Car Thread - Alfa Romeo proves cars are art so shut up

[Stoneheart]

I assume this is a Bentley Continental you're on about? Or are you a man of culture and gone for a Phaeton?

a phaeton, got it cheap from some elderly couple that wanted something smaller. very nice driving but very expensive gas. its only economicaly possible for me because i also have a tiny skoda with a v3 and very very good mileage. good enough to get to work.

 

[TheBeanz]

a phaeton, got it cheap from some elderly couple that wanted something smaller. very nice driving but very expensive gas. its only economicaly possible for me because i also have a tiny skoda with a v3 and very very good mileage. good enough to get to work.

I've always liked the Phaeton! I'd consider dailying one of the smaller engine variants, diesel V6s are easy to find in the UK, it's just the bork factor is a bit too high. Have you had many problems?

 

[Stoneheart]

Have you had many problems?

will its an older luxury car, so there are some problems, but nothing major. That would look alot different if you make alot of miles i guess. some parts are just good for 100k miles i think. but its not that expensive to fix when compared with other cars in its league

 

[Slappy McGherkin]

The Fordzilla from virtual reality to real life.

Sold my play car "Betty" to a Cadillac collector last year. She was a sweet, sweet ride! Major pimpin'. 1984 Eldorado Biarritz with less than 20k original miles.

 

[Rotter]

My uncle had a snot yellow Volvo 142 when I was a kid. A bit like this one:

He later got a white 240 estate with the classic blue interior. Anyway. I always liked those cars because they looked, and felt honest ...like a Peugeot 505, or a Merc W123. My uncle is a funny and sort of cool bloke, so that probably influenced my view of those cars as well.

I still don't think the late Jan Wilsgaard gets enough asspats for his wonderful Volvo designs.

The other day I found a new video by
Jonny Smith. It's about this 1973 Volvo 145 that was owned by an old engineer. The whole video is fun and respectful to the family who was selling it to Jonny's friend. It really reminded me of my earliest childhood.

 

[ForgedBlades]

Been obsessed with late 90s/early 00s screens lately. Something about them speaks to me. Seeing a tape deck next to a 4:3 screen is awesome. Fascinating fusion of old and new. I honestly find them more intriguing than the ones you saw in the 80s in stuff like the Reatta and Lagonda.

 

[Rotter]

I do enjoy a nice Nardi steering wheel.

 

[Doggo]

Been obsessed with late 90s/early 00s screens lately. Something about them speaks to me. Seeing a tape deck next to a 4:3 screen is awesome. Fascinating fusion of old and new. I honestly find them more intriguing than the ones you saw in the 80s in stuff like the Reatta and Lagonda.

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2004 too late? Here's some random photo of what my first car looked like, which sadly was written off last year. I miss it a lot.

Definitely agree with you, though. I'm honestly shocked that there are some far more modern cars that don't have half the shit this car (a Holden Calais, if you were wondering) does. I guess you'd want to have some toys for something that cost as much as an entry-level Benz.

P.S. Pretty well nowhere else on earth got these, so here's an outside pic. My car was this colour, too. Believe it or not, if the Opel above is an Omega... this car shares that same platform. Except we got supercharged (and NA) 3800s and the LS2, driving the rears with a chonky limited slip diff, exactly how it should be. I love these cars so much that I bought another one (albeit a very base model...)

 

[Thiletonomics]

Out of curiosity, what would be considered the worst automatic transmission ever to be made, in terms of reliability? Some that come to mind include:

-Nissan's Xtronic CVT, notably the 2.0 model in their newer models. People have reported their CVTs going only to 60k before grenading and needing replacement, i.e. on the 2013-2015 Altima.

-Ford's PowerShift Dual-Clutch Transmission, aka PowerShudder and PowerShit. It was known for jerking, shuddering, vibrating, and hesitation when moving from a stop. It even was to the point that Ford's higher ups knew that the transmission was going to have issues, and yet they still mass produced them for their cars and sold it to customers.

-GM's earliest attempt at a CVT, called the VTi, which was used in the earlier Saturn Ion and Vue models. They were so awful to the point that GM had to ditch it completely, and moved back to a traditional torque converter automatic in the later Ion and Vue models.

-ZF's 9HP 9-Speed auto for FWD cars, used by numerous brands, i.e. FCA, JLR, Honda, which people said makes rough shifts. And what was Nissan thinking with the 2022 Pathfinder, going from a junk transmission (CVT) to a somewhat less junk one. (ZF 9HP)

 

[TiggerNits]

Out of curiosity, what would be considered the worst automatic transmission ever to be made, in terms of reliability? Some that come to mind include:

-Nissan's Xtronic CVT, notably the 2.0 model in their newer models. People have reported their CVTs going only to 60k before grenading and needing replacement, i.e. on the 2013-2015 Altima.

-Ford's PowerShift Dual-Clutch Transmission, aka PowerShudder and PowerShit. It was known for jerking, shuddering, vibrating, and hesitation when moving from a stop. It even was to the point that Ford's higher ups knew that the transmission was going to have issues, and yet they still mass produced them for their cars and sold it to customers.

-GM's earliest attempt at a CVT, called the VTi, which was used in the earlier Saturn Ion and Vue models. They were so awful to the point that GM had to ditch it completely, and moved back to a traditional torque converter automatic in the later Ion and Vue models.

