Are you really looking forward to the future?
- Thread starter Orion
- 145 comments
- 9,396 views
This man speaks the truth!
- 21,286
- GR-MI-USA
- YSSMAN
- YSSMAN
Its not that the exterior is bad, but where it loses is the interior. It just isn't right in an $80K car... Furthermore, it just doesn't fit right. The origional Viper was cool because it was different, the updated model was much the same, and the current car is a winner for the same reasons. But that being said, it isn't the most radical thing out there anymore, so Chrysler is in need of an update (again).
And I think you're crazy.
That honor still goes to the 1955-1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air
or, my personal favorite, the C2 Stingray Corvette ('67 pictured)
- 6,977
- old-guy64
Funny thing, I never thought any of the Vipers were beautiful.
Powerful, Muscular, High-testosterone, Hell yeah!
But not ever a beauty.
As for the new Mustang, it has a lot of potential to be a really great looking car.
Paint the rear fascia on ALL of them black. Lose the stupid striping at the bottom of the kick panel.
Bring out a "true" notchback coupe, the fastback is nice, the covertible is nicer, but a plain notchback hardtop would look really great.
Powerful, Muscular, High-testosterone, Hell yeah!
But not ever a beauty.
As for the new Mustang, it has a lot of potential to be a really great looking car.
Paint the rear fascia on ALL of them black. Lose the stupid striping at the bottom of the kick panel.
Bring out a "true" notchback coupe, the fastback is nice, the covertible is nicer, but a plain notchback hardtop would look really great.
- 3,603
Out of coincidence, I test drove an '07 Mustang GT Convertible on the weekend.
I'm not saying it's perfect. Far from it, in fact. But it is a nice car.
Or, at least the one I drove was. All black, leather interior, five speed.
I'll make this short, because my time is limited. But I think it communicates the jist of the car, in my (admittedly inexperienced) eyes.
Interior:
Put shortly, it feels like no Ford I've been in before. The black perforated leather seats are well bolstered, and quite comfortable. I found it easy to get in a comfortable position. The leather wrapped steering wheel is not small, but just right - Big enough to grab on to, but not bulky. Looking forward, I had a proper compliment of instruments - Speedo, tach, gas, oil pressure, voltmeter, temperature. I found the speedometer all too easy to ignore - The big-small-big-small numbering was annoying, and too small to be glanced at. Both tach and speedo should be bigger and with larger, more concise numbering - I don't care that I can make it a thousand different colors if I can't read it in the first place.
Looking ahead, visibility was good, although I couldn't see the corners of the hood - Just the (false) scoop and where the hood dropped off. Just something you get used to with every car.
The shifter was firm, with relatively short throws. My biggest complaint would be the spacing - Too much lateral movement was required when making the 2-3 and 4-5 shifts. I managed to miss the 2-3 shift twice in my hour(ish) drive. I would prefer a slightly taller, leather knob over the stubby metal one.
The stereo - "Shaker 500" - Only sounded okay. I was expecting more, although I didn't have time to play around with it the way I wanted to. I'm sure that ten minutes with the settings would have it sorted better. The buttons were fairly easy to read, and the number of them wasn't overwhelming. The back seats were passable, though I wouldn't want to go for a long trip in them. The coupe offers a 50/50 split rear seat in the back, which looked like it would fit my skis perfectly.
Exterior: Well, this is something most of us have seen. This one had polished exhaust tips, rocker mouldings, the machined 5/10 spoke wheels, a trunk spoiler, big foglights, and the hood scoop (which, while nonfunctional, does look cool). Oh, and it was all black. If you haven't taken a close look at a well-optioned Mustang GT, do it. It looks far better in person than in any photograph.
No, seriously. Do it. That's the only reason I got this test drive, was because I was looking at it, and showed a bit of interest in the car.
Driving: The fun part.
The salesman started, slipping the clutch badly for his 15-minute part of the drive. As a passenger, I couldn't read the guages if I tried, because of how far inset they are. I found that annoying, simply because I like to know how fast I'm going, etc. With the top up, any sense of speed is greatly dulled down. The ride was smooth over the highway - firm, but not jarring. Very little body roll. We pulled off onto a side road and swapped places.
