Car Talk 6: Best of times and Worst of Times

[Devilchrono]

Traverse is basically a school bus. If someone hits that they're hitting anything. Throw a step or something into the hitch receiver on whatever you get for a bit of a buffer on impact.

I’m either gonna get one of those step things for it if we get it back, or whatever we replace it with, or just put the receiver I have from the Colorado in it instead.

[CaleDeRoo]

One of those steps fucked up my Corvette fender they're good protection.

[Huckleberry]

Traverse is basically a school bus. If someone hits that they're hitting anything. Throw a step or something into the hitch receiver on whatever you get for a bit of a buffer on impact.

The Traverse isn't exactly a Miata.

[MexicanYarisTK]

Wife was rear ended last night, almost 2 years to the date of her rear ending someone. Waiting on the process now to see if they’re gonna total the Traverse out or not; I’m thinking they will simple because she was advised NOT to drive away from the scene by the cops and the force of the impact broke the damn exhaust off under the thing at the cats/mid pipe. Both her and the boys are ok, but I’m honestly livid that she’s been in another fucking accident and that we’re likely gonna have to replace the damn thing again and she’s not gonna be happy with my choices to replace it. At this point, I want her in as tanker a vehicle as I can get, and she’s refusing to get anything bigger than another Traverse.

I am glad your family is ok and the Traverse seemed to held up the impact pretty well. But just sucks when it happened.

[D Griff]

Traverse is basically a school bus. If someone hits that they're hitting anything. Throw a step or something into the hitch receiver on whatever you get for a bit of a buffer on impact.

I think I agree with this sentiment, not sure it would make a difference. Glad to hear the family was OK, hopefully the Traverse can live to see another day!

[D Griff]

I did some fun driving in the mountains this weekend. I went up to my buddy's mountain house with some other guys and hit some twisties in both my old BMW (the friend who bought it from me owns the house we were all hanging at) and a 2011 Boxster base my other friend rented on Turo. He currently has no car (sold his Boss 302) and is considering purchasing a 986, so he wanted to try out a Coxster.

The thing's clutch was clearly about done, it smelled after our drives and the engagement point was way way high. Outside of that, Boxsters are pretty damn sweet. It's really pretty comfortable and uncompromised inside for linebacker status bros, plenty of headroom, decent ride, pretty refined. Everything seemed to be in pretty good shape for a 12 year old Turo with 80K miles, although the top mechanism was broken. Braking and handling were great, it sounds good, pulls rather well for not even being an 'S'. The trunks have quite a lot of room as well, these things would be way better dailies than a Miata or something like that.

All in all a really fun car and seems hard to beat for the money, maintenance costs concerns aside. The one bad thing was the shifter feel sort of sucks in these, another Euro car to add to the list of meh shifter feel.

[D Griff]

I did some fun driving in the mountains this weekend. I went up to my buddy's mountain house with some other guys and hit some twisties in both my old BMW (the friend who bought it from me owns the house we were all hanging at) and a 2011 Boxster base my other friend rented on Turo. He currently has no car (sold his Boss 302) and is considering purchasing a 986, so he wanted to try out a Coxster.

The thing's clutch was clearly about done, it smelled after our drives and the engagement point was way way high. Outside of that, Boxsters are pretty damn sweet. It's really pretty comfortable and uncompromised inside for linebacker status bros, plenty of headroom, decent ride, pretty refined. Everything seemed to be in pretty good shape for a 12 year old Turo with 80K miles, although the top mechanism was broken. Braking and handling were great, it sounds good, pulls rather well for not even being an 'S'. The trunks have quite a lot of room as well, these things would be way better dailies than a Miata or something like that.

All in all a really fun car and seems hard to beat for the money, maintenance costs concerns aside. The one bad thing was the shifter feel sort of sucks in these, another Euro car to add to the list of meh shifter feel.

[max225]

You thought the non s was decent speed wise ? Dang … I Just couldn’t do it… it felt like a Camry … worse even than a v6 Camry. But agreed on other things they are fun sporty cars. But every time I get out one … I think what else can I get for that money

[CaleDeRoo]

I still miss the sound of the 981 I rented.

