Really???

[Romans5.8]

If your an avid enthusist the Dragon/Cherahola/Moonshiners/Devil's Triangle roads are a must do. Its not all about all out speed, your Focus would be a great car out there too but I'm sure you'd take the bike and if that's the case you might wanna stay off of the Devil's Triangle! The Skyway and Moonshiners roads are probably best for you and the Dragon is best on non-busy days (before Friday)

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My wife and I are planning to do the entire Blue Ridge Parkway (which includes the Dragon and some others) all the way to the coast next year with our bikes. Probably won't be any crazy performance as I'll have a trailer behind me. But those roads are still fun even on a cruiser! Getting it down to the floorboards. But also just the scenery, and everything else. We like to do that kind of stuff when we can take vacation time and do it early in the week when nobody else is there. Two years ago (last year was Montana, Yellowstone, etc.) we rode down through Arkansas. Pig trail, through the ozarks, all of those roads. Was great! Did it during the week, wasn't busy, etc.

I want to do the dragon and stuff, but I'm also an 'off the beaten path' kind of guy. I love finding small farm roads and windy roads through wineries and stuff that aren't in all the travel guides and full of tourist traps. Hwy 94 in Missouri is pretty fantastic, windy and hilly and runs through farms and wineries, and locals are always on it; but you rarely hear about it outside of Missouri.

We'll get down there sometime . What I'd like to do is find a hotel nearby to stash the trailer and do the dragon a little more aggressively without the trailer behind it. Or just not take the trailer. Our arkansas trip we just packed what we could fit on the bike and stayed in hotels instead of camping. Earlier this year I had a business trip and I took the bike, and my wife came down for the weekend. I carried all of her stuff in a duffel bag on my bike's pillion seat (with my stuff in my tour pak and saddlebags). Then she rode her bike down Friday night and left Sunday night (she had to go back to work on Monday! hehe.) So that works out good too! (Especially since her bike doesn't have any storage on it. She says that's what I'm for!)

 

[Klasse Act]

Well the 4 roads I posted aren't off the beaten path but you'll love em'. Route 28 aka Moonshiners, is 105 miles from Deal's /ap (beginning of the Dragon) to Wahalla GA, a must do, especially the waterfall you can drive under, its called Veil Falls, awesome!

I would like to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway as well, heard its about 2 hrs to the NE of the Dragon area, also wanna do the Foothills Parkway as well (it was closed when I was there on our honeymoon due to the gov shutdown:-()

Another road that's going to make me miss the Dragon trip is the Million Dollar Highway, route 550, in SE CO into NM, a little over a 100 miles long. The elevation goes to 10,000 feet, so my little Honda will be, to quote Joe Namath "Struggggglinnnnng".

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[Romans5.8]

Well the 4 roads I posted aren't off the beaten path but you'll love em'. Route 28 aka Moonshiners, is 105 miles from Deal's /ap (beginning of the Dragon) to Wahalla GA, a must do, especially the waterfall you can drive under, its called Veil Falls, awesome!

I would like to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway as well, heard its about 2 hrs to the NE of the Dragon area, also wanna do the Foothills Parkway as well (it was closed when I was there on our honeymoon due to the gov shutdown:-()

Another road that's going to make me miss the Dragon trip is the Million Dollar Highway, route 550, in SE CO into NM, a little over a 100 miles long. The elevation goes to 10,000 feet, so my little Honda will be, to quote Joe Namath "Struggggglinnnnng".

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Haha.

I was at yellowstone and hit over 10k elevation. I have family that lives in Montana (well, has a vacation home there anyway) and we had a rental Subaru and my Aunts Ford Explorer (she leaves it at the vacation home). I was driving the explorer. Both of these vehicles were STRUGGLING like no other. Nothing more embarrassing than being in a 5.7L V8 SUV and struggling to go up a hill! LOL. Was averaging 7.4 mpg.

