naplesZ Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Bastaad If you sale your car before you leave are you going to try and buy a new one before you leave or Wait till you get to VA?. One thing to keep in mind is that if you sale it and wait to buy a new one in VA you might have a problem getting a new loan because you want have any significant time in at your new job. Just something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett76Zt Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Great point. This is another reason I'm considering the Si. Hey stoplight racing is fun' date=' no doubt... risky as well, and after my last ticket I really am trying very hard to stay on the good side of the law anyways. But I love hitting a curvy mountain road as much as, if not more than, the typical impromptu drag race. That was where my old Sentra SE-R really shined... far outshined my Z, as a matter of fact, which had too much power that was kinda hard to control in that situation, what with somewhat unpredictable turbo response... it was too easy to give too much gas coming out of a turn and only realize too late when boost kicked in. I imagine the Si is the perfect 'canyon carver'... everyone raving about it's handling. So the side benefit is I still get to have a blast hitting some curvy out of the way mountain road, but now I'd avoid stoplight confrontations like the plague, since no one likes to get consistently beat down !! Which means less chance for legal trouble. 200 hp in a light car isn't exactly slow, anyways. Hell I was fairly happy with less than that much from my SU'd L28 for quite some time until someone offered me a good deal on the turbo donor. And my Z's ghost isn't trying to haunt me. Trust me I think that car is far happier in it's new home. The guy who bought it reminds me of me before my interest and time started to fade. He's giving that car the attention it deserves, driving it as often as he can, and really does want to basically finish what I started with it. He's a good guy and I'm glad I found a guy like him to take it. I no longer feel like it's 'going to waste' sitting in my garage gathering dust like it was.[/quote'] dang bro you've gotta have serious callouses on your fingers . . . no doubt you have the highest word count on this fourm. hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Mike – don’t interpret my disillusionment as a criticism of your car or your endeavors in car building. Bartman – in short, I have no background. My “racing†experience consists of exactly one 1/4-mile pass at the Pomona drag strip (Los Angeles), around 1998, in a 1987 Toyota Supra turbo. It ran 15.9 @86. But by then, the turbo wouldn’t boost past around 3 psi. So I have zero practical appreciation for what makes a race car fast, in any venue. All that I can draw upon, is what I personally find pleasurable in casual driving, in my hamfisted ways. And that comes down to on-demand throttle response at any rpm. Mike Kelly’s Corvette and Pete Paraska’s 327Z deserve full appreciation for what they were intended to be, but that appreciation is just not consistent with my juvenile fascination with meekly tapping the gas pedal and having the car violently lunge forward. Maybe I never properly learned to drive a manual transmission; 17 years and some 200,000 miles might not mean much, if I started with bad habits and never had occasion to improve them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartman Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 ... juvenile fascination with meekly tapping the gas pedal and having the car violently lunge forward...I thought about this statement for a while, and for me I think this is exactly what I don't want in my car. I want my car to be as fast as can be without losing the ability to be driven normally. When I tap the gas I want my car to move forward gently...when I mash the pedal I want my car to turn into a beast. Fast when I want it to be, and slow when it needs to be. I guess this is why it's important to really decide what you really want out of your car. My car is obviously not a race car, nor do I want it to be one. There are a lot of comfort and drivability type sacrifices that need to be made in order to create a competitive race car. I'm definitely not building a race car as evidenced by all the effort and cost to put Air Conditioning in my car. To each his own, and it's interesting to see how others feel about cars that they have driven. I don't think I would ever consider a Neon...regardless of how fast or cheap it may be; however I would definitely consider a New Camaro or Challenger if the production models turn out anything like the prototypes I've been seeing. I would also consider the GTO if I could get a decent deal on one and a Vette if I didn't want a back seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Michael, I didn't take it as such, trust me. The point is that based on my discussions with Pete, and your discussions with both of us, I'm pretty safe in saying what I said above. I don't think you're gonna be happy, primarely because it doesn't exist. Your BMW is a prime example. It does what it was designed to do well, and isn't "slow". It needs to be run in the powerban the engineers designed it for. You're basically trying to get all these vehicles to do something they weren't engineered for... Your description of meekly tapping the gas pedal brings back memories of a Ford Fiesta with an over tightened gas pedal cable. No droop or slack. You tapped the pedal and it was very much ON for all 68HP From zero speed to about 20mph it would snap your neck back, which was probably great when I was 16. I could care less what people choose as their daily drivers, or for their Zswaps, but when someone makes the comments you did, they need to be qualified. I drive every car I've owned pretty hard by most people's standards, and when I read comments like that about a car that does 11s in the 1/4, it just makes me shake my head and roll my eyes. To each his own. