We had two WF1s running in the region last year. I usually beat them for the first two laps then watched them disappear, only to return in my rearview mirror ten laps later.
my only experience with an audi was behind the wheel of my friends muffler deleted s4 and the sounds the v8 made were heavenly and it almost made me want to sell the miata for one until i saw the repair bills and the time it spent in the shop
not at all surprised that weve dropped so many points as the only thing canada produces is housing debt and international students
maybe attending university in a year or two will allow me to find a marriageable woman younger than me because like some have pointed out there arent really that many places where men and women can mingle
"Creeper" really means "not physically attractive", but it shifts the blame onto the man, whereas the equivalent for women, "uggo" or "fatty", is now considered to be an indictment of the fellow who renders the judgment. Heads they win, tails you lose!
He ended up making $5 million from the Yankees, though I think he never made it past AAA ball. Probably made more than that riding the bench in the NFL.
Michigan has one of the largest alumni associations in the world and many of those alums have been successful in their careers. A young athlete who knows he is capable of playing Division I college ball but not likely to make it to the big leagues, might choose a college based on that.
A starting quarterback for a Michigan team probably doesn't have to worry about job offers later in life.
My nephew played college football. Full Div 1 scholarship. Then he got hurt. His backup signed in the NFL for 32 million.
I don't think my nephew was NFL material or if he was, he'd have lasted more than a few years. Bad concussions, broken fingers, knees and shoulders. He's in his late 20s. It wasn't worth it.
Also had bad concussions, broken fingers, a shoulder that has had to be reconstructed, and joints that now creak and crack like a haunted house’s floors.
I am 30.
It was in no way worth it, and should I ever have children the only way they will play tackle football is if I’m too dead to stop them.
Which would you rather come across in the woods, a bear that has a 50% chance of eating you alive, or a woman who has a 50% chance of falsely accusing you of sexual misconduct?
That would have been the B6, the V8 sounded great because all B8s sound great but high revving V8s sound better than that.
Unfortunately that V8 had a plastic thingie that would sometimes let go of the timing thingie and the valve thingies didn't like that. To get at the plastic thingie was a royal bitch.
Exhaust notes sound the same (i.e. - loud and bad) to everyone but us.
Neighbors thought my 500 Abarth's note (basically the Neon SRT4 note with extra pepperoni) sounded like the sinus-cold+GI-bloat note of this local kid's FRS with an Aliexpress exhaust.
That's like saying Pavarotti and our middle school's voice teacher are same.
2008 is B7 not B6. same basic motor though. i had a B8 (S/C V6) which on paper was great but in practice was more than a little boring. almost too well rounded. i find most AWD cars are like that for me though.
Five door hatches are gay. Wagon/true hatchback FTW.
College worked great for me. Mrs. MD and I have been together since 2002. The things I hear about today's colleges make me want to advise my kids to look elsewhere, but if they end up there I hope I will have done enough to inoculate them against the worst forms of leftism. (Sidenote: I thought "inoculate" had two Ns. Maybe college was only really good for one thing for me in the end.)
In 2015, I was a senior in high school. My best friend, who is a couple years older, got himself a black 99ish A4, 1.8T quattro, manual. It had an APR tune and S4 wheels, so he would claim he had an S4 and we would argue the validity of that constantly.
I do remember that car being pretty damn fun, but I was 17 and used to a V6 SN95 mustang so any car with over 200hp and under 3500 lbs felt amazing. The only time I legit scared him was the first time he let me drive the Audi, and I flung it down the only curvy road in town the same way I did with my mustang... Which meant we were 10-15mph faster than usual. The Audi stuck like glue though, and I laughed my ass off.
The new one at the top here made me think Ford was bringing the Fusion back.
I drove a mildly tuned 2003 A4 in high school from time to time (mom's car) and my comment on handling is that it enjoyed turning as much as the Ever Ace.
I sold a 2003 GTI last Fall with the 1.8/manual and an APR tune. It was a fun and decently quick car (although my F-150 would destroy it in a drag race), just did not use it enough/not enough storage space to keep it. Loved how it handled the back roads with the suspension work the PO did to it.
I haven’t been in either in years, but it used to be the A4 had a reasonable back seat that would accommodate a grown human, and an IS had a back seat that would not be out of place in a 1990s hot hatch.
The IS is still definitely on the small side. The CT4 (not that anyone buys it) is also cramped; Yours truly (at 5'10" on a good day) sat in the back of a CT4-V Blackwing, and my head was in the ceiling. Which makes me sad that they didn't just go ahead and keep making the coupe.
German cars have become so damned depressing. Audis used to be so classy and understated; this thing looks like a Ford Focus, if Ford still bothered to make a Focus. They got rid of everything but the worst body style and pedantically chose to stick with A5 versus A4 to make sure everyone is confused. Lame.
Choosing colleges based on their potential for finding suitable marriage partners on campus gets a big “well, duh” from me. To my continued regret, I failed to find someone in school, largely due to lack of trying. My degree program was a sausagefest, and only two guys out of my immediate social circle married girls they met there, so maybe I did pick the wrong school. And maybe it’s just as well, as I’d undoubtedly be divorced by now.
Yeah, some majors can be bad like that. It probably can help to be in some sort of club / group, but the sausage fest majors tend to be very demanding and not all colleges have a group for everyone.
It’s fascinating to watch Ford become an increasingly minor world player. Outside of China, they have little in the pipeline and lots of stuff that’s about to die without replacement.
It makes me sad to see what happened to Ford. I have always been a fan and have owned several. I swore off after my last one, which had a cracked head with 32000 miles. The only reason I have one now is because it was my dad’s car and it holds a lot of memories.
I had the epiphany when driving my mom’s 2017 A6, since replaced by a Lexus, that the A6 was not that different in substance than my wife’s 2008 MkV Jetta. Everything felt the same inside, the Audi just had a few more features and a little more space and a sticker that was double the price.
In the early 1990s mine wasn't quite that bad, but close. I remember my ~100 person Statics class had three women. The Mean One, the Fat One, and the Asian One. Looking back the Mean One was was probably just really sick of being hit on by horny engineering dorks with zero social skills.
Changing majors to one containing at least some women was one of the best things I ever did for my mental state.
i was briefly in a 'colorand design' class at oklahoma u. where i made 2 'a's on assignments before leaving the school. me and 21 girls. i was too timid to make a move but i can still remember the expressions on their faces when i walked into the first class justa bit late...sigh...
Engineering schools, pure, hardcore, that's all we teach, schools are all but insane. You work your ass off and it never stops. People drop out constantly. There's very little fun, it's lots and lots of work.
I'm not sure I should have done engineering. At the time, I had a degree of contempt for the liberal arts subjects and business because they were easy. I did not consider that doing what came easily to me might have been more sensible. The payoff was that I got to play with some amazing toys doing defense R&D.
I went to a decent engineering school, although I chose a truly silly major. There I met a pretty young blond woman who was inappropriately brilliant for the school. She had graduated high school at the age of 16 and then entered the well-respected engineering program at my school.
She didn't care for spending her days being leered at by the Asian foreign nationals who made up half of her classmates, the other half being what she considered dorky mathletes. She changed her major to psych when she registered for her second semester, primarily so she could meet people who partied and not be the only pretty girl in the halls of academia where she attended her classes. Something is telling me that she would have gone to a much better school if her goal hadn't been an engineering degree.
I wish I could say we were misogynistic, the amount of simping going on to bed down a real world 4 would make you physically ill. You would think some of those guys got passed up by a Victoria Secret model the way they acted when they saw a chick leave a party with someone else, in reality that chick actually looked more like Victoria Scott than a Victoria Secret model. It was a dark, desperate time.
I remember the first day of my first "real" engineering class sophomore year. A circuits course. A very cute transfer student was there, chattering away. The last words I heard out of her mouth before the class started were, "What's an Ohm?"
We never saw her again. And the only other girl in the whole program changed majors before the year was over.
1999 S4, red, purchased new. 2.7 twin turbo 6. Served me well.
2004 S4, red, purchased new, auto. V8. Served me well but wanted a 6sp after all so quasi trade for
2004 S4, Blue. Served me well but time for a change.
2000 S4 Avant, blue, auto, purchased in fit of optimism around 2013. This time the POSness of the 2.7/V6 showed up.
2023 S4, grey, 3.0/turbo V6. Still under warranty.
I got the last one because I had a hunch it would be the last one, or if not, then whatever new they came up with would suck. The 2023 was designed a while ago, so it has buttons and feels like a real car. Looks way better than the identical mechanically 5 door, which has goofy lines. IMO.
I'm looking at the pics of the new one and yup, the interior is just one big screen. No shifter lever, it's kinda generic. It's even bigger than the current S4 which is almost exactly the size of the old A6 circa early 2000s. Doesn't make me want it.
OTOH I do like the engine, it doesn't really feel turbocharged. I see it's carried over (plus12 hp) into the new one. I assume they will carry over the ZF 8sp transmission which I really like as well even if it's single clutch. It shifts way better than you'd think.