The first thing I found was the clutch. Completely different beast from my Talon. The throw of the clutch was surprisingly short, with the action being spread over the outer 2/3 of the throw. I'll admit that I stalled it the first time I went to set off. The gas, in all honesty, didn't seem as responsive in neutral as other cars I've driven. A pretty big stab at the gas pedal is required to evoke much of a response. That said, when in gear it pulls smoothly and with good strength - even if not what I expected for a 300-horsepower car with 320 lb-ft of torque. This was the most powerful car I've driven to date, but it didn't quite pull like I expected it to. In the bad way. Too smooth, not peaky. I drive a turbocharged car usually, so I'm used to a peaky motor. This one just built, and built, and built. Nature of the beast, I guess. I didn't take it up to redline - about 700 rpm away at my peak. The gearing seemed fairly tall, although it still gave a strong chirp when shifting hard into second with the traction control on. I never did take it off, due to the salesman beside me, although I did want to. I headed back down the highway, and was almost back at the dealer when I asked if I could make a detour to my favorite curvy road about ten minutes away. A quick check of the gas guage confirmed that we could indeed do this. We put the top down and headed back out - it was a gorgeous day outside, about 26 Celcius, with a slight breeze off the ocean and not a cloud in the sky. I headed out to Prospect Lake Road, and promptly got stuck behind a minivan. I was still able to get a bit of feel for the car, though. It was, as stated before, firm but not jarring. There was very little body roll, and just a hint of nose dive. Cowl shake was present, but less than I expected for the big convertible. The brakes were linear, if numb, and seemed to be adequete. Poor placement of the pedals prevented heel-toe action, but I rev-matched my downshifts most of the time. Again, a big stab of the gas is needed to get a response. But when it does respond, it does it quickly. I pulled a U-turn at a turn off and pointed the Mustang back in the direction of the dealer, and cruised back with a minimum of tire chirps. It makes an excellent cruiser.
And, that was my Saturday.
Oh, the exhause note. Simply marvellous. With the top down especially, you could hear everything. No need for a stereo when you've got that.
Edit - Similar to this, but with a hood scoop:
Now, I've no real idea why I posted that. But it seemed kind of relevant to the discussion about Mustangs over the past few posts.
So, referring to the topic at hand, I'm not looking forward to the future. At a time when a Nissan dealer I visited has no manuals on hand, I think we're going to be entering a time when there is going to be less and less driver involvement encouraged - Bad for the enthusiast. Sports cars, or anything enthusiast-oriented is going to be harder to find and more expensive to purchase and run. Bad for the enthusiast. Furthermore, the internal combustion engine as we know it is not sustainable. As much as I don't like it, I know that there will be a day when it's no longer practical, affordable, or possible to run a car as we know it today. And I'm not looking forward to that. In fact, I dread it.
I'm not saying it's perfect. Far from it, in fact. But it is a nice car.
Or, at least the one I drove was. All black, leather interior, five speed.
I'll make this short, because my time is limited. But I think it communicates the jist of the car, in my (admittedly inexperienced) eyes.
Interior:
Put shortly, it feels like no Ford I've been in before. The black perforated leather seats are well bolstered, and quite comfortable. I found it easy to get in a comfortable position. The leather wrapped steering wheel is not small, but just right - Big enough to grab on to, but not bulky. Looking forward, I had a proper compliment of instruments - Speedo, tach, gas, oil pressure, voltmeter, temperature. I found the speedometer all too easy to ignore - The big-small-big-small numbering was annoying, and too small to be glanced at. Both tach and speedo should be bigger and with larger, more concise numbering - I don't care that I can make it a thousand different colors if I can't read it in the first place.
Looking ahead, visibility was good, although I couldn't see the corners of the hood - Just the (false) scoop and where the hood dropped off. Just something you get used to with every car.
The shifter was firm, with relatively short throws. My biggest complaint would be the spacing - Too much lateral movement was required when making the 2-3 and 4-5 shifts. I managed to miss the 2-3 shift twice in my hour(ish) drive. I would prefer a slightly taller, leather knob over the stubby metal one.
The stereo - "Shaker 500" - Only sounded okay. I was expecting more, although I didn't have time to play around with it the way I wanted to. I'm sure that ten minutes with the settings would have it sorted better. The buttons were fairly easy to read, and the number of them wasn't overwhelming. The back seats were passable, though I wouldn't want to go for a long trip in them. The coupe offers a 50/50 split rear seat in the back, which looked like it would fit my skis perfectly.
Exterior: Well, this is something most of us have seen. This one had polished exhaust tips, rocker mouldings, the machined 5/10 spoke wheels, a trunk spoiler, big foglights, and the hood scoop (which, while nonfunctional, does look cool). Oh, and it was all black. If you haven't taken a close look at a well-optioned Mustang GT, do it. It looks far better in person than in any photograph.
