I'll assume "works in winter" implies a preference (but not mandate) for AWD, esp. since you made do with an S197 earlier.
Not exactly a coupe, but a used RS7 has that sleek glove-fit, coupe-vibe. And quiet, powerful, winter-friendly, etc. Here in the NYC suburbs, nice ones run in the mid-to-high 60's. But once you're out of Manhattan's blast radius, they seem to skirt around $60k.
For new coupe, maybe some version of an M240i? It might be the closest thing to a "platonic ideal" coupe RN.
I spent a little time recently in a new S650 GT (feels weird to write that... "S650 GT" seems like yet another cynical "AMG-lite" from MB) and... I didn't hate it! Every contemporary Mustang fits me funny, but then again, I'm built stocky like Henry Rollins. I can see how the long-limbed like it.
Don't know anything about pickups, except that my wife has wanted a Maverick since Day 1.
While I'm definitely - not - pushing this, the numbers might make sense if you find something German you like for around $55k and just budget another $5k for an extended factory warranty.
When I was looking at prior generation C43's and E43's, the MB factory extended was around $4k for another 5-6 years and equivalent mileage. Or even better, if you find a car that already has it bundled in from the prior owner or dealer.
They have been on my list for a while, I actullly just drove one yesterday. The one I drove was 2009, the dash stuff was definitely dated, but the car was solid, powerful, tomb silent and all of the seating options are really well designed. Love the actual tailgate. Suspension was comfortable but a bit mushy, you can definitely feel the 5300lbs when you corner. Would probably lift the front an inch and firm it up a touch. Will probably buy one myself soon, need to try the Lexus to see if I like it better.
Check out the Land Rover Defender 90. It's a 2 door which makes it a bit unique in the market of mom's taxi suv stuff. It has a 518 horse v8. Plenty of leg room. Starts at 55k, but that's sticker. Goes great in the snow. The stubby wheelbase makes it a piece of cake to park, like your RAV-4, but it's built with what amount to 3/4 ton parts. Lots of posh fun til the warranty ends.
But considering you might be looking for something else in a few years, probably, the Big D could be great fun for the next four. As long as it's under warranty "wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
A restomod Bronco would be way better in most measurable respects I care about.
The modern Bronco is super roomy, fwiw, and can come with a stick shift.
I put 20k miles on a 2023 two-door with the 6 Speed and factory 35s. The only reason I wouldn't particularly recommend one is that Ford forgot how to make vehicles that don't crumble to bits. It was built like absolute dog shit. Fun truck though. Beyond brilliant off-road.
Might I suggest, as I always do, the S550 Ecoboost Convertible? It may not be quiet, but I am sure with heated seats it won't be any worse in the winter than than the 1978 Monte Carlos our forefathers drove.
Pickup... take your pick? Any of the higher trimmed domestics with a V8 would be fine, just depends on your personal style. Rams ride the best, Chevy/GMCs have a 6.2 the best (I don't think they're competitve at all otherwise), and F-150s are the one product Ford cares enough about to actually attempt what they consider to be QC with. My choice would be an F150 King Ranch with a 5.0.
For coupes, the choices are slimmer. E450s are good. I just realized they are knocking on the door of my own price range and I've become enamored with them. Very pretty looking, very luxurious. Not particularly sporty though, if that's your bag. Chally GT is fine. It will not blow you away, and -- I know this isn't fair of me -- but idk that I could buy one with a V6. Just doesn't sound or feel right.
Other larger options: BMW 8 series, Audi S7 (four doors, but whatever. Looks amazing)
Other nominal options: Audi S5, BMW M440i X-Drive. I am the one person on the planet who the giant nostril look on the new-gen 4 Series has grown on, especially in a darker color.
If you're fine with just RWD, then yeah a Mustang brand new can be had at invoice. Big money on the hood of them last I checked.