When the B5 came out, I was surprised that non-car-people knew - and wanted - one.
I chose my Infiniti G20t over an A4 after seeing my friends' B5 Passats and Mk4 Golfs earn Platinum Status with tow companies. Sure, I married the sensible one, but still stared at the other...
Even now, I'd LOVE a B7 RS4 in Papaya or Imola. I'll bring my own walnut shells.
A new WF1 starts at $114k, used ones appear to go for about half that. If a knuckleheaded driver can launch a GoFundMe to _repair_ a race car, I see no reason you can't launch one to _buy_ a race car. I am quite sure the fine fellows of ACF would contribute generously.
Come to think about it, if you prominently mention a small fib in the GoFundMe ad something to the effect of, "There is a very good chance this car is entirely too fast for me and I die in a burning ball of carbon fiber and alloy," many of your haters would contribute as well.
Ah, I just have to get another grownup job, and I can do it -- but the truth is that if I had $114k plus upgrades sitting around, that should be earmarked for my son's Extra EA-300.
Well, if a Stohr and an Extra are on the shopping list, clearly your only option is OnlyFans. Not sure the fellows of ACF want any part of that, but there are surely people out there who would.
A bunch of years ago I had kidney stone surgery at a local hospital. Was a bit surprised to see seven 20-30 something women in the OR ready to help the surgeon. Three days later I got a Thank You card signed by all of the women who got to see my junk. It was probably intended as a thank you for choosing our hospital, but I tell my wife it is because my junk made an impression on them.
I am hoping that some of my tax dollars will come back to me in flight time, whether it be SR-72 Darkstar (his preference) or C-17 Globemaster II (mine)
Yeah, I was given the same advice. My dad was a commercial pilot from 1962-1989 (for bankrupt Eastern Airlines), overall he had a great career from the golden age of commercial aviation and through the rough deregulation years. He was a military figher pilot in transition era from piston to the early jets (he flew Bearcats, P-51's through the F-84f's. Said he never wanted to fly anything but fighters, but ended up working for Boeing in the 707 era (was a test pilot) and then went on to the airlines. Funny how that works out, but he advised me in my teens if I wanted to pursue commerical aviation (I did not ultimately), that I should get as much multi engine time as possible.
I see that the Extra is an aerobatic plane. Interesting. Question for you --- unlike my "nevergonnahappenX100" dream plane, the Lancair IV-P (or LX-7) turboprop,
Is the EA-300 a forgiving airframe?
It seems (guessing) that even racing wheel-to-wheel would be less dangerous than aerobatics
The luxury automakers are sure doing a job of making their newest wares *less* compelling to buy. The new A5 (previously the A4, as you said), looks too curvy and blobby to be an Audi. I would be less surprised if someone said it was a reincarnated Dodge Dart.
As for me, I've decided that spending $56,000 on a new ES Ultra Luxury for a daily-driver isn't the move. Nor would I be super enthusiastic about the way it drives. I'm instead considering something just as reliable, but that drives a little more expensively and that fits marginally better on the short side of my garage: the GS 350. Specifically, I'm looking for a 2016-2020 F Sport, in RWD, not in Structural Blue (best friend's husband has one in that color), with either the Flaxen (tan) or Rioja (red) interior, and with the Mark Levinson audio and heated steering wheel. Preferably, I'd get a 2018 or newer model, which would allow me to get the telematics and not suffer from the 3G sunset (I know, I know).
And...I'm finding out just how overpriced they are. I'm seeing a lot of them for high twenties with accident damage. I test-drove one particular car that had some accident history at a Chevrolet dealer in Bartlesville, OK (near Tulsa) yesterday, only to discover that it had been put back together all kinds of incorrectly. There were clips and pieces visibly missing from the front fascia, the left headlight had condensation in it, and the keyless entry speaker was inoperable. Drove just fine, though.
Looks like I can get a low-mileage, no-accident-damaged one for about $35K, which will still undercut the ES 350 UL by about $20K, so that's probably what I'll do. I'll have to travel, which makes me wary after the Genesis experience.
I have, but this would be a daily, and I want something I haven't got to (a) pay a ton on fuel and insurance for, or (b) replace anything in. The GS F has some expensive items that can go wrong, like the torque-vectoring differential...and it's not very comfortable, IME. It's kind of harsh for daily-enjoymnet.
Fair enough. I've enjoyed the ones I've driven, and would have one as a daily driver in certain financial circumstances. That being said, my 300C is faster and more egregiously ghetto, which thrills me.
I don’t like the CT5’s side profile, specifically that cheater panel behind the rear door. It recalls a 2011 Chevy Cruze, and the window design itself recalls a Saturn ION Sedan.
I ended up finding a low-mile 2020 GS 350 F Sport across the country, RWD, Obsidian Black over Rioja Red, and with both the Mark Levinson system and heated steering wheel. Sadly, I could not find one with the triple-beam LED headlights, but they were extremely rare on RWD ones and I specifically did not want AWD.
“The luxury automakers are sure doing a job of making their newest wares *less* compelling to buy.”
I’ve read an interesting (conspiracy?) theory that Germans are intentionally making their ICE cars worse to push you into an EV which are better for reasons. (Eventually) cheaper to make, less labor required, greener, more socially acceptable to the lizard people, whatever.
Audi has always occupied a weird no man's land for me, where their new cars are too expensive to consider, and used models are risky to own without either an extended warranty or the skills to work on it yourself. They've now joined BMW in producing cars I'm not interested in owning. With that said, V8-powered S4s and S5s have depreciated to a point that I don't know where else you could get a similar driving experience for the same money. Audi's interiors from that era were hard to beat, and a brief ride along in a 4.2 swapped A4 showed me what a sweetheart those motors were, with real verve and willingness to rev, unlike the "sticky" feeling I've experienced with LS-powered GM cars. If I remember correctly though, timing chain guides are located at the back of the engine, so replacing them is an engine-out service.
A friend hand a 98-99 A4 when new and at the time the interior it blew my mind. I was scraping by and always had older or otherwise very cheap cars but another friend had a variety of entry level cars from ze other Germans at one point or another and their dour interiors just could not compare.
Nowadays, the Porsche just shows my dates what a cheap-ass loser I am. “My ex had a Mustang!” Well, I’ve got, uh, well….foam falling out of the AC vents of an old Boxster?
I like Audi interior designs, but I don't love interacting with most of the buttons. Too little travel and a cheap sounding click. I prefer the travel and resistance of BMW's buttons. It's like a chiclet keyboard (Audi) vs mechanical (BMW).
Still better than the no-button future VAG apparently has planned.
I was under the impression I had the skills to work on it myself, justified by keeping a dozen different "unreliable" cars going without much difficulty.
Then I got an Audi Allroad. A lot of firsts, including first time I had vehicle towed out of my driveway to a mechanic.
Porsche going EV didn’t bother me. But the A4 does. Not only did I buy a 2022 with my own money (pretty much all of it, too), I like the thing. And I didn’t buy an A5 Sportback because I think the A4 is classier and more handsome. I love the car—no drama or excitement, but it’s a superb daily driver that serves me well; I can’t think of anything that I’d like as much, having test driven everything from the Acura TLX to the Lexus IS350 to the Volvo S60 and BMW 330i and Accord 2.0t and Canyon Denali and Sierra SLT. I suppose I’ll either begrudgingly buy the A5, or buy the last of the ICE A4 or S4 models and drive it forever.
My daily is a 2023 A5 sportback that I bought new back in March 0f 2023 after the Audi dealer offered me 37k for 2019 STI with 40k on the odometer. The A5 is miles away from being sporty but on a highway cruise its simply sublime. With the AC blasting ice cold, the radar cruise on and the best of Yacht Rock blasting from the Bang and Olufsen I can't think of a better way to make the early morning 2 hour drive my house to where the family boat is moored in Bolton Landing on Lake George. The lift back has room for inflatable paddle boards in summer and my nieces and I's snowboard gear in the winter. To sum it up, it just works for me.
Liked for the thoughts of Bolton Landing and Lake George in the summer since its been pushing 100 every day here for what seems like the last 2 months.
My choice of the A4 over the A5 was purely aesthetic. After deciding on the A4 over the 330i (the other finalist) I wanted a particular color combo (blue or black over Okapi brown w the brown walnut burl wood trim) that was hard to find (there were three Prestige models in the country at the time meeting this criteria: Louisville, Baton Rouge, and Charlotte—Charlotte dealer made me the best deal on a boat anchor GLA I was trading after 3 months). Admittedly, the hatch would’ve been useful, but at the time I was too focused on never seeing that stupid GLA again to consider changing my mind.
