Recent Comments:
Daimler wants to be one of the world's largest turbo suppliers {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 11:02AM Frank
Yeah, I used to work for a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Eagle Mazda Subaru dealership in the 90s, mechanic, and I will bash Chrysler till the day I die.
I have respect for the Chrysler Corp. of the 60s and 70s, and even their comeback in the 80s, but but after working for them in the 90s I lost all respect for the Chrysler Corp. which is once again in the toilet where they rightly belong.
Daimler jettisoned them because the division was dragging the company down, but it may have been too late, the mutated Chrysler gene can destroy any company, checked my comment below.
I watched Chrysler screw up Jeep, which made a pretty good product until they started redesigning them. Now some of their jeeps are at the top of the Consumer Reports list of vehicles which have the least satisfied customers.
Grand Cherokee (V6, gas)
Jeep Commander (V6)
The original Jeep Cherokee was an excellent vehicle, and that in-line six 4.0 L was a rocksolid motor that you could count on. Even the Grand Cherokees of the 90s which Chrysler redesigned, were pretty good because they retained a lot of the parts from the Cherokee, like the engine. But then Chrysler started putting the 318 in them, which was once one of the best V8's on the market, then they started failing left and right because of shoddy assembly-line procedures. Now these vehicles are total junk. It's a crying shame.
Daimler wants to be one of the world's largest turbo suppliers {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 10:24AM It's too late for Daimler once they created the name DaimlerChrysler it was over for them, the split makes no difference, they've been infected with the Chrysler gene, and like a cancer it is eating away at the heart of the company, a rot that can never be excised.
The breakup was like a divorce after a really bad marriage with a horrible wench that takes all your money and leaves you sitting in the dirt with nothing, the guy is never the same again. Daimler is doomed, that's what you get for going to bed with Chrysler, a permanent case of the clap. :-)
Daimler wants to be one of the world's largest turbo suppliers {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 9:56AM Oh fantastic, that's just what the automotive business needs, turbos that fail every six months, because that's exactly the kind of crap Chrysler will produce.
I've come to the conclusion that US auto manufacturers specifically direct their engineers and designers to include intentional design flaws into their parts causing them to fail after a certain period of time, thereby enormously increase the amount of service they can sell and factor into their budgets and overhead costs.
I guess those ceramic turbos from IHI are just too damn reliable, and last too long. Chrysler will design a turbo that grenades on you, and takes out the engine block in the process. :-)
Japanese makes dominate Consumer Reports Car Owner Satisfaction Survey {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 9:30AM And of course it's just a coincidence that within two minutes of me posting a comment that is critical of US automakers, commenters appear to rebut my assertions. Apparently GM, Chrysler and Ford have money to pay people to monitor blog sites like this, because they know that people pay attention to the stuff they read on them. Actually they don't even have to pay people, they just tell their employees to monitor the sites because their jobs depend upon deceiving people, so they con their employees into acting as their stooges free of charge. Typical of corporate America today, shafting the consumers and shafting their employees at the same time, truly a thing of beauty, from a shyster's perspective.
This has all become part of their business model, SOP (standard operating procedure), for companies who long ago decided to put marketing and advertising PR ahead of quality and workmanship, because this method has proven to put more money into the pockets of the stockholders and the CEOs. And when business goes bad when the façade of their con job begins to wear thin and falter, they just lay off their workers, take away their benefits, undermined their unions, and then get the US government to bail them out, with taxpayer money, our money, the very taxes which came right out of the pockets of their own employees and the people they sold their substandard products to. What a beautiful racket, great work if you can get it. It's the kind of scam that has proven time and again to be far more profitable than producing a competitive product for a fair price, so they will go on operating in this way indefinitely.
Japanese makes dominate Consumer Reports Car Owner Satisfaction Survey {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 8:47AM Since the 80s, the Japanese auto makers have been making better cars than the American car manufacturers, they consistently do it better. So why is it that the American manufacturers continue to fail to learn anything from the success of the Japanese. It's not that we are not capable of producing a product comparable to the Japanese, it's that corporate America is making too much money selling us things that fail and wear out out much more quickly, and this is an integral part of their strategy for making money. To put it bluntly, screwing people has become standard business practice in America.
The 1988 Acura Integra is a significantly better car than a 2008 Chevy cobalt, why is that? When every Chevy cobalt that's on the road today has been crushed, there will still be 1988 Acura Integras on the road.
Is it any wonder that that every 10 years, like clockwork the American car manufacturers find themselves in financial trouble, this is a direct result of them producing and selling products that are are inferior, yet they continue to market inferior products, which Americans continue to buy. Apparently many American consumers have no problem allowing themselves to be suckered, generation after generation. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me 10 times in a row over 30 year period, you one dumb gullible mother.