I did pull off at one little spot to take a picture and a guy was there with his wife and a Mustang. He looked distraught, and was freaking out about what it would cost to get a tow truck up there. I asked him what was wrong, he said "I dunno man I must've overheated it or something". "Did the light come on?" "No but man it has no power and it's idling rough and it's just running like crap, I think I overdid it going up this hill". I explained to him it was just the elevation, and he looked at me like I just saved his kitten from a tree! LOL.

Have never had my bike at those elevations but I do wonder how it'll run. It's fuel injected, but has no o2 sensors or anything like that like most cars do. It DOES have a way of compensating for altitude, but I wonder how well it works.

 

[Klasse Act]

V8 SUV struuuugliiiing, hmmm, wish I could afford the Jackson Racing S/C'er for my CRZ! Oh well, my K&N typhoon will just have to suck a little harder, LOL! I guess my cars weight of 2700 lbs will help but my battery pack will be depleted quickly....but it does charge back up fast when going down hill though. I know this, when the battery pack does down and I have no assist, the car is REALLY slow, if you can imagine a 127 hp being any slower:-[

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[DetailKitty]

Dragon!!! Woot! Im the MAN

 

[Romans5.8]

V8 SUV struuuugliiiing, hmmm, wish I could afford the Jackson Racing S/C'er for my CRZ! Oh well, my K&N typhoon will just have to suck a little harder, LOL! I guess my cars weight of 2700 lbs will help but my battery pack will be depleted quickly....but it does charge back up fast when going down hill though. I know this, when the battery pack does down and I have no assist, the car is REALLY slow, if you can imagine a 127 hp being any slower:-[

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You never know, too. Ford's big V8's are not exactly the pinnacle of technology. The 5.7 is in a niche market; either heavily souped up in the GT500, or put in big trucks where it just needs to be reliable and pull a load. Your CRZ may actually fare better (the Subaru did). Especially if it has forced induction (doesn't it?).

After all, piston airplanes fly sometimes much higher than 10,000 on naturally aspirated 4 and 6 cylinder engines! Many of them are carburated in fact! (They have a handle in the cockpit to adjust the air/fuel mixture as they climb, though fuel injection is FINALLY starting to make it's way into aviation which negates the need for the pilot to adjust the mixture).

They do have less power at altitude than on the ground, but are still doing just fine! It's all in how the engine is designed. (By the way, that's why Denver Int'l has the longest runways in the country. At 5,000 feet elevation those planes need a little extra room to get airborn!)

 

[Klasse Act]

My CRZ is NA but Jackson Racing makes a S/C'er for it, about $5k installed. On the dyno it makes about 175 whp, stock it makes about 95-100 whp, so a big gain for what it is but I don't have the money to do that nor do I really think I would anyways. I say this because I like my car but don't love it. I loved my MINI but it just always broke, my heart and its parts, that car I would've sunk more money into, both in upgrades and repairs. I'm a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" and had I kept the MINI I would've been in a lot of debt!! That said, I loved my MINI!

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[DetailKitty]

My CRZ is NA but Jackson Racing makes a S/C'er for it, about $5k installed. On the dyno it makes about 175 whp, stock it makes about 95-100 whp, so a big gain for what it is but I don't have the money to do that nor do I really think I would anyways. I say this because I like my car but don't love it. I loved my MINI but it just always broke, my heart and its parts, that car I would've sunk more money into, both in upgrades and repairs. I'm a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" and had I kept the MINI I would've been in a lot of debt!! That said, I loved my MINI!

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I've heard horror stories of people with their '07 R56s. Ugh.
Like I said, even the R53s are expensive to maintain- something about BMWs seem to need a lot of maintenance to keep happy.

I haven't any issues with this car (other than messing around with it too much). These Chrysler engines are pretty solid. Can't say the same for the prince engines in the R56s. And I just love that go-kart feel that the R53s have.

 

[Romans5.8]

I've heard horror stories of people with their '07 R56s. Ugh.
Like I said, even the R53s are expensive to maintain- something about BMWs seem to need a lot of maintenance to keep happy.

I haven't any issues with this car (other than messing around with it too much). These Chrysler engines are pretty solid. Can't say the same for the prince engines in the R56s. And I just love that go-kart feel that the R53s have.