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 you buncha thread hijackers j/k guys for real this applies to me as well because I do feel like many cars who have had hyped up performance and then I drive them and they don't meet my expectations. Michael I dont know if you drove Mikelly's car or he just gave you a ride but I personally have found that a car NEVER feels as fast when you are the passenger as it does when you are the driver. When I was allowing guys to test drive my Z I was like "where did all the power go!" Just a side note here (you know... totally OT to the original topic ) but I may end up with a Civic Si by the end of the day. ONE dealership local to me is selling them AT MSRP (everyone else marking them up 2-3k) AND is willing to give me pretty much blue book trade in value on my car which alllllllmost covers what I owe on it. Enough to where I don't feel I'm screwing myself over I guess. I finally got to test drive the car and let me tell you it was NIIIIIICE... never got to hit the cam switchover but the engine was very peppy and responsive, the gearing and transmission were AWESOME, the suspension clutch and brakes were AWESOME... and well.. yeah... the car was pretty damn nice. Nice enough I won't feel totally horrible giving up the extra 50hp (that's okay it's not like I can't get that back later ) The only thing now is just that we are still 'negotiating' my trade in price... by negotiating I mean I'm telling them "you give me this much or no deal" and they run around pretending like they are 'working' on it... seeing if I will waver when truth is I wont because as I said, I DO love this SRT and will NOT just GIVE it away. Anyways... I'll keep you guys update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartman Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 ... For one... I thought I could deny it' date=' I thought I could get around it... but there's no way to do it... plain and simple... FWD sucks. There's just something wrong about spinning the front wheels that kills the fun of it. The car handles great for a front driver with the LSD it pulls out of corners nicely... but the E-brake is useless so I can't even fake a powerslide. I [b']like[/b] powerslides, thank you very much. Hell I could even get my old Sentra SE-R to break the rear loose with a good yank on the E-brake. And about those burnouts... I dunno if this is a byproduct of FWD or not... but this car doesn't do nice smooth spins... instead... it hops... and hops BAD. Bad enough that people have broken axles on relatively stock setups. So whereas it was a ton of fun getting the tires spin by launching agressively in the Z... I'm afraid to get on it hard at all in first gear in the SRT Maybe it's stupid but doing nice long burnouts leaving black stripes down the street was one of the highlights of owning the Z. So... I'm looking to possibly jump ship and get back into some high power RWD performance... and I didn't have to look far before I found the immense bang for the buck bargain that is the 400 hp, 6 speed Pontiac GTO. ... An Si is probably a good car...but what about what you wrote in your original post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Yup Brad, Still wrong wheel drive... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Basically, the totality of my race is 0-20 mph. Mike, let me know if you find any Festivas! Maybe if we swap in a Honda 4-cylinder and install stiffer springs... No joke – I actually like my lawn tractor. It’s got a Briggs and Stratton rated for 20 hp. It tops out at around walking speed, but it really lunges (I can’t bring myself to say “launchesâ€) hard from a start. I am, however, thinking of test-driving a GTO. Then I’ll complain to the salesman, and take note of his reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean73 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Why would you even consider trading it in as opposed to selling it to a private party? So, let's say you trade it in, and the amount is just enough to pay back the loan. That means that all the payments you've made up to this point have been for nothing, other than to rent the car for 6 months. That doesn't sound like a deal to me. And.. a civic SI... if you got bored of the SRT in 6 months, you'll be bored of the Si in 3 months. You'll be losing 50 HP, and you'll be losing at least 110 ft-lbs of torque! No amount of bolt-ons will fix that, other than a turbo kit, which will set you back several grand to get you performance comparable to the SRT in the first place. I don't like to rain on people's parades, I am sorry... I am sure the Si is a great car handling-wise, and a fun daily driver. But you are on Hybridz my friend... we have grand expectations of power. We are all about what is super-powerful, unpractical, and extreme. The Si makes me want to go to sleep, looks and performance wise. Just one man's personal opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 I'm not BORED of the SRT. There are many things I love about it, and some things I don't like about it, FWD being one of them. But the biggest thing weighing on my mind when I decided I might want to get into something else was reliability. Whereas before I bought the car, everyone I talked to on the main srt-4 forums I found on the net, all agreed