You’re correct. The cars are excellent on road trips. Every week I run two hours to Charleston, most months I drive to my family’s lake house outside Charlotte. I’ve put close to 40,000 miles on the A4 in 19 months, and it’s a superb road tripper—it’s got the 19 speaker sound system and I can blast down I77 at 90 MPH while Jefferson Airplane or Steely Dan blasts through the speakers with almost 0 road noise and complete comfort. I’m not sure there’s a car at the same price point that would do it much better.
The 2007 Lexus LS460L that I have will do it even better, y'know, because I'm biased. Unfortunately, it is not at the same price point, because it is MUCH LOWER.
I am so thrilled I can mention this car again ... and again ... and again ...
But your Lexus doesn’t have adaptive cruise control! Which is a feature I forget my Audi has and have maybe used three times so maybe I’m proving your point here.
About the only tech feature I wish the 2007 model had was bluetooth music connectivity, except a wired connection sounds better anyway to my ears. The 2007 features in the LS are equivalent to what 2015? cars had later on, as the technology trickled down or became cheaper.
And as is common to say, if it came after, it's a gimmick and I don't want it anyway. Get off my lawn too, while you're at it.
Some of the early LS 460s did have ACC, though. And the majority of the LS 600h Ls, including the 2008 I had, had it.
The early version would not bring you to a full stop, and worked down to about 32 MPH or so, and maxed out at 95 MPH. Later versions, starting with the MY2010 facelift, were full-speed.
I recall you saying the fit in this car was wrong for you, which I can't understand, don't need to, and it just is what it is.
And ... there is no plain-Jane LS460. They are all supercars, short or long wheelbase! ;-) But seriously, this is a top of the line car of its time, it's got all the BUTTONS.
Haha, if you ever do go that route, 2010-2012 models are the sweet spot. They’re new enough to have Bluetooth streaming, but they predate the awkward early years of the Lexus spindle grille and the mouse interface (which I don’t personally mind, but a lot of people do).
If you’d consider backdating and going for an LS430, dealer buddy of mine has the absolutely cleanest 2004 I’ve ever seen sitting on his lot just begging for a new home. 84k miles, burgundy over tan. Perfect condition. Was traded in with — I shit you not — a milli vanilli tape in the still-working cassette deck.
I don’t quite have the expendable cash/parking spaces/understanding-enough girlfriend right this very second or it would be mine already.
I drove it briefly. Just as smooth as glass in every moment. What a car! Almost makes me wish I could move the Elantra for it…
I have to figure out how to get three car seats in mine so we can start taking it on the shorter trips. The kia is a nice road trip car. The audi is nicer
I got the same model, and totally agree. It's comfortable, fun to drive, and practical. I got the ventilated seats and my junk is very appreciative when it's upper 90s here in SC. Of course I would have liked heated/cooled cupholders like in Jack's Chrysler, but I'm not Louis XIV am I?
The funny thing is that some of my co-workers will admire the striking Navarra blue paint and say something to the effect of "wow, they are paying you too much!" and then go get into their $120k pickups and drive away.
"The funny thing is that some of my co-workers will admire the striking Navarra blue paint and say something to the effect of "wow, they are paying you too much!" and then go get into their $120k pickups and drive away."
I know I've told this story before, but I drove my Phaetons to see a client for 3 years. Then I took my 1984 944 with no sunroof to see him and he was APOPLECTIC.
Wish I read this review back in March. I was heavily looking into a 2-4 year old sportback due to german car depreciation and the fact that I do not drive much these days. B&O was a must and loved the idea of a cheap APR tune bumping that over 300hp. Love them in that green and the bright blue.
I sort of like the T100, I really dislike matte finish paint .
I imagine only rich folks will be interested, I can't think of any Motocycle I'd pay $10K for, good thing I was able to buy classic bikes back when they were just old .
AUDI -snort- . they lost me in the 1970's, I will say it's good to see they're still around and making fancy cars folks want . I hope this electric thing makes them some $ but I can't see it being very profitable .
I'm betting in ten years they like most old electric cars, will be worthless and expen$ive to dismantle .
"the S5 has an underwhelming 362-hp 3.0 turbo six." ~ really ? "underwhelming" ?? you and I live on different planets Jack .
" This country is now at the point that you could probably be elected Dictator For Life just by convincing everyone that you won’t let things get any worse. " ~ that's been the gop's default message for a long time Jack . thinking isn't a habit of their supporters .
"Two of the strongest predictors of long-term romantic stability are intelligence and conscientiousness. "
Oops ~ _NOW_ I learn this, not in 1976 when I got married, what a disaster . at least my friends and family tried to warn me . I foolishly thought she'd be conscientious, it being the obvious thing to do, I wasn't worried about the $ end of things, she's still beautiful but likes to cheat her way through life and loudly berates others every time it fails for her . just like the maga crowd, only interested in blame, never in doing the right thing .
"the actual purpose of marriage, which is to have valuable children" ~ Actually Jack, that was in the pre Industrial Revolution days when more children meant less physical labor for the parents on the farm .
"a conscientious, fiscally disciplined, hard-working, and entirely sane baby momma" ~ You lucky dog you.
"sidewall cracks for God Knows Why Reason" ~ I'm quite sure you know this is because they're designed to bio degrade instead of lasting forever as did the good tires of fifty years ago . These days I rarely wear any tires out, after five years the sidewalls begin to leak and away they go .
Now your Grandchildren get to have race tire swings instead of the 4" tread ones I swung on so long ago .
" track that was rain-washed and frequently oiled on both days" Really ? don't they have any sort of flusher / washer truck ? . When I worked at LAX they had two giant tankers that flushed all the super slippery rubber crap off the run ways every night .
"making me the official winner (of nothing). Yay?" Yes ~ a win is a win .
“Suzuki-Bond”. IIRC this is Hylomar, same as 'Honda Bond and many others .
"Doing that correctly would drastically reduce lap times and increase uptime — but I can’t see it being cheap. " Rich people's problems Jack pardon me while I yawn .
This time I got a notice of my automatic re subscription .
Keep it up Jack, the subscription $ is no small thing for me but IMO it's good dollar value .
Were I not lazy I might have been able to finish high school and go to the University for a degree in something useful underwater basket weaving perhaps .
Seriously, watching folks like you and others gives me great hope .
just because we can't drive our favorite or most desired cars all the time does not mean that we can't comment on how other, perhaps nicer, cars are questionable choices.
And good God, I see what some people are saying about the 11th-Gen Accord!
Got a 2023 EX as a dealer service loaner whilst they are checking out a front suspension clunk on my 2019.
Even in the EX trim, with the CVT and the 1.5T, the thing barely feels like you’re moving at 65mph! It’s on a whole ‘nother level, a step above the 10th-Gen, already good, almost to Acura-level.
Which makes it all the more disappointing, knowing how damn good that car would be with the normal uprated engine in it! Even with some of the little things like a passenger map pocket and fixed rear headrests missing, the Touring trim should still be a winner. (They’ve buried a couple things like the off switch for VSA in menus—there was a bank of switches to the driver’s left just above the knee which had that before—arguably, that stuff isn’t used much, and is easily accessible in the menus on the right side of the configurable IP, but that whole workflow will take adjustment, as it’s different.) Only complaints are that the steering is almost 1970s Ford-like in a parking lot, and the 1.5T is a bit too raucous—IDK if they’re “augmenting” the sound or not. And the toggle/roller switches on the wheel don’t fall as easy to the fingers as the previous buttons, though that might just be my bias showing.
We’ll see how Honda changes things at the mid-cycle refresh in a couple years. If they’d put a more powerful hybrid motor in the thing, they’d have THE best car in the (rapidly-dwindling) segment; just Accord, Camry, and the Korean duo! (They’d best put stuff like wireless CarPlay/Android Auto, rear seat vents, and a few other bits back into the lower trims, as the Camry has that stuff included across the range.)
I’ll still have to spend more than I’d like to have Sirius/XM and foglights added, though! 🙄
subaru gets shit for not upping the power of the WRX but the s5 had 354 hp in 2008. Not much progress in 15 years. I will admit though it was the perfect usable amount of power for actual road car. Still miss it.
"the s5 had 354 hp in 2008. Not much progress in 15 years."
Well, sir, it's ridiculous for you to say that, because THAT engine was a 40-valve V-8 that sounded and behaved like a deranged living thing, while THIS engine is an economy special with a Hong Kong Hurricane that sounds like a slightly broken Dyson vac sucking your dick through a leaky Temu-sourced silicone tube.
No, wait, I meant to write something about "area under the curve".
i thought degree kelvin was the proper unit because its the same scale as celsius just that it starts at absolute zero instead of the point at which water freezes
In 1967/1968, Resolution 3 of the 13th CGPM renamed the unit increment of thermodynamic temperature "kelvin", symbol K, replacing "degree Kelvin", symbol °K.[39][40][41] The 13th CGPM also held in Resolution 4 that "The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is equal to the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water."
Now that I have a proper car for the task (it was the prior owner's track day toy before he got run over by a car and buried by the insurance settlement, which he promptly spent on TWO, better track day toys) I really need to make good on my pledge to join the Track Day club. I'm one year delinquent.