The Doctor my mom works for had an early 90's BMW. That thing was a tank. Had 270k on it. One of the power windows didn't work, seat was stuck, but it ran great! Had a couple of little repairs (Water pump, stuff like that) but his wife was all paranoid he was going to break down somewhere with their daughter in the backseat, so he traded it in on an Escape. But man that was a sweet little car! Some of those Beemers were just bulletproof!

Sometimes though the German cars don't hold up to their reputation. Or, if they do, the maintenance costs outweigh or equal what it would've cost to repair another vehicle! Can't win for losin' on that one!

 

[DetailKitty]

The Doctor my mom works for had an early 90's BMW. That thing was a tank. Had 270k on it. One of the power windows didn't work, seat was stuck, but it ran great! Had a couple of little repairs (Water pump, stuff like that) but his wife was all paranoid he was going to break down somewhere with their daughter in the backseat, so he traded it in on an Escape. But man that was a sweet little car! Some of those Beemers were just bulletproof!

Sometimes though the German cars don't hold up to their reputation. Or, if they do, the maintenance costs outweigh or equal what it would've cost to repair another vehicle! Can't win for losin' on that one!

The problem I think now is cars are over-engineered. Sometimes the older generations of cars are bulletproof. They just didn't die!

 

[Romans5.8]

The problem I think now is cars are over-engineered. Sometimes the older generations of cars are bulletproof. They just didn't die!

Could be true. More power = more heat. Also smaller components, more components. Those old V8's in the 70's and 80's may have only been putting out 145 or so horsepower, but as long as the body is in decent shape they are still on the road. Those engines were absolutely bulletproof. My first car was an '85 Mercury Cougar with a 5.0L engine in it. 145 horsepower, no overhead cams, no direct injection, etc. Of course it only got 18mpg but it had 366,000 miles on it when I got rid of it and it still ran great! Transmission was still great too! Basic 3 speed + overdrive automatic. No dual clutches or other gas saving technologies there.

Sometimes, some of these things people are doing to increase MPG (super high compression to run a lean burn, dual clutch automated manuals for those who don't like a stick shift; for the record I prefer a stick!, etc.) I think is reducing the life of the vehicles. Go back into the 70's and tell a guy your 2.0L 4 cylinder with 12.5:1 compression that is being intentionally run lean that injects the gasoline directly into the cylinders without mixing it in the intake first is going to last 200,000 miles. You'll give him a good laugh!

And it probably WILL last 200,000 miles. But only with OTHER engineering feats to make it more durable. It defies conventional wisdom when it comes to reliability. We're already seeing pickup trucks become the absolute most bulletproof vehicles. Before, they were good, but the engines didn't necessarily last any longer. But, without the huge drive for 40mpg and insanely competitive fuel economy, the pickup trucks can focus on reliability and power. People care about fuel economy in a pickup, but they care about a reliable engine with a lot of torque more. You still have basic pushrod V8's in pickups today!

 

[DetailKitty]

This all good points.

A big issue I see now with MINIs and other brands of cars is direct injection and the carbon issue. Now car manufacturers are offering walnut blasting to combat this. I am seeing friends with only 30K on the clock having to have this done (out of pocket) because their cars are choking on carbon buildup.

 

[Romans5.8]

This all good points.

A big issue I see now with MINIs and other brands of cars is direct injection and the carbon issue. Now car manufacturers are offering walnut blasting to combat this. I am seeing friends with only 30K on the clock having to have this done (out of pocket) because their cars are choking on carbon buildup.

I think the Carbon is an issue on the Focus's too. We shall see! Supposedly low NOACK synthetic oils (like Amsoil! ) help stave this off, though I'm not sure how. But I did read that somewhere!

 

[DetailKitty]

I think the Carbon is an issue on the Focus's too. We shall see! Supposedly low NOACK synthetic oils (like Amsoil! ) help stave this off, though I'm not sure how. But I did read that somewhere!

It's across the board with manufacturers.

Luckily mine is port injected :dblthumb2:

 

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

I wouldn't let it get to you...

