I6 turbo, my friend.
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Thatâs the Ford Falcon way!
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@Ramthecow
2jz gte ute it is
okay then. thx.
Absolutely, my man. Nothing beats the Barra.
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I found the lack of suitable bodies annoying 
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Fully blown V8 with 600 HP, its the Aussie wayâŚ
EDIT: BTW, my âpurchase priceâ formula was already entered correctly on the google sheet I posted yesterday. I went ahead and rewrote the formula to adhere to the format Leedar posted, but the values on my test carâs did not change. I just need clarification that will hopefully come from Stropâs excel on how the service costs are being calculated. My test cars currently show that there is no reason to go with any car other than a brand new 2017 model because the service costs break $100,000 on a like 2014 vehicleâŚ
Remember that the word ute in australia can be applied to any pickup truck styled body in automation⌠Let your imagination run wild my friend. A link for referenceâŚ
https://www.carsales.com.au/new-cars/ute
Edit: I think a monocoque chassis would be more appropriate to simulate the integration of the cargo tray with the passenger cab.
Ok, I can confirm Iâve changed the fuel part of the costs slightly. Now fuel is no longer triple weighted, and the costs are now more reasonable.
Flavour text time! (I will add the other post to this one so itâs all in one spot)
#CSR38: About The Era of an Aussie Icon
As hypercar development and racing firm Gryphon Gear transition from being an endangered species to a global fixture, life goes on for its members, as do their automotive needs. Surprisingly, unlike the cars they make, GG staff drive a motley crew of far less iconic, sporting vehicles, perhaps with the notable exception of their legal Exec, Dan. Weâve already seen, in past rounds, the replacement cars for two of them:
Strop- bought a Centauri Spectre GTZ to replace the late âPeapodâ (which had already been modified and then destroyed beyond all recognition)
Kai- was given, for his birthday, a Cisalpina Scattante to tinker with and distract him from putting more stupid flame decals on âToothlessâ (which was then sold on Gumtree for $700, sadly the âowned by race driver Kai Kristensenâ made no impact on its valueâŚ)
Which brings us to our third candidate for car replacementâŚ
Meet Tesla
Cen drew this ages ago, Iâm recycling it because due to lateness I didnât get around to drawing the new image I wanted to. I will draw one at the end of the round, with the winning ute. Also, if animal characters isnât your thing, just replace her with an equivalent human, I donât mind.
Name: Theresea Pound-Whittlesea â NEVER call her this
Age: early 30s (I think, I actually canât quite remember and thereâs never been a reason to ask)
Job Description: Chief Mechanic, Race Department
Likes: Food, sleep, sex, wearing activewear while doing anything other than exercise, occasional substance excesses, getting dirty, home renovation, the beach, puffing a big fat spliff, big ambitious projects that come together just so
Dislikes: being referred to by any part of her real name, being called âthe tool bitchâ, exercise for the sake of exercise (all pain no pleasure), going too fast, dog-whistles, being told sheâs too unladylike
Tesla is a lady, and nobody tell her otherwise. A lady who farts, snores, swears and eats what she wants. A lady who loves freely but stays fancy free and nobody shame her for it. Whether this, or her decision to build a career that had as little as possible to do with everything she was taught, has anything to do with her fierce rebellion of independence against her strict upbringing by her army father is incidental: it was that attitude, and the lack of intimidation when faced with the monstrosity of the GG vision that she was hired when they were but a fledgling company. Having stuck with them through the triumphs and the troubles, she is now family, a sister to some, a foil, instigator, the sense and the silliness all in one. She had a unique and integral role to each and every core member of the company, and despite her relative youth, that was the vital part of the decision to graduate her to a senior role as the staff roster started to swell.
In her spare time, the one thing that Tesla likes to do most of all is home renovation. Restoring old furniture, redecorating with things repurposed and crafted by her own two paws. Most days sheâs carting a full tray of various pieces or bits of debris. Itâs all a part of her love of building things part by part and seeing it all come together.
There is, however, one thing thatâs not really quite coming together for Tesla. In short, itâs her life.
30-something is an increasingly ominous age for the single, still-renting individual living in essentially the worldâs most expensive city. The âhousing bubbleâ seems to continue expanding and expanding and thereâs no telling whether to chance an interest-only loan in the interests of actually snagging property before it vanishes into the portfolio of some grubby investor⌠or to sit tight because the bubbleâs gonna burst and send house prices tumbling and interest rates soaring. Not only that, but money just seems to be tight everywhere except when it comes to the interests of Parliament and its members. The typical Aussie way of living paycheck to paycheck and âsheâll be rightâ is simply not a luxury afforded to the Australian youth, or even Gen-Y.