Once my own fire claim is in the rearview mirror, I plan to do just that.
Yeah, the unsaid part is that these reshored jobs are not going to be the manufacturing jobs of old that you could comfortably raise a family on. They’re bottom of the barrel.
I agree to a point, but I'm guessing these jobs are going to be filled by people that are going to still require welfare and meth to get by. A job that doesn't provide enough to have a decent life is going to lead to despair, and not a lot of resources to do much about it.
This. I’m not sure that jobs that don’t pull people out of poverty and despair are a positive for the country, especially when politicians treat them as a fait accompli, and as an argument that we need less, not more social programs.
Well, part of the problem is we've mismanaged the national finances to the point where a lot of people feel desperate and impoverished on $100k a year, largely because rent is half of that. What to do?
I don’t think there’s an answer that doesn’t involve heavy handed government intervention. Which means more taxes and regulation.
Which of course is anthema to half the country.
Ironically, without that, these jobs will inevitably become an example of “jObS aMeRiCaNs WoNt do,” to justify re-offshoring and/or continued porous border policies to fill these jobs with people who consider living in American poverty to be an upgrade.
Inflation is killing people; any administration that shuts off the money printers for projects like Buttigieg’s 500 (or, uh, actually 8) EV chargers is good with me.
Biden’s economic advisor Jared Bernstein (who has no training or experience in economics, having degrees in music and social work) was asked if the US could go bankrupt. His response? “Of course not! We can print our own money!” Four more years of that and we’re fucked.
The marginal tax rates on some of these social programs are 100%. It basically encourages poverty. If i did a little creative accounting before we got married, i couldve saved 8-10k per year in taxes and qualified for food stamps. Well, the current wife could. We actively encourage dysgenics and single motherhood with our social programs. Im all for helping poor people but encouraging good decisions would be a start
Hadn't heard of the WF1, so poked around and watched the video of it running Knox Mountain's King of the Hill. Holy cats.
its an absolutely stunning looking thing
We had two WF1s running in the region last year. I usually beat them for the first two laps then watched them disappear, only to return in my rearview mirror ten laps later.
you, sir, have described most of the people I have worked with over my career
Authentic LOL.
Just one of *many* words Jack =8-) .
-Nate
good god almighty that thing is fast.
my only experience with an audi was behind the wheel of my friends muffler deleted s4 and the sounds the v8 made were heavenly and it almost made me want to sell the miata for one until i saw the repair bills and the time it spent in the shop
not at all surprised that weve dropped so many points as the only thing canada produces is housing debt and international students
maybe attending university in a year or two will allow me to find a marriageable woman younger than me because like some have pointed out there arent really that many places where men and women can mingle
It sucks that the current atmosphere makes women wary of strange men. We almost always end up being labeled "creepers" at best.
"Creeper" really means "not physically attractive", but it shifts the blame onto the man, whereas the equivalent for women, "uggo" or "fatty", is now considered to be an indictment of the fellow who renders the judgment. Heads they win, tails you lose!
Being even just *a little bit* weird is enough to do it, too, even if you look like [insert teen heartthrob here].
Oddly enough I find the Blue Collar field wide open .
-Nate
The bright side is it only has to work once.
per day!
step 1 be attractive
step 2 dont be unattractive
just follow these simple rules and you can have any woman you desire
Those two steps are both A LOT harder than they sound.
Boy, howdy, ain't that the truth .
-Nate
Go to the gym
Eat better. Also eat less.
Wear clothes that fit correctly.
Maintain good hygiene.
Now you’re like 85% of the way there!
As demonstrated on SNL by Tom Brady*:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxuUkYiaUc8
* Who was the _backup_ QB at Michigan, which raises another point: at competitive colleges, the marriage market is also competitive.
The guy who he backed up, Drew Henson, made millions of dollars in unimpressive careers in both baseball and football.
Yeah, college would be a lot more fun if I had a $1M signing bonus!
One time when I was studying I overheard some girls talking about a party and the fact that Drew was anticipated to attend.
He ended up making $5 million from the Yankees, though I think he never made it past AAA ball. Probably made more than that riding the bench in the NFL.
Michigan has one of the largest alumni associations in the world and many of those alums have been successful in their careers. A young athlete who knows he is capable of playing Division I college ball but not likely to make it to the big leagues, might choose a college based on that.
A starting quarterback for a Michigan team probably doesn't have to worry about job offers later in life.
My nephew played college football. Full Div 1 scholarship. Then he got hurt. His backup signed in the NFL for 32 million.
I don't think my nephew was NFL material or if he was, he'd have lasted more than a few years. Bad concussions, broken fingers, knees and shoulders. He's in his late 20s. It wasn't worth it.
I, poorly, played high school football.
Also had bad concussions, broken fingers, a shoulder that has had to be reconstructed, and joints that now creak and crack like a haunted house’s floors.
I am 30.
It was in no way worth it, and should I ever have children the only way they will play tackle football is if I’m too dead to stop them.
Step 3 try not to step on your own dick using both feet at the same time.
Impressive how many passably attractive guys cannot abide step 3!
must be one of those footjobs ive been hearing so much about
not my style personally
A question for men:
Which would you rather come across in the woods, a bear that has a 50% chance of eating you alive, or a woman who has a 50% chance of falsely accusing you of sexual misconduct?
Note: percentages are arbitrary.
fighting a woman is much easier than fighting a bear but not nearly as cool
If you beat the bear you can accuse the woman of sexual misconduct
If you're with a woman in the woods and you come across a bear, you just have to run faster than she can.
Either outcome with the bear is better than the worst outcome with the woman, I'll take the bear.
That's easy Ronnie,
The bear for story reasons alone (to say nothing of future career prospects) and 100x the bear if I can instagram it live
The bear would be the faster death.
That would have been the B6, the V8 sounded great because all B8s sound great but high revving V8s sound better than that.
Unfortunately that V8 had a plastic thingie that would sometimes let go of the timing thingie and the valve thingies didn't like that. To get at the plastic thingie was a royal bitch.
My V8 S5 always sounded great, even with the stock exhaust, that's for sure.
I'm pretty sure my wife hated it so yes, agreed, it sounded great.
Exhaust notes sound the same (i.e. - loud and bad) to everyone but us.
Neighbors thought my 500 Abarth's note (basically the Neon SRT4 note with extra pepperoni) sounded like the sinus-cold+GI-bloat note of this local kid's FRS with an Aliexpress exhaust.
That's like saying Pavarotti and our middle school's voice teacher are same.
the audi b6 or the engine designation b6
it was a 2008 s4 which had a 4.2 v8 in it
Audi B6, 2nd gen of the A4/S4. The reason I had two 2004s is that was the last year of the good looking, small front grille. Shallow Hal, I know.
gotcha
his was the generation after then i guess but they still looked sharp but man theyre expensive to fix
he also had a beat to hell dakota that was 100 times cooler
LS swap?
just a 5.9 magnum with open headers
he wanted to put a set of enginequest la heads on it with a carb intake and a centrifugal blower on it his buddy was selling but that didnt happen
that aside ive never seen a truck with so much attitude
It has been done, and it's glorious
https://www.instagram.com/marnellbalmeo/
2008 is B7 not B6. same basic motor though. i had a B8 (S/C V6) which on paper was great but in practice was more than a little boring. almost too well rounded. i find most AWD cars are like that for me though.
Thankfully, Canada does still produce and export crude: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/5781-record-high-crude-oil-production-largely-driven-oil-sands-crude-oil-year-review-2023
The O&G industry still occupies 4 of the top 10 largest industries ($) in the country - which is great because *something* has to pay for Quebec's social programs: https://www.ibisworld.com/canada/industry-trends/biggest-industries-by-revenue/
Five door hatches are gay. Wagon/true hatchback FTW.
College worked great for me. Mrs. MD and I have been together since 2002. The things I hear about today's colleges make me want to advise my kids to look elsewhere, but if they end up there I hope I will have done enough to inoculate them against the worst forms of leftism. (Sidenote: I thought "inoculate" had two Ns. Maybe college was only really good for one thing for me in the end.)
What frustrates me about "inoculate" is how closely it sits to "inculcate" in my mind.
5 door hatches are only gay if they try to look like a 4 door + trunk. Know what you mean though.
You are right. That is exactly what I meant. I should have proofread my comment first.
* Unless designed by Sixten Sason or Björn Envall. Then the Viking overrides the gay.
An acceptable addendum.
You're at risk of the exception swallows the ruleitis. You gotta draw the line somewhere MDS.
I'll allow the Swedes their weird cars. Maud Adams and Britt Englund were Swedes, and they weren't so bad in their prime.
In 2015, I was a senior in high school. My best friend, who is a couple years older, got himself a black 99ish A4, 1.8T quattro, manual. It had an APR tune and S4 wheels, so he would claim he had an S4 and we would argue the validity of that constantly.