the cars were very reliable. Now, in the last few months, lots of guys, '05 owners in particular, have been having problems, many of them major, mostly related to the transmission. And many of those problems were NOT handled by a-hole dealerships because people had this mod or that and they basically used that for an excuse to void the warranty. And I HAVE been trying to sell it private party... unfortunately... too many private sellers are selling WAY below blue book value which makes it hard for me to get what I want for it. Blue book private party is almost exactly what I owe on it but no one wants to pay it. I drove the Si and I loved it, yeah it was down on power but it was fun and a great drive otherwise and I think I'd trade some HP for peace of mind. The super short gearing makes it feel punchier than you might expect for 140 ftlbs, the action of the six speed was sweet, the clutch, brakes, and suspension were awesome IMO. I love the exterior and interior of the car as well. About the wrong wheel drive... yeah well... the GTO is too expensive for me. Go any lower than that though, and there really aren't any decent performance RWD cars out there that you can buy NEW. Maybe the Miata but just like the Solstice that's not the kinda car I want as a daily driver. So... I went to the next high performance FWD car and that is definately the Si. Anyways... it's not gonna happen. There have been SO many problems in trying to get an Si... figure... a month ago we were looking for an Si for my wife, and now trying to find it for myself instead. EVERY single dealership and every time I even made an attempt something went wrong. This culminated today when I got one local dealership to come down to the price I wanted, and got them to give me the price I wanted for my trade in. They even got me a decent interest rate AND were gonna let me get away with a low low $1000 down payment. Went down to the dealership to sign paperwork and drive the car home... get there and find out, that as they went to put the car thru the car wash and get it ready for me, some idiot in an Odyssey backed into the Si and screwed the front end up pretty bad. I won't detail all the other problems that we've run into but me and my wife are now both totally convinced that some cosmic force or another does NOT want us to have a Civic Si!!!! And/or, maybe some cosmic force is trying to say "your SRT is gonna be fine don't get rid of it". I'm not unhappy... I really do like the car... if a future version I've myself materialized in front of me and guaranteed me that the car wouldn't have any problems or any BIG problems for a LONG long time, I swear I wouldn't even be going one inch farther on this quest to get some other car. So anyways, we're taking the hint... guess I'll be staying with the SRT for a while. The sucky thing was it took me a combined total of 3 hours to remove all my mods off the SRT (was gonna sell them on the srt forums to make back some extra cash) and then put them all back on when I got it back home. So now it's just a kinda wait and see thing... I'll keep driving the car the way I like to drive... if the trans breaks I'll try with the dealership and if they wont cover it well then I guess I'll just be screwed. In the meantime I'll try to save up as much as I possibly can and hopefully have enough to cover it if the car does break and the dealer wants to SUCK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Just remember to pull all those parts off before you go to the dealer with the busted trans. I think you're better off just sitting on it and paying it down. YOu guys are talking about moving across country... Focus on one hurdle at a time. Get out here, get settled, then sort the car issue out next spring. By then you'll have paid it down much more and will be able to unload it more easily. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 The main thread behind my thinking that it might be a good idea to sell this car asap: http://www.srtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161625 About 2/3 of the people who have voted (over 450 people currently) are having some kind of problem with their 3rd gear. 2/3 out of 450.... that is pretty common IMO and I can't believe if THAT many people are complaining about it that the dealership is so content to do nothing for a lot of these guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 So... I went to the next high performance FWD car and that is definately the Si. That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say: Stock Civic Si = high performance FWD car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oleh Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say:Stock Civic Si = high performance FWD car. werd, civic and high performance do not mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 well what else is there that makes that kind of power for that price? 