World Hockey Championships and European autos thread

[Hank Kingsley]

There is one other A4 Avant in my area. Problem is his is the same color as mine. I see a white one and a silver one occasionally around town.

There are like 10 of those Buick (Vauxhall) wagons which are growing on me. Very rarely do I see a Merc or Bmer wagon around me.

There's a black S4 Avant with the 4.2 V8. Nice sound, but the supercharged V6 in my S4 is a nicer engine. Especially chipped.

I loved wagons. Seeing a lot of Volvos, Passats, Jettas, etc. lately around here.

 

[forty_three]

I love wagons too, but good ones are harder and harder to find and getting crazy expensive.

I wish that this was available here. I'd already have one.

Or the Passat version

The only one Audi is bringing over is the RS6. And I'm not gonna be spending 110 grand on a car.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

I love wagons too, but good ones are harder and harder to find and getting crazy expensive.

I wish that this was available here. I'd already have one.

Or the Passat version

The only one Audi is bringing over is the RS6. And I'm not gonna be spending 110 grand on a car.

Are those special in anyway? Like an RS6 or S6 would be? Or just regular vanilla?

So you wait a couple of years and buy used. The only way to fly. Leave the brand new ones to the Hong Kong kids spending daddy's shekels.

Panzerwagon had 58K kms (~40K miles) on it when I purchased it. Barely even broken in yet.

 

[forty_three]

Are those special in anyway? Like an RS6 or S6 would be? Or just regular vanilla?

So you wait a couple of years and buy used. The only way to fly. Leave the brand new ones to the Hong Kong kids spending daddy's shekels.

Panzerwagon had 58K kms (~40K miles) on it when I purchased it. Barely even broken in yet.

Neither of those that I posted are available in North America, so I have to wait 15 years before I can import one. Both are the R-line version from VW which gives updated suspension and some toys on the engine but they are ultimately the base V6 or 2.0 Turbo I4.

My A4 avant is the S-Line which is the same. Nothing special about the engine but AWD, sport suspension and 6 speed triptronic gearbox. And I had to wait forever for it. I had been looking for one for about 2 years to become available and my mechanic found it. It had close to 100k miles on it, but the previous owner hit every single service interval except the last one before he sold it which would have fixed the piston ring issue.

The ultimate used wagon I want is this one:

87 AMG Hammer wagon. To find one of the 5 AMG made from the factory is impossible. There are copies where people transplant the engine and gearbox into old 500Es, but no one ever sells one. It's getting increasingly hard to find the 500E base wagon to do the conversion myself. Last one I saw was wrecked with no engine and was $18K

If I ever did find one, I'd probably actually transplant an electric power plant in it. It's cheaper than an AMG motor.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Neither of those that I posted are available in North America, so I have to wait 15 years before I can import one. Both are the R-line version from VW which gives updated suspension and some toys on the engine but they are ultimately the base V6 or 2.0 Turbo I4.

My A4 avant is the S-Line which is the same. Nothing special about the engine but AWD, sport suspension and 6 speed triptronic gearbox. And I had to wait forever for it. I had been looking for one for about 2 years to become available and my mechanic found it. It had close to 100k miles on it, but the previous owner hit every single service interval except the last one before he sold it which would have fixed the piston ring issue.

The ultimate used wagon I want is this one:

87 AMG Hammer wagon. To find one of the 5 AMG made from the factory is impossible. There are copies where people transplant the engine and gearbox into old 500Es, but no one ever sells one. It's getting increasingly hard to find the 500E base wagon to do the conversion myself. Last one I saw was wrecked with no engine and was $18K

If I ever did find one, I'd probably actually transplant an electric power plant in it. It's cheaper than an AMG motor.

Nice.

I'm absolutely way past building things myself. I want them ready to rock after I sign the cheque.

Those Hammers only had 375 HP. Funny to say "only 375 hp"...

Before I found Panzerwagon I was considering A4 Avants and All Roads.

But with an S4 on the side as well, I don't need them now.

 

[forty_three]

Ponton Barn Find! 1958 Mercedes-Benz 220S

Talk about Rip Van Winkle. This 1958 Mercedes Benz 220s, for sale here on eBay in Canton, Ohio, has been in storage since 1969, with its six-cylinder engine sitting next to it. I owned a 1959 example of this car, and when running and restored, it’s a truly elegant, fun-to-drive conveyance. But...

barnfinds.com

The cool thing about barnfinds.com is that they frequently find cars I wasn't aware existed.

 

[dash]

 

[puckhead]

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Love how in the ultimate limousine he's riding shotgun.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

BTW Roy Orbison's sold for $400k US back in Feb.