I do remember that car being pretty damn fun, but I was 17 and used to a V6 SN95 mustang so any car with over 200hp and under 3500 lbs felt amazing. The only time I legit scared him was the first time he let me drive the Audi, and I flung it down the only curvy road in town the same way I did with my mustang... Which meant we were 10-15mph faster than usual. The Audi stuck like glue though, and I laughed my ass off.
The new one at the top here made me think Ford was bringing the Fusion back.
I drove a mildly tuned 2003 A4 in high school from time to time (mom's car) and my comment on handling is that it enjoyed turning as much as the Ever Ace.
If I were to do some proper driving with one now, I'd probably agree
The impression was burned in my mind as it plowed toward a curb and just... wouldn't turn.
I did make the corner without incident.
Before the Audi, my friend had an 07 Celica. We had many plowing understeer experiences in that car hahahah
I sold a 2003 GTI last Fall with the 1.8/manual and an APR tune. It was a fun and decently quick car (although my F-150 would destroy it in a drag race), just did not use it enough/not enough storage space to keep it. Loved how it handled the back roads with the suspension work the PO did to it.
I haven’t been in either in years, but it used to be the A4 had a reasonable back seat that would accommodate a grown human, and an IS had a back seat that would not be out of place in a 1990s hot hatch.
The IS is still definitely on the small side. The CT4 (not that anyone buys it) is also cramped; Yours truly (at 5'10" on a good day) sat in the back of a CT4-V Blackwing, and my head was in the ceiling. Which makes me sad that they didn't just go ahead and keep making the coupe.
The last two gens of IS have not been as bad in that regard.
German cars have become so damned depressing. Audis used to be so classy and understated; this thing looks like a Ford Focus, if Ford still bothered to make a Focus. They got rid of everything but the worst body style and pedantically chose to stick with A5 versus A4 to make sure everyone is confused. Lame.
Choosing colleges based on their potential for finding suitable marriage partners on campus gets a big “well, duh” from me. To my continued regret, I failed to find someone in school, largely due to lack of trying. My degree program was a sausagefest, and only two guys out of my immediate social circle married girls they met there, so maybe I did pick the wrong school. And maybe it’s just as well, as I’d undoubtedly be divorced by now.
Yeah, some majors can be bad like that. It probably can help to be in some sort of club / group, but the sausage fest majors tend to be very demanding and not all colleges have a group for everyone.
Ford still makes the Focus, just not for us fatass CUV driving North Americans.
For now. It dies off globally next year.
It’s fascinating to watch Ford become an increasingly minor world player. Outside of China, they have little in the pipeline and lots of stuff that’s about to die without replacement.
I didn't know they are driving a stake through it next year. It is shameful what a once decent marque has come to.
dont worry the surge in interest for the new capri which is just a ev cuv thing will save the brand
LOL, that and a mobility solution to be named later.
Hmm..thought Barra was bad!
It makes me sad to see what happened to Ford. I have always been a fan and have owned several. I swore off after my last one, which had a cracked head with 32000 miles. The only reason I have one now is because it was my dad’s car and it holds a lot of memories.
I had the epiphany when driving my mom’s 2017 A6, since replaced by a Lexus, that the A6 was not that different in substance than my wife’s 2008 MkV Jetta. Everything felt the same inside, the Audi just had a few more features and a little more space and a sticker that was double the price.
Heresy!
I probably bought my A4 because it felt like a more serious luxury Golf. Controls in the same spots, drives like a heavier AWD Golf.
I went to an engineering school. The male to female ration was about 100:1. Not joking. And after the first year that dropped to about 200:1.
This x1000.
In the early 1990s mine wasn't quite that bad, but close. I remember my ~100 person Statics class had three women. The Mean One, the Fat One, and the Asian One. Looking back the Mean One was was probably just really sick of being hit on by horny engineering dorks with zero social skills.
Changing majors to one containing at least some women was one of the best things I ever did for my mental state.
i was briefly in a 'colorand design' class at oklahoma u. where i made 2 'a's on assignments before leaving the school. me and 21 girls. i was too timid to make a move but i can still remember the expressions on their faces when i walked into the first class justa bit late...sigh...
Oh my!
My French classes in my last two years of college were me and 10 girls, but I was already dating my future wife at that point.
I went to one of the top engineering schools in the world in the 70's.
It was very much NOT like anything that exists in the world today. Hell, it no longer even exists today.
Girls either: Were smart (and were accepted), weren't smart and left, or did the work on their backs (not kidding either).
More than a few guys committed suicide, and some in very interesting ways. Like stealing an airplane.
where in the hell are you people going to school
this is far more exciting than anything ive ever heard of
Trust me, it wasn't exciting in any of the good ways.
Guess the Sky King wasn't the first!
Engineering schools, pure, hardcore, that's all we teach, schools are all but insane. You work your ass off and it never stops. People drop out constantly. There's very little fun, it's lots and lots of work.
I'm not sure I should have done engineering. At the time, I had a degree of contempt for the liberal arts subjects and business because they were easy. I did not consider that doing what came easily to me might have been more sensible. The payoff was that I got to play with some amazing toys doing defense R&D.
Hmmm, I (barely) recall doing a lot of heavy drinking between bouts of “work your ass off”.
Was that the AK Air Dash-8 one?
This was in the 70's. He stole a small plane from an airport in the middle of the night and was never seen again.
And he wasn't a pilot, maybe took a lesson or two. Never made the news.
Yeah that was Sky King. Sounds like he wasn't the first.
I went to a decent engineering school, although I chose a truly silly major. There I met a pretty young blond woman who was inappropriately brilliant for the school. She had graduated high school at the age of 16 and then entered the well-respected engineering program at my school.
She didn't care for spending her days being leered at by the Asian foreign nationals who made up half of her classmates, the other half being what she considered dorky mathletes. She changed her major to psych when she registered for her second semester, primarily so she could meet people who partied and not be the only pretty girl in the halls of academia where she attended her classes. Something is telling me that she would have gone to a much better school if her goal hadn't been an engineering degree.
I too switched from engineering to psychology to get away from my classmates.
We had two acronyms to describe the women on campus, IPS - Instant Princess Syndrome, and RIBS - Ratio Induced Bitch Syndrome.
Sir, this is the sort of misogynist, woman-hating trash that just happens to align perfectly with the reality on the ground.
I wish I could say we were misogynistic, the amount of simping going on to bed down a real world 4 would make you physically ill. You would think some of those guys got passed up by a Victoria Secret model the way they acted when they saw a chick leave a party with someone else, in reality that chick actually looked more like Victoria Scott than a Victoria Secret model. It was a dark, desperate time.
Engineering school is not a good place to be; but it is a good place to have been.
That sounds like my engineering school when I was there long ago. And a significant number of the females were into D&D …….
I think we had 10 females in the entire school. Not including the ladies in the cafeteria.
I remember the first day of my first "real" engineering class sophomore year. A circuits course. A very cute transfer student was there, chattering away. The last words I heard out of her mouth before the class started were, "What's an Ohm?"
We never saw her again. And the only other girl in the whole program changed majors before the year was over.
Ohm my! 😬
They probably think A5 is more Premium than A4. I'm waiting for an A5 RS-Line R8 Edition.
why wouldnt it be
5 > 4
Why is R1 > R6 > R7 > R3 > R125?
because it rolls off the tongue smoother than
r998 > r689 > r599 > r321 <r125
I've owned, in order:
1999 S4, red, purchased new. 2.7 twin turbo 6. Served me well.
2004 S4, red, purchased new, auto. V8. Served me well but wanted a 6sp after all so quasi trade for
2004 S4, Blue. Served me well but time for a change.
2000 S4 Avant, blue, auto, purchased in fit of optimism around 2013. This time the POSness of the 2.7/V6 showed up.
2023 S4, grey, 3.0/turbo V6. Still under warranty.
I got the last one because I had a hunch it would be the last one, or if not, then whatever new they came up with would suck. The 2023 was designed a while ago, so it has buttons and feels like a real car. Looks way better than the identical mechanically 5 door, which has goofy lines. IMO.
Sorry day indeed.
We had a great 25-year run, and in the words of the kid in Gattaca:
"Just remember, I was as good as any, and better than most."
I'm looking at the pics of the new one and yup, the interior is just one big screen. No shifter lever, it's kinda generic. It's even bigger than the current S4 which is almost exactly the size of the old A6 circa early 2000s. Doesn't make me want it.
OTOH I do like the engine, it doesn't really feel turbocharged. I see it's carried over (plus12 hp) into the new one. I assume they will carry over the ZF 8sp transmission which I really like as well even if it's single clutch. It shifts way better than you'd think.
Arguably Law's best role.
I'm one of those people who thinks he was great in EVERY role, but it might be because we share a tailor!
You think he runs around saying “you read acf? I share a tailor with Jack Baruth!”
It's probably how he introduces himself at parties.
"You're aware of the, ah, fellow who deliberately rammed a Spec Miata in 2021 for passing him under yellow? Baruth! Yes, we share a tailor."
