Random Thoughts Thread

[daves87rs]

4 hours ago, dwightlooi said:

I defected back to the Germans this Christmas... got myself an Audi A8L 4.0T. The car sold new for 109. But at 4 years and 40K miles as a Certified Pre-Owned, it is $31.6K making it an exceptional value. This is in part due to the SUV craze and in part due to the fact that car enthusiasts are generally gravitate to the S-cars, the M-cars, the V-cars and the AMGs. This left the traditional flagship sedan with low demand and fantastically bad residual values (71% depreciation in 4 years). It is no S8 Plus for sure, but it is brisk enough.

Very, very nice!!!!

[daves87rs]

8 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I just realized today marks 14 years that I've been on the Cheers and Gears forum.

I found it in 2005 when everyone was hypothesizing about the then new LaCrosse and I was approaching needing a new car.  Three years later, I bought that car.

But I'm still here ...

Congrats sir! ? 

I think I snuck in a year sooner (found myself on the way back  machine in 04) as I remember the crash in 2005, and talking about the end of the Cavalier and the incoming Cobalt....

 

Wow that goes back......

[ocnblu]

On 12/26/2019 at 5:14 PM, surreal1272 said:

More on this later

Wanted to get you something decent since it was a combo birthday/xmas gift.

[balthazar]

12 hours ago, dwightlooi said:

...Audi A8L 4.0T. The car sold new for 109. But at 4 years and 40K miles as a Certified Pre-Owned, it is $31.6K making it an exceptional value....
...fantastically bad residual values (71% depreciation in 4 years).

Pretty clean (10K/year). Can't at all say I'm a fan of the styling tho.
But wow- assuming the dealership made some money on the trade, the owner may have gotten only $25K; 4 years cost him $84,000 in depreciation. What an idiot.

[trinacriabob]

@dwightlooi  The cabin is beautiful - dash, seating, etc.  The V8 appears to be laid into the engine bay suggesting RWD, no?  You snagged a great deal.  German iron just seems too "exotic" (for me) when it comes time to take it in to the dealership for service or finding the few(er) independent mechanics who are good at working on them.  In California, the latter won't be as much of an issue.  Congrats.  It's a sophisticated looking sport sedan.

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

"Makers of America's Most Useful Vehicles" - TRUE STORY.

[ocnblu]

The Aura Returns From Uranus!  Does it run rings around its Saturn predecessor? 

 

 

 

[balthazar]

[G. David Felt]

On 12/27/2019 at 7:21 PM, surreal1272 said:

@dfelt-Turns out there are swap out upgrades but they are $1500-$2000 which is a deal killer for me. Sucks because I would swap it out myself. 
 

https://www.infotainment.com/products/2013-2015-ford-flex-myford-touch-sync-2-to-sync-3-with-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-upgrade

Based on the years you expect to own the Flex and the miles to drive it, 2000 over a 6 to 10 year life is cheap ownership to gain the cell phone compatibility IMHO.

[dwightlooi]

15 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

@dwightlooi  The cabin is beautiful - dash, seating, etc.  The V8 appears to be laid into the engine bay suggesting RWD, no?  You snagged a great deal.  German iron just seems too "exotic" (for me) when it comes time to take it in to the dealership for service or finding the few(er) independent mechanics who are good at working on them.  In California, the latter won't be as much of an issue.  Congrats.  It's a sophisticated looking sport sedan.

It's longitudinally engined, full time AWD... aka Quattro. The entire engine is ahead of the front axle. The transmission and the front differential axle is in a single casing. The center and front differential are torsen type limited slip; the rear differential is active. The default torque split is 40 front / 60 rear, but out to 85% can go to the rear and 65% can go to the front.

--

It is also a Hot Vee engine. Meaning the exhaust comes out in the middle and the twin turbos sit on top in the valley of the Vee. The intakes are on the sides. There is an air-to-water aftercooler in the front between the throttle body and the intake plenums. The turbos are tiny and design for response not maximizing engine power. The engine makes a paltry 435 hp @ 5,100-6000 rpm with 444 lb-ft available from 1,500-5,000 rpm. The redline is a modest 6,000 rpm.

[balthazar]

[balthazar]

I have NO USE for any of the Star Wars movies.

That is all.

