Electric cars

[healey36]

Yup, a well-used Merc 240D was on my want list for years, but I haven't seen one for a long time. Always enjoyed spotting a poorly maintained one when I was a kid, belching smoke and the back-end completely covered in soot.

[Mitch]

Subaru still uses the opposed 4 cylinder engines; they've stood the test of time.

Yes, but the 4 cylinder engine in my son's new Subaru is not the 4 cylinder engine that was in his old Forester.

Sadly, they discontinued the 6 or I might be driving an Outback still.

My guess would be if you looked up the specs, while the 4 cyl. may not make quite as much torque as the 6, it may well make more horsepower than the 6 cyl., and even easier on fuel, what with variable valve timing and most likely being direct injected.

[robert.]

Subaru WRX! My friend spent thousands on a hemi cuda restoration. Probably $80,000 plus the price of a cuda convertible. When it was completed it was a bad azz car. He took me for a ride in it. Out on Long Island. While sitting at a red light. Some punk kid pulls up in a WRX. Turns to my friend and says " I'm going to smoke your azz when the light turns green" Light hit green and that cuda let all hell brake out. I thought i was sitting behind a roaring jet engine. Tire smoke everywhere. No sign of the Subaru. That little car eat our lunch. My friend raced that guy 4 more times. From a 10mph roll to a 20 mph roll then 40 and from 60 mph roll. Not a chance of ever beating that WRX. He bought the guy lunch after that and talk for an hour about the Subaru Wrx. Bottom line the Subaru put the power to the ground. 2 months later my buddy bought one.
It will be interesting to see what people do to hop up their electrics.

[HONDO74]

It will be interesting to see what people do to hop up their electrics.

Tesla S Plaid vs ZR1 Corvette Drag Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1816swmybk

9.36 151 mph in the quarter

[up148]

Yeah, way to fast for a street car and with the unqualified drivers who will go for it............lookout.

[gregj410]

That’s pretty impressive! I had a 90 Mustang LX that would run 14 flat off the show room floor. Cheap HP back then. The word amongst the car enthusiasts I was running with was the first second reduction was cheap, after that you were gonna spend some bucks to get down to 11-12 second range. I think back then that was fast for a street car/daily driver. I swapped out the 273 gears for the 373’s had my second kid and it was time for a family car

Never got back into although I occasionally get the urge. I like driving a fast car but I sure don’t like/nor know how to work on one.

[robert.]

I sure hear that. About every other year . I get the knack to hotrod my cobra. I last about 3 weeks then i wise up. Like you said “ that first second is easy to remove” after that it gets pricey. They faster you make a draft horse run the higher the vet bills are.

[Mitch]

Never got back into although I occasionally get the urge. I like driving a fast car but I sure don’t like/nor know how to work on one.

I grew up through the muscle car era, and I owned a '69 Plymouth Road Runner. Back then, Plymouth's performance lineup was called the Rapid Transit System, and any car in it had to be able to cut a 14 second quarter mile, be it Duster, Road Runner, GTX, or the huge Plymouth Grand Fury. A 383, 4 speed with 3:91 gears was pretty quick, but the vehicle that scared me the most was one of the first Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT 8s with a 6.2 supercharged Hemi. From a 5mph rolling start and then nailing it, I was slammed into the seat and that 8 speed electronically shifted automatic rocketed through the gears, and it seemed only seconds and the speedo was at 100mph and I had to stand on the big Brembo brakes for an intersection that was comin' up fast. I thought right then that the modern performance car could put our 60s and early 70 muscle cars to shame. Now, the electric cars will blow the candles right out on a late model supercharged gas job. Electric motors. We know what a 6 axle diesel/electric locomotive can do. Now, our newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is launching 35 ton aircraft with electric motors and magnets instead of the tried and true steam catapult.

[up148]

I sure hear that. About every other year . I get the knack to hotrod my cobra. I last about 3 weeks then i wise up. Like you said “ that first second is easy to remove” after that it gets pricey. They faster you make a draft horse run the higher the vet bills are.

Yep, the old adage is true. "Speed costs.....how fast do you wanna go".

[up148]

Yes, the modern cars are actually too fast for most of the people driving them. My son is a great driver, a performance nut and a confirmed Porsche guy. His family car will do 0-60 in 3+ seconds and his new electric is just as fast. He had one model that was a high 2+ seconds 0-60 mph. I'm unable to handle that kind of acceleration now. I get tunnel vision for the 1st 50 mph and then have that vertigo feeling in my gut. Ruins any enjoyment of speed.

I'll stick with my 340 HP/4:11 62 Vette. All the performance I need and the old school sound we grew up with. Too bad I had to wait all my life to get it, sure could have enjoyed it more in my 50's and 60's, rather than my 70's.

[HONDO74]

I'll stick with my 340 HP/4:11 62 Vette. All the performance I need and the old school sound we grew up with. Too bad I had to wait all my life to get it, sure could have enjoyed it more in my 50's and 60's, rather than my 70's.

George Jones (The Corvette Song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh5jfvNOwK0

[robert.]

You're right most people can't handle the speed. Just sign your name on the lease papers and off you go. Some of the worst driving I see comes from Chrysler's product. Mitch mentioned a jeep. That and Chrysler's 300 are all over Philly. Every other night some fool hits a pole in the downtown area with one. Sad part is they take out a group waiting for the bus. Also on I95 You can find someone behind the wheel of a 300 driving along the shoulder or changing 3 lanes at a time. If you drive into town at night you'll find another fool in a 300 doing doughnuts in the middle of an intersection. If you're real lucky you'll see two of them going n opposite directions. Circling each other . Smoking the tires off with one of their friends sitting on the hood.
I see Amtrak s getting some new trains for 2026.

[robert.]

One more vette song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e3szB1biHg
Any songs about electric cars?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

......Chrysler's 300 are all over Philly.

Rarely see Chrysler products around here; Jeeps, yes.....

changing 3 lanes at a time.

See that all the time around here.

Folks getting on the DC Beltway and then getting off to go to the airport cross over 4 lanes to make the left exit from the right on ramp. Roughly 1/4 mile of morning rush hour traffic doing 70+.....you just learn to expect it in the stretch of the road. I don't miss that part of morning commute.

In fact, in some places however it's necessary by poor design - on 270 to get to my son's place you have to cross over 2 lanes in the local lanes just to get to the 3rd lane, the exit lane, well under a 1/4 mile and you're doing at least 65 on 270 trying to not get run over.

[robert.]

495 and 270 i think it is. that's a nightmare. Philly's I95 dose not have those situations. Most of the problem is people that don't want to wait. they think they're better than most. so the speed along the shoulder or weave in and out