So it was that Tesla found herself thinking after her 1980 XD Falcon Ute suddenly swerved off the road while she was carting around a half ton broken base of a concrete Corinthian pillar she was keeping for⌠reasons. A quick inspection confirmed her suspicions: after years of sustained abuse, the rear right gas shock seal had given out and the whole assembly folded up. It was all kind of fucked, really. Mainly coz she knew that when she borrowed the GG company trailer, she was gonna cop an earful from stick-your-nose-in-abso-fucking-lutely-everything Hannah, who was going to lecture her about how nothing lasts forever and she should really think about getting something newer.
âI told youse, nothing lasts forevuh dear,â Hannah chided, in her characteristic Broadie drawl. âShoudnât yuh think about getting youself a new yute?â
Just as she had predicted, Hannah was taking the opportunity to nag Tesla once again, except, even worse than she had predicted, she had done so after sitting Tesla down at the table and dragging the rest of the project team into it. This meant that there was a notepad and pen, and more importantly, Strop, Sam, Kai, Boden, Isla, Luca, Dan, and even Aidan goggle-boxing at her. Well, Kai wasnât goggle-boxing, he was asleep, bless his heart. The only thing Hannah neglected was the big fucking âINTERVENTIONâ sign in flashing neon. Defiantly reminiscient of the way she would (attempt to) blow off her dad, Tesla folded her arms and slouched.
âI like that ute.â
Annoyingly characteristic of her motherly authority, Hannah placed her hands on her hips. âItâs junk and itâs sucking youse dry.â
âItâs a classic!â
âAny more classic and youseâll hafta apply for a fucken Historical permit.â
âYeah well itâs worth heaps. And I like it.â
âItâs worth shit to youse if youse go broke tryinâ to keep it running, right hun?â Hannah punched Boden in the arm, who was stunned into blurting, âListen to your mo- Hannah.â The rest of them sat and stared like dumb sacks of shit. Well, wasnât their fault, really, since this was probably the one source of tension between Hannah and Tesla and any tension involving Hannah, none of the rest of the crew would touch (not even Dan). But they couldnât leave either, lest they get a spanner thrown at their head. Workplace safety and all.
âThink about it,â Hannah pleaded, now switching gears from browbeat to wheedle. âYouseâll save heaps oâdosh and then youse can actually get that loan and start actually decorating your room like youse always wanted to.â
Inwardly Tesla flinched. That really was the bottom line, right now her place wasnât really hers, it was just the lease and even if she was studiously ignoring her other clocks, the home ownership clock was probably one of the bigger ones to beat in this day and age. Sensing weakness in that incisive way only a mother can, Hannah pounced upon a marker and printed in big bold letters upon the paper. âBUDGET.â Then she glanced expectantly at the rest. âBrainstorm time! Letâs think of important properties of a ute!â
âPOWAAAAAH!â Strop immediately yelled, right before a projectile texta caromed off his forehead.
âReliability,â Boden offered, far more sensible.
âVersatility.â Luca (or was it Isla) nodded. âEconomy,â chimed in Isla (or was it Luca).
Aidan hesitated, fidgeting. âCapacityâŚ?â
âSex appeal,â Sam flashed his trademark grin. Hannah rolled her eyes, muttering something about why the fuck did they hire this guy again.
âValue,â countered Dan with a cryptic smile.
There was a brief silence until Sam kicked Kai under the table. âWha- whatever you want! ⌠did I do the thing right?â he looked around as Hannah scribbled several headings down, before passing the paper to Tesla. Tesla looked at the proffered sheet sourly. âPersonally I like the thing Kai said the most.â
âWell, no shit,â Hannah snapped. âBut you should think about all the other things too.â
Tesla knew the conversation had eroded away at her position, and with a resigned huff, she stood and slunk off. âOk, ok, I get it. Iâll start looking.â
Immediately, Hannah was back to her cheery countenance of victory as the meeting was dismissed. âCall us if youse need help, yeah?â
As you can see, Tesla has a bit of a dilemma. This is a fairly good representation of her previous ute.
http://brakehorsepower.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/falcon-XD-ute-2.jpg
Itâs worth noting that Hannah is unfairly biased against it because Hannah is a Holden girl and the ute above is a Ford.
But that said, this ute is now broken. Tesla is resigned to the fact she needs one thatâs a bit cheaper to run. Over the last year, the poor fuel economy and wearing parts has probably set her back close to 20k. As you can see, she likes them old.
So your task is to scour the classifieds and come up with a ute, new or old, that either convinces her to get a newer model because itâs damn good, damn good value, or damn cheap. Or you could say fuck it, get something older, but it better be better and cheaper to run than her current ute. Tesla will probably tolerate a degree of extra expense for the older models but yes, the fiscal realities do limit her somewhat.