[dwightlooi]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Except it was a STUPID DESIGN which defeats the purpose of having disc brakes. The early Chrysler disc brakes works very much like a drum brake. The pads and caliper is on the INSIDE of the bloody thing. Instead of clamping down on an exposed disc, it pushes out on the brake housing. The only difference between it and a drum brake is that the pads pushes laterally rather than circumferentially. The two principal advantage of a disc brake -- a larger working surface for a given unsprung weight as well as superior cooling and dust ejection -- is not realized because the entire caliper assembly must be contained within the cast iron housing and it is all enclosed.

Edited December 30, 2019 by dwightlooi

[balthazar]

From wikipedia :
"Chrysler discs were "self energizing," in that some of the braking energy itself contributed to the braking effort. This was accomplished by small balls set into oval holes leading to the brake surface. When the disc made initial contact with the friction surface, the balls would be forced up the holes forcing the discs further apart and augmenting the braking energy. This made for lighter braking pressure than with calipers, avoided brake fade, promoted cooler running, and provided one-third more friction surface than standard Chrysler twelve-inch drums. Today's owners consider the Ausco-Lambert very reliable and powerful, but admit its grabbiness and sensitivity."

They did offer about 5 times the braking surface of a conventional disc, and it's pretty unlikely an Imperial would ever see spirited driving akin to competition usage.

Still laudable as the first mass-production disc (despite perhaps not being the pinnacle of the concept).
 

[trinacriabob]

I can't put this in Car Spotters because I've seen it several times and in different months.

It's easy to narrow down the year, but I'm not completely sure.  This Regal body style was released in 1988.  However, the hood ornament in that year was a flat medallion.  The "pull tab" alloy wheels were around in 1988, 1989, and 1990.  I hated to see them go by the time I got around to buying one.  So this could be a 1989 or 1990.  3800 V6 equipped models were badged while base 3.1 V6s were not, and the 3.1 was there in 1989, 1990, and beyond.  I'm going to guess 1989.

I don't know if this car would be considered a success by sales numbers.  However, you have seen older ones on the road for decades.  And that was on that all new platform - FWD, 4 wheel discs, fully independent suspension, and other major changes from the model before.

[ccap41]

On 12/27/2019 at 9:21 PM, surreal1272 said:

@dfelt-Turns out there are swap out upgrades but they are $1500-$2000 which is a deal killer for me. Sucks because I would swap it out myself. 
 

https://www.infotainment.com/products/2013-2015-ford-flex-myford-touch-sync-2-to-sync-3-with-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-upgrade

Wow, first, that's really cool that's even available and second, holy shet that's expensive! 

[balthazar]

Hard to grasp how wealthy Henry Ford I was. A few years ago I calculated his worth in today’s dollars and it was about $180 billion. At one point he owned 3 million acres of land, almost the size of the state of Connecticut.

[G. David Felt]

10 hours ago, balthazar said:

Hard to grasp how wealthy Henry Ford I was. A few years ago I calculated his worth in today’s dollars and it was about $180 billion. At one point he owned 3 million acres of land, almost the size of the state of Connecticut.

Very cool, was wondering that myself and this site says in 2013 his networth at the time of his death was equal to $199 Billion of 2013 Dollars.

https://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celebrity-business/men/henry-ford-net-worth/

Here they say it was $200 Billion

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/henry-ford-net-worth/

No matter what, he is listed as the wealthiest Businessman in the world still today by his net worth at the time of his death.

WOW ?

So this site says that in 1947 at the time of his death his net worth was $44.3 billion

https://www.ns-businesshub.com/popular/ford-net-worth/

1947 $44.3 Billion dollars is equal to 2019 $517,656,832,558.14

https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=1000000&year=1947

WOW, That is just crazy crazy amount of money, he would be a half a trillion net worth today.

[USA-1]

On 12/17/2019 at 9:44 PM, dwightlooi said:

Actually, it does. Not a heck of a lot. Boost only reaches 9.5 psi and plateaus from 1,500 to 5,100 rpm.

Anyway, the whole hand built and exclusive to Cadillac thing is bullcrap. You can handbuilt and make exclusive a version of the small block V8 too.

I didn't say it didn't have any turbo lag, I stated, "didn't seem to have much", like you just stated just in another way, "Not a heck of a lot".

"Plateaus from 1,500 to 5,100" I wouldn't say "plateaus" If you saw it run on a dyno it would be a wide arching torque band.