200 N/A HP out of 2.0L is pretty darn good IMO. And any motor that revs to 8500rpm is okay in my book Seriously though what else is there that offers this kind of performance for low $20,000? Talking NEW cars only. SRT-4 was definately the king of the hill, offering an incredible amount of performance for only $20,000. But of course they are out of production now and of course there is this little insignificant issue of failed transmissions. What else? Okay, WRX... Nice car but couldnt' stand the new noses, tried finding a NEW '05 but they are all gone. If I could still get one with the '05 nose (or even the gen before that, '03's or whatever) it would be high on my list of consideration. Miata... yeah... I've considered one... but I don't fit well enough in the car (6'2" 250lbs) for it to be my daily driver especially given my penchant for long trips. I also feel they are kinda overpriced. Solstice? Same as above but priced much more reasonably if you can find one w/o every option on the list. Cobalt? I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot poll. I don't like the looks, I didn't like the handling, and considering it actually wasn't as nice IMO as the SRT and the fact that it actually costs a few thousand MORE, doesn't seem a good deal to me. What else is there? RSX type S... Civic Si... Not a lot out there that offers a real fun driving experience until you get up close to or over $30,000 which is way outta my price range right now. And by the way, that Civic may not be powerful compared to a lot of Hybrid Z's, but I bet it would hand quite of few of Z's their asses on an autocross course or mountain road. After about a 15-20 min. test drive (the longest I've ever taken in ANY car I might add, including a jaunt up a decently curvy road and a brief shot on the freeway) I was VERY impressed by how solid the car felt... body roll was almost non existant... of any car I've driven, this one was the closest I feel I've ever come to feeling like the car was 'on rails'. I honestly felt the car could likely outhandle any car I've ever owned and probably almost any I've ever even driven. The brakes stopped RIGHT NOW. Power is not a hard thing to come by... 50 shot of nitrous, or maybe a small turbo kit (lots of which are available for honda engines these days and are even smog legal)... but a good chassis is something you either have at the outset or have to spend a lot of money and time to get to. You guys think 'high performance' and all you think about is big hp and torque numbers, it seems. I love a good tree stump pulling drag race winning car too but appreciate a car that can handle itself in the curves just as much and the Si definately has that in spades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 WRX noses don't get seen very much anyhow. Most folks only see the back of mine. I never liked any of the noses on the WRX's but with time, they grow on you. There are also lots of cosmetic surgeries available for the WRX noses. Once you launch an AWD car, you will never go back to FWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 and once you launch your WRX hard a few times, you may just end up at the dealer with a broken trans Or at least, so I've heard told again and again and again and again..... but yeah, AWD appeals to me, for sure. WRX still kinda at the high end of my price range though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Bastaad, WHY are you SO hung up on getting raped and taking the hit on the depreciation of a new car? Have you NOT learned anything from trying to unload the SRT? There are thousands of low mileage 2004-2005 cars out there with trasferable warranties, that you SHOULD be looking at. Dude, you're a car guy. Why would you ONLY consider a "new" car? Ugh... I give. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I AM looking at used cars as well remember we discussed this But since you seem to have some specific ones in mind, which 2004-2005 used cars do you think I should be looking at that are in the low 20's or less? But remember, no banks I've talked to including the one who is financing my current loan, will give anywhere NEAR the same terms on a used car loan as on a new car loan. The interest is several percent higher and they all want pretty short term, usually 4 years or less. The other problem is that in my relationship everything really is 50/50 and my wife is very strongly AGAINST me buying a used car even a low mileage one with a warranty. Unless I found some really killer deal on a really killer car and even then it's an uphill battle. Considering she makes MORE money than I do it's hard for me to put MY foot down if she is absolutely against something. And trust me I don't want to get screwed over and take any kind of loss over this car. Maybe I'm just overreacting? I just strongly feel like I'm one of the 'lucky' ones that's gonna end up with a busted trans and may or may NOT get 'lucky' when I end up trying to get the dealer to take care of it. What do you guys think then? Just keep the car and keep my fingers crossed? As I've said many times, I really do LIKE the car a LOT, and wouldn't really want to get rid of it if I knew it either wasn't going to have problems or that the problems would be covered without any hassle. The RWD factor is secondary to that. I really do wish at this point that I'd just left it stock. Apparently the dealer techs and the car itself are pretty damn good at figuring out if any mods have been done... so even if the car breaks and I take all the mods out before taking it in for warranty work, if they dig a little they'll be able to tell. Considering none of my mods has anything to do with the transmission I feel this is BS but they are really trying to find ANYTHING they can lay the blame on in a lot of cases. All I know is right now, on average once or twice a day, my car refuses to go into 3rd gear. Just as many other peoples cars are doing. I can't replicate it for the dealer service techs, so they won't do anything about it other than document it. I'm gonna start a poll and see if I can't get a show of hands on this because seriously I don't know what to do here. I do like the car but I feel like I'm taking a risk if I keep it. But Mike you are right I really don't want to take a big loss trying to get into something else either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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