New England B.S. Thread

Won't lie - when I was getting my ECU flashed back like a year ago, they had some of the new corollas out front - looked pretty slick, glad they brought back the hatch too.

 

The Corolla Hatchback XSE is a fun little car with the 6MT. Could use another 100hp/tq and AWD, but then it's a $35-40k car...

 

My first set of tires that I did was the original ContiExtremeContact, before they went with the DWS. Those tires were something special, insane in the snow, stupid grippy in the dry. I loved them.

The problem ultimately is the cost associated with that. When I bought my 2013 I was between the SR5 and Off-Road. When I crunched the numbers, it was less than $10 a month more to get all the nicer junk. $100/month, easy pass but at the lower price, not so much.

I hate the Corvette scene. There are systemic differences between myself and the average owner. It’s a really good car to drive with the roof off, but anytime I park it, urgh. Whenever I go to Cars and Coffee I park away from them. I got lectured once for changing too much on it. Half the C5 owners just want to put more chrome on their beige automatic convertible so they can display how it’s 1 of 7,000 made that way, despite being the most common configuration for that year.

I have no issue with an automatic car, my 2013 was automatic and it was nice to be able to trade off driving duties, but I consider it more of an appliance driver than a driving experience. When we go long distances we take the Jeep because it’s a nicer ride, but a spirited ride, and the Jeep has the ZF8 8-speed everyone loves. We used to have the CX-5 with the same 2.5 / auto and while it wasn’t a dog and the CX-5 at least had some handling ability, it’s just the same as a dedicated manual in terms of driving engagement, but I’m a manual snob. I’ve been manual-less for only 2 months out of the last twenty years.

I mean…it’s got 138 hp and a 15.7 second quarter. It’s hardly slow, but some more power would be fun. What’s interesting is the old 2005-era XRS with 180 hp puts up about the same numbers despite having more power. Of course that car revved to like 8,200 so it was probably hilarious to really ring out the power.

I wouldn’t even want AWD, just give me 210 hp, a high revving engine and an engaging gearbox.

 

That is fair - for me though, I was between the off road and the SR. For the SR5 yeah I would just be in the off road. Even though the DIY costs to add fog lights, etc wouldn't have been zero, if i had to do it again ... SR. Although, the power rear window is pretty sweet

Yeah - you go to a corvette meet to see other corvettes. They compare 0-60 times and all that like bro ... how does it drive? "Well it does 0-60 in..." NO - Drive. Drive vroom vroom zoom zoom screeeeeee HOW DOES IT DRIVE "I dunno I bring it on a trailer"



My cousin has a Z06 thing is sweet. He DOES trailer it, depending where he's going, but he let it rip on track days. He doesn't go to the corvette meets with their matching jackets and whatnot.

Yeah fair enough on the AT/ST. For me - my cars are appliances, pretty much what I said - Tacoma, wife's car, turd car if it ever happens, would just be an appliance. Glorified hairdryer. If I got a miata or Speed 3 for the drive, yeah I'd probably find a ST.

 

I autocrossed the Scion FR-S and Focus ST the same summer a few years back and actually much preferred the Focus. The engine had so much flexibility it was amazing.

 

FRS engine always was, always has been "meh." Supposedly the new 86 engine is a drastic improvement. FoST and FiST engines were a lot of fun. Shame they don't sell them here anymore.

 

Yeah, I understand wanting to keep the car balanced wrt power/weight but the brz/86 powerhouse is so bland

 

Yeah - probably CAFE, mixed with not selling much too. Nobody wants manual cars. At least, not worth the profits to build them, even though a small population wants them. The same assembly line and sales teams can be used to sell an Explorer and make 3x profits in the same time, so why make the dinky things here?

I do want a BRZ. That 2.4 is nothing special but it's still fun. I'll probably keep to an bigger NA I4 if I do anything fun though. Or a small I4 if I do something boring.

 

Granted the one I drove was auto, but even with manual mode if you overshot the corner there was absolutely nothing to dig you out. The NC Miata rotated and just had more oomph. The ATS-V was just terrifying. Grip for daaaaays.

 

NC Miata is my favorite car I've owned. Perfect spec, NC3 Club 6MT PRHT. Factory Bilsteins and an LSD in the rear. Cloth seats, no fancy tech, perfect driving companion. Miss that car every day.

 

Three chances for snow next week - thinking maybe I should swap to over to the Hakkas. Normally I'd wait it out a little longer and not worry about the minor snow showers, but my OEM tires are smoked and I really don't want to see how bad they are in snow.

I think I am between Michelin Defender M/S and Michelin A/T2s for spring. I was looking at Continental's TerrainContact H/T and A/T because they are a similar idea, but I see a lot of reports of significant gas mileage hits with those while the Michelins tend to increase efficiency. I'm looking at more highway oriented tires because that's most of what I do and I want the increased life and fuel efficiency from them - if I'm not getting both of those things by stepping away from a true A/T tire I might as well just go for the Grabber ATXs that I really want.

 

Don't get the Conti H/Ts, they are terrible on anything but dry pavement. They were the OEM tire on all 3 of my 250s and never made it past 1,000 miles before i dumped them. They were smooth and quiet but terrible traction.

 

I always forget, did you have the STI after you moved near me? I almost think I saw it around..

Kid up the street has a WRX I think...looks nice enough but man I want to pop him across the skull for that damn revving right in front of my house especially in May-June this year.

 

Don't forget people

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-official-2021-tw-secret-santa-thread.739640/

 

Are we doing a Toys 4 Tots run this year?

 

Yeah, first three years. Don’t forget I only lived a town over prior to that.

There’s a kid near me with a burble tune and does the gunshot thing…drives me bonkers. There’s no way that’s good for the car.

 

Can't stand that burble tune nonsense, so many bmw's running that shit and I agree that it can't be good in any sense for the car... maybe they'll learn the lesson the hard way

 

I almost wanted to walk over and say "dude, my wife's recovering could you at least not pop it in front of my house for a few weeks?"

 

Yes. No details yet