It's not BS, because it makes a pretty big difference with a high end luxury sedan like the CT6-V having a special serial number to each Blackwing built and with the very tight tolerances of modern engines today especially being a high performance DOHC "Hot V TT" like the Blackwing V8 it's a must. It's also exclusive to Cadillac and being a company as large as GM that's saying a lot. Hopefully it stays around as a high-end option in the new Escalade-V. 

Edited December 30, 2019 by USA-1

[USA-1]

20 hours ago, balthazar said:

I have NO USE for any of the Star Wars movies.

That is all.

Dude, Star Wars IX is pretty good. Even my Dad and one brother in law who are not Star Wars fans thought it was pretty good. 9 of my family members and myself went to see it in theater the day after Christmas. Good times!!

18 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I can't put this in Car Spotters because I've seen it several times and in different months.

It's easy to narrow down the year, but I'm not completely sure.  This Regal body style was released in 1988.  However, the hood ornament in that year was a flat medallion.  The "pull tab" alloy wheels were around in 1988, 1989, and 1990.  I hated to see them go by the time I got around to buying one.  So this could be a 1989 or 1990.  3800 V6 equipped models were badged while base 3.1 V6s were not, and the 3.1 was there in 1989, 1990, and beyond.  I'm going to guess 1989.

I don't know if this car would be considered a success by sales numbers.  However, you have seen older ones on the road for decades.  And that was on that all new platform - FWD, 4 wheel discs, fully independent suspension, and other major changes from the model before.

Poor old girl seen better days.

Edited December 30, 2019 by USA-1

[dwightlooi]

56 minutes ago, USA-1 said:

It's not BS, because it makes a pretty big difference with a high end luxury sedan like the CT6-V having a special serial number to each Blackwing built and with the very tight tolerances of modern engines today especially being a high performance DOHC "Hot V TT" like the Blackwing V8 it's a must. It's also exclusive to Cadillac and being a company as large as GM that's saying a lot. Hopefully it stays around as a high-end option in the new Escalade-V. 

Nonsense, nonsense and nonsense. (1) You can put a unique serial number and hand build a Small Block. Oh wait, the LS7 was exactly that. (2) Hot Vees do not require any higher or lower tolerances than side mounted turbos. (3) As I have said, an LT based engine displacing 6.8 liters and featuring individual butterflies, cam-in-cam dual phasing and dual injection will produce the same power (~550) with zero lag and with less complexity. As previous small block engines have proven, fuel economy will be equivalent to, or better than, DOHC powerplants of lower displacement but with a similar output (turbocharged or otherwise).

The point here is that the Pushrod design is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a GM asset which should be maximized not shunned. It should have been in the ATS-V and it should be in every flagship Cadillac. Whatever displacement taxes may or may not exist in certain markets is irrelevant to this category of vehicles.

[dwightlooi]

47 minutes ago, USA-1 said:

Dude, Star Wars IX is pretty good. Even my Dad and one brother in law who are not Star Wars fans thought it was pretty good. 9 of my family members and myself went to see it in theater the day after Christmas. Good times!!

Poor old girl seen better days.

The 3800 was a fantastic engine -- smooth, reliable, bulletproof and economical. The 3.6 DOHC HF V6 -- at least for the first two generations from LY7 to LLT -- not so much. It is not until the LFX that some basic reliability issues got addressed. The LGX if a good engine, but that is a totally new architecture with new bore spacings and a new AFM setup.

They should have continued to build the V6es off of the 5.3L LS design giving a 4.0L V6. Power would have been 220 to 240 hp for a port injected 4.0 V6 engine. The current LT based 4.3L V6 makes 297hp. These would have been more reliable engines for the Malibu, Impala and all the crossovers. Probably more efficient than the 4-valve 3.6 too.

[dwightlooi]

2 hours ago, dfelt said:

Very cool, was wondering that myself and this site says in 2013 his networth at the time of his death was equal to $199 Billion of 2013 Dollars.

https://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celebrity-business/men/henry-ford-net-worth/

Here they say it was $200 Billion

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/henry-ford-net-worth/

No matter what, he is listed as the wealthiest Businessman in the world still today by his net worth at the time of his death.

WOW ?

So this site says that in 1947 at the time of his death his net worth was $44.3 billion

https://www.ns-businesshub.com/popular/ford-net-worth/

!947 $44.3 Billion dollars is equal to 2019 $517,656,832,558.14

https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=1000000&year=1947

WOW, That is just crazy crazy amount of money, he would be a half a trillion net worth today.