No, seriously. Do it. That's the only reason I got this test drive, was because I was looking at it, and showed a bit of interest in the car.
Driving: The fun part.
The salesman started, slipping the clutch badly for his 15-minute part of the drive. As a passenger, I couldn't read the guages if I tried, because of how far inset they are. I found that annoying, simply because I like to know how fast I'm going, etc. With the top up, any sense of speed is greatly dulled down. The ride was smooth over the highway - firm, but not jarring. Very little body roll. We pulled off onto a side road and swapped places.
The first thing I found was the clutch. Completely different beast from my Talon. The throw of the clutch was surprisingly short, with the action being spread over the outer 2/3 of the throw. I'll admit that I stalled it the first time I went to set off. The gas, in all honesty, didn't seem as responsive in neutral as other cars I've driven. A pretty big stab at the gas pedal is required to evoke much of a response. That said, when in gear it pulls smoothly and with good strength - even if not what I expected for a 300-horsepower car with 320 lb-ft of torque. This was the most powerful car I've driven to date, but it didn't quite pull like I expected it to. In the bad way. Too smooth, not peaky. I drive a turbocharged car usually, so I'm used to a peaky motor. This one just built, and built, and built. Nature of the beast, I guess. I didn't take it up to redline - about 700 rpm away at my peak. The gearing seemed fairly tall, although it still gave a strong chirp when shifting hard into second with the traction control on. I never did take it off, due to the salesman beside me, although I did want to. I headed back down the highway, and was almost back at the dealer when I asked if I could make a detour to my favorite curvy road about ten minutes away. A quick check of the gas guage confirmed that we could indeed do this. We put the top down and headed back out - it was a gorgeous day outside, about 26 Celcius, with a slight breeze off the ocean and not a cloud in the sky. I headed out to Prospect Lake Road, and promptly got stuck behind a minivan. I was still able to get a bit of feel for the car, though. It was, as stated before, firm but not jarring. There was very little body roll, and just a hint of nose dive. Cowl shake was present, but less than I expected for the big convertible. The brakes were linear, if numb, and seemed to be adequete. Poor placement of the pedals prevented heel-toe action, but I rev-matched my downshifts most of the time. Again, a big stab of the gas is needed to get a response. But when it does respond, it does it quickly. I pulled a U-turn at a turn off and pointed the Mustang back in the direction of the dealer, and cruised back with a minimum of tire chirps. It makes an excellent cruiser.
And, that was my Saturday.
Oh, the exhause note. Simply marvellous. With the top down especially, you could hear everything. No need for a stereo when you've got that.
Edit - Similar to this, but with a hood scoop:
Now, I've no real idea why I posted that. But it seemed kind of relevant to the discussion about Mustangs over the past few posts.
So, referring to the topic at hand, I'm not looking forward to the future. At a time when a Nissan dealer I visited has no manuals on hand, I think we're going to be entering a time when there is going to be less and less driver involvement encouraged - Bad for the enthusiast. Sports cars, or anything enthusiast-oriented is going to be harder to find and more expensive to purchase and run. Bad for the enthusiast. Furthermore, the internal combustion engine as we know it is not sustainable. As much as I don't like it, I know that there will be a day when it's no longer practical, affordable, or possible to run a car as we know it today. And I'm not looking forward to that. In fact, I dread it.
I don't like the New Impreza's at all, even when playing GT4, I always drive the older models before the restyling in the year 2000 or 2001.
Most of them aren't even stock! (Psst.... The 03 is a model.....)I think the GC Impreza was great-looking, and then it went to crap with the GD bugeye. However, I think the first GD redesign was an improvement, and although I would have said the opposite about a year ago, the latest GD is sweet. That front end really grew on me, even though I used to make fun of the three-part grille:
Of course, pretty much ANYTHING is better than the '08 Impreza.
Of course, pretty much ANYTHING is better than the '08 Impreza.
- 6,769
- Little Elm, TX
- JCE3000GT
Honestly, anyone that says the new Mustangs are ugly needs a new pair of eyes--and brain for that matter. And, while the GT500 may not perform much better than the stock GT it does look brilliant.
^Suxors
^Roxors
^Suxors
^Roxors
Q.E.D.
In all of those photos I'd take ANY of the Mustangs pictured over any of those Corvettes.
I'm the opposite. Stock GTs are nice, Shelby GT500's are OK.... Saleen, Roush.
The Saleen and Roush for me suffer from one thing, a hideous nose. If you put the stock GT front or GT500 front on it they would look awsome.
Agreed.
This:
Looks better than:
That.
Are you mad? I like the '99-04 models alot, and I do mean alot, they aren't as good looking inside or out as the '05-07 models. I'd take an '05-07 V6 over the '99-04 GT. Hell the performance is reletively the same actually. And in that pic that '99-04 GT has the '96-98 Cobra rims...which are hideous on that car.
Out of coincidence, I test drove an '07 Mustang GT Convertible on the weekend.
I'm not saying it's perfect. Far from it, in fact. But it is a nice car.
Or, at least the one I drove was. All black, leather interior, five speed.
I'll make this short, because my time is limited. But I think it communicates the jist of the car, in my (admittedly inexperienced) eyes.
Interior:
Put shortly, it feels like no Ford I've been in before. The black perforated leather seats are well bolstered, and quite comfortable. I found it easy to get in a comfortable position. The leather wrapped steering wheel is not small, but just right - Big enough to grab on to, but not bulky. Looking forward, I had a proper compliment of instruments - Speedo, tach, gas, oil pressure, voltmeter, temperature. I found the speedometer all too easy to ignore - The big-small-big-small numbering was annoying, and too small to be glanced at. Both tach and speedo should be bigger and with larger, more concise numbering - I don't care that I can make it a thousand different colors if I can't read it in the first place.
Looking ahead, visibility was good, although I couldn't see the corners of the hood - Just the (false) scoop and where the hood dropped off. Just something you get used to with every car.
The shifter was firm, with relatively short throws. My biggest complaint would be the spacing - Too much lateral movement was required when making the 2-3 and 4-5 shifts. I managed to miss the 2-3 shift twice in my hour(ish) drive. I would prefer a slightly taller, leather knob over the stubby metal one.
The stereo - "Shaker 500" - Only sounded okay. I was expecting more, although I didn't have time to play around with it the way I wanted to. I'm sure that ten minutes with the settings would have it sorted better. The buttons were fairly easy to read, and the number of them wasn't overwhelming. The back seats were passable, though I wouldn't want to go for a long trip in them. The coupe offers a 50/50 split rear seat in the back, which looked like it would fit my skis perfectly.
Exterior: Well, this is something most of us have seen. This one had polished exhaust tips, rocker mouldings, the machined 5/10 spoke wheels, a trunk spoiler, big foglights, and the hood scoop (which, while nonfunctional, does look cool). Oh, and it was all black. If you haven't taken a close look at a well-optioned Mustang GT, do it. It looks far better in person than in any photograph.
No, seriously. Do it. That's the only reason I got this test drive, was because I was looking at it, and showed a bit of interest in the car.
Driving: The fun part.
The salesman started, slipping the clutch badly for his 15-minute part of the drive. As a passenger, I couldn't read the guages if I tried, because of how far inset they are. I found that annoying, simply because I like to know how fast I'm going, etc. With the top up, any sense of speed is greatly dulled down. The ride was smooth over the highway - firm, but not jarring. Very little body roll. We pulled off onto a side road and swapped places.
The first thing I found was the clutch. Completely different beast from my Talon. The throw of the clutch was surprisingly short, with the action being spread over the outer 2/3 of the throw. I'll admit that I stalled it the first time I went to set off. The gas, in all honesty, didn't seem as responsive in neutral as other cars I've driven. A pretty big stab at the gas pedal is required to evoke much of a response. That said, when in gear it pulls smoothly and with good strength - even if not what I expected for a 300-horsepower car with 320 lb-ft of torque. This was the most powerful car I've driven to date, but it didn't quite pull like I expected it to. In the bad way. Too smooth, not peaky. I drive a turbocharged car usually, so I'm used to a peaky motor. This one just built, and built, and built. Nature of the beast, I guess. I didn't take it up to redline - about 700 rpm away at my peak. The gearing seemed fairly tall, although it still gave a strong chirp when shifting hard into second with the traction control on. I never did take it off, due to the salesman beside me, although I did want to. I headed back down the highway, and was almost back at the dealer when I asked if I could make a detour to my favorite curvy road about ten minutes away. A quick check of the gas guage confirmed that we could indeed do this. We put the top down and headed back out - it was a gorgeous day outside, about 26 Celcius, with a slight breeze off the ocean and not a cloud in the sky. I headed out to Prospect Lake Road, and promptly got stuck behind a minivan. I was still able to get a bit of feel for the car, though. It was, as stated before, firm but not jarring. There was very little body roll, and just a hint of nose dive. Cowl shake was present, but less than I expected for the big convertible. The brakes were linear, if numb, and seemed to be adequete. Poor placement of the pedals prevented heel-toe action, but I rev-matched my downshifts most of the time. Again, a big stab of the gas is needed to get a response. But when it does respond, it does it quickly. I pulled a U-turn at a turn off and pointed the Mustang back in the direction of the dealer, and cruised back with a minimum of tire chirps. It makes an excellent cruiser.