For pickups, consider a Tacoma (drove a 2005 TRD sport 6MT for 11 years, gave it to dad who drives it daily with indifferent maintenance, durable, was available with a six speed which wasn't a bad driver, and pretty cheap to live with) or a later model Ram (on year 7 of my current 2500 6.4 gas power wagon, this year went in for $1500 worth of maintenance-it's first major one-including all drives and transfer cases, and it's hungry for tires and gas, but got it for a steal and it's been relentlessly reliable and actually pretty pleasant to get around in for something as big as a single-wide trailer). Also, it has a big honking V8 in the nose and a winch which is very useful--not sure how I did without one. Neither of these is cheap, but my personal experience with both for fairly long terms (both bought new) has been exceptional. As a counterpoint, had a Lexus RC-F (5.0 V8, 460+HP, lots of tech and oh so unusual) that was a delight for the 3 or 4 years I kept it, and apparently you can't give them away now. Lexus quality and, despite Jack and DG's experience, I actually got to like the touchpad thingy and could operate it nicely without looking away from driving. Very fast, good (not great) mileage, wonderful paint. Mine was a 2016, pretty sure they stayed pretty much the same until they were killed off recently. Look for the track pack, which eliminates the sunroof in favor of a carbon roof (meh) and a torque vectoring differential (yissss) which does magical stuff in tight mountain curves. The stupid radar cruise control and automatic braking safety stuff can be quickly and definitively circumvented without any permanent mods. The infrared paint is insane in the sun.
No problems with the ram, actually can't tell if it deactivates cylinders, although mileage improves non-trivially using cruise control for long interstate slogs (I routinely see mid 14s for this sort of driving, and that's with 35 inch MS tires). Cons: The transmission has begun to downshift more abruptly from 3 to 2 when slowing to a stop (although it may have always done this and now that I've noticed it, just can't unnoticed it, it's pretty subtle, and this is at 115K miles), the passenger side foot space is weirdly small for such a massive vehicle (the engine in modern trucks is somewhere between 80's pickup truck and 80's van, so there is more floor hump over there), although the wife doesn't seem to mind. Pros: about 50 cubbies. There was, at least for a while, a mega cab with a reclining back seat, as well. I see them from time to time, and it's a pretty impressive cab.
It's almost nanny-free, and will allow you to drive around with the door open and your seatbelt off if you can ignore the plaintive dinging that never stops (the old Tacoma would give up after about 2 minutes and just let you behave like you didn't owe Darwin nothin'); in contrast, the wife's 2018 Durango will put itself in park if you do such irresponsible shit (which you would like to do to open and close a gate, for example). The ram is a column shift, and I think it's harder to intervene when it's an old-fashioned mechanical linkage. My gas PW (not really rated very highly for towing) will happily tow a 24 foot travel trailer, a yamaha ski boat (3500 lbs without trailer) or a 4000 pound tractor on an 18 foot hauler. The regular 2500s are supposedly much better at this. You can't get the 6.4L in the 1500, I don't think, and that's a shame, it's a great motor, and while it maybe doesn't have the character of GMs 6.2, it's not without soul.
I have been thinking a lot about taking my late father’s archive (40ish years of automotive writing and thousands of photos from various press trips and auto shows along the way) and doing…*something* with it, even if it’s just commentary on old articles that might have some present-day context or interest
Eric, I would comment but I am stilll using XP on one of the home computers. My attitude is if it still works leave it alone. Now if I could just remember the password for my computer that has 2000 so I could get to some old files….
I would certainly up my sub here if there were a few writers doing some content. Maybe something along the lines of telling the unvarnished Truth, perhaps about Cars.
Sherman, Peter seems to have a wealth of knowledge about the auto industry and its power players. The fact that he sometimes writes about how Bill Mitchell who lived down the street would leave one off prototypes for his father to test drive, I find amazing.
Plus he created the 1979 Firebird TA print advertising of just the car turned at an angle with no text, just the car.
I enjoy his stories about back in the day. After awhile, I realized that this is a guy who is still living in his brother's shadow. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it explains why he constantly tries to make himself appear to be some sort of power player.