First, youâre going to need to know how to make a legit ute that you can buy and run in Australia (with some liberties of interpretation taken).
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A ute with a wheelbase of over 3m is not a ute, itâs a fucking truck. Utes are family sedan sized. So [color=yellow]keep the wheelbase strictly <3m.[/color]
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[color=yellow]It must have a cab and tray[/color]. The cab is almost invariably a coupe, i.e. 2 doors and 2-3 seats. We donât need any more than this, though if you really want to compromise and go with a 4 door cab and a smaller tray be my guest. It just wonât be considered as strongly.
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There is a side point that [color=cyan]you may optionally wish to go for the classic Sandman Wagon type entry[/color]. This is a wildcard approach and will only work under exceptional circumstances, but Sandman Wagons were hotter than a frill-necked lizard in Alice Springs at noon in January, so who knows.
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Regular use cars [color=yellow]must have a cat and emissions ratings of <500[/color], which means running on unleaded. If they donât, they need a special use or Historical permit and those limit how much and when and where you drive and itâs a pain in the ass unless you drive a real classic. Weâre not interested in buying one of those.
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The emissions regs arenât particularly strong here but we suspect theyâll come into action soon, so assume Gasmean style taxation structure.
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Petrol stations here will always stock 91RON. They will almost always stock 95. Many of them stock 98. But petrol down under is also pricey. For 91, itâs $1.70/L, 95, $1.90/L and 98, $2.10/L (itâs actually not this bad but to make the dynamic realistic to Automation I had to make it like this). Also our client, like many Australians who divide time between the city, the country, and work, drive more than average, so calculate your costs based on a yearly travel of 18000km and disregard any bonuses for fuel availability. In short, [color=yellow]fuel cost comes to 180 * fuel price * L/100km per year.[/color]
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There is a luxury car tax. In AUD it applies to cars over 60 something thousand dollars, but thatâs in AUD. Most utes made in real life would at best approach but never reach this figure (thereâd be no point, especially since people who shell out for that much car would probably also buy bigger dick compensation, like a Ford Raptor or some shit). But letâs just say you want to keep this in mind, for when I tell you how the purchase price of the vehicle is calculated. [color=yellow]As a golden rule, keep your zero markup base price below 20k or itâll be suddenly unaffordable.[/color]
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[color=yellow]Safety must be at a minimum 35.[/color] All cars sold that were built since 2010 require this, but our client will not be interested in older vehicles that fall short either.
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As I said earlier, the purchase price of a vehicle will depend on a few things: its engineering time (longer it takes the more money it needs to recoup), its production units (gotta pay the workers somehow), its age (depreciation), and its prestige, relative to its age. The latter applies because utes are frankly a dying breed and are increasingly sought after at all ages, especially if theyâre good examples and the right trim. Pay attention, this will be very important:
A vehicle with trim 2017 will have an age of 0. This means depreciation is 0. Iâve waived the stupid stamp duty because this class of vehicle is tax-deductible if you write it up just so on your returns. Without the prestige modifier, assume that the vehicle depreciates by 7% of its previous value each year for the first 5 years, and then 1% per year for each year after that (yes, I am nesting IF() functions into my Excel spreadsheet like a motherfucker).
However thereâs a prestige modifier that will alter this. It depends on a reverse linear relationship between the vehicleâs prestige, and the age of the vehicle. Basically, the older the vehicle, the lower the overall prestige required for it to gain desirability and therefore offset the depreciation. In 2017, this value is 45. In 1987, itâs 25, and so on and so forth. The formula to calculate the purchasing price of the vehicle therefore is:
=(2base price((1+(engine + trim engineering time)/400))+(engine + trim prod units)* 20)*Depreciation Modifier
Where the Depreciation Modifier is:
For Cars with Trim 2013 or later, =(0.93+(prestige-45+(age of trim)/1.5)/100)^(age of trim)
For Cars with Trim 2012 or earlier, =(0.93+(prestige-45+(age of trim)/1.5)/100)^5-0.01*(age of trim)
In this way Iâve largely been able to replicate the AUD price of Australian built utes, across a range of times, as well as make the more classic trims more valuable, but also let the shitboxes become really cheap. A new top of the line 500+bhp with premium trim Holden/Ford ute (bought mainly by tradies with way too much money who canât think of anything theyâd rather get) sets one back around 55K here. A 10 year old low to mid end ute here would set you back about 13-15k. But a classic from the 80s will cost you around 30 grand.
