the zoom will be nice too. I ordered a camera today so we will see if it is any good. I think I still need to use my GoPro for in-car stuff though.

Ah, the GLH-S- goes like hell- some more (according to Carroll Shelby). I have a fondness for the GTI as well. It was my favorite car for a while as a kid. Once on a winding back road we passed a black 1985 GTI for sale in the country and I begged my dad to buy it. He did and it was a fun car, but it was in the shop a lot. Later he picked up a used '97 GTI VR6. Both were fun cars in different ways. I have come close to buying Golf R's on a few occasions. It looks like the new GTI and Golf R will be nice, but not quite what I am looking for in my next car.