Let's Talk about sweet cars

[CardsofSTL]

@Radbird I would rather have the '83. Though even better...I would rather have an '83 F150.

[Popeye_Card]

I know trucks have gotten a lot bigger over the years.

My old truck was an ‘83 High Sierra. It fit in my garage. Today, I doubt even a Colorado or Tacoma would fit.

While trucks have certainly gotten bigger, that meme is misleading on several fronts. First is simply the perspective of the photo - the vehicle in front is always going to appear bigger, and you can certainly do some creative zooming to exaggerate it.

They are both Chevy Silverados, technically the “same model”. The ‘83 looks like a regular cab, base model 2wd 1500. The new truck is a crew cab 2500HD (possibly 3500) with what looks like an off-road suspension package. Those are not the same specs at all.

The new HD’s are insanely huge. I regularly park right next to a guy who has a 2022 GMC 2500HD with an AT4 package. It absolutely dwarfs my GMC 1500 with the Z71 package.

Big trucks kinda suck. Sure they are nicer to ride in, but they are so hard to maneuver, park, fit in a garage, etc. I like having the half ton for my needs - hauling and towing - but there are many times I wish it were smaller.

[ghostrunner]

The hood height is totally ridiculous on modern trucks and a problem. It’s bizarre that we’ve made all these safety features mandatory for vehicles over time and yet we’ve allowed stuff like this.

I get wanting the extended cab, but what problem is the massive front end solving?

[IMADreamer]

I just need someone to vent to, and I'm sure I'll sound like a big dick doing so. One of the problems I'm having is weakness in my right arm and hand and it is making shifting a manual transmission a chore. Three times last week I did a 1-4 shift while driving because my hand just didn't go where it should have. I alluded earlier in the thread that I was looking at another car that would be an automatic but I've yet to really settle. I've been thinking of selling my Viper but my wife says keep it. She's not wrong in that it's value is sure to only increase. She is also pretty optimistic about my strength returning but there is just a good of a chance it won't and I'm less optimistic as I haven't seen improvement for a while now. I tried a Supra not long ago. Man I love the car, but it's a difficult ingress and egress for someone my size and condition. Not to mention the door opening is low and it seems like people hitting their heads is a common complaint. I just kind of want one more nasty fast car incase this thing gets worse and in the not to distant future I can't hand that or drive at all.

My current short list is.

C7 Z06 Vette
Lexus RC-F
Final Generation CTS-V since the CT5-Blackwings are still pretty high priced.

It sounds like you're targeting V-8s, but I've heard glowing things about the CT4-V Blackwing as well.

I do like the idea of a CT4-V Blackwing. It's not on the short list, but it's on the list.

[ghostrunner]

Every close up of a Cybertruck I see makes it look like some amateur assembled it in their garage.

I’ve seen a couple Rivians out on the road and I don’t know why you wouldn’t go that way if you wanted a sleek electric truck.

[CardsofSTL]

The Cybertruck looks like something I sketched when I was 3.

[IMADreamer]

I see Rivians coming through town on car haulers all the time here and I always think they look nice. If I wanted an electric truck I'd probably look hard at them.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Mrs AW has tasked me with buying a bmw X7.

There no talking sense into her sometimes so that’s my task.

We went to the dealership. They had one in stock. Test drove it. Mrs AW said yeah get it but with xyz.

Talked to the dealer. And they basically said go to the website, build the car you want, and put the order in then come give us a deposit. No negotiations. Won’t come down off Website/msrp price.

So I’m looking for like year old x7s just to have any sort of leverage in this but it’s not looking good for me.

Also what blows my mind in this is not all bmws can drive themselves on the highway. When we bought a Volvo in 2016 it was on the verge of being able to and couldnwithin a couple months which was a $300 upgrade iirc.

Blows my mind bmw can’t do this 8 years later on the regular.

[IMADreamer]

Mrs AW has tasked me with buying a bmw X7.

There no talking sense into her sometimes so that’s my task.

We went to the dealership. They had one in stock. Test drove it. Mrs AW said yeah get it but with xyz.

Talked to the dealer. And they basically said go to the website, build the car you want, and put the order in then come give us a deposit. No negotiations. Won’t come down off Website/msrp price.

So I’m looking for like year old x7s just to have any sort of leverage in this but it’s not looking good for me.

Also what blows my mind in this is not all bmws can drive themselves on the highway. When we bought a Volvo in 2016 it was on the verge of being able to and couldnwithin a couple months which was a $300 upgrade iirc.

Blows my mind bmw can’t do this 8 years later on the regular.

The German car company business model is to say here's a base car and then charge the living [expletive] out of you for ever little option. Porsche are the kings at it but BMW is definitely a close second.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Going to share this story about a car's sensor thingy likely working to protect a kid.

We had a baseball game last night at the local rec league. It's a weird setup so bear with me here:

The parking is a long strip all along the right field line. Head in parking right up against the fence with a drive aisle behind it then more head in parking on the other side then a building. The building has back doors that people use for drop off every now and then. The parking ends at a grass field that is more/less used for turning around.

As you can imagine, when there are games going on, the parking lot fills up and kids are constantly running around.

Last night I was coaching 3rd and heard what I thought was a crash in the drive aisle kind of behind home plate. Look up see a lady in a new BMW stopped with a phone in her hand behind the wheel. I was looking for the other car to see what she hit when I saw a kid get up and scamper off. Called time out and the other coach who was on the 1st base side ran out of the fence to see what was going on.

A dad/coach in our dugout said he saw the whole thing. Lady in the bmw dropped a kid off at the end of the building (deep right field, for reference), turned around, and was driving back through way too fast. A kid ran out in front of her (near home plate) and the car screeched to a halt sliding on some of the loose rocks. The kid stuck out her hand, the car hit her, not that hard but hard enough to knock her down. He said the lady driving never saw the kid. He tried to yell before the impact but said he kind of froze up. He's a pretty damn tough guy but was obviously shook up.

Regardless, everybody was okay in the end. The girl that was hit ran over to her mom and kind of broke down giving her a hug. ER doctor was on hand and checked her out and said she was fine. The lady driving the bmw never got out of her car. Sat frozen for a good minute before driving off....which, pretty sure you're required to at least make sure everyone is okay after hitting someone but what do I know.

I say all that to say, the dad/coach that saw it said the lady driving had zero clue a kid ran out in front of her. He said the car must have stopped itself, or at least started the braking process and alerted the lady who then hit the brakes likely just in the nick of time. So, that's good.

Also, just a friendly reminder to pay attention, people. Only takes a second for something terrible to happen when behind the wheel.