In 50 years, a nontrivial amount of people will still talk about Tony Delorenzo's racing career. Nobody is going to remember his brother who made a (second?) career of writing one rant per week and making a fool of himself in front of John McElroy.
well its a centrifugal that increases power to almost 200 so not much of it down low and if you wanted more low end you could just bolt on a roots blower instead
I did a little digging. One article said that the factory version of the SC package sold *ten* units. HKS and Jackson Racing (I assume a relabel) sell their own, still.
Yeah you'd think a roots would perform better, but space, packaging, etc. A full swap would probably be even money compared to those kits, if you could get it to talk to the rest of the car.
My interest is based on pure CRX nostalgia as I've no need for such a thing.
The Autopian's design gives me headaches. Even if some of the articles are decent, I can't look at the site very long.
As for Autoblog, Press S to Spit. Imagine writing 7,000 articles for a site that was flushed without a care in the world. I'd say that they're a drain on society, but today I learned that there's a guy with a 9L Viper who is also the CEO of a virtual dog training academy. In comparison, Autoblog provides a valuable public service.
It’s fun and not to serious, like us. We must be getting something right because a few other websites have started copying our top shot style (fwiw the design is nothing to do with me, I’m just a contributor).
I wish the commenting and notification system was a tad better. In fact, as a WordPress developer, I’m thinking about reaching out and seeing if they’d like to consult on a new solution.
It had an upgrade a while back, but it is still problematic. My notifications clear completely as soon as I click on one, which really cramps my ability to insult people in a timely manner. I don't remotely understand how the internet works, but I think it's something to do with the software the site was built on, which I understand is not a blogging platform.
That particular bug is exactly what I’m talking about. The paginated comments are also goofy.
I’m almost positive The Autopian is WordPress. WordPress *is* a blogging platform; it just wasn’t necessarily designed to do all the other stuff (like comment notifications). I’m amazed and appalled at how little core functionality has been added since it first debuted in 2001. Things like built-in custom field GUIs and, yes, comment notifications. As such, site masters and developers often rely on plugins, and they’re sometimes quite badly built, or have serious security vulnerabilities.
Whichever plugin The Autopian is using, whether off-the-shelf or custom-built, just isn’t very good.
That said, you have sites like Jalopnik that have their complete own infrastructure. I don’t know what to say about Kinja, other than that it’s arguably worse than any WordPress site I’ve ever seen. It routinely crashes my browser, or fails to load comments, or won’t let me log in, or adds double images when I paste them into a comment…or (lately) redirects me to their pro-Black property “The Root” when I scroll to the bottom of a page. And some of these glitches have existed for years. It even spawned its own verb, so you’ll have commenters complaining about “getting Kinja’d.” Are their developers asleep at the keyboard?
As you sagely pointed out almost a year ago, the golden days of auto writing are over. They don't generate enough money because regurgitated press-release articles have been commoditized to the point of having zero worth to advertisers. Affiliate marketing doesn't work either, and even traditional institutions like Hearst no longer have the stronghold on the car-buying audience that they once did. Why should GM take out a full-page spread in Car & Driver to hock the Lyriq to potential buyers when it can instead spend that money on an influencer like Doug DeMuro, who will assign any number of (deserved or undeserved) superlatives to it and give it very specific attention? And even if a publication does bring in big dollars, its overhead on paying a ton of writers (either staff or contracted contributors) and putting on things like comparo tests and video reviews...wipes that away.
I made a not-insubstantial amount of money between 2017 and 2021-ish doing "overview" articles for CarGurus, but the money and work dried up pretty quickly once the pandemic began. Never mind that CarGurus probably operated its entire media division as a loss on the balance sheet (since its revenue comes from listing fees)...even CarGurus couldn't justify continuing to throw large amounts of money at that particular effort. I also was commissioned to write a few more in-depth articles, including one about the history of Saturn that I think was offensive enough (read: honest enough) to cause the editors to pull it and have someone else write it, lest they upset the Powers That Be at GM.
I think that whoever wants to be successful in the immediate future with writing, in particular, needs to provide some real value beyond just stories and news to their users. They'll need to provide a unique take, not unlike Jack does with his industry-insider stories. They will also have to run a very lean ship. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that myself. The reason I haven't launched my platform in earnest is mostly because I make a lot more money doing my normal work, which is software engineering. I'm in my prime earning years, so I can't afford to sacrifice the income now.
