Page 21 of 82 FirstFirst ... 1119202122233171 ... LastLast
Results 301 to 315 of 1228

Thread: The State of The Car

  1. #301
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    └A & Connecticlump
    Posts
    5,367
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer (from "This Forum is Dying" thread) View Post
    I'm sorry, but all this silly green malarkey has gotten up my nose. If I can afford it I want a big V8 with a big exhaust. I want people to choke on my exhaust gases and to get scared when they hear me coming, not go to work on a comunistical bycicle saving the planet because oh look at me how trendy and cool I am.

    Mmmm I feel much better now, I needed to get it off my chest.
    It really grinds my goat when I see people complaining about environmental regulations or bragging about the damage they've done to the environment.

    It's myopic, childish, and selfish to assume that governments and people are becoming more unfriendly to cars just because they don't want us, an insignificant group of the population, to have fun. Whether or not you think climate change is a thing, visit any populated area and see the horrible shit man gets up to when he's given carte blanche on a piece of land; it is quite obvious that humans can have an effect on their environment and very often a negative one. When I'm home, there's a freeway I often drive on from which I've seen the ocean maybe ten or twenty times through the haze. This is a freeway I took to school and back every day for four years plus trips to friends' houses on weekends. This shouldn't be.

    Sure, it's annoying that the car seems to be the scapegoat for these types, a pariah in a world full of pollution, but just because they are wrong about the breakdown of pollution sources does not mean their underlying point is. It would be nice if that wasn't the case, but that's true for a lot of things.

    While there are plenty of self-righteous assholes who give environmental consciousness a bad name, there are also the equally-annoying twats in Rams with stacks and a fetish for black smoke (Edit: or overly-aggressive drivers in sportscars who give us gearheads a bad name). Making an analogy to cars, we still like BMWs, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis etc... despite the fact that a significant plurality of their drivers are unpleasant. Focus on the song not the singer.

    Perhaps, as I child of the '90s, I've been brainwashed by all the "green" pop culture that began to emerge back then, but I would like to think that I've reached these ideas of my own accord. I have never really gotten the wanton opulence and waste that so many seem to pursue. I'm not saying that people shouldn't waste, excesses are fun, I'm just saying that they should have to pay accordingly.

    People talk about the imminent horsepower crash like it's the end of driving fun. You don't need a 3,000,000 bhpz 65 ton car to have fun and I actually think that the inevitable downsizing (of cars, not engines) will be a good thing. As Da Vinci said when paraphrasing my old sig, "simplicity is sophistication" and shouldn't be so universally disregarded as low-tech.

    I've lost my train of thought, so I think I'm going to end this here, so discuss...

    Besides, our vitriol should be direct at safety standards, anyway... Or, at the very least in this particular instance, the cult of celebrity.
    Last edited by f6fhellcat13; 03-29-2013 at 01:01 PM.
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  2. #302
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,486
    HellCat,

    Well said. +1, gold star, green mushroom, achievement earned.

  3. #303
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    I don't like waste for the sake of waste. And I hate annoying twats in cars regardless of them being nice or bad.

    But, I don't like being criminalised for enjoying my petrolheadness. The problem is that for every imbecile in a straight six BMW there are many people who hate speed and V8s and petrol and everything we, car enthusiast like.

    Also, downsizing is taking away many of the great affordable engines. These days to access a 6 cylinder engine you need to spend at least 50grand and go for a car with 300bhp or more. Four cylinders and turbos are the devil's work.

    When you are in the minority of minority, well, you get this.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  4. #304
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,486
    Making regular commuter cars fuel efficient is fine by me (plus the majority of populations around the world drive little four-pot cars 40 miles back-and-forth daily; or whatever). It makes sense anyway. What my gripe is is that manufacturers are sacrificing the fun factor in most sportscars all for the sake of fuel efficiency. Electronics to limit carbon emissions, paddle-boxes to limit carbon emissions, KERS-hybrid-giant-box-thingy-that-stores-energy-andgivesawesome-MPG-stuff...

    That's fine and all, but for Christ's sake could there be just a few manufacturers that still make a good ole mechanical sports car without all the electronic bells and whistles?

  5. #305
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    Quote Originally Posted by LTSmash View Post
    HellCat,

    Well said. +1, gold star, green mushroom, achievement earned.
    Yes. Red mushroom too!

    I would like to see a more comprehensive and intelligent path on the road to a more environmentally friendly world. I do not think that it is going to happen.

