CSR155 - Swanky Set of Wheels (COMPLETE)

[abg7]

Regarding some of the verdicts:

@LS_Swapped_Rx-7

Raymond fell in love with this gorgeous car, especially since it had all of the features he could ever want, but then he was disappointed to find out that all the quality meant that it would take way too long for his car to get built.

(Cheeses the techpool way too hard, with +15 in the interior.)

Had there been a techpool limit for individual areas (+8 to +10 at most), this car would not have been eligible for consideration.

@LS_Swapped_Rx-7

A sporty looking car without much sportiness was an odd choice, but the final nail in the coffin was less than 200 horsepower from a 4 liter V12, quite embarassing considering it is beaten by 6 cylinders with less displacement.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen a (relatively) high-displacement V12 with a lower specific output than desirable - I remember this writeup for a car entered in an earlier, Kee-era CSR that had the same problem:

@KLinardo

No, no, no, no. NO! I did not want to cut this car. It looked A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. It was the best looking car here. And it was a sedan. And it had a manual. And I wanted to buy it based on looks alone. I just cannot justify the lack of power compared to the competition at this point. I drew an arbitrary line in the sand at 400 HP a few cuts ago and lo and behold the Glacier had 400 exactly as I went through the pile. Therefore, it got to stay. However, I cannot fathom why the Glacier’s engineers thought 400 HP would suffice for this car. Mind you, the 400 HP comes from a 6.2L V12. I was expecting at least a stupid amount of torque from the engine, but it only produced 410 Ft-Lbs. Disappointingly the dyno sheets made it look like you had to be over 4000 RPM to wake the car up. How do you have that many cylinders and that much displacement and quietly come in with 400 HP? It’s really this car’s Achilles Heel. It places the price per horsepower way above the rest of the competition. The 7-speed manual and looks couldn’t help this car overcome it’s relative mediocrity among the remaining vehicles. No stats were really overly impressive and the cost wasn’t exactly the lowest of the group. If the engineers spent as much time on the functional design as the design team took on the outside, I think this car would win. I was truly disappointed when I discarded this brochure.

And the reaction was priceless:

@strop

So in a way I was kind of relieved to see that the engine went all noughties Aston Martin. They’re the number one culprit I think of when it comes to specific outputs of 60bhp per liter from big fat V12s.

Mind you, the Espion’s specific output was even lower, at <50bhp/liter - but if that engine had been an I6 or V8, such an understressed design would have been more easily justifiable. It was still among the best-looking cars here, though - and that alone was enough to get it into the top 10.

And congratulations to Texaslav for winning CSR yet again! I bet that he won’t be able to host the next one, though, given that he’s busy hosting CW5 right now on his own. In that case, debonairo8o6 (who collaborated on the winning entry) would take his place (unless he too passes).

Regarding the Condor: The reason why it looks like a fighter jet (or even a spaceship) is that although it’s most likely built on the same body set (and size) as my entry (and those of several others), the sheer amount of sculpting through 3d placement of body moldings and patchworks makes the base body almost unrecognizable.