Moral of the story? Capitalism rewards handsomely those who dramatically change how we live our lives for the better -- be it Ford then, Gates, Jobs, Bezos or Suck-a-Bird more recently. That is a good thing because there is nothing like income equality when it comes to ensuring that nothing gets invented, no sht gets done and everyone is a useless dependent of State.

[USA-1]

54 minutes ago, dwightlooi said:

Nonsense, nonsense and nonsense. (1) You can put a unique serial number and hand build a Small Block. Oh wait, the LS7 was exactly that. (2) Hot Vees do not require any higher or lower tolerances than side mounted turbos. (3) As I have said, an LT based engine displacing 6.8 liters and featuring individual butterflies, cam-in-cam dual phasing and dual injection will produce the same power (~550) with zero lag and with less complexity. As previous small block engines have proven, fuel economy will be equivalent to, or better than, DOHC powerplants of lower displacement but with a similar output (turbocharged or otherwise).

The point here is that the Pushrod design is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a GM asset which should be maximized not shunned. It should have been in the ATS-V and it should be in every flagship Cadillac. Whatever displacement taxes may or may not exist in certain markets is irrelevant to this category of vehicles.

I was speaking in terms of higher quality by having a set of human eyes on the build other than depending on robots for the most part. When someone is looking at buying a $100k+ car it's nice to know the manufacturer has taken more time to hand-build the engine, that's a fact. Most people including myself understand that, and some people don't.

I know all engines today have high tolerances and I was speaking on the unique design of the "Hot V" setup and I never stated that it's better than an LS/LT SBC V8. The pushrod LS/LT smallblock GM engines are some of the best out there and I wasn't shunning nor am I ashamed of them as I have an LS1 in my C5 Corvette, it's a very well built powerplant and I get 30-32 mpg cruising on the hwy. Power/weight ratio and a very low Coefficient of drag at .29 is in my favor of course. 

Edited December 30, 2019 by USA-1

[Robert Hall]

21 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I can't put this in Car Spotters because I've seen it several times and in different months.

It's easy to narrow down the year, but I'm not completely sure.  This Regal body style was released in 1988.  However, the hood ornament in that year was a flat medallion.  The "pull tab" alloy wheels were around in 1988, 1989, and 1990.  I hated to see them go by the time I got around to buying one.  So this could be a 1989 or 1990.  3800 V6 equipped models were badged while base 3.1 V6s were not, and the 3.1 was there in 1989, 1990, and beyond.  I'm going to guess 1989.

I don't know if this car would be considered a success by sales numbers.  However, you have seen older ones on the road for decades.  And that was on that all new platform - FWD, 4 wheel discs, fully independent suspension, and other major changes from the model before.

I read that the 88 had only the 125hp Chevy 2.8 V6, ‘89 gained the 3.1 as an option, the 3.8 added as an option in ‘90.     Pretty disappointing after the turbo V6 Regal era.    These did have neat dash designs, though. 

[dwightlooi]

2 hours ago, USA-1 said:

I was speaking in terms of higher quality by having a set of human eyes on the build other than depending on robots for the most part. When someone is looking at buying a $100k+ car it's nice to know the manufacturer has taken more time to hand-build the engine, that's a fact. Most people including myself understand that, and some people don't.

I know all engines today have high tolerances and I was speaking on the unique design of the "Hot V" setup and I never stated that it's better than an LS/LT SBC V8. The pushrod LS/LT smallblock GM engines are some of the best out there and I wasn't shunning nor am I ashamed of them as I have an LS1 in my C5 Corvette, it's a very well built powerplant and I get 30-32 mpg cruising on the hwy. Power/weight ratio and a very low Coefficient of drag at .29 is in my favor of course. 

Agreed. My point is that an engine does not need to be a 4.2L DOHC Hot-Vee V8 to be "hand-built" -- you can do that with any design -- and that the Hot-Vee configuration does not require or necessarily include higher tolerances.

I just got a car with a Hot Vee V8 -- the Audi CEUA 4.0TFSI bi-turbo engine. I have no problems with it (yet) but a Pushrod V8 would have been a simpler design with equivalent performance and less potential issues. A Pushrod V8 of 6 liter class displacement will also be able to spend more time in cylinder deactivation mode than the 4.0 liter mill. This is actually one of the reasons why they did not go to 5.5 liters with the C7. They could have and that engine would a have made about the same power at higher revs. But, fuel economy is actually worse because the AFM operating regime was narrower.