And, that was my Saturday.
Oh, the exhause note. Simply marvellous. With the top down especially, you could hear everything. No need for a stereo when you've got that.
Edit - Similar to this, but with a hood scoop:
Now, I've no real idea why I posted that. But it seemed kind of relevant to the discussion about Mustangs over the past few posts.
So, referring to the topic at hand, I'm not looking forward to the future. At a time when a Nissan dealer I visited has no manuals on hand, I think we're going to be entering a time when there is going to be less and less driver involvement encouraged - Bad for the enthusiast. Sports cars, or anything enthusiast-oriented is going to be harder to find and more expensive to purchase and run. Bad for the enthusiast. Furthermore, the internal combustion engine as we know it is not sustainable. As much as I don't like it, I know that there will be a day when it's no longer practical, affordable, or possible to run a car as we know it today. And I'm not looking forward to that. In fact, I dread it.
Great read. And +rep, however...I have a couple of gripes. The clutch is rather short yes, but it doesn' take hardly any throttle to get the car going smoothly. And, in my opinion, there wasn't any body roll to speak of and it actually takes corners quite well even with its archaic rear suspension. And, the throttle response you've encountered could either be atypical or you weren't really allowed to "get on 'er" during a test drive with the salesman sitting next to you. Trust me, I drive these almost weekly since I work for the dealership and the throttle is quite brutal when you want it to be. And I suspect driving the convertable (as I have myself) isn't no where NEAR as fun as the coupe. The convertable feels wollowly and heavier than the coupe. My compaints are the brakes could of been better as well as the seatbelt position could of been raised slightly for the shoulder harness. And lastly, whats really awsome is I did a trade in one on Friday from Georgetown TX back up to my dealership near Dallas and I drove the living **** out of the car and managed 18mpg--yes 18mpg. My average speed according to the instrument cluster info center was *cough*88mph*cough*. I took it up to 130mph while having fun with this guy's Mini Cooper S (he didn't stand a chance) and it felt quite smooth at that speed. My only real complaint about the performance of the Mustang GT north of 100mph feels slow--but maybe that's just because I'm concentrating too hard on maintaining speed and control. I do agree with pretty much everything else you said. The seats are quite comfortable for being a sports car--an American one at that. On my 3 hour trip there and immediate 4 hour trip back (traffic) I wasn't worn out or tired.
I think the GC Impreza was great-looking, and then it went to crap with the GD bugeye. However, I think the first GD redesign was an improvement, and although I would have said the opposite about a year ago, the latest GD is sweet. That front end really grew on me, even though I used to make fun of the three-part grille:
Of course, pretty much ANYTHING is better than the '08 Impreza.
I love that photo. 👍
Sage
Staff Emeritus
- 12,533
- United States
- GTP_Sage
Oy vey youre kidding, right? I would be horrified if my cars hood scoop were glued on that badly and if I couldnt open my doors and if the fender gaps were large enough to stick your fist through and if the metallic flecks in my paint were as large as my thumb.I don't see how that is a die cast car.
That seriously doesn't look like a toy.
If you need more proof, look at the URL that that image is hosted.
- 26,628
- OREGON
- a6m5zero
That is rediculous, racerx. Here's the real one, and it looks totally different:
http://www.mocpages.com/user_thumbn...WRXSTI_protoimprezasti34front1.jpg_SPLASH.jpg
http://www.mocpages.com/user_thumbn...WRXSTI_protoimprezasti34front1.jpg_SPLASH.jpg
- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
- 36,697
- Scotland
- GTP_daan
- 40,877
Crazy, crazy, crazy. "C5 with a bad body kit" can't touch the C1, 2, 3 or 4. And the C5 was really just a bloated RX-7, so what have you.
^Suxors
^Roxors
I don't think anyone here will say that the nasty early Fox cars look good by any measure.Danoff
^Suxors
^Roxors
Oh, I agree the interior is trash. That is probably why I would avoid both the New Edge car and the current car to just buy a 3rd Gen Camaro.a6m5
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