Rochester

iTrader: (9)

OK. Let's stipulate that there are people who are a better driver than I am, and systems designed to save lives are a hinderance to these people. I mean, I can live with that because, upon reflection, I don't care. Or better said, as a moderator I have to act like I don't care.

And let's get back to "next car" conversation. Thanks guys!

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

I may reconsider such a system when it's perfect. Will it ever be? Who knows - probably not. But until then, I am the driver of the car and in control, not the car.

Scenario; A significant crash involving death results because the car misinterpreted a series of sensor inputs, automatically braked excessively causing an 18 wheeler to rear end you. Perhaps the truck driver was following too close, or was fully loaded and not expecting someone to brake for no apparent reason and unable to slow down in time. Does the FCW system even consider what's going on behind the car? So much for savings lives.

My next car may very well be a used car from the previous decade just to avoid such driver aids.

Edit: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...new-cars-in-us

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

Put aside that it's a hot hatch, I think the new Corolla GR is pretty cool. Drag race vs a Golf R and STi @9:45

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Maybe this car will wake up Subaru to speed up production on the next gen STI. A few of my Subaru friends are seriously considering this car. I had my car at our Subaru store for a recall yesterday and the service advisor was planning to trade-in his STI on the Corolla GR.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

Meh, I don’t hold out much hope. You’re talking probably 7 years out. On the crazy chance it happens, it’ll be a EV, pretty sure Subaru has said as much.

Muck_Man

My buddy has a 2018 BMW 340i M package, which I think is the last year they offered a 6MT with AWD for that model, and would be a really good upgrade to my '13XS sedan. Replacing an almost 10 year old car with an almost 5 year old car is not exactly what I would consider and upgrade in a few years. However, that car is an 6MT, AWD, straight six twin turbo, sedan and is super appealing! Having driven manuals my entire life, the auto on my G was a compromise for the AWD...and the Mrs. I am probably going to end up with a newer Audi RS3 or 4.

The new Mercedes C63s is AWD with a 4cyl engine supplemented and an electric motor putting out something like 680hp, but I don't have ~200k sitting around and it is still auto. I don't think electric motors are the future considering the lack of precious metals available and various other reasons. I saw an article about Porche working on a hydro ICE twin turbo V8 that looks promising.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

I know, I know- wishful thinking on my part. I was really hoping Subaru would bring out a hybrid STI for better power and mpg this year (before they decided to discontinue it) just like Mercedes just did with their C63S mentioned below.

Does your friend have an M340i Xdrive with a manual? If that car exists it has to be extremely rare. I don't see a single one for sale in the entire country of any model year. I thought 2015 and newer Xdrive (AWD) were all A/T. Maybe not.

The AMG C63 S looks pretty sweet. The even crazier stat is 752 lb-ft. of axle bending torque. Too bad it is A/T and will probably weigh about 4,500 lbs, but I bet it is a hell of a lot of fun in a straight line.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

IMO this is the future sweet spot. I think this concept could be expanded to more cars--how about a Civic Type R with a 50hp electric motor powering each rear wheel? Or some of the Hyundai N models?

Sad thing about the C63 is losing that V8 sound. My neighbor has one and cold start up sounds wicked. Even just rumbling down the street at 20mph is head turning.

Muck_Man

It is xdrive, and yes I do beleive it is quite rare. Black on black with a set of upgraded rims as well.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

I found a few videos of them so they do exist! One of the videos claims that only 100 were brought to the U.S. in 2018. Holy unicorn Batman! I think you are right about it not being much of an upgrade over the G37S. Less hp, but more torque. Definitely easier to tune and AWD would be nice with a 6 spd. manual, but the styling is very bland. I would consider it a slight upgrade or maybe a lateral move to go to this BMW from a G37S. M3? Now that is an upgrade!

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

I'm not sure you and I have the same meaning of sabot. LOL

I'm just an eyes-up driver. If not just for safety/situational awareness, for the reason that as I age it's harder to shift focus between far and near as rapidly as I'd like in a vehicle going... faster than a horse, say.

Next vehicle content: Seen the first VW Id.4 on the road, and it's very nice looking but not totally out there. As in, if I wasn't in stop-and-go traffic right behind it, might not have noticed. I think that's the EV killer app - not Tesla, not Fisker (god love them), not Rivian (seen one of those too recently, owner said he paid too much for what it was) etc. and I'm not really ever contemplating the Leaf-sized vehicles.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

ABS has gotten loads better in the past what, 30 years on production cars? My 1996 Jeep was so bad that braking distance was substantially worse with ABS on - ended up totally disabling it (fuse, controller, patched out the valve body) because ABS would kick in when I was towing. My G37 ABS is almost unnoticeable. My wife's CX5 has Smart City Braking Support which has kept us from hitting animals in the neighborhood (which is just advanced ABS).

I've had a 2019 euro-spec BMW 340 not let me change lanes on the gottverdamt autobahn. In principle good, in practice I don't think we're there yet.

Thing is, all new cars will have these because the FMVSS and NHTSA have shown they reduce accidents and injuries - which means money spent. Automakers would include the nannies if it didn't make financial sense. As long as they leave me a way to turn off the ones that aren't fully baked and/or I don't like... I'll live. I'm even getting used to stop-start.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

@Rochester Just wanted to toss in that, to an extent, the electronic driver aid discussion is very relevant to the next-car question. There are folks that hate all nannies, and want a brand-new 1991 Miata. (Even those had ABS I think, but not much else). Some of us will want a Tesla FSD (assuming it worked safely - Definitely for my work car I'd be on board with that). For this forum, for this car (the G37) concept of sports sedan, we're all going to be pickier than buyers of transportation appliances no matter how nice - especially with stuff like stability or traction control.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

LOL, yeah, I suppose you would have to.

Five years ago, we almost bought a Ford Escape (with the turbo), instead of the Subaru. But my wife and I really, really felt awkward about stop-start, her more so than me, actually. However, that powertrain was a nice fit for that car.

Funny thing is that the Forester XT with the turbo was not a nice fit for the Subaru, in so far as I remember. Different cars.


Yes, you're right.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

I have a friend with the Forester XT that he rallycrosses. IIRC he replaced the engine with an STI one though. Been a while since I've chatted with him.

Re: stop-start, the rental we had in the EU this year was HORRIBLE. It didn't restart the engine until you had let off the brake AND pressed the gas - so if there was any traffic at all you couldn't merge from a side road without some cursing. The american stop-start I've experienced restarts the car when you lift pressure on the brake pedal even a little - so I can pre-start it if the light is about to change, or I'm going to have to lunge into a gap in traffic.

Either way - the Fusion is the cheapest car I've had to drive (as in, it costs me $0 to have or operate) so my complaints are all just curmudgeoning.

When I started looking at replacements for the interim Mazda3 I actually test drove a Fusion Sport with the turbo 2.7V6 pursuit engine and AWD. Other than being automatic and a $55,000 Ford, it was quite nice.

So... not buying one as my next car. But I do have respect for it as a (-n ex) platform.