Enter the Rumormill: Nissan GT-R may compete in Grand Am series {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2007 3:51AM Mike
Why Mikey, when that happens I'll blame the driver of course. That sellout who was obviously paid off by some slimy GM, Chrysler or Ford CEO to throw the race. You do realize this is how they win most of their races and remain competitive, because they can't afford to let their cars lose and watch the sales numbers drop even further. :-)
"Okay mom, I'm coming for dinner, just let me put this paid hack for the GM motor Co. in his place, two more minutes. Yeah, I want chocolate milk to drink. Yes maaaaa' I took my medication! Did you remember to buy more cheesy poofs? "
Soon the Nissan GT-R will rule the universe, and all idolatrous heathens like yourself will bow down before him and grovel like the worms you are. :-)
British auto journos declare Nissan GT-R dogs bollocks {Autoblog}
Dec 2nd 2007 4:34AM Dude, I'm just messing with you, the same way you mess with me. :-) I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, if I did I apologize. :-(
By the way, you were right about the weight of the Corvette engine being less, the 2006 ZO6 LS7 engine is 490 lbs. while the GT-R engine, with its turbos and intercoolers, weighs 551 lbs. I don't know what the new supercharged Vett engine with intercooler weighs, perhaps you can find out for us.
British auto journos declare Nissan GT-R dogs bollocks {Autoblog}
Dec 2nd 2007 4:21AM It's hard to explain the advantage of a dual clutch transmission until you've tried one, it's not an automatic transmission the way most people understand them. Simply put, its far superior technologically to any other kind of automatic transmission and can shift much more quickly and precisely than any manual, that's why you'll find them in cars like the Bugatti Veyron.
Head down to your nearest Mitsubishi dealership when the Evo X becomes available for a test drive, and you'll see what I mean. Or go drive a Volkswagen GTI DSG which has a pretty sweet dual clutch system as well, and supposedly very similar to the GTR.
http://www.motivemag.com/pub/news/Dual_Clutch_Gearbox_for_Nissan_GT-R.shtml
It's kind of like the sequential shift on a motorcycle, only better, with little or no chance of ever missing a gear or shift.
Enter the Rumormill: Nissan GT-R may compete in Grand Am series {Autoblog}
Dec 2nd 2007 3:57AM When the GT-R meets the Corvette on the track, it will be just like when Arnold Schwarzenegger met Lou Ferrigno on the bodybuilding circuit, where they used to train together in the gym. Anyone who's ever seen the movie Pumping Iron knows I'm talking about. Arnold would stand over Lou while he was hitting without weights, looking down at him with a disdainful air of superiority and say "You Are Nothing!" Lou never could beat Arnold in competition and eventually retired from bodybuilding a beaten man.
I imagine it'll be much the same for the teams who are running Corvettes. Within five years the Corvette will disappear from competition altogether, fearful of the embarrassment and shame they will face at the hands of superior Japanese engineering. GM will have no choice but to pull their support, as they watch Corvette sales plummet into the toilet.
The old saying goes, "race on Sunday, sell on Monday." Well this works in reverse as well, lose on Sunday, have your cars return to the dealership on Monday, with your customers demanding a refund, furious that they've had such outdated obsolete technology foisted upon them. :-)
Nissan GTR -- "Grrrrrrrrrrr! You Are Nothing!" it says flexing its unparalleled physique.
Corvette -- "whimper whimper, mommy!" It whines, testicles receding into body, scampering away in search of the nearest garage to hide in.
British auto journos declare Nissan GT-R dogs bollocks {Autoblog}
Dec 2nd 2007 2:16AM I like the white, reminds me of my 72, 240Z, which was virgin white.
Of course the usual suspects are there making their bogus arguments about how all-wheel-drive doesn't work in the snow/ice, with performance street tires designed for dry warm conditions. Well Duh, that's why everyone who's actually into driving, and not just a poser who's never picked up a wrench in their life has more than one set of wheels. Every Subaru STI or Mitsubishi Evo owner who understands rubber, and lives in places where there is snow and ice, buys a set of light weight rims to put their low-profile sticky tires on, and puts a set of taller all season tires, or rally snow tires on their stock rims. And when the weather turns bad they slide their floor jack under their car and swap wheels, the whole operation taking about 10 minutes with an air hammer. No doubt thinking GT-R owners will do the same, making this an all season performance vehicle.
Of course this never occurred to geniuses like Rob and why not the LS2/LS7 because the only people who work on their vehicles are the mechanics they pay to change their oil, they wouldn't know a transaxle from a transfer case if you put a gun to their heads.
For those of you who read the Telegraph article, take notice of this quote "You must try to push the throttle before you get to the apex of the corner, so you can see the system working," this is something I'm familiar with having driven a high-powered skyline in the past. You can drift these cars through corners on pavement like no other, except maybe a Mitsubishi. The Skyline can claw its way out of a corner, like a cat on steroids on carpet. It really is something that must be experienced to be understood. Try to do this with the rearwheel drive car, even one set up for drifting, and you'll wind up in a spin.
It's funny that the people who run their mouths, and are most probably the ones who don't know how to drive at all, would come off looking like Michael Schumacher behind the wheel of an older Skyline, or this GT-R because these things really are so easy to drive once you get the hang of it. Of course these are the same people who will either never get behind the wheel of such a car because of their prejudiced morons, or if they do they'll try driving it like a 69 Camaro, or a new Mustang.
As to those people who are talking smack about the looks of this rare beauty, laying the Nissan GT-R before your eyes is like holding up a rare Black Pearl in front of a pig and expecting them to appreciate it, pearls before swine.
No doubt you're the same dudes who go to the gym and are intimidated by any woman packing a little muscle. You guys need stick figure babes and cars in order to get excited, otherwise everything starts going limp and flaccid. :-)