Excluding new car "news", not much is left to write about other than one's personal experience with a car. How many more stories do we need written about Diablos having 300ZX headlights, or Toyota cheating in WRC?
Plus most new vehicles are just not very interesting or desirable. I no longer actively seek out new car reviews. If by chance I do, I realize I’m just getting a warmed over press release, and I’d need to spend a lot of time looking at multiple reviews just to piece together what a new car *may* be like. Savage Geese would be an exception to this.
I will do personalized new car reviews for $5 a pop.
You send me what you bought and I will reply with:
"After much deliberation, you bought the best car in class. Well done"
If you haven't yet bought it:
The <insert car here> you are looking at and are going to buy regardless of whatever I say is clearly the correct choice. You are a man/woman of impeccable tastes.
I once got pulled over in my 1980 Citation on a Chicago highway back when Chicago PD radar cops still worked them. This was back when you would get out of your car and go talk to the cop so he wouldn’t have to leave his warm car on a cold Chicago night. Copper tells me I was going 85 in a 55, and I burst out laughing and said, “You have no idea how scary this car would be at 85, it would probably shake itself apart, so no officer, I can honestly say I was not going 85”. He was rather amused so he let me go.
The faulty brakes combined with 60% of its weight in front meant that Citations would swap ends in a heartbeat. The one time I did it was on a highway off ramp with a wide grassy shoulder. I was very lucky.
"Hoping I understood this correctly as an open thread invitation. If not, my apologies."
Gonna pin this, since you're arriving a bit late. New, used, or either?
Fully loaded Challenger GT AWD?
E450 4Matics with low miles are in the $40k-50k range.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/722898554?city=Mansfield&driveGroup=AWD4WD&listingType=USED&makeCode=MB&newSearch=false&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fcoupe%2Fmercedes-benz%2Fe-class%2Fmansfield-oh%3FnewSearch%3Dtrue%26searchRadius%3D0%26zip%3D44901&searchRadius=0&seriesCode=E_CLASS&state=OH&vehicleStyleCode=COUPE&zip=44901&clickType=listing
How did you like the Challenger from behind the wheel?
I never cared for 360 parking cameras and what not, but both the Challenger and Camaro always felt like one big blind spot to me.
I keep forgetting there's an E coupe...
Looked at leftover 2023 E coupes or certified with minimal miles from same year. You could get em for 60k otd
That's a value IMO.
I'll assume "works in winter" implies a preference (but not mandate) for AWD, esp. since you made do with an S197 earlier.
Not exactly a coupe, but a used RS7 has that sleek glove-fit, coupe-vibe. And quiet, powerful, winter-friendly, etc. Here in the NYC suburbs, nice ones run in the mid-to-high 60's. But once you're out of Manhattan's blast radius, they seem to skirt around $60k.
For new coupe, maybe some version of an M240i? It might be the closest thing to a "platonic ideal" coupe RN.
I spent a little time recently in a new S650 GT (feels weird to write that... "S650 GT" seems like yet another cynical "AMG-lite" from MB) and... I didn't hate it! Every contemporary Mustang fits me funny, but then again, I'm built stocky like Henry Rollins. I can see how the long-limbed like it.
Don't know anything about pickups, except that my wife has wanted a Maverick since Day 1.
While I'm definitely - not - pushing this, the numbers might make sense if you find something German you like for around $55k and just budget another $5k for an extended factory warranty.
When I was looking at prior generation C43's and E43's, the MB factory extended was around $4k for another 5-6 years and equivalent mileage. Or even better, if you find a car that already has it bundled in from the prior owner or dealer.
If Toly can be believed, which he can... that RS7 costs a grip to run.
LC200.
The LX 570 is also the same.
