Excessive use 'oh gosh' gets you this

[Del Lardo]

Worth remembering that the CSL ain't no ordinary BMW. Harks back to when M3s were proper drivers cars back in the E30 days.

[Matblack]

Originally Posted by mejinks

He got shot of a Saleen for a BMW? Even I have to doubt his prowess inthe trouser department and taste in cars. If I had M3 CSL money, it wouldn't be a BMW as my first choice.









I might have fallen in love with a Mini Cooper S......

Just helping out as some people might have missed that.

MB

[mejinks]

Originally Posted by Matblack

Just helping out as some people might have missed that.

MB

I still like BMWs. I just had a go in a Cooper S and had a whole lot of fun. Driving a BM is like piloting a rocket using your hands as rudders, you go around corners in a big arc. Driving a Mini is like pushing a Dinky toy around the sofa, it goes where you want it to go and when you want it to go there.

The big plus for me is the ability to get into it without having to rest my stomach on the steering wheel and having a ton of legroom.

[Darrin]

Originally Posted by mejinks

The big plus for me is the ability to get into it without having to rest my stomach on the steering wheel and having a ton of legroom.

Hence why I still drive a rusted out 1/4 century old pickup truck. I was condemned to drive Tina's Neon yesterday in the vain hope of saving a little petrol.

NEVER AGAIN!!

My knees were less than an inch from the dash, my head was less than an inch from the roof, and if it had been a stickshift instead of an automatic I would have been bumping into Tina every time I had to shift.

No thanks. I'll stick to having enough room for three adults to sit on the same bench seat (comfortably) and still be able to have my choice of 9 different seating positions behind the wheel.

People ask me why I still drive it due to fuel prices. There are certain sacrifices I am willing to make to not dread getting behind the wheel. All these "improvements" that have been made to cars in the last 30 years and they still can't reliably break the 30mpg barrier. There were TRUCKS in the early 70's with carbs and twice the sheet metal were getting 30mpg (Toyota Hilux anyone?). How in the **** can they honestly tell us that they are making improvements to our cars when they're STILL getting the same fuel mileage and not a whole lot more in the bhp department? If automotive technology has actually advanced as far as they try and tell us, we should be driving around in cars getting 100+mpg and 300+bhp!!

So I think I'll stick to driving my 335,000 mile old truck that still reliably fires up every morning, has plowed through a 6 foot snow drift, hauled 4,000 pounds of firewood, knocked over a tree or two, and if I could afford it I would happily drive it all day long on a cross country drive it's that comfortable.

I know my post is totally OT, but I feel the point had to be made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXU3N9wT3u0

[Mark]

Automotive technology has advanced in Europe and Japan at least (though probably only by 50% in mpg terms unless you want a hybrid) but in the US until recently there was just no demand (with the possible exception of California) due to (a) cheap gas, and (b) the oil lobby. The oil lobby is as powerful as ever, especially given the background of your president, but the cheap gas era is gone, probably for good (though it's still cheap compared to here).

[Del Lardo]

Agreed that the US is probably way behind Europe in terms of technology because the demand just hasn't been there. Why spend money improving the technology when the customer doesn't want it and it drives up the final price. Take the car I'm renting, I'm pretty sure that it's using a pushrod engine which while very reliable is about as advanced as the ark.

To give a European example, the Landrover Defender diesel in the 70s would be lucky to crack 20mpg and ~70hp. The modern one can easily achieve nearly 30mpg and produce upto 120bhp. They are some pretty impressive &age increases.