What do you drive and why?

I like sports cars and have been driving them for decades. Recently sold examples - Jensen CV8 (sixpack big block Chrysler), Fiero GT with 300 bhp custom turbo engine, Lamborghini Islero S, MGC (straight 6 MGB lookalike).

Current fleet:

Pontiac Solstice coupe - tuned to 375 bhp out of a 2 litre engine

BMW Z4M coupe - because I love the naturally aspirated straight six when it gets up around the 7900 rpm red line

Jensen Interceptor - because you need a gentleman’s carriage that will cruise at triple digit speeds all day (even if there aren’t any roads available to do that any more), and the big block Chrysler offers effortless high speed capability

1962 MGA coupe - because they represent a styling period we’ll never see again

1956 MGA with Fiberfab Jamaican rebody and GM 3.4 V6 with 5 speed transplant

and although I no longer race it, my old race car, a 1958 MGA Twin Cam roadster

And if I need to haul stuff, I can always borrow my wife’s Mazda 3.

F350, crewcab, dually, diesel.  It's so big that it came with its own zip code...

Flapjack and falconquest,
Thanks for the heads up on the Subaru and specifically Forester problems. I will keep an eye on those issues and some other ones I have heard about. I have had two Hondas and one Toyota and really like those brands as well. I think it can be helpful to share stories and experiences about cars without bickering.... such sharing can be useful.

Always check the ground wires on the older subarus. Always change the batteries out due to a lightweight level of alternator assist.

What happens is that the revs drop, the car draws from the battery instead of the alternator, so every drop to idle is like a start cycle pressure on the battery. This causes premature wear on the battery.

the not perfect ground wiring, combined with the pressure on the now weak battery/flow system... causes a electrical potential differential to arise in the antifreeze and causes a shift in it’s ph.

It’s a wet sump motor type, so it is always sitting in it’s fluids. The altered pH of the anti-freeze will begin to dissolve the seals.

also, the slight bit of slippage of carbon (burnt fuel) around the rings will change the acidity of the oil, and the engine, unlike most others out there, sits in it’s oil, when not operating. So the oil goes acidic, like all oil does in time, and then you get the oil eating it’s seals. In this case, it eats the lower half of the head gaskets. (where the sitting oil contacts it)

So, check grounds, change batteries, make sure idle is good, and change oil as often as the maintenance schedule asks you to.

The motor is fundamentally air rated, so it’s not all bad. But air rated engines need to survive in the air and have severe maintenance schedules and testing, not sit around and be essentially ignored.... and do 300k miles over 10 years, like in a car.

2psyop, *G* Meant to amuse while informing... ;)

Yeah, that Lotus IS major over caffeinated.  But that IS kind of the point; I've always preferred 'uphill charges' to downhills since one can control speed & acceleration with throttle. Too easy to 'overcook' on a downhill...

geoffkait, yeah, well...  It was the price one paid in that era for something other that was nimble and quick.  I know a guy back in SF that owned a Norton that didn't leak oil.  'Course, he was German by extraction and one fastidious mechanic.  If it could get Permatex'd shut, he did.
I owned a Spitfire for awhile, it's worse habit was bending a pushrod from time to time.  But it was actually nice to work on; tip the hood assembly forward, sit on the front tire, and fiddle with the whatever.

One thing I wish every and anyone to do with a vehicle that's new to them is to go find an empty parking lot, without the wheel stops and a minimum of posts. Idle into a turn, crank the wheel full lock to L or R, and slowly accelerate until it breaks traction or you've lost your nerve.  Base limit of adhesion for the tires.

Another: Accelerate to 40 and stand on the brakes.  Find out where the anti-lock kicks in.  Now repeat, and learn where that limit is.

True story: Artesia freeway, westbound into LA, 5 lanes of 'go 'n slow' traffic all 5.  I'm in 34' motor home.  A SUV zips up on the left, hoping to get in front of me in a closing gap.

He isn't going to make it.
I put both feet on the brake and try to shove it through the floor.
His tires start 'chirping' as his A/L engages, and at the last moment, he dives for my lane.  I make contact, and push him sideways for a second or two.

We make our way to the side.
"My bad, I was trying to outbreak the anti-lock"...
His wife looks very grim.
The 2 young teens in the back seat are as white as a sheet of fresh copier paper.
We got within 6 feet of me 'pinching' his door into the car that was in his lane, the one he was trying to leave.
1/2 second out, and we may have maimed or killed them all.

As it was, he got an 8' groove across all the passenger side doors.
Any exit from the SUV was to the left.

I had a small scrape on the corner of my front bumper.
Oh, and a broken coffee pot and a siamese fighting fish that was onboard in his tank. His tank got broken; he managed to survive, but never was quite the same.  Died a month or so later....

I got a hint from an interview with a NASCAR driver.  Drive with your left foot over the brake pedal; esp. in traffic.  Your reaction time improves dramatically.  Works with manual shift, better with automatics.  The Focus has a dual-clutch auto which will downshift if you poke it hard in the 'S' mode.  I like that.

Anyway....back to the frivolity, y'all....;)

If I lived in the mountains Id have Subaru for sure….i have f150 09...