They have been on my list for a while, I actullly just drove one yesterday. The one I drove was 2009, the dash stuff was definitely dated, but the car was solid, powerful, tomb silent and all of the seating options are really well designed. Love the actual tailgate. Suspension was comfortable but a bit mushy, you can definitely feel the 5300lbs when you corner. Would probably lift the front an inch and firm it up a touch. Will probably buy one myself soon, need to try the Lexus to see if I like it better.
Check out the Land Rover Defender 90. It's a 2 door which makes it a bit unique in the market of mom's taxi suv stuff. It has a 518 horse v8. Plenty of leg room. Starts at 55k, but that's sticker. Goes great in the snow. The stubby wheelbase makes it a piece of cake to park, like your RAV-4, but it's built with what amount to 3/4 ton parts. Lots of posh fun til the warranty ends.
I feel you
But considering you might be looking for something else in a few years, probably, the Big D could be great fun for the next four. As long as it's under warranty "wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
A restomod Bronco would be way better in most measurable respects I care about.
The modern Bronco is super roomy, fwiw, and can come with a stick shift.
I put 20k miles on a 2023 two-door with the 6 Speed and factory 35s. The only reason I wouldn't particularly recommend one is that Ford forgot how to make vehicles that don't crumble to bits. It was built like absolute dog shit. Fun truck though. Beyond brilliant off-road.
Go with the extended out of the gate and drive the hell out of it.
Totally love the proportions of that thing! Check out a 2 door Bronco for the same thing but 15-20k less.
Might I suggest, as I always do, the S550 Ecoboost Convertible? It may not be quiet, but I am sure with heated seats it won't be any worse in the winter than than the 1978 Monte Carlos our forefathers drove.
Pickup... take your pick? Any of the higher trimmed domestics with a V8 would be fine, just depends on your personal style. Rams ride the best, Chevy/GMCs have a 6.2 the best (I don't think they're competitve at all otherwise), and F-150s are the one product Ford cares enough about to actually attempt what they consider to be QC with. My choice would be an F150 King Ranch with a 5.0.
For coupes, the choices are slimmer. E450s are good. I just realized they are knocking on the door of my own price range and I've become enamored with them. Very pretty looking, very luxurious. Not particularly sporty though, if that's your bag. Chally GT is fine. It will not blow you away, and -- I know this isn't fair of me -- but idk that I could buy one with a V6. Just doesn't sound or feel right.
Other larger options: BMW 8 series, Audi S7 (four doors, but whatever. Looks amazing)
Other nominal options: Audi S5, BMW M440i X-Drive. I am the one person on the planet who the giant nostril look on the new-gen 4 Series has grown on, especially in a darker color.
If you're fine with just RWD, then yeah a Mustang brand new can be had at invoice. Big money on the hood of them last I checked.
Once I thought of the newer BMW grilles as Hitler mustaches, I can't unsee it.
For pickups, consider a Tacoma (drove a 2005 TRD sport 6MT for 11 years, gave it to dad who drives it daily with indifferent maintenance, durable, was available with a six speed which wasn't a bad driver, and pretty cheap to live with) or a later model Ram (on year 7 of my current 2500 6.4 gas power wagon, this year went in for $1500 worth of maintenance-it's first major one-including all drives and transfer cases, and it's hungry for tires and gas, but got it for a steal and it's been relentlessly reliable and actually pretty pleasant to get around in for something as big as a single-wide trailer). Also, it has a big honking V8 in the nose and a winch which is very useful--not sure how I did without one. Neither of these is cheap, but my personal experience with both for fairly long terms (both bought new) has been exceptional. As a counterpoint, had a Lexus RC-F (5.0 V8, 460+HP, lots of tech and oh so unusual) that was a delight for the 3 or 4 years I kept it, and apparently you can't give them away now. Lexus quality and, despite Jack and DG's experience, I actually got to like the touchpad thingy and could operate it nicely without looking away from driving. Very fast, good (not great) mileage, wonderful paint. Mine was a 2016, pretty sure they stayed pretty much the same until they were killed off recently. Look for the track pack, which eliminates the sunroof in favor of a carbon roof (meh) and a torque vectoring differential (yissss) which does magical stuff in tight mountain curves. The stupid radar cruise control and automatic braking safety stuff can be quickly and definitively circumvented without any permanent mods. The infrared paint is insane in the sun.