[D Griff]

You thought the non s was decent speed wise ? Dang … I Just couldn’t do it… it felt like a Camry … worse even than a v6 Camry. But agreed on other things they are fun sporty cars. But every time I get out one … I think what else can I get for that money

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

[CaleDeRoo]

You thought the non s was decent speed wise ? Dang … I Just couldn’t do it… it felt like a Camry … worse even than a v6 Camry. But agreed on other things they are fun sporty cars. But every time I get out one … I think what else can I get for that money

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

It's not really much faster than your Corvette was. I feel like the size of it just makes the car seems like it's just extra, comparatively speaking.

[D Griff]

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

It's not really much faster than your Corvette was. I feel like the size of it just makes the car seems like it's just extra, comparatively speaking.

zero to 60 and 1/4 mile are similar. That said, I wouldn't want anything faster than a C5 and I think the C5 was fun in other ways besides just power and sound. Power is pretty low on the totem pole for me in how much fun a vehicle is, which I guess is my overall point. I think a base Boxster is waaaay more fun than a big power boat like a 6.4 Challenger, having driven both in the past few weeks.

A lot of this is dependent on location though, if you lived in rural TX or something power is sort of all you've got and you would have more opportunities to use it.

[Valkyrie]

I need to see the trunk space on a boxster at some point. Probably too small for my gear but they're cool cars and relatively cheap.

Unrelated, but last week I rode in a Bolt for the first time. It was the version with extra cladding for off-roading because murica. We fit 6 non-DFD-sized adults in it to go across town, 2 bigger guys in the front and 4 skinny ladies in the back. I'd be fine with something that size at the absolute largest.

The car itself seemed... fine. Nothing really noteworthy about it at all.

[CaleDeRoo]

I need to see the trunk space on a boxster at some point. Probably too small for my gear but they're cool cars and relatively cheap.

Unrelated, but last week I rode in a Bolt for the first time. It was the version with extra cladding for off-roading because murica. We fit 6 non-DFD-sized adults in it to go across town, 2 bigger guys in the front and 4 skinny ladies in the back. I'd be fine with something that size at the absolute largest.

The car itself seemed... fine. Nothing really noteworthy about it at all.

What kind of gear are we talking

[Valkyrie]

Usually 2 guitars, a small PA system, and a bag full of various cables. All fits fine in the mazda3 hatch, would be fine in something like an Audi TT hatch too. I think Cayman/Boxster would be a no-go.

At this point I might actually want the seating position to see better in town, which would mean something like a 500 Abarth for gas-powered cars or Bolt/i3 in electrics.

[Valkyrie]

I remembered that the appliance I want actually does kind of exist:

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2014 ... irst-test/

29xx lbs, 400 ft-lbs in a compact hatch that doesn't cost $40k+

Should be cheap since they only existed from 2014-16. Dunno about battery longevity

[D Griff]

I need to see the trunk space on a boxster at some point. Probably too small for my gear but they're cool cars and relatively cheap.

Unrelated, but last week I rode in a Bolt for the first time. It was the version with extra cladding for off-roading because murica. We fit 6 non-DFD-sized adults in it to go across town, 2 bigger guys in the front and 4 skinny ladies in the back. I'd be fine with something that size at the absolute largest.

The car itself seemed... fine. Nothing really noteworthy about it at all.

The Boxster trunk space was pretty You'd probably have to put guitars in the passenger seat but could fit smallish PA speakers in the trunk/Frunk. I'd say the frunk is like 2X the size of a Miata trunk and the rear one about 3X the size. It was also pretty spacious feeling inside.

Tough to beat a Corvette for hauling stuff in a sports car

[max225]

You thought the non s was decent speed wise ? Dang … I Just couldn’t do it… it felt like a Camry … worse even than a v6 Camry. But agreed on other things they are fun sporty cars. But every time I get out one … I think what else can I get for that money

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

Given my experience with an E46 and 370z which was also a similar thing... weight/hp etc. And I'd take the more reliable car every time.