 

[G. David Felt]

4 hours ago, USA-1 said:

I didn't say it didn't have any turbo lag, I stated, "didn't seem to have much", like you just stated just in another way, "Not a heck of a lot".

"Plateaus from 1,500 to 5,100" I wouldn't say "plateaus" If you saw it run on a dyno it would be a wide arching torque band.

It's not BS, because it makes a pretty big difference with a high end luxury sedan like the CT6-V having a special serial number to each Blackwing built and with the very tight tolerances of modern engines today especially being a high performance DOHC "Hot V TT" like the Blackwing V8 it's a must. It's also exclusive to Cadillac and being a company as large as GM that's saying a lot. Hopefully it stays around as a high-end option in the new Escalade-V. 

In thinking about the Blackwing, I would honestly rather have the LS9 Supercharged engine in the Escalade V than a Twin Turbo V8. This would have a sound very unique to the Escalade V that no other Luxury SUV would have.

Plus no Turbo Lag

Solid strong pull across the whole RPM band, just so much to like about the Supercharged V8 from GM.

[dwightlooi]

5 minutes ago, dfelt said:

In thinking about the Blackwing, I would honestly rather have the LS9 Supercharged engine in the Escalade V than a Twin Turbo V8. This would have a sound very unique to the Escalade V that no other Luxury SUV would have.

Plus no Turbo Lag

Solid strong pull across the whole RPM band, just so much to like about the Supercharged V8 from GM.

The LS9 has been out of production for years. There is the LT5 though. I'll say that 755 bhp / 715 lb-ft is "adequate" big and heavy SUV or not. It's a Dual Injection engine too. So if Caddy wants it can idle and putter along the parking lot with port injection to eliminate the DI clatter. It'll also keep the intake valves clean of carbon.

And, if you care it is also hand built by one technician from start to finish in the same plant as the Blackwing.

Edited December 31, 2019 by dwightlooi

[USA-1]

27 minutes ago, dfelt said:

In thinking about the Blackwing, I would honestly rather have the LS9 Supercharged engine in the Escalade V than a Twin Turbo V8. This would have a sound very unique to the Escalade V that no other Luxury SUV would have.

Solid strong pull across the whole RPM band, just so much to like about the Supercharged V8 from GM.

I love the 6.2L LS/LT engines and when supercharged they're a beast, in a good way. It's size is just right with a perfect balance of high and low end power and sounds awesome at idle and at red-line. The LS based engines really are an all around great powerplant.

The new LT4 or LT5 would be awesome in the new Escalade.  

Edited December 31, 2019 by USA-1

[trinacriabob]

4 hours ago, dwightlooi said:

The 3800 was a fantastic engine -- smooth, reliable, bulletproof and economical. The 3.6 DOHC HF V6 -- at least for the first two generations from LY7 to LLT -- not so much. It is not until the LFX that some basic reliability issues got addressed. The LGX if a good engine, but that is a totally new architecture with new bore spacings and a new AFM setup.

They should have continued to build the V6es off of the 5.3L LS design giving a 4.0L V6. Power would have been 220 to 240 hp for a port injected 4.0 V6 engine. The current LT based 4.3L V6 makes 297hp. These would have been more reliable engines for the Malibu, Impala and all the crossovers. Probably more efficient than the 4-valve 3.6 too.

Yes on the 3800.  I am still able to reach 30 mpg on freeway trips on mine and I'm still looking at its first tune up ... soon.

Yes as to the 3.6 V6.  Earlier ones had teething problems.  It's always a big deal when you jump from eons of making OHV engines with 2 valves per cylinder (and they've even messed up a few of those) to DOHC engines with 4 valves per cylinder.  They would have never been able to put this engine in the flagship Caddy CT6 if it wasn't fully "vetted."

As much as I like those displacements, and those engines, I think that anything around 4 liters would be a deal breaker for GM (or any domestic automaker's) passenger cars.  Not with me, but with corporate, CAFE, environmentalists, critics, etc.

[USA-1]

46 minutes ago, dwightlooi said:

Agreed. My point is that an engine does not need to be a 4.2L DOHC Hot-Vee V8 to be "hand-built" -- you can do that with any design -- and that the Hot-Vee configuration does not require or necessarily include higher tolerances.