-ZF's 9HP 9-Speed auto for FWD cars, used by numerous brands, i.e. FCA, JLR, Honda, which people said makes rough shifts. And what was Nissan thinking with the 2022 Pathfinder, going from a junk transmission (CVT) to a somewhat less junk one. (ZF 9HP)

The Nissan CVT or anything used in dodge cars from 1988 to 2004ish. PT Cruisers, Intrepids, Neons, Sebrings and Lebarons were always on the side of the road with a driver saying the engine turns on but it won't go

 

[Doggo]

CVTs are such a mixed bag, I don't understand it myself. They're fantastic in theory, because they're always keeping the engine exactly where it needs to be to exploit every drop of power and efficiency from it. But while there are some notorious CVTs, there are others that are perfectly fine.

When was the last time you ever heard of a Prius or hybrid Camry gearbox failure? Those are CVTs too.

Speaking of gearboxes, I serviced mine the other day, along with loads of other things. Shifts much more smoothly with a new fluid and filter. I plan on doing it again in 30,000km because you can only get so much without flushing it, which is something I'd personally advise against unless you know the history of the car.

 

[TiggerNits]

Fun fact, CVTs are just significantly scaled down helicopter transmissions. When Audi designed their first cvt prototype in the late 60s, they stole engineers from Bell to help oversee it

 

[Thiletonomics]

CVTs are such a mixed bag, I don't understand it myself. They're fantastic in theory, because they're always keeping the engine exactly where it needs to be to exploit every drop of power and efficiency from it. But while there are some notorious CVTs, there are others that are perfectly fine.

When was the last time you ever heard of a Prius or hybrid Camry gearbox failure? Those are CVTs too.

Speaking of gearboxes, I serviced mine the other day, along with loads of other things. Shifts much more smoothly with a new fluid and filter. I plan on doing it again in 30,000km because you can only get so much without flushing it, which is something I'd personally advise against unless you know the history of the car.

It also doesn't help that auto makers made CVTs mimic automatic transmissions by faking gear shifts, which defeats the point of using a CVT in the first place. (Other than it being much cheaper to produce than other automatic transmissions) Although Toyota's newer CVTs also have a fixed first-gear, to aid in going from a stop, along with the fake shifts. And not to mention how Toyota created an unholy hybrid of a transmission for their Lexus LC and LS hybrids, where they put a CVT together with a 4-Speed automatic transmission, to make it mimic a 10-speed automatic.

I guess you can blame it on people that don't know how CVTs work, and complain about engine droning noises on CVT-equipped cars that don't use stepped/fake gears.

 

[Cool Dog]

Anyone else remember this thing?

I was more or less autistic about this car when I was like 5, thought it was the coolest shit ever and it kinda was with that cabin and the amphibious mode

Back then I didnt know there was zero chance this would ever get made but give me a break I was five

It also doesn't help that auto makers made CVTs mimic automatic transmissions by faking gear shifts, which defeats the point of using a CVT in the first place. (Other than it being much cheaper to produce than other automatic transmissions) Although Toyota's newer CVTs also have a fixed first-gear, to aid in going from a stop, along with the fake shifts. And not to mention how Toyota created an unholy hybrid of a transmission for their Lexus LC and LS hybrids, where they put a CVT together with a 4-Speed automatic transmission, to make it mimic a 10-speed automatic.

I guess you can blame it on people that don't know how CVTs work, and complain about engine droning noises on CVT-equipped cars that don't use stepped/fake gears.

My guess is that companies do this because of all the journalists and some early users bitching about the "rubber band effect"

Then those same people go full-soyjack at EV cars not having gears and accelerating, smh

 

[augment]

My favorite car in the world is the 1987 Aston Martin Vantage V8

 

[Rotter]

 

[Thiletonomics]

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Regarding that RX-8, I do wonder how well the rotary engines hold up to the heavy use of police cars. Or is it one of those ones that aren't used for heavy duty, compared to police cars in the US like the old trusty Ford Crown Victorias?

 

[Stoneheart]

Been obsessed with late 90s/early 00s screens lately. Something about them speaks to me. Seeing a tape deck next to a 4:3 screen is awesome. Fascinating fusion of old and new

Opel is just strange... they made realy good cars everytime GM looked away. alot of them are very underpriced classics or will be classics soon.
buy the old or new Opel Gt for a good price as long as you can...

 

[TiggerNits]

Regarding that RX-8, I do wonder how well the rotary engines hold up to the heavy use of police cars. Or is it one of those ones that aren't used for heavy duty, compared to police cars in the US like the old trusty Ford Crown Victorias?

Ive owned an RX-8, I cannot imagine it would be economical at all considering the amount of time police cruisers have to spend idling and how terrible the fuel consumption is in slow traffic

 

[Rotter]

Regarding that RX-8, I do wonder how well the rotary engines hold up to the heavy use of police cars. Or is it one of those ones that aren't used for heavy duty, compared to police cars in the US like the old trusty Ford Crown Victorias?

I don't know about apex seal problems and whatnot. As TiggerNits said, it's definitely not the most economical choice of cop car. They sure looked cool in Japanese police livery though.