All sedans are Camries, apparently. No matter the make or model.
Convergent evolution.
They served you well because you flipped them at the right times.
Sure, though we've had Audis over 100,000 miles it usually doesn't pay to have them out of warranty.
Because YOU pay! Dearly! 💸
When the B5 came out, I was surprised that non-car-people knew - and wanted - one.
I chose my Infiniti G20t over an A4 after seeing my friends' B5 Passats and Mk4 Golfs earn Platinum Status with tow companies. Sure, I married the sensible one, but still stared at the other...
Even now, I'd LOVE a B7 RS4 in Papaya or Imola. I'll bring my own walnut shells.
A new WF1 starts at $114k, used ones appear to go for about half that. If a knuckleheaded driver can launch a GoFundMe to _repair_ a race car, I see no reason you can't launch one to _buy_ a race car. I am quite sure the fine fellows of ACF would contribute generously.
Come to think about it, if you prominently mention a small fib in the GoFundMe ad something to the effect of, "There is a very good chance this car is entirely too fast for me and I die in a burning ball of carbon fiber and alloy," many of your haters would contribute as well.
Ah, I just have to get another grownup job, and I can do it -- but the truth is that if I had $114k plus upgrades sitting around, that should be earmarked for my son's Extra EA-300.
Well, if a Stohr and an Extra are on the shopping list, clearly your only option is OnlyFans. Not sure the fellows of ACF want any part of that, but there are surely people out there who would.
hes gonna charge us money to not get naked pics of him in our inbox
genuine laughter... that is a brilliant business plan
Let me tell you something:
three hundred women have seen my dick
and the vast, vast majority
were ER nurses
I'm SO going to file the serial numbers off of that one!
A bunch of years ago I had kidney stone surgery at a local hospital. Was a bit surprised to see seven 20-30 something women in the OR ready to help the surgeon. Three days later I got a Thank You card signed by all of the women who got to see my junk. It was probably intended as a thank you for choosing our hospital, but I tell my wife it is because my junk made an impression on them.
nurses are wonderful in so many ways!
yes, but how many of those ER nurses were _not_ in an ER when they saw it? or, if they _were_ in an ER. were fully clothed when they saw it?
Hey-O!
(::Rim-shot with cymbal hit!::)
Take my money
If he actually want to fly for a living, buy an old piston twin instead. Those hours are way more valuable.
I am hoping that some of my tax dollars will come back to me in flight time, whether it be SR-72 Darkstar (his preference) or C-17 Globemaster II (mine)
There IS a successor to the Blackbird? Or is that the bird tested beyond its limits in “TG: Maverick?”
There is, but it is likely to be unmanned. Or at least that's what "they" say they want. Lockheed Martin has been taking funding for it for a while.
Yeah, I was given the same advice. My dad was a commercial pilot from 1962-1989 (for bankrupt Eastern Airlines), overall he had a great career from the golden age of commercial aviation and through the rough deregulation years. He was a military figher pilot in transition era from piston to the early jets (he flew Bearcats, P-51's through the F-84f's. Said he never wanted to fly anything but fighters, but ended up working for Boeing in the 707 era (was a test pilot) and then went on to the airlines. Funny how that works out, but he advised me in my teens if I wanted to pursue commerical aviation (I did not ultimately), that I should get as much multi engine time as possible.
I see that the Extra is an aerobatic plane. Interesting. Question for you --- unlike my "nevergonnahappenX100" dream plane, the Lancair IV-P (or LX-7) turboprop,
Is the EA-300 a forgiving airframe?
It seems (guessing) that even racing wheel-to-wheel would be less dangerous than aerobatics
The luxury automakers are sure doing a job of making their newest wares *less* compelling to buy. The new A5 (previously the A4, as you said), looks too curvy and blobby to be an Audi. I would be less surprised if someone said it was a reincarnated Dodge Dart.
As for me, I've decided that spending $56,000 on a new ES Ultra Luxury for a daily-driver isn't the move. Nor would I be super enthusiastic about the way it drives. I'm instead considering something just as reliable, but that drives a little more expensively and that fits marginally better on the short side of my garage: the GS 350. Specifically, I'm looking for a 2016-2020 F Sport, in RWD, not in Structural Blue (best friend's husband has one in that color), with either the Flaxen (tan) or Rioja (red) interior, and with the Mark Levinson audio and heated steering wheel. Preferably, I'd get a 2018 or newer model, which would allow me to get the telematics and not suffer from the 3G sunset (I know, I know).
And...I'm finding out just how overpriced they are. I'm seeing a lot of them for high twenties with accident damage. I test-drove one particular car that had some accident history at a Chevrolet dealer in Bartlesville, OK (near Tulsa) yesterday, only to discover that it had been put back together all kinds of incorrectly. There were clips and pieces visibly missing from the front fascia, the left headlight had condensation in it, and the keyless entry speaker was inoperable. Drove just fine, though.
Looks like I can get a low-mileage, no-accident-damaged one for about $35K, which will still undercut the ES 350 UL by about $20K, so that's probably what I'll do. I'll have to travel, which makes me wary after the Genesis experience.
Have you thought about going all the way to GS-F?
I have, but this would be a daily, and I want something I haven't got to (a) pay a ton on fuel and insurance for, or (b) replace anything in. The GS F has some expensive items that can go wrong, like the torque-vectoring differential...and it's not very comfortable, IME. It's kind of harsh for daily-enjoymnet.
Fair enough. I've enjoyed the ones I've driven, and would have one as a daily driver in certain financial circumstances. That being said, my 300C is faster and more egregiously ghetto, which thrills me.
Would you consider a Cadillac CT5 or CT5-V? I believe they are reliable (they are recommended by CR) and they can be had for well below sticker.
I don’t like the CT5’s side profile, specifically that cheater panel behind the rear door. It recalls a 2011 Chevy Cruze, and the window design itself recalls a Saturn ION Sedan.
I ended up finding a low-mile 2020 GS 350 F Sport across the country, RWD, Obsidian Black over Rioja Red, and with both the Mark Levinson system and heated steering wheel. Sadly, I could not find one with the triple-beam LED headlights, but they were extremely rare on RWD ones and I specifically did not want AWD.
I’ll pick the GS 350 up next week.
Admittedly, the CT5 was a stretch, but I couldn’t think of a midsize sporty sedan with decent reliability.
Congrats on finding a GS. All roads lead back to Lexus ;)
“The luxury automakers are sure doing a job of making their newest wares *less* compelling to buy.”
I’ve read an interesting (conspiracy?) theory that Germans are intentionally making their ICE cars worse to push you into an EV which are better for reasons. (Eventually) cheaper to make, less labor required, greener, more socially acceptable to the lizard people, whatever.
It could be as simple as putting the Trump Secret Service B Team -ish engineers on gas stuff.
“The hood was sloped too much, sorry we couldn’t fix the engine as a result.”
Authentic LOL
I'd agree with that theory but it's not like they ev offerings are particularly compelling (ex. mercedes eq)
Sounds like a good strategy by the Germans to push people into Japanese cars. Let’s call it the Axis Strategy!
Audi has always occupied a weird no man's land for me, where their new cars are too expensive to consider, and used models are risky to own without either an extended warranty or the skills to work on it yourself. They've now joined BMW in producing cars I'm not interested in owning. With that said, V8-powered S4s and S5s have depreciated to a point that I don't know where else you could get a similar driving experience for the same money. Audi's interiors from that era were hard to beat, and a brief ride along in a 4.2 swapped A4 showed me what a sweetheart those motors were, with real verve and willingness to rev, unlike the "sticky" feeling I've experienced with LS-powered GM cars. If I remember correctly though, timing chain guides are located at the back of the engine, so replacing them is an engine-out service.
My 2013 A8 L with the 4.0T was great, until it wasn't. Funnily enough, I saw it the other day.
My 2002 A8L was a disaster as well. Not only because of the 4.2, but that was part of it. Exploding gaskets, anyone?
A friend hand a 98-99 A4 when new and at the time the interior it blew my mind. I was scraping by and always had older or otherwise very cheap cars but another friend had a variety of entry level cars from ze other Germans at one point or another and their dour interiors just could not compare.
They made their fame on the interiors, which were better than EVERYTHING else.
The absolute best was Porsche with the black plastic blanks showing your date exactly which options your cheap-ass did not spring for.
Nowadays, the Porsche just shows my dates what a cheap-ass loser I am. “My ex had a Mustang!” Well, I’ve got, uh, well….foam falling out of the AC vents of an old Boxster?
"foam falling out of the AC vents"
same here bro
we basically have the same car
As I say all the time, if your date can't appreciate foam falling out of vents, she's not the right one for you.
I picked what felt like miles of foam out of 996 vents
i was told they charged you extra for not having things
Exactly. “You’ll pay $5,000 for this steering-wheel-delete package and like it, you raggedy bitch.”