[Valkyrie]

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

Given my experience with an E46 and 370z which was also a similar thing... weight/hp etc. And I'd take the more reliable car every time.

I like the idea of a cool older car but don't think that I'm ever going to have the time/patience to deal with old car things again.

[max225]

Given my experience with an E46 and 370z which was also a similar thing... weight/hp etc. And I'd take the more reliable car every time.

I like the idea of a cool older car but don't think that I'm ever going to have the time/patience to deal with old car things again.

Or the cool older car needs to be simple AF. I am not tearing down an engine/trans in the "comfort of my home". Been there done that and FUCK that.

[D Griff]

987.2 is sub 6 second 0-60, pretty equivalent speed to the car I'm buying. I actually think a BRZ/86 vs. 987.2 Cayman/Boxster is a legit cross shop, similar performance/price/size, do you want mid engine and 'prestige' or a warranty?

I rented that 6.4 Challenger a few weeks back and I just have zero interest in cars that are actually fast, there is literally nothing you can do with that on the whole of the East Coast.

Given my experience with an E46 and 370z which was also a similar thing... weight/hp etc. And I'd take the more reliable car every time.

Me too. I think I'd rather have a 987.2 S for the ~$35K OTD I'm buying for if I could guarantee reliability/low maintenance, but you can see which way I'm actually going.

Indeed the idea of a neat old car is well, neat... but I feel like it's cooler to see other people's at C&C or whatever than actually unless you have no other hobbies/family obligations.

[MrH42]

Having an old enthusiast car is a hobby I'm not really interested in. Even the S2000, which is about as reliable as older cars get, was kind of a pain. Trim pieces break, rubber wears out, etc.

A new car, left stock, is the least amount of headaches for the most enjoyment.

[D Griff]

Having an old enthusiast car is a hobby I'm not really interested in. Even the S2000, which is about as reliable as older cars get, was kind of a pain. Trim pieces break, rubber wears out, etc.

A new car, left stock, is the least amount of headaches for the most enjoyment.

That was what I came to as well, I have too much other stuff going on/I enjoy and don't particularly care for wrenching. I also want to track from time to time and be able to just drive to/from events with somewhat little worry.

I wouldn't mind an oldish daily as I wouldn't care as much when trim pieces and such break. I actually kind of covet an Element for some dumb reason. I think fuel economy is too shit to pull the trigger though.

[max225]

Having an old enthusiast car is a hobby I'm not really interested in. Even the S2000, which is about as reliable as older cars get, was kind of a pain. Trim pieces break, rubber wears out, etc.

A new car, left stock, is the least amount of headaches for the most enjoyment.

That was what I came to as well, I have too much other stuff going on/I enjoy and don't particularly care for wrenching. I also want to track from time to time and be able to just drive to/from events with somewhat little worry.

I wouldn't mind an oldish daily as I wouldn't care as much when trim pieces and such break. I actually kind of covet an Element for some dumb reason. I think fuel economy is too shit to pull the trigger though.

You're making due with 1 car at the moment which suggests you don't drive that much... and your gas prices are 2.99? Why do gas prices matter on an Element? That thing will likely get 20-23mpg which seems perfectly fine. Not like it's a 6.2L AWD escalade.

[MrH42]

Having an old enthusiast car is a hobby I'm not really interested in. Even the S2000, which is about as reliable as older cars get, was kind of a pain. Trim pieces break, rubber wears out, etc.

A new car, left stock, is the least amount of headaches for the most enjoyment.

That was what I came to as well, I have too much other stuff going on/I enjoy and don't particularly care for wrenching. I also want to track from time to time and be able to just drive to/from events with somewhat little worry.

I wouldn't mind an oldish daily as I wouldn't care as much when trim pieces and such break. I actually kind of covet an Element for some dumb reason. I think fuel economy is too shit to pull the trigger though.

I had an Element. It was both the best car and the worst car. I would love nothing more than a new, EV Element. A man can dream.