No problems with the ram, actually can't tell if it deactivates cylinders, although mileage improves non-trivially using cruise control for long interstate slogs (I routinely see mid 14s for this sort of driving, and that's with 35 inch MS tires). Cons: The transmission has begun to downshift more abruptly from 3 to 2 when slowing to a stop (although it may have always done this and now that I've noticed it, just can't unnoticed it, it's pretty subtle, and this is at 115K miles), the passenger side foot space is weirdly small for such a massive vehicle (the engine in modern trucks is somewhere between 80's pickup truck and 80's van, so there is more floor hump over there), although the wife doesn't seem to mind. Pros: about 50 cubbies. There was, at least for a while, a mega cab with a reclining back seat, as well. I see them from time to time, and it's a pretty impressive cab.
It's almost nanny-free, and will allow you to drive around with the door open and your seatbelt off if you can ignore the plaintive dinging that never stops (the old Tacoma would give up after about 2 minutes and just let you behave like you didn't owe Darwin nothin'); in contrast, the wife's 2018 Durango will put itself in park if you do such irresponsible shit (which you would like to do to open and close a gate, for example). The ram is a column shift, and I think it's harder to intervene when it's an old-fashioned mechanical linkage. My gas PW (not really rated very highly for towing) will happily tow a 24 foot travel trailer, a yamaha ski boat (3500 lbs without trailer) or a 4000 pound tractor on an 18 foot hauler. The regular 2500s are supposedly much better at this. You can't get the 6.4L in the 1500, I don't think, and that's a shame, it's a great motor, and while it maybe doesn't have the character of GMs 6.2, it's not without soul.
I have been thinking a lot about taking my late father’s archive (40ish years of automotive writing and thousands of photos from various press trips and auto shows along the way) and doing…*something* with it, even if it’s just commentary on old articles that might have some present-day context or interest
this is a great idea
do it
Do it!
Will read.
Superb idea! I hope you do it.
I agree with everyone else. Absolutely worth doing. If you need technical or conceptual help, just drop me a note.
Wow, I didn’t expect this kind of support from everyone in response to an offhand comment! Thank you.
It’ll probably take me a few months to cook something up (I’m living on a different continent now) but this is all the encouragement I think I need
Yes, please!
I remember Autoblog because it was one of the websites I used to frequent for its ease of use on my BlackBerry.
The irony of me reading and responding to this on my BlackBerry KeyOne has me chuckling.
Eric, I would comment but I am stilll using XP on one of the home computers. My attitude is if it still works leave it alone. Now if I could just remember the password for my computer that has 2000 so I could get to some old files….
Multibillion dollar companies are still using XP. Don't sell yourself short.
The IRS too if I'm not mistaken
They use computers?
And fax machines!
And guns too
More than a bit jealous at the idea of a physical keyboard. I loved my BlackBerries for that.
Heard a colleague say, ~14 years ago:
“The BlackBerry is the best possible device for managing email.
The iPhone is the best device for entertaining yourself with web browsing and games”
Funny to think which device won!
I suppose you also tied an onion to your belt, which was the style at the time.
It’s funny how the slow creep of time allows for the perfectly acceptable denial of getting older. BRB, I have some clouds to yell at.
I had to take a moment to call out the reference. thank you.
GIMME FIVE BEES FOR A QUARTER
I would certainly up my sub here if there were a few writers doing some content. Maybe something along the lines of telling the unvarnished Truth, perhaps about Cars.
You can't use the word "unvarnished." Peter Delorenzo will throw a fit. That is, once his assistant sends him a printout of your comment via fax.
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.
okay how about the paint stripped truth
is that still legal
DeLorenzo is the Boomer version of “CarCounsel.”
Main character syndrome, shouting into the void.
Sherman, Peter seems to have a wealth of knowledge about the auto industry and its power players. The fact that he sometimes writes about how Bill Mitchell who lived down the street would leave one off prototypes for his father to test drive, I find amazing.