Porsche is the fin-dom of automakers. Either them or Ferrari.
I like Audi interior designs, but I don't love interacting with most of the buttons. Too little travel and a cheap sounding click. I prefer the travel and resistance of BMW's buttons. It's like a chiclet keyboard (Audi) vs mechanical (BMW).
Still better than the no-button future VAG apparently has planned.
But the Audi 5000 S 1980 was a cool car. Had one loved it
Yeah it was! I remember those cars like it was yesterday.
Funny I was never interested in Audis because they are sticky in the turns. My rwd (LS included) vehicles slide.
I was under the impression I had the skills to work on it myself, justified by keeping a dozen different "unreliable" cars going without much difficulty.
Then I got an Audi Allroad. A lot of firsts, including first time I had vehicle towed out of my driveway to a mechanic.
They packed a lot of mechanicals in those cars.
Porsche going EV didn’t bother me. But the A4 does. Not only did I buy a 2022 with my own money (pretty much all of it, too), I like the thing. And I didn’t buy an A5 Sportback because I think the A4 is classier and more handsome. I love the car—no drama or excitement, but it’s a superb daily driver that serves me well; I can’t think of anything that I’d like as much, having test driven everything from the Acura TLX to the Lexus IS350 to the Volvo S60 and BMW 330i and Accord 2.0t and Canyon Denali and Sierra SLT. I suppose I’ll either begrudgingly buy the A5, or buy the last of the ICE A4 or S4 models and drive it forever.
My daily is a 2023 A5 sportback that I bought new back in March 0f 2023 after the Audi dealer offered me 37k for 2019 STI with 40k on the odometer. The A5 is miles away from being sporty but on a highway cruise its simply sublime. With the AC blasting ice cold, the radar cruise on and the best of Yacht Rock blasting from the Bang and Olufsen I can't think of a better way to make the early morning 2 hour drive my house to where the family boat is moored in Bolton Landing on Lake George. The lift back has room for inflatable paddle boards in summer and my nieces and I's snowboard gear in the winter. To sum it up, it just works for me.
Liked for the thoughts of Bolton Landing and Lake George in the summer since its been pushing 100 every day here for what seems like the last 2 months.
Totally -- and it's great to have the 5-door as an option for the people who appreciate it, not...
*steam begins coming out of ears*
...THE ONLY CHOICE!!!!!
Oh I totally agree.
My choice of the A4 over the A5 was purely aesthetic. After deciding on the A4 over the 330i (the other finalist) I wanted a particular color combo (blue or black over Okapi brown w the brown walnut burl wood trim) that was hard to find (there were three Prestige models in the country at the time meeting this criteria: Louisville, Baton Rouge, and Charlotte—Charlotte dealer made me the best deal on a boat anchor GLA I was trading after 3 months). Admittedly, the hatch would’ve been useful, but at the time I was too focused on never seeing that stupid GLA again to consider changing my mind.
You’re correct. The cars are excellent on road trips. Every week I run two hours to Charleston, most months I drive to my family’s lake house outside Charlotte. I’ve put close to 40,000 miles on the A4 in 19 months, and it’s a superb road tripper—it’s got the 19 speaker sound system and I can blast down I77 at 90 MPH while Jefferson Airplane or Steely Dan blasts through the speakers with almost 0 road noise and complete comfort. I’m not sure there’s a car at the same price point that would do it much better.
The 2007 Lexus LS460L that I have will do it even better, y'know, because I'm biased. Unfortunately, it is not at the same price point, because it is MUCH LOWER.
I am so thrilled I can mention this car again ... and again ... and again ...
But your Lexus doesn’t have adaptive cruise control! Which is a feature I forget my Audi has and have maybe used three times so maybe I’m proving your point here.
About the only tech feature I wish the 2007 model had was bluetooth music connectivity, except a wired connection sounds better anyway to my ears. The 2007 features in the LS are equivalent to what 2015? cars had later on, as the technology trickled down or became cheaper.
And as is common to say, if it came after, it's a gimmick and I don't want it anyway. Get off my lawn too, while you're at it.
Some of the early LS 460s did have ACC, though. And the majority of the LS 600h Ls, including the 2008 I had, had it.
The early version would not bring you to a full stop, and worked down to about 32 MPH or so, and maxed out at 95 MPH. Later versions, starting with the MY2010 facelift, were full-speed.
I'd like to have just a plain-Jane LS460 SWB for daily use, but somehow I don't fit well in the car, and I can't quite understand why.
I recall you saying the fit in this car was wrong for you, which I can't understand, don't need to, and it just is what it is.
And ... there is no plain-Jane LS460. They are all supercars, short or long wheelbase! ;-) But seriously, this is a top of the line car of its time, it's got all the BUTTONS.
I'm going to find one and give it another shot.
It's entirely possible that I was dealing with some sort of post- or pre-surgical pain at the time that exaggerated my impression.
And I lied about plain-Jane anyway -- I gotta have at least the Mark Levinson sound.
Haha, if you ever do go that route, 2010-2012 models are the sweet spot. They’re new enough to have Bluetooth streaming, but they predate the awkward early years of the Lexus spindle grille and the mouse interface (which I don’t personally mind, but a lot of people do).
I’d stick with a RWD one, too.
If you’d consider backdating and going for an LS430, dealer buddy of mine has the absolutely cleanest 2004 I’ve ever seen sitting on his lot just begging for a new home. 84k miles, burgundy over tan. Perfect condition. Was traded in with — I shit you not — a milli vanilli tape in the still-working cassette deck.
I don’t quite have the expendable cash/parking spaces/understanding-enough girlfriend right this very second or it would be mine already.
I drove it briefly. Just as smooth as glass in every moment. What a car! Almost makes me wish I could move the Elantra for it…
Please send me info: jbaruth@gmail.com
Done!
Another Jefferson Airplane fan! Sometimes I feel alone.
I have to figure out how to get three car seats in mine so we can start taking it on the shorter trips. The kia is a nice road trip car. The audi is nicer
I got the same model, and totally agree. It's comfortable, fun to drive, and practical. I got the ventilated seats and my junk is very appreciative when it's upper 90s here in SC. Of course I would have liked heated/cooled cupholders like in Jack's Chrysler, but I'm not Louis XIV am I?
The funny thing is that some of my co-workers will admire the striking Navarra blue paint and say something to the effect of "wow, they are paying you too much!" and then go get into their $120k pickups and drive away.
Mine is Navarra Blue as well and I agree. It looks so much more expensive than it is.
"The funny thing is that some of my co-workers will admire the striking Navarra blue paint and say something to the effect of "wow, they are paying you too much!" and then go get into their $120k pickups and drive away."
I know I've told this story before, but I drove my Phaetons to see a client for 3 years. Then I took my 1984 944 with no sunroof to see him and he was APOPLECTIC.
Wish I read this review back in March. I was heavily looking into a 2-4 year old sportback due to german car depreciation and the fact that I do not drive much these days. B&O was a must and loved the idea of a cheap APR tune bumping that over 300hp. Love them in that green and the bright blue.
I sort of like the T100, I really dislike matte finish paint .
I imagine only rich folks will be interested, I can't think of any Motocycle I'd pay $10K for, good thing I was able to buy classic bikes back when they were just old .
AUDI -snort- . they lost me in the 1970's, I will say it's good to see they're still around and making fancy cars folks want . I hope this electric thing makes them some $ but I can't see it being very profitable .
I'm betting in ten years they like most old electric cars, will be worthless and expen$ive to dismantle .
"the S5 has an underwhelming 362-hp 3.0 turbo six." ~ really ? "underwhelming" ?? you and I live on different planets Jack .
" This country is now at the point that you could probably be elected Dictator For Life just by convincing everyone that you won’t let things get any worse. " ~ that's been the gop's default message for a long time Jack . thinking isn't a habit of their supporters .
"Two of the strongest predictors of long-term romantic stability are intelligence and conscientiousness. "
Oops ~ _NOW_ I learn this, not in 1976 when I got married, what a disaster . at least my friends and family tried to warn me . I foolishly thought she'd be conscientious, it being the obvious thing to do, I wasn't worried about the $ end of things, she's still beautiful but likes to cheat her way through life and loudly berates others every time it fails for her . just like the maga crowd, only interested in blame, never in doing the right thing .
"the actual purpose of marriage, which is to have valuable children" ~ Actually Jack, that was in the pre Industrial Revolution days when more children meant less physical labor for the parents on the farm .
"a conscientious, fiscally disciplined, hard-working, and entirely sane baby momma" ~ You lucky dog you.
"sidewall cracks for God Knows Why Reason" ~ I'm quite sure you know this is because they're designed to bio degrade instead of lasting forever as did the good tires of fifty years ago . These days I rarely wear any tires out, after five years the sidewalls begin to leak and away they go .
Now your Grandchildren get to have race tire swings instead of the 4" tread ones I swung on so long ago .
