Car Buying Help

Palum_sl said:

Did you get the performance pack?

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No I didn't. The only two things that I would have wanted from that package would have been the Brembos and the Axle, (the 2 gages taking up 2 ac vents would fucking suck in Florida) It would have been nice, but I'm not going to be playing Brian O'Connor anytime soon. Yet now that I think about it, why the fuck didn't I? I do have everything else tho besides the bullshit "black out" package. I can do that with plasti dip and save 700 dollars. Fucking rip off. The seats do have ac that blows up your ass and back. That shit is so sweet.

You get the 3.73 rear, torsen diff, 6 pot brembos with 380mm discs, heavier duty shocks, completely retuned suspension, staggered wheels with perf tires and 275 rears, strut tower brace, extended front lip spoiler. The extra gauges only replace the one center vent which is of dubious utility since the fans put out the same amount of air.

It's actually a lot of stuff for the price but that said they only offer it in manual and the A/T is probably a better base car for slapping a SC on there down the road if you're going to heavily mod it.

Yea premium seats are definitely awesome, love the AC in them.

I have a CVT and going to my wife's car feels like I'm having sex with no lube

Cad_sl said:

CVT's are theoretically the best transmission design, and would be the best transmission ever if they could hold any significant torque. When we start seeing these things in non FWD shitboxes, it's going to be insane.

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DSG with paddles, please.

The one I test drove took up both vents, and it does make a difference. I concede though, I should have gotten the package. I am more than happy with what I have though. I was done dealing with the typical dealer bullshit and had 5 finals between Monday and this morning. Looking at the Roush or Steeda goodies, plenty of stuff to play with though. I'm going from a 07 Eclipse GT that I had since it had 4 miles on it. So going from that into this car, I didn't feel like I really needed more "balls" from the car. I'm a guy, I should know better. Maybe having a eclipse sapped my testosterone over the years.

Cad_sl said:

CVT's are significantly better than DCT's especially for engines with narrow power bands.

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I don't deny it.

You know how some people swear by manual and disregard that some automatic systems can shift faster and more efficiently? I think that's me with automatic versus CVT. CVT just takes too much fun out of it. I like the versatility of DSG with paddles. Control when I want it, but very good programmed shifting when I don't want to be bothered (which is most of the time).

I've only tried out CVT in a couple of Subarus, one Honda, and one Nissan (lol @ Juke). CVT, even in sport mode, totally drained a lot of fun out of the WRX =/ And the other cars weren't interesting at all. I can't seriously consider anything too fancy, but VW's GTI setup is pretty much perfect for me at my price point (not sure how relatively big of a power band a GTI is considered to have. It's very torquey, though).

What does VAG put in its Porsches? Anything at that level with CVT yet?

found the guy driving a minivan

Barraco Bisi_sl said:

Real men drive minivans since they don't give a fuck about what other people think

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I had to drive one for a work project once. It was comfortable and practical for a few people and some equipment.

But I hate minivans because of how I see them driven on the road--problems holding lanes, cutting across two lanes to make highway exits, running red lights. People driving minivans just seem distracted and erratic. I assume that many minivan drivers must be stressed out parents. But fuck that. Minivans are menaces!

CVT is theoretically the best but since they banned them in F1 the iterative engineering that would have developed a high-torque CVT basically went out the window for a long time. No idea if anyone is working on one now.

koljec_sl said:

I had to drive one for a work project once. It was comfortable and practical for a few people and some equipment.

But I hate minivans because of how I see them driven on the road--problems holding lanes, cutting across two lanes to make highway exits, running red lights. People driving minivans just seem distracted and erratic. I assume that many minivan drivers must be stressed out parents. But fuck that. Minivans are menaces!

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Did you mean to write SUVs? Cause that's 99% of the Tahoes I see on the road.

koljec_sl said:

I don't deny it.

You know how some people swear by manual and disregard that some automatic systems can shift faster and more efficiently? I think that's me with automatic versus CVT. CVT just takes too much fun out of it. I like the versatility of DSG with paddles. Control when I want it, but very good programmed shifting when I don't want to be bothered (which is most of the time).

I've only tried out CVT in a couple of Subarus, one Honda, and one Nissan (lol @ Juke). CVT, even in sport mode, totally drained a lot of fun out of the WRX =/ And the other cars weren't interesting at all. I can't seriously consider anything too fancy, but VW's GTI setup is pretty much perfect for me at my price point (not sure how relatively big of a power band a GTI is considered to have. It's very torquey, though).

What does VAG put in its Porsches? Anything at that level with CVT yet?

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CVT was banned from one of the euro racing circuits / establishments years ago - that stifled essentially any race / ultra performance $$$ for innovation - Nissan has done 99% of the current generation CVT R&D and every single new revision of their CVT has seen boosts in every measurable stat. Their focus has not been that much on the performance side of things- its been efficiency, smoothness etc. look at the Pathfinder / JX35 + QX60 - it saw its first gen MPG @ 18city, then the new gen CVT it bumped to 20, and now some refined programming its 21 mpg city - and this is on a large 3rd row crossover- it outmatches the "ADD MORE GEARS" trend of the 7-8 speed boxes out there now days.

Nissan has its best and newest performance CVT into the new Maxima - the Jukes is a poor example, I don't think they have refreshed its CVT generation since its debut and they just slapped some pre-programed ratios and paddles in it. The new Maxima has the latest in their performance minded CVT advancements, and they are not as much as a focus as the "common folk" side of the R&D for CVTs. The torque thing in terms of hauling and everyday performance has not been a thing for awhile in the Nissan CVT camp, on performance - that's always debatable.

koljec_sl said:

I had to drive one for a work project once. It was comfortable and practical for a few people and some equipment.

But I hate minivans because of how I see them driven on the road--problems holding lanes, cutting across two lanes to make highway exits, running red lights. People driving minivans just seem distracted and erratic. I assume that many minivan drivers must be stressed out parents. But fuck that. Minivans are menaces!

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You mean women are terrible drivers?