Plus he created the 1979 Firebird TA print advertising of just the car turned at an angle with no text, just the car.
I read Autoextremist, but I’m under no illusions that anyone in a senior role in Detroit even knows who he is.
He lost me when he started deep-throating glorified golf carts.
He’s negative on them … at the moment.
You'd be wrong about that, I think.
Do you think Jim Farley reads his little blog?
I enjoy his stories about back in the day. After awhile, I realized that this is a guy who is still living in his brother's shadow. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it explains why he constantly tries to make himself appear to be some sort of power player.
In 50 years, a nontrivial amount of people will still talk about Tony Delorenzo's racing career. Nobody is going to remember his brother who made a (second?) career of writing one rant per week and making a fool of himself in front of John McElroy.
That hydrogen powered Indy 500 is right around the corner, bro.
"Unshellacked..."
How much faster does the blower make in a CRZ in real use? They are oddly expensive on the used market.
well its a centrifugal that increases power to almost 200 so not much of it down low and if you wanted more low end you could just bolt on a roots blower instead
either way a k swap makes more sense
I did a little digging. One article said that the factory version of the SC package sold *ten* units. HKS and Jackson Racing (I assume a relabel) sell their own, still.
Yeah you'd think a roots would perform better, but space, packaging, etc. A full swap would probably be even money compared to those kits, if you could get it to talk to the rest of the car.
My interest is based on pure CRX nostalgia as I've no need for such a thing.
Two seconds faster 0-60 is what I read. So it would be about as quick as a K24 Accord coupe.
The Autopian's design gives me headaches. Even if some of the articles are decent, I can't look at the site very long.
As for Autoblog, Press S to Spit. Imagine writing 7,000 articles for a site that was flushed without a care in the world. I'd say that they're a drain on society, but today I learned that there's a guy with a 9L Viper who is also the CEO of a virtual dog training academy. In comparison, Autoblog provides a valuable public service.
It’s fun and not to serious, like us. We must be getting something right because a few other websites have started copying our top shot style (fwiw the design is nothing to do with me, I’m just a contributor).
It's the teal and red. I don't know what it is, but those two colors together I can't take.
As far as layout and navigation goes, it's amongst the best IMO.
I wish the commenting and notification system was a tad better. In fact, as a WordPress developer, I’m thinking about reaching out and seeing if they’d like to consult on a new solution.
Make sure you get that Galpin money, if you do.
And get paid up front. I'm hearing from another Autopian partner that Hardigree can be a bit forgetful about settling accounts payable.
They're always fine with me. They need the occasional prod, but they always pay within a couple of weeks of invoice.
I think that's because they don't owe you ten grand or more, as is the case with this other fellow.
Are you calling me cheap?
It had an upgrade a while back, but it is still problematic. My notifications clear completely as soon as I click on one, which really cramps my ability to insult people in a timely manner. I don't remotely understand how the internet works, but I think it's something to do with the software the site was built on, which I understand is not a blogging platform.
That particular bug is exactly what I’m talking about. The paginated comments are also goofy.
I’m almost positive The Autopian is WordPress. WordPress *is* a blogging platform; it just wasn’t necessarily designed to do all the other stuff (like comment notifications). I’m amazed and appalled at how little core functionality has been added since it first debuted in 2001. Things like built-in custom field GUIs and, yes, comment notifications. As such, site masters and developers often rely on plugins, and they’re sometimes quite badly built, or have serious security vulnerabilities.
Whichever plugin The Autopian is using, whether off-the-shelf or custom-built, just isn’t very good.
That said, you have sites like Jalopnik that have their complete own infrastructure. I don’t know what to say about Kinja, other than that it’s arguably worse than any WordPress site I’ve ever seen. It routinely crashes my browser, or fails to load comments, or won’t let me log in, or adds double images when I paste them into a comment…or (lately) redirects me to their pro-Black property “The Root” when I scroll to the bottom of a page. And some of these glitches have existed for years. It even spawned its own verb, so you’ll have commenters complaining about “getting Kinja’d.” Are their developers asleep at the keyboard?