I just got a car with a Hot Vee V8 -- the Audi CEUA 4.0TFSI bi-turbo engine. I have no problems with it (yet) but a Pushrod V8 would have been a simpler design with equivalent performance and less potential issues. A Pushrod V8 of 6 liter class displacement will also be able to spend more time in cylinder deactivation mode than the 4.0 liter mill. This is actually one of the reasons why they did not go to 5.5 liters with the C7. They could have and that engine would a have made about the same power at higher revs. But, fuel economy is actually worse because the AFM operating regime was narrower.

 

Oh for sure any engine can be handbuilt and many LS/LT's have been and still are, but my point is that the Blackwing is exclusive to Cadillac so they picked a 4.2TT DOHC to be that engine. I think it's pretty cool that GM at one point decided to do that for Cadillac and if the top brass bean counters had their way it never would have happened.

Good luck with the Audi, like you said no problems (yet). My Dad's wife had an A6 Quattro with the 3.2L that had timing gears and chain guides fail at 52k mi., it was babied and regularly serviced at the dealer. When it came to covering it just past the warranty Audi wasn't there until legal action was pushed on them that they finally agreed to cover the parts. It's a known issue with Audi as well. 

[trinacriabob]

2 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

I read that the 88 had only the 125hp Chevy 2.8 V6, ‘89 gained the 3.1 as an option, the 3.8 added as an option in ‘90.     Pretty disappointing after the turbo V6 Regal era.    These did have neat dash designs, though. 

All correct ... a change per year.  I would only look at the car once the 3.8 came along.  However, the 3.1 stayed as its base engine for about a handful of year unless a person opted for the GS model.  That first 3.8, or 3800, was the Series I.  The 2.8 V6 was a raspy piece of crap and really took the car's cachet down from what they were marketing it as.  Thank God it was shelved in a year.

I believe the dash design was called the "ravine" dash.  I loved it (with gauges).  It was a waste if a person went with idiot lights.  Also, the full gauge package digital ones of the first few years were swapped over to analog gauges soon enough.  

Waiting several years was the right thing to do.

[daves87rs]

Hopping in for the last time this year.... ?

Wishing all my friends a very happy and healthy NEW YEAR!!

 

[G. David Felt]

BREAKING NEWS:

Carlos Ghosn has fled Japan and shown up in Lebanon his original birth Country and will hold news Conferences next week to balance out the injustice system of Japan.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/ex-nissan-boss-carlos-ghosn-flees-to-lebanon-slams-japans-justice-system/2019/12/30/61e89258-2b7c-11ea-bffe-020c88b3f120_story.html

[ccap41]

11 hours ago, dfelt said:

In thinking about the Blackwing, I would honestly rather have the LS9 Supercharged engine in the Escalade V than a Twin Turbo V8. This would have a sound very unique to the Escalade V that no other Luxury SUV would have.

Plus no Turbo Lag

Solid strong pull across the whole RPM band, just so much to like about the Supercharged V8 from GM.

There have been AMG V8's in SUVs for a bit already and a long time in the G-Wagen. It wouldn't sound the same, but they both have a unique and gnarly sound. 

 

 

 

[surreal1272]

On 12/30/2019 at 9:08 AM, ccap41 said:

Wow, first, that's really cool that's even available and second, holy shet that's expensive! 

Ridiculous expansive yet I’m still thinking of doing it. You can save $500 by forgoing the GPS which I would do since my phone GPS is more up to date and readily available anyway. Definitely an interesting DIY project regardless. I’m intrigued by it at the very least. 

[trinacriabob]

10 hours ago, dfelt said:

BREAKING NEWS:

Carlos Ghosn has fled Japan and shown up in Lebanon his original birth Country and will hold news Conferences next week to balance out the injustice system of Japan.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/ex-nissan-boss-carlos-ghosn-flees-to-lebanon-slams-japans-justice-system/2019/12/30/61e89258-2b7c-11ea-bffe-020c88b3f120_story.html

I guess that was his New Year's resolution.  I am not fully briefed on this situation, and really haven't been, but I don't doubt that they would be "as fair" to someone who is not one of their own nationals.  From an article I read last night, he holds passports in Brazil (where he was born), in Lebanon, and in France.  I don't know what the repercussions will be.  I sort of checked out of the goings-on at Nissan.  I remember more when he was hired on and they had big expectations.

[dwightlooi]

13 hours ago, USA-1 said:

Good luck with the Audi, like you said no problems (yet). My Dad's wife had an A6 Quattro with the 3.2L that had timing gears and chain guides fail at 52k mi., it was babied and regularly serviced at the dealer. When it came to covering it just past the warranty Audi wasn't there until legal action was pushed on them that they finally agreed to cover the parts. It's a known issue with Audi as well. 

The Germans have their fair share of TOTALLY RETARDED engineering. The CEU engines (aka Audi 4.0T V8) has a pair of "oil screens" in the turbo oil feed lines to keep the oil supply to the Hot-Vee mounted turbos "cleaner". Oil screens are by definition a filtration device and a service item. But, they bury them under the turbos, intercooler and intake assembly in a totally un-serviceable location. In the RS6 and  RS7 cars it's 10 hours of labor to get to them because the front bumper has to come off. In the A8/S8 about 6 hours because the W12 accommodating engine bay is a tad longer so the intercooler can be removed with the bumper in place.

The Audi service manual and scheduled maintenance does not include replacing these screens. So over time they clog and cut of oil to the turbos. The turbos then grenade themselves. If you are lucky it's just the turbos and a $13,000 repair at the dealer. If you are not, the metal fragments totals the cylinder walls and it's $45,000 for a new engine. About a fifth of the cars grenade their turbos between 40 and 80K miles. That is terrible.

Preventative maintenance on this known issue is to replace the screens. But it's $2K and 6~7 hours of labor for an oil change if you do that. LOL!

Good thing the car has a 7/70K warranty on the turbos and the emissions equipment.

[USA-1]

4 minutes ago, dwightlooi said:

The Germans have their fair share of TOTALLY RETARDED engineering. The CEU engines (aka Audi 4.0T V8) has a pair of "oil screens" in the turbo oil feed lines to keep the oil supply to the Hot-Vee mounted turbos "cleaner". Oil screens are by definition a filtration device and a service item. But, they bury them under the turbos, intercooler and intake assembly in a totally un-serviceable location. In the RS6 and  RS7 cars it's 10 hours of labor to get to them because the front bumper has to come off. In the A8/S8 about 6 hours because the W12 accommodating engine bay is a tad longer so the intercooler can be removed with the bumper in place.

The Audi service manual and scheduled maintenance does not include replacing these screens. So over time they clog and cut of oil to the turbos. The turbos then grenade themselves. If you are lucky it's just the turbos and a $13,000 repair at the dealer. If you are not, the metal fragments totals the cylinder walls and it's $45,000 for a new engine. About a fifth of the cars grenade their turbos between 40 and 80K miles. That is terrible.

Preventative maintenance on this known issue is to replace the screens. But it's $2K and 6~7 hours of labor for an oil change if you do that. LOL!

Good thing the car has a 7/70K warranty on the turbos and the emissions equipment.

Damn... Was just going to say hopefully you bought the extended warranty. Over Engineered German Engineering

[dwightlooi]

13 minutes ago, USA-1 said:

Damn... Was just going to say hopefully you bought the extended warranty. Over Engineered German Engineering

The car is 4 years old with 40K miles. It is covered by the CPO warranty for 12 months / unlimited miles and the turbos are covered by the 7yr/70K miles emissions warranty. I have a year to decide if I want to buy extended warranty.

Powertrain Warranty from Audi is $2800 for three additional years past the CPO. Doing the preventative filter change is $2000. The thing is that if you ever intend to retune the ECU, buying warranty is a waste of money because any flash of the ECU will increment a HW flash counter. Any undocumented variation on the flash counter from VW-Audi records will flag the car as TD1 and void your warranty.

[USA-1]

2 minutes ago, dwightlooi said:

The car is 4 years old with 40K miles. It is covered by the CPO warranty for 12 months / unlimited miles and the turbos are covered by the 7yr/70K miles emissions warranty. I have a year to decide if I want to buy extended warranty.

Powertrain Warranty from Audi is $2800 for three additional years past the CPO. Doing the preventative filter change is $2000. The thing is that if you ever intend to retune the ECU, buying warranty is a waste of money because any flash of the ECU will increment a HW flash counter. Any undocumented variation on the flash counter from VW-Audi records will flag the car as TD1 and void your warranty.

Great deal for sure and super low miles. Hopefully she keeps going for ya. I'd definitely buy the E.W. if you keep it.

[trinacriabob]

On 12/29/2019 at 3:45 AM, dwightlooi said:

It's longitudinally engined, full time AWD... aka Quattro. The entire engine is ahead of the front axle. The transmission and the front differential axle is in a single casing. The center and front differential are torsen type limited slip; the rear differential is active. The default torque split is 40 front / 60 rear, but out to 85% can go to the rear and 65% can go to the front.

--

It is also a Hot Vee engine. Meaning the exhaust comes out in the middle and the twin turbos sit on top in the valley of the Vee. The intakes are on the sides. There is an air-to-water aftercooler in the front between the throttle body and the intake plenums. The turbos are tiny and design for response not maximizing engine power. The engine makes a paltry 435 hp @ 5,100-6000 rpm with 444 lb-ft available from 1,500-5,000 rpm. The redline is a modest 6,000 rpm.

Thank you.  I should have, in fact, concentrated on the word Quattro.

- - - - -

You guys know how Wiki comes around at the end of the year and asks for minimal support?  I'm wondering if it's a "one and done" thing if you choose to give them something ... and they don't market any of your info or decide to approach you more for support.  I certainly like having and using the resource.

My mom used to give to certain religious charities and then she'd be deluged with letters from donations from a bunch of other religious charities (typically the same denomination).  She ultimately picked her handful and stuck to those.  The others got tossed ... year after year.

Analogous situation, sort of.  Any advice?

[G. David Felt]

5 hours ago, ccap41 said:

There have been AMG V8's in SUVs for a bit already and a long time in the G-Wagen. It wouldn't sound the same, but they both have a unique and gnarly sound. 

 

 

 

Yes always cool to hear V8's but this is just nothing special compared to the Supercharger whirl of the GM V8.

NO German brand has ever done that. This is mostly Exhaust noise.

Pass on that and take as Pointed out to me the Modern LT5 Supercharged V8 in an Escalade V.

 

@ 2:13 you can hear the LT5 Supercharger wine before the exhuast takes over the noise output.

[ccap41]

21 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Yes always cool to hear V8's but this is just nothing special compared to the Supercharger whirl of the GM V8.

NO German brand has ever done that. This is mostly Exhaust noise.

Pass on that and take as Pointed out to me the Modern LT5 Supercharged V8 in an Escalade V.

I can almost GUARANTEE it would not be louder than an AMG because they can't sell them loud and you're talking about a family-sized SUV. 

So Yes, AMG has done this before with the ML63, GL63, and G63 and everything proceeding those. The X5M and Cayenne also probably makes some great V8 noises. 

 

 

[dwightlooi]

The Audi 3.0TFSI has a similar whine (S4, SQ5, A8 3.0TFSI, etc). Well, it has the same Eaton TVS 4-lobe supercharger (albeit a shorter version TVS R1320 version rather than the LT4's R1740 or LT5's R2300). That is also Audi's most reliable engine in the current lineup. It is new enough to not have the 1st gen FSI's Direct Injection intake fouling issues and it does not have the grenading turbo problems of all the VW-Audi engines with a check valve and oil screen in the turbo oil feed.

FYI, if you own a car with the Supercharged 3.0T (not the newer Hot-Vee single turbo 3.0T), the TVS R1320 makes about 33% more boost than the 3.0T engine actually uses. So the ECU cracks the bypass valve at higher rpms to bleed off boost it doesn't want. This overboost and bleed concept is also used on the Jaguar AJ133 and other supercharged engines. It means that if you screw with the ECU program and keep that bypass valve shut longer and open it less, you get quite a bit more power... about 100 hp and 90 ft-lbs more over the upper half of the rev range.

[ocnblu]

Someone traded a squeaky clean, 2018 black Canyon SLT crewcab 4WD on a new Genesis G70 3.3 AWD.  I checked the VIN and it is a business vehicle, so I guess it was for tax purposes (?)

We are the only Genesis dealer in SEPA.

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

This is mostly Exhaust noise.

I don't know how/if that system was modified / damaged, but it sounds lousy.
If it's factory.... wow. ?

[Robert Hall]

6 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

 

You guys know how Wiki comes around at the end of the year and asks for minimal support?  I'm wondering if it's a "one and done" thing if you choose to give them something ... and they don't market any of your info or decide to approach you more for support.  I certainly like having and using the resource.

My mom used to give to certain religious charities and then she'd be deluged with letters from donations from a bunch of other religious charities (typically the same denomination).  She ultimately picked her handful and stuck to those.  The others got tossed ... year after year.

Analogous situation, sort of.  Any advice?

Wikipedia usually does that starting around Giving Tuesday (Tuesday after Thanksgiving) every year...   I usually drop them $20 or so every year as they are a great resource I use everyday... I don't really get any email from them the rest of the year.