Ex–Roy Orbison 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600

Bid for the chance to own a Ex–Roy Orbison 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #42,851.

bringatrailer.com

 

[forty_three]

Elon Musk says all EVs will be allowed to use Tesla’s Supercharger network (soon)

Wealthy rocket enthusiast Tweets that Tesla will share its charging hubs. Good idea?

www.topgear.com

Wait, Tesla is hogging their charging points for only their cars? They are putting them all over the place here and they aren't really getting used. I guess that's why. When will tech companies realize that standardization benefits the entire industry?

Fucknut.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Elon Musk says all EVs will be allowed to use Tesla’s Supercharger network (soon)

Wealthy rocket enthusiast Tweets that Tesla will share its charging hubs. Good idea?

www.topgear.com

Wait, Tesla is hogging their charging points for only their cars? They are putting them all over the place here and they aren't really getting used. I guess that's why. When will tech companies realize that standardization benefits the entire industry?

Fucknut.

I don't hold the Supercharger network against them. They did that when they still had a very good chance of failing in the auto industry, no other automakers were even remotely interested in electrics on a large scale, and nobody offered enough money to them to use the same port and thus the charger network.

The bigger automakers could band together and put together a similar network in a year with standardized charge ports if they really want. Or they can strike a deal with Tesla. Eventually it'll all be standardized.

 

[puckhead]

Elon Musk says all EVs will be allowed to use Tesla’s Supercharger network (soon)

Wealthy rocket enthusiast Tweets that Tesla will share its charging hubs. Good idea?

www.topgear.com

Wait, Tesla is hogging their charging points for only their cars? They are putting them all over the place here and they aren't really getting used. I guess that's why. When will tech companies realize that standardization benefits the entire industry?

Fucknut.

remember when there was some natural disaster people were fleeing from and he said,

oh OK, let me just unlock the extra 20% range that I have been throttling for all this time.
aren't I a great guy?

 

[jstewismybastardson]

remember when there was some natural disaster people were fleeing from and he said,

oh OK, let me just unlock the extra 20% range that I have been throttling for all this time.
aren't I a great guy?

Not sure if true but someone i know told me in bc you can by a base model tesla 3, qualify for the provincial ev rebate, then upgrade the vehicle (software) to get longer range.

If you bought up front with the higher driving range … higher price … no rebate

 

[forty_three]

Nathalie Maillet, Boss Of Spa-Francorchamps, Murdered By Husband

Maillet was found dead in her home in Luxembourg after failing to show up to the Ypres Rally.

jalopnik.com

 

[forty_three]

GM Recalls Every Chevy Bolt Ever Made Over Faulty Batteries

The automaker is recalling the electric vehicle after investigating two manufacturing defects linked to car fires.

www.wired.com

Gonna cost GM 1.8 billion.

Probably gonna cost LG more than that. Hyundai uses their batteries and is going through a recall too.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

GM Recalls Every Chevy Bolt Ever Made Over Faulty Batteries

The automaker is recalling the electric vehicle after investigating two manufacturing defects linked to car fires.

www.wired.com

Gonna cost GM 1.8 billion.

Probably gonna cost LG more than that. Hyundai uses their batteries and is going through a recall too.

Saw this, and saw that it was apparently going to take years to do.

What happens when there's tens of millions of these on the road and a major component needs to be recalled?

 

[dash]

Saw this, and saw that it was apparently going to take years to do.

What happens when there's tens of millions of these on the road and a major component needs to be recalled?

How much effort is it going to take to safely recycle all these batteries? Also, when you need to replace the battery in your electric car because it no longer is holding a charge (I'm hearing that's usually around the 6 year mark), that's going to be a significant cost to the consumer.

 

[forty_three]

How much effort is it going to take to safely recycle all these batteries? Also, when you need to replace the battery in your electric car because it no longer is holding a charge (I'm hearing that's usually around the 6 year mark), that's going to be a significant cost to the consumer.

I think things like this are why so many car manufacturers have suddenly dropped their FormulaE programs and are going back to more hybrid racing series. Pure electric has huge down stream costs and long term sustainability issues.

My brother in law bought a Prius for 500 bucks because the batteries were dead and the owner didn't feel like dealing with it. Cost him another 5ish grand to put new ones in. He got a bit of a bargain, and since the electric motors have no internal wear it should last him a long time but it is a concern as more hit the road.

I am still kicking around the idea of swapping my wagon's drivetrain for an electric one when the ICE dies (or buying an old classic with no drivetrain to swap to Electric). Keep the car because I love it, just get rid of the dino burner engine. But that battery replacement thing is a worry.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

How much effort is it going to take to safely recycle all these batteries? Also, when you need to replace the battery in your electric car because it no longer is holding a charge (I'm hearing that's usually around the 6 year mark), that's going to be a significant cost to the consumer.

I still don't think in this form electric vehicles can really become the dominant mode of transportation. There needs to (and, I believe, will) be a better method of powering these things that don't involve incredibly costly natural resources and cost-prohibitive maintenance. Not to mention a power grid that doesn't overload anytime 5% of vehicle owners are charging their cars.