Two monks were on a pilgrimage. One day, they came to a deep river. At the edge of the river, a young woman sat weeping, because she was afraid to cross the river without help. She begged the two monks to help her. The younger monk turned his back. The members of their order were forbidden to touch a woman.

But the older monk picked up the woman without a word and carried her across the river. He put her down on the far side and continued his journey. The younger monk came after him, scolding him and berating him for breaking his vows. He went on this way for a long time.

Finally, at the end of the day the older monk turned to the younger one. "I only carried her across the river. You have been carrying her all day."

The problem I think now is cars are over-engineered. Sometimes the older generations of cars are bulletproof. They just didn't die!

They also get stomped on the track by newer cars due to the advancement to engineering and technology. Parts are finite and can only take so much abuse then they break. It's about what you want from a car, you want something to last Honda Civic, you want to have a great driving experience BMW M3, but realize you are going to have to pay to play.

 

[DetailKitty]

FYI- if any of you are at SEMA right now he's there.
Listen for an obnoxious guy running around saying everything is either Pearl or a Turd.
Give him my regards

Mike- look out. If anyone comes up to you and says you are stupid for not selling Adams and tries to say you don't know how to detail.... that's him :laughing:

 

[cardaddy]

Could be true. More power = more heat. Also smaller components, more components. Those old V8's in the 70's and 80's may have only been putting out 145 or so horsepower, but as long as the body is in decent shape they are still on the road. Those engines were absolutely bulletproof. My first car was an '85 Mercury Cougar with a 5.0L engine in it. 145 horsepower, no overhead cams, no direct injection, etc. Of course it only got 18mpg but it had 366,000 miles on it when I got rid of it and it still ran great! Transmission was still great too! Basic 3 speed + overdrive automatic. No dual clutches or other gas saving technologies there.

Sometimes, some of these things people are doing to increase MPG (super high compression to run a lean burn, dual clutch automated manuals for those who don't like a stick shift; for the record I prefer a stick!, etc.) I think is reducing the life of the vehicles. Go back into the 70's and tell a guy your 2.0L 4 cylinder with 12.5:1 compression that is being intentionally run lean that injects the gasoline directly into the cylinders without mixing it in the intake first is going to last 200,000 miles. You'll give him a good laugh!

And it probably WILL last 200,000 miles. But only with OTHER engineering feats to make it more durable. It defies conventional wisdom when it comes to reliability. We're already seeing pickup trucks become the absolute most bulletproof vehicles. Before, they were good, but the engines didn't necessarily last any longer. But, without the huge drive for 40mpg and insanely competitive fuel economy, the pickup trucks can focus on reliability and power. People care about fuel economy in a pickup, but they care about a reliable engine with a lot of torque more. You still have basic pushrod V8's in pickups today!

And speaking of unreliable, hot, overheated and overworked small little engines. Ford is looking at a 2.3L 4-banger for the new 2014 Mustang putting out 300HP. Bet as soon as it hits 36001 it blows up! (They are also talking about a twin turbo factory V8.)

 

[Romans5.8]

And speaking of unreliable, hot, overheated and overworked small little engines. Ford is looking at a 2.3L 4-banger for the new 2014 Mustang putting out 300HP. Bet as soon as it hits 36001 it blows up! (They are also talking about a twin turbo factory V8.)

Well it'll be for the 2015 mustang. The 2014 Mustang has been out for a while and has a 3.7L V6, 5.0L V8, and 5.7L supercharged V8 as engine choices. (Aren't model years stupid?)

Ford did have a 2.3L turbo mustang before and it was a good motor. But it was not a 350horsepowr engine. We shall see. Personally, I see no need for it. The 3.7 V6 is an awesome platform. Naturally Aspirated, 300 horsepower, and 29mpg highway. If you need it more economical then that, then you are shopping for the wrong car.