I suggest you use an RSS reader like Feedly or The Old Reader. Lovely and you lose a lot of ads.
You know I'd be down to do a writing collab.
As you sagely pointed out almost a year ago, the golden days of auto writing are over. They don't generate enough money because regurgitated press-release articles have been commoditized to the point of having zero worth to advertisers. Affiliate marketing doesn't work either, and even traditional institutions like Hearst no longer have the stronghold on the car-buying audience that they once did. Why should GM take out a full-page spread in Car & Driver to hock the Lyriq to potential buyers when it can instead spend that money on an influencer like Doug DeMuro, who will assign any number of (deserved or undeserved) superlatives to it and give it very specific attention? And even if a publication does bring in big dollars, its overhead on paying a ton of writers (either staff or contracted contributors) and putting on things like comparo tests and video reviews...wipes that away.
I made a not-insubstantial amount of money between 2017 and 2021-ish doing "overview" articles for CarGurus, but the money and work dried up pretty quickly once the pandemic began. Never mind that CarGurus probably operated its entire media division as a loss on the balance sheet (since its revenue comes from listing fees)...even CarGurus couldn't justify continuing to throw large amounts of money at that particular effort. I also was commissioned to write a few more in-depth articles, including one about the history of Saturn that I think was offensive enough (read: honest enough) to cause the editors to pull it and have someone else write it, lest they upset the Powers That Be at GM.
I think that whoever wants to be successful in the immediate future with writing, in particular, needs to provide some real value beyond just stories and news to their users. They'll need to provide a unique take, not unlike Jack does with his industry-insider stories. They will also have to run a very lean ship. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that myself. The reason I haven't launched my platform in earnest is mostly because I make a lot more money doing my normal work, which is software engineering. I'm in my prime earning years, so I can't afford to sacrifice the income now.
Excluding new car "news", not much is left to write about other than one's personal experience with a car. How many more stories do we need written about Diablos having 300ZX headlights, or Toyota cheating in WRC?
Plus most new vehicles are just not very interesting or desirable. I no longer actively seek out new car reviews. If by chance I do, I realize I’m just getting a warmed over press release, and I’d need to spend a lot of time looking at multiple reviews just to piece together what a new car *may* be like. Savage Geese would be an exception to this.
I will do personalized new car reviews for $5 a pop.
You send me what you bought and I will reply with:
"After much deliberation, you bought the best car in class. Well done"
If you haven't yet bought it:
The <insert car here> you are looking at and are going to buy regardless of whatever I say is clearly the correct choice. You are a man/woman of impeccable tastes.
1980 Chevy Citation. Bought to cruise the idyllic streets of DuPage County and get pulled over by the Naperville Police.
Ooh. A classic car review.
The 1980 chevy citation is an great choice for a classic car. Impeccable tastes my friend. Just be careful not to get any citations in that citation.
Impressive work!
I once got pulled over in my 1980 Citation on a Chicago highway back when Chicago PD radar cops still worked them. This was back when you would get out of your car and go talk to the cop so he wouldn’t have to leave his warm car on a cold Chicago night. Copper tells me I was going 85 in a 55, and I burst out laughing and said, “You have no idea how scary this car would be at 85, it would probably shake itself apart, so no officer, I can honestly say I was not going 85”. He was rather amused so he let me go.
The faulty brakes combined with 60% of its weight in front meant that Citations would swap ends in a heartbeat. The one time I did it was on a highway off ramp with a wide grassy shoulder. I was very lucky.
DID YOU KNOW THAT BENZO AND PORSH MADE A CAR
IT WAS CALLED THE 500E
WELCOME TO "ICONS"
EPISODE TWO IS ABOUT A JAPANESE CAR YOUVE NEVER HEARD OF THAT WAS CREDITED WITH REVIVING THE CONVERTIBLE SPORTS CAR SEGMENT IN 1989
kill me please
CAN WE TAKE A MINUTE TO TALK ABOUT GROUP B RALLY?
gimmie a sec to put the loaded gun in my mouth an then you can go ahead