    LT the bells and whistles comment is spot on too. Basics would be fun to have but I think we won't get them.

    I'm very fatalistic about both the environment and the car market. We are likely going to reap a terrible toll on billions of humans due to pollution. I just feel there is little I can do to stop it, and that nothing effective is ultimately going to be done.

  6. #306
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    The BMW 320i E46 had a normally aspirated straight six.

    In the E90 you had to step up to the 325i to have a normally aspirated staight six.

    In the current 3 Series range you can't have a normally aspirated engine at all, and you have to step up to the 335i to have a six.

    And there's more.

    The only current generalist saloons with 6 cylinder petrol engines are the Opel Insignia and the Skoda Superb.

    10 years ago we had, aside from the Superb and the Vectra, there were 6 cylinder-engined version of the Ford Mondeo, the Citroën C5, the Hyundai Sonata, the MG ZS and ZT, the Mitsubishi Galant, the Peugeot 407, the Renault Laguna, the Rover 45 and 75 and the Volkswagen Passat.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  7. #307
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    └A & Connecticlump
    Posts
    5,367
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    I don't like waste for the sake of waste. And I hate annoying twats in cars regardless of them being nice or bad.

    But, I don't like being criminalised for enjoying my petrolheadness. The problem is that for every imbecile in a straight six BMW there are many people who hate speed and V8s and petrol and everything we, car enthusiast like.
    As always, you've managed to make my point better than me. I think cars are the unfortunate and undeserved losers in our current situation, but I'm still (passively) in favor of it.
    Four cylinders and turbos are the devil's work.
    Preach.
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  8. #308
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    The only current generalist saloons with 6 cylinder petrol engines are the Opel Insignia and the Skoda Superb.
    I love this term. I don't even know if it is real English, but it sounds amazing. Catalan-English translation fail?

  9. #309
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    I love this term. I don't even know if it is real English, but it sounds amazing. Catalan-English translation fail?
    Possibly.

    Who knows maybe it'll catch on! (if it isn't English)
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  10. #310
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Possibly.

    Who knows maybe it'll catch on! (if it isn't English)
    This is a generalist statement.

  11. #311
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Californian by nature, living in Teggsas.
    Posts
    4,130
    I first started getting into the non-smogged cars out in California. The loophole there is that any car made in 1973, I believe, or earlier is not subject to smog checks or standards. Made life a lot easier. Cheaper, too, because California's registration fees were about $60/yr for the average '60s vehicle, and $200+ for most of the cars people drive the most (that is, cars under 10 years of age or so).
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

  12. #312
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Quote Originally Posted by jcp123 View Post
    I first started getting into the non-smogged cars out in California. The loophole there is that any car made in 1973, I believe, or earlier is not subject to smog checks or standards. Made life a lot easier. Cheaper, too, because California's registration fees were about $60/yr for the average '60s vehicle, and $200+ for most of the cars people drive the most (that is, cars under 10 years of age or so).
    Here cars over 25 years old (that's 1988 this year) are exempt from road tax.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  13. #313
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Californian by nature, living in Teggsas.
    Posts
    4,130
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Here cars over 25 years old (that's 1988 this year) are exempt from road tax.
    Surprisingly lax...

    ...or maybe it's that Mediterranean easygoing attitude.

    Probably.

    Or something.
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

  14. #314
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Calgary AB
    Posts
    1,580
    One thing I've just realised is how stupidly overdone modern steering wheels are.
    They've got way too many buttons.

  15. #315
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Californian by nature, living in Teggsas.
    Posts
    4,130
    I don't hate the buttons. But I am no fan of those boy-racer wheels with squared bottoms. Give me a circle, please.
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 5 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 5 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Lotus City Car Concept
    By Ecnelis in forum Matt's Hi-Res Hide-Out
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 10-06-2010, 03:25 PM
  2. how to be a ricer
    By C4Power in forum Car comparison
    Replies: 36
    Last Post: 02-03-2009, 05:02 PM
  3. Car of the Year Awards 2008 [PLEASE READ FIRST]
    By fisetdavid26 in forum Awards
    Replies: 33
    Last Post: 12-04-2008, 02:33 PM
  4. She drives like a Chick
    By Niko_Fx in forum Multimedia
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 07-20-2005, 06:22 PM
  5. Manual Transmission
    By Orefus in forum Technical forums
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 07-16-2005, 10:36 AM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •