The Car Thread

[achilles]

I know what you're thinking, "I want a Mustang GT 500, but 760hp and 625 torques just aren't enough for me to kill myself by wrapping it around a tree, I want MORE!" Well, if that's your bag, Hennessey has you covered, as of course they would.

https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/h...ge-1234767198/

They take that weak, anemic powertrain and beef it up a bit. How much? Try 1204 ponies and 902 torques! That's enough for rush hour traffic on the 405!

Now the article doesn't say if they do anything else to the bar apart from special badging, such as beefing up the suspension and brakes so you can stop from that one tenth light speed straight you're taking, or simply not die when trying to max it, (it sounds pretty much un-drivable otherwise), or 0-60s or top speed, but you can work it out that it's likely to be quite high on sticky tires.

What they do is take a standard GT 500 donor car at $80 grand, and add about $60 grand in tweaks, so you're out the door at around $140 grand, which is a bargain for such an eco friendly car like this, (I imagine it gets about 3 yards to the gallon).

Anyway, here it is:

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I know what you're thinking, "I want a Mustang GT 500, but 760hp and 625 torques just aren't enough for me to kill myself by wrapping it around a tree, I want MORE!" Well, if that's your bag, Hennessey has you covered, as of course they would.

https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/h...ge-1234767198/

They take that weak, anemic powertrain and beef it up a bit. How much? Try 1204 ponies and 902 torques! That's enough for rush hour traffic on the 405!

Now the article doesn't say if they do anything else to the bar apart from special badging, such as beefing up the suspension and brakes so you can stop from that one tenth light speed straight you're taking, or simply not die when trying to max it, (it sounds pretty much un-drivable otherwise), or 0-60s or top speed, but you can work it out that it's likely to be quite high on sticky tires.

What they do is take a standard GT 500 donor car at $80 grand, and add about $60 grand in tweaks, so you're out the door at around $140 grand, which is a bargain for such an eco friendly car like this, (I imagine it gets about 3 yards to the gallon).

Anyway, here it is:

And the insurance rates would be through the roof. Nahhhh, I’ll pass. I’d want a luxury laden ride for my midlife crisis instead of a muscle car.

[achilles]

And the insurance rates would be through the roof. Nahhhh, I’ll pass. I’d want a luxury laden ride for my midlife crisis instead of a muscle car.

Ah, well then, Hertz has you covered. They have the Shelby edition with only 900 HP, and if you have the about $400 per day plus mileage, they'll rent that killer to you, regardless of whether you can drive it. I foresee a lot of wrongful death lawsuits.

Where can you realistically use all the power in the real world? And how many people could drive one without killing themselves and everyone around them? Not me for sure, and I'm a pretty good driver, but I'd be scared to even try to max that one. Also, they put the Hertz logo right beside the Cobra on the grill, so you can't even pretend you own it. Very silly kind of car.

I'm with you though on what I'd want. A Phantom or a nice S-class would be my dream ride. Maybe an M5. Someplace I'd love to spend time in, something comfortable and easy to drive.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ah, well then, Hertz has you covered. They have the Shelby edition with only 900 HP, and if you have the about $400 per day plus mileage, they'll rent that killer to you, regardless of whether you can drive it. I foresee a lot of wrongful death lawsuits.

Where can you realistically use all the power in the real world? And how many people could drive one without killing themselves and everyone around them? Not me for sure, and I'm a pretty good driver, but I'd be scared to even try to max that one. Also, they put the Hertz logo right beside the Cobra on the grill, so you can't even pretend you own it. Very silly kind of car.

I'm with you though on what I'd want. A Phantom or a nice S-class would be my dream ride. Maybe an M5. Someplace I'd love to spend time in, something comfortable and easy to drive.

In my 63 years on this planet, I’ve never owned a V8 or a car that had more than 190hp, I’d kill myself driving a monster like a Hellcat (clocking in at a mere 707hp) or a Shelby. I’d keep it simple when it came to a luxury ride, great minds think alike as I’d also like an S-Class Benz or a Bentley.

[achilles]

Anyone care to guess the odds that Brandon Jones or literally ANY other driver in the upcoming NASCAR race introduces Joe Gibbs' nasty little grandson into a wall at speed? Since Joe himself won't do anything to that petty little kid and he'll get away with it otherwise? Actually, like Bubba Wallace, this kid should be perma banned from NASCAR; he's a menace even to his own team mates, much less anyone else racing; if they aren't winning and the teammate is. Kid's too spoiled and entitled to be allowed to race. Frankly, the whole Gibbs team should lose its sponsors if not have NASCAR just pull them.