There are a few things that don't belong in a muscle car. That includes all wheel drive, small engines, dual clutch automated manuals and turbochargers (superchargers are okay as they preserve the exhaust note and add a satisfying whine). Yes, those are all in many ways better technology. But a pony car is supposed to be a visceral experience. Throaty, torquey, sloppy, raw. These are not nor ever have intended to be ultra fast sports cars. These are drivers cars. It'll be a shame to see Ford and Chevy hack them up with some of the things rumored in the future. I was excited when they brought back the 5.0. Guess we shall see how it turns out!

 

[DetailKitty]

Well it'll be for the 2015 mustang. The 2014 Mustang has been out for a while and has a 3.7L V6, 5.0L V8, and 5.7L supercharged V8 as engine choices. (Aren't model years stupid?)

Ford did have a 2.3L turbo mustang before and it was a good motor. But it was not a 350horsepowr engine. We shall see. Personally, I see no need for it. The 3.7 V6 is an awesome platform. Naturally Aspirated, 300 horsepower, and 29mpg highway. If you need it more economical then that, then you are shopping for the wrong car.

There are a few things that don't belong in a muscle car. That includes all wheel drive, small engines, dual clutch automated manuals and turbochargers (superchargers are okay as they preserve the exhaust note and add a satisfying whine). Yes, those are all in many ways better technology. But a pony car is supposed to be a visceral experience. Throaty, torquey, sloppy, raw. These are not nor ever have intended to be ultra fast sports cars. These are drivers cars. It'll be a shame to see Ford and Chevy hack them up with some of the things rumored in the future. I was excited when they brought back the 5.0. Guess we shall see how it turns out!

The V6 is a great Mustang... my sister owns a 2012 V6 and still has her first car she ever bought- 1992 Mustang LX 5.0
They are night and day with how they handle, sound, etc. The new Stang she has is a nice ride. It's comfy, handles the turns a little better and still has plenty of giddyup. I personally like the '92 better. But I rarely like practical cars

 

[Romans5.8]

The V6 is a great Mustang... my sister owns a 2012 V6 and still has her first car she ever bought- 1992 Mustang LX 5.0
They are night and day with how they handle, sound, etc. The new Stang she has is a nice ride. It's comfy, handles the turns a little better and still has plenty of giddyup. I personally like the '92 better. But I rarely like practical cars

Hahaha. I'm with you. We can't make all sensible decisions. That wouldn't be any fun. But my point is the V6 mustang is a practical car. It gets the gas mileage of my old 2000 Saturn for crying out loud, and still puts out more horsepower than your sister 5-0 (assuming it's stock). If you're wanting a sporty daily driver, that's it! Why on earth they need a 4 banger is beyond me. I've heard the argument that the 2.3 Ecoboost makes 350 horsepower so more horsepower = more better, but no! It'll make the power high in the rev range like most 4-banger do and it'll sound like I do after white castles. It'll change the dynamic of what a Mustang is supposed to be! And it'll be a shame if the only choices are that or the V8. Because, while I'd prefer the V8 either way myself, the V6 is an awfully tempting choice. Base of $21,000 for a 300 horsepower rear wheel drive coupe? That still sounds good and has a nice 6 speed manual? That's a darn good deal. An over-worked 4 banger in an overweight car? Not so much. V6 Camaro starts looking a whole lot cooler. Sometimes the best moves Chevrolet has made has been to do nothing and keep making the same old. So far that's been hurting them since cars like the Cruze make you snore when you look at the Focus, the Mazda 3, or the Dodge Avenger. The Cruze looks like it's from '05. But a V6 Camaro vs a 4 banger Mustang? Who cares about the numbers, I'd rather have the Camaro (and I'm a Mustang guy). That is if I were in the market for a Muscle-Daily-Driver and not interested in the V8.

Sometimes, I think, we get too caught up in numbers. Like top speed, "My car has a 4mph faster top speed than his!" Really? Go out to a track and see how many times you are even over 100! It's supposed to be about the DRIVE, not about which one puts up the best numbers!

Oh well, my mini-rant over. I think this technology these days is great. Awesome formula 1 transmissions and small, high revving supersport engines. But someone, somewhere needs to still make a car for those of us who don't want to win LeMans, we just want to have a blast when we drive and feel like we are the ones actually driving the car!