JCC Brag About Your Car Here

That's what the Z-car had, because it was assuming a basic "stomp it like you're racing" approach to driving.

This weekend just passed, I had to drive to the Southern Highlands of NSW. This part of the state is very British, made moreso by the habit settlers had of planting British plants and trees en masse. The effect was, I suppose, a slice of home in a more agreeable climate:


Coming back from this wedding, I had a few winding country roads plus the requirement to turn across two lanes of traffic doing the mandated 110km/h (60ish mph). I just hit the 4th year of owning his car, and she looks as good as she did back then:



For the winding back roads, where the speed limit was 100km/h, I would usually put the car into manual and take advantage of long lines of sight to really stretch its legs. However, instead, I went to Sport mode.



Manual mode (triptronic manual) is triggered by pushing the gear stick left from Drive. This means you can use the stick as a sequential shifter, or use the paddles on the wheel. Downshifting from D gives you sports mode, which changes the shifting point for revs (instead of an adaptive gearbox that will shift based on how you're driving, it'll hold the gear til about 5000rpm before shifting up and will shift down more quickly to maintain revs); boosts the throttle responsiveness, and firms up the steering.

I only can love this car more. I may have to give her up for a family car soon, but I'd get another GTI in a heartbeat. The diff creates such insane levels of grip. The speed is solid enough for the price point; the R, or A45 AMG, or M240i BMW, are $30K more. And the issues the Mk VII has - probably thanks to that fuel-saving start-stop option - are absent here. <3 Mk VI GTI.

 

Finally got my snow tires and original rims off, and summer tires and aftermarket rims on. While I had the wheels off I swapped the original brake rotors for high-performance lightweight rotors. All told, my car just lost about a hundred pounds. That's total weight, unsprung weight, and rotating mass. Win win win. Now if it ever stops raining I want to go out and see how she handles.

 

So Ford is essentially going to abandon the manufacture of new sedans (except for the Mustang) within a few years; and I've heard GM will follow suit shortly after. End of an era for sure. The trucks and SUVs sell fine here in the States; but I find it hard to believe the gas guzzlers are going to find any kind of a market in Europe or other parts of the world.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dalebu...to-deep-six-the-companys-sedans/#75e6b209df1a

 

My old Dodge died, and we got a new-to-us car. I like to call it Vlad the Impala. It, uh . . . it runs.

/brag

 

i don't see an indication yet that gm will go that far

 

For the time being at least. GM still has that luxury market that Ford hardly tapped into, right?

 

yes, although even those aren't selling that well. the CTS and ATS share their chassis with the 6genCamaro which spreads the cost though

 

It's funny. When I was car shopping in 2013, at one point I test drove a ATS at the Dodge dealership. It's a rather inexpensive Caddy. Nice car and all; but it just wasn't for me. I wound up with the Challenger from the same dealership.

 

much smaller architecture, less room inside, but really good chassis

 

Still with the signature analog clock on the dashboard.

 

I'm surprised Ford is canceling the Fusion. I see a bunch of those on the roads everywhere I go.

 

The only time I see them is in the HOV lane of the Long Island Expressway.

 

Nothing GM produces is an actual luxury car.

 

A Cadillac isn't a luxury car?

 

No. It's arse.

 

I don't think Ford's American-made sedans have made it to Europe in many decades, Ahsoka. I think the models we have here are made for this market. Do you have, or have you had, models like the Mondeo, Escort, Fiesta or Transit over there in the States?

 

I think I might have seen the Fiesta around; but for the most part I'm not too familiar with them. Those are all sedans? It's just odd if Ford is going to continue making sedans for the international markets while withdrawing them from the States. I wonder if they'd close more plants here in favor of opening sedan-exclusive factories over there. Would certainly save on shipments.

 

Only the Mondeo is a sedan. I think it looks identical to your Fusion, but the engine and some components are different. I don't know if they're the same car underneath, but it looks externally like the same model. The Escort is just the old name of the Focus, basically the same thing. And the Fiesta is even smaller than the Focus. The Transit is a very popular van, particularly in the UK, as it is manufactured there. I only ask about these models because I think the product line is region-specific. We don't get some of your models and vice versa. The models under the Lincoln and Mercury brands were never launched here at all, for example. But my main point was that as far as I know the models meant for this market are made here, at Ford's plants in Britain and Germany.

 

When I visited Japan in 2010 I took a picture (with permission) of a guy's American muscle car as I was walking around Tokyo. I think it was a Viper if I remember correctly. I don't remember what I did with the picture.

 

I have two male neighbors who share one of the flats in my building. Both have Ford Focus sport models. They have a guest who visits quite a bit and he has one as well. I also see one parked down near the newsagents where I get the Sunday papers. They seem pretty popular in my area of the UK!

 

There was a blue mini cooper parked on my street for 3 days.

Now it's gone.

 

Yeah, they're pretty common here too. I also remember the Ka (or StreetKa?) really took off back when the first model launched. I see less of the Mondeo/Fusion than there were before, but if they're discontinuing sedans altogether in the States, the brand must be doing better here than at home. Either that or American consumers must have really taken to SUVs in recent years in favour of... uh... regular Vs.

 

I see quite a few Land Rover/Range Rover SUVs here. They're what the well-off mother uses to haul the kids/groceries/etc.

 

I don't see that many Hummers these days. Thank god because those cars are ugly and environmentally idiotic.

 

well it's been out of production for 8 or 9 years