This will be Jones' last race for Gibbs, and he should respond in kind; that seems to be the only way to get that team to listen. If not Brandon Jones, there seems to be a long list of drivers who'd love to put the Gibbs kid to the wall,quite an accomplishment for a 20 year old driver; usually it takes a bit of time to make people hate you like that. I guess pointless betrayal of a teammate plus the danger of the move is quite a motivation.

Joe Gibbs should have just stuck with football.

[achilles]

The Los Angeles Auto Show opens this weekend, sadly, I will not be able to attend due to health concerns, but the Z is back. It looks like an old Z from the 80s that has been through a fire and partly melted. 400 HP for the standard cooking model, but there's a race version with some more if that's your deal. Available in stick, (come on, if you want this sort of car, stick is the only choice), or a 9 speed auto.

[Kirby101]

Is the Nissan z and Toyota GR86 the same car?

[caj]

it looks like the delahaye from france, with a bently grill.

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[achilles]

Is the Nissan z and Toyota GR86 the same car?

Don't know, it's hard to tell these days, a lot of cars from different companies share parts. For example, from the only in LA files, some catalytic converter thieves drove up in a bright yellow Lamborghini Urus, which has the engine of a Porsche Panamera, other parts from Audi, and others. Now in that case, it's just from the common owner, but the Japanese cars have history that way. For example a Supra is just a rebadged, and better looking BMW.

And how you let slip in casual conversation that you have a Urus, I don't know. If you're talking to a doctor, he's probably snapping on the gloves right then...

[achilles]

So, it appears that all the world's jerks drive C and E class Mercs. Two guys have been nasty drivers to me recently, something that's never happened before this year, and they drove those cars. One actually stopped, got out and shouted about his C-Class, showed me his Rolex, (it would have to be a Rolex, wouldn't it), and astonishingly a cash clip, something I didn't think anyone used any more. Funny, since he was about 5'4" and 135 pounds while I'm a 6 foot light heavyweight. But since I didn't know what he might be carrying, like a gun, I refrained from pointing out that his C-Class was what you get when you can't afford a real Merc. Weird. I'd heard it was BMW drivers that did stuff like that. Interestingly, neither of them were able to get past me in heavy traffic.

[achilles]

Okay, so there's this:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/drak...193000142.html



Sounds amazing, 2000 HP, a 0-60 time that will literally snap your own neck unless you do bunches of weight exercises for the neck, a huge range claimed, along with a fairly amazing recharge time---all if delivered as promised. What has me though is the potential for injury from just trying to drive this thing to it's limits. 1.9 seconds 0-60? That will put people in the thing in hospital. For context, these days anything below 5 seconds is fast. The GTR is a smoker at about 2.6 seconds, and THAT snaps necks. Over 200 MPH top speed? Where apart from a track or the desert can you reach that? Oh, it's called the Drako Dragon, (there appears to be a large number of start-ups of various credibility to make electrics, which I sort of like, it harkens back to the days when we had dozens if not hundreds of car makers, back in the early days of cars.

[Kirby101]

And the best features of these start ups will filter to the big auto makers as we can finally move from 19th Century tech for our cars.

[achilles]

And the best features of these start ups will filter to the big auto makers as we can finally move from 19th Century tech for our cars.

I'm a bit suspicious of those specs though. And I'm guessing the price will be north of $250,000, probably well north, in which case why not get a Urus or something that you know can get serviced and will have parts for. That said, I love the idea that these guys are out there trying and hopefully advancing car building. Hopefully at some point regular makers will move entirely to using cleaner steel, (the making of which is astonishingly bad for the environment). The tech is in its infancy, but it is there.

[achilles]

Does anyone know if they've ever made a Jim Clark biopic? It seems obvious, though a bit of a downer, considering the inevitable ending, but I've never heard of one. Interestingly, he does have an IMDB listing, but only a short bio, no associated movie. Clark BTW, an OBE, is the GOAT of all auto racing, a bit like Tom Brady if Brady were a lot better at football and much more modest. He was killed in a Formula 2 race in Germany IIRC. But no one could touch him, and the greatest racers of all time all think HE was better than them, and by the numbers, they were right.

[achilles]

The Consumer Reports reliability results are in, and they are in a word, electrifying. As in, whatever you do, don't get an EV unless you want to hang around the repair shop all the time. They rate at the very bottom of the results, along with pick-up trucks. And it's not just Tesla either, it's all of them. Curiously, non plug-in hybrids are very reliable. So if you want an EV, get one of those instead.