" track that was rain-washed and frequently oiled on both days" Really ? don't they have any sort of flusher / washer truck ? . When I worked at LAX they had two giant tankers that flushed all the super slippery rubber crap off the run ways every night .
"making me the official winner (of nothing). Yay?" Yes ~ a win is a win .
“Suzuki-Bond”. IIRC this is Hylomar, same as 'Honda Bond and many others .
"Doing that correctly would drastically reduce lap times and increase uptime — but I can’t see it being cheap. " Rich people's problems Jack pardon me while I yawn .
This time I got a notice of my automatic re subscription .
Keep it up Jack, the subscription $ is no small thing for me but IMO it's good dollar value .
-Nate
Thank you for re-upping, I know it's not trivial.
'"the S5 has an underwhelming 362-hp 3.0 turbo six." ~ really ? "underwhelming" ?? you and I live on different planets Jack .'
I mean "compared to the other stuff you can get for... $70,000".
Today I'll be driving a four-cylinder Mercury Milan to lunch!
Don't -ever- change Jack .
I'm not sniping, just commenting .
Were I not lazy I might have been able to finish high school and go to the University for a degree in something useful underwater basket weaving perhaps .
Seriously, watching folks like you and others gives me great hope .
-Nate
just because we can't drive our favorite or most desired cars all the time does not mean that we can't comment on how other, perhaps nicer, cars are questionable choices.
And good God, I see what some people are saying about the 11th-Gen Accord!
Got a 2023 EX as a dealer service loaner whilst they are checking out a front suspension clunk on my 2019.
Even in the EX trim, with the CVT and the 1.5T, the thing barely feels like you’re moving at 65mph! It’s on a whole ‘nother level, a step above the 10th-Gen, already good, almost to Acura-level.
Which makes it all the more disappointing, knowing how damn good that car would be with the normal uprated engine in it! Even with some of the little things like a passenger map pocket and fixed rear headrests missing, the Touring trim should still be a winner. (They’ve buried a couple things like the off switch for VSA in menus—there was a bank of switches to the driver’s left just above the knee which had that before—arguably, that stuff isn’t used much, and is easily accessible in the menus on the right side of the configurable IP, but that whole workflow will take adjustment, as it’s different.) Only complaints are that the steering is almost 1970s Ford-like in a parking lot, and the 1.5T is a bit too raucous—IDK if they’re “augmenting” the sound or not. And the toggle/roller switches on the wheel don’t fall as easy to the fingers as the previous buttons, though that might just be my bias showing.
We’ll see how Honda changes things at the mid-cycle refresh in a couple years. If they’d put a more powerful hybrid motor in the thing, they’d have THE best car in the (rapidly-dwindling) segment; just Accord, Camry, and the Korean duo! (They’d best put stuff like wireless CarPlay/Android Auto, rear seat vents, and a few other bits back into the lower trims, as the Camry has that stuff included across the range.)
I’ll still have to spend more than I’d like to have Sirius/XM and foglights added, though! 🙄
Aren't the fog lights an easy add? Just buy the parts from ebay and pop them in? I assuming the wiring harness is already there for it.
As for XM, I never found it worthwhile. Even at $5/month, I cancelled after two months out of sheer lack of interest.
The car wasn’t designed with fogs to begin with.
I've definitely heard good and bad about the thing. Would be nice to have more of an engine.
The retro Bonnies aren't my cup of tea but if someone is into the aesthetic they are charming in person and FI with modern ignition.
They look good. Theyre slow
They look great to me and are not slow where I ride .
Speed is a relative thing, I tend to ride mostly in town and in traffic so I'm cautious, buzzing along with my cane .
I have no beef with others liking different vehicles, variety is the spice of life as long as S.W.M.B.O. doesn't find out, right ? .
If everyone else had the same vehicles I do I'd have to buy a Nissan Cube or old Checker taxi....
-Nate
subaru gets shit for not upping the power of the WRX but the s5 had 354 hp in 2008. Not much progress in 15 years. I will admit though it was the perfect usable amount of power for actual road car. Still miss it.
"the s5 had 354 hp in 2008. Not much progress in 15 years."
Well, sir, it's ridiculous for you to say that, because THAT engine was a 40-valve V-8 that sounded and behaved like a deranged living thing, while THIS engine is an economy special with a Hong Kong Hurricane that sounds like a slightly broken Dyson vac sucking your dick through a leaky Temu-sourced silicone tube.
No, wait, I meant to write something about "area under the curve".
Carry on.
Id love a deranged v8 but the 350 hp is plenty. Its already enough to get me into trouble
exactly- a deranged v8 making 354 hp is a win-win scenario
You guys ! I've gone to jail behind 40 horsepower......
-Nate
2CV? Or one of your Beetles?
oh don't forget the single digit premium gas mileage in the city if you drove it like it you wanted to
My LIFETIME average in my V8 S5 was... 13.3 mpg
Ew, Jack ~ good thing I wasn't eating when I read this .
-Nate
Me being a complete douche bag geek: 5-door mid-size sedans get a 5 Kelvin reception. No "degrees" in Kelvin.
I'll let myself out.
wait really
i thought degree kelvin was the proper unit because its the same scale as celsius just that it starts at absolute zero instead of the point at which water freezes
same size, just different grammar
exactly
my profs lied to me then
Maybe they were just out of date:
In 1967/1968, Resolution 3 of the 13th CGPM renamed the unit increment of thermodynamic temperature "kelvin", symbol K, replacing "degree Kelvin", symbol °K.[39][40][41] The 13th CGPM also held in Resolution 4 that "The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is equal to the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin
Yeah, I wasn't born until 1971, I have zero (kelvin) excuse.
mine were all born well after that
i think im just getting an education worth what i paid which was very little
Nah, I should let MYSELF out for being a normie!
Since we're nitpicking in typical ACF fashion, shouldn't we refer to it as a "liftback" instead of "five-door hatch"?
But you don't have to lift it. It's electric (boogie woogie)
Now that I have a proper car for the task (it was the prior owner's track day toy before he got run over by a car and buried by the insurance settlement, which he promptly spent on TWO, better track day toys) I really need to make good on my pledge to join the Track Day club. I'm one year delinquent.
Once my own fire claim is in the rearview mirror, I plan to do just that.
God bless you!
It seems to me that manufacturing was always going to return once the working class here was beaten down enough to accept maquiladora level wages.
Yeah, the unsaid part is that these reshored jobs are not going to be the manufacturing jobs of old that you could comfortably raise a family on. They’re bottom of the barrel.
Agreed, but all of them are better for the country and the people who will do them than welfare and meth. We gotta start somewhere.
I agree to a point, but I'm guessing these jobs are going to be filled by people that are going to still require welfare and meth to get by. A job that doesn't provide enough to have a decent life is going to lead to despair, and not a lot of resources to do much about it.
This. I’m not sure that jobs that don’t pull people out of poverty and despair are a positive for the country, especially when politicians treat them as a fait accompli, and as an argument that we need less, not more social programs.
Well, part of the problem is we've mismanaged the national finances to the point where a lot of people feel desperate and impoverished on $100k a year, largely because rent is half of that. What to do?
I don’t think there’s an answer that doesn’t involve heavy handed government intervention. Which means more taxes and regulation.
Which of course is anthema to half the country.
Ironically, without that, these jobs will inevitably become an example of “jObS aMeRiCaNs WoNt do,” to justify re-offshoring and/or continued porous border policies to fill these jobs with people who consider living in American poverty to be an upgrade.
Inflation is killing people; any administration that shuts off the money printers for projects like Buttigieg’s 500 (or, uh, actually 8) EV chargers is good with me.
Biden’s economic advisor Jared Bernstein (who has no training or experience in economics, having degrees in music and social work) was asked if the US could go bankrupt. His response? “Of course not! We can print our own money!” Four more years of that and we’re fucked.
The marginal tax rates on some of these social programs are 100%. It basically encourages poverty. If i did a little creative accounting before we got married, i couldve saved 8-10k per year in taxes and qualified for food stamps. Well, the current wife could. We actively encourage dysgenics and single motherhood with our social programs. Im all for helping poor people but encouraging good decisions would be a start
You're not wrong, but for every twenty factory jobs you get a supervisor job, and so on. It will benefit SOMEONE to have the jobs here.
They’ll switch to america productivity drugs. Cigarettes and alcohol. Better than fentanyl and meth!
"Remember when weight control was cigarettes and coffee instead of some buff guy on YouTube shilling the newest supplement?"
That one got a smile out of the lady classmates in my Functional Fitness group.
Will be interesting to see the role unions are allowed to play in the reshored jobs.
The EPA makes sure we offshore all of our pollution to the 3rd world.
if we cant get rid of it better there than here i guess
It all goes into the same atmosphere, my guy
I can’t have a plastic straw but just ignore all that plastic floating down the Yangtze.
Eh, they'll bag your paper straw in any case.
which is fine but id like the smog and trash mountains elsewhere please
By pushing EVs.
OUCH for truthiness