- However, thatâs not the real issue here. The real issue is the cost to maintain the damn thing for ten years. As I said, registration, fuel etc. are quite expensive in Australia. It costs me 800 bucks to register my Honda Civic each year (in Victoria, where this challenge is set), and nearly 1200 bucks to insure it. So the formula to determine total service costs is:
=(Emissions Tax + Insurance)* 30 + Fuel Cost * 10 +((Trim and Engine Service Costs)* ((1-1.05^(Trim Age + 11)/(-0.05)/10)* 70/Reliability))
A few notes here: I added the bills and multiplied them by 3 to get the approximate scale of cost here. The next bit is the service costs, using the formula for a simple geometric exponential series, which is then proportional to reliability. In short you should be aiming for an average reliability of at least 70. Older cars canât do this, so theyâre going to get slugged in service costs, as is the case in real life when you work your car hard, all the time.
Our clientâs got a little bit of everything in her, so sheâs looking for something that can haul stuff first of all. But it may also be good to be able to get to the beach, go camping, look pretty, go like a cut snake, but of course, only if itâs actually worth it. I mean, over 10 years weâre talking like an investment of anywhere from 130-200 grand and potentially a lot of elbow grease. Itâs not a decision to take lightly.
To make it easier, here are the values to keep in mind:
- Any trim year up to 2017 but I warn that this is not really one of those times when acceptable in the 80s is really acceptable at this time. The servicing costs will be horrendous. Youâre welcome to try but⌠our clientâs trying to sell a ute from the 80s because itâs killing her wallet, yeah?
- Strictly wheelbase <3m
- Seats 2-3, 4-5 or more is strictly optional and not considered a big advantage
- Strictly safety >35
- Aim overall reliability of at least 70
- Base price with 0 markup ideally not higher than 20k
- Strictly emissions <500 but really try to get them <175
- Try not to go too high above 12L/100km if even that, fuel is a massive part of the budget. Less is good.
- Power outputs for a modern ute can range from 240bhp to somewhere around 600.
- Even if you want to build a 600bhp ute that runs faster than an emu with its tail on fire, the narks give you the stink-eye if they see semi-slicks, so, please, none of that yeah?
- Practicality and Utility should ideally be at least 40
Every other stat will be considered but in context of the entire ute, and also subjectively. Also try not to make it buttfuck ugly, please? Cheers.
In short:
Going fast is good (we donât need a hypercar though, keep that in mind. Just enough to smoke every motherfucker at the lights, if desired).
Hauling more is good.
Ability to go more places is good.
Being cheaper is good.
Being more frugal is good.
Being comfy is good.
Being good looking is good.
Being an older model is good.
Youâre not going to be able to achieve all of these things. Itâs up to you to pick how much of each is in it for you.
The Excel spread sheet I use, complete with three random examples (a premium 2017 Ford Falcon Ute, a cheap mid-noughties Korean knock-off, and an older big V8 classic), is attached below. Play with it, because there is a point where older models can be cheaper but still just as good as new, depending on their prestige modifier.
You have until 11:59pm, AEST, 15/4/17 to submit, so have at it!
CSR38.zip (8.5 KB)
Or you can use the very excellent spreadsheet @TheBobWiley has kindly arranged based on my raw sheet.
#Tips:
- Tax is the base value. The emissions taxation may vary slightly from the default.
- Emissions is based on total emissions
- Projected Values change depending on age of vehicle but as a general rule if your Ute is sportier than itâs drivable maybe you should consider turning it down a tad.
- Environmental resistance is not weighted heavily, because Australian weather conditions arenât that harsh apart from getting hot sometimes. But if itâs abnormally low because youâre using rust prone steel all over, that would obviously hurt your chances. Just be sensible.
- There is no restriction in using an older body in a newer car. Hell, a company building a modern ute in a vintage body might just pique Teslaâs interest. But thereâll be no concessions for safety and aero penalties, and itâs a gamble: if it doesnât look the part itâll get lambasted.
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Have to thank you for that spreadsheet. Itâs helped me decide between Sinistra and Storm. The Jackal comes out more expensive in every way.
Now itâs just the finishing touches to fiddle with.
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so here we go this is the lvc etam mk2, if you read etam backwards you get mate.
since this is the mk2 model the mk1 was many years ago and it wasnât a bestseller, so we decided to try it again.
this is our approach to the ute, since its a pickup truck with good looks we put solid axle in the rear because you want to load heavy s**t in inside mate.
in the front is the most basic and most common suspension setup macpherson struts, yeah mate.
the drive layout is front wheels drive and the correct wheel drive for such things, we think if it was rwd it couldnât get good traction empty. this was the drivetrain is pressed by the weight of the engine. one more reason why we choose fwd is because women drive ute too.
next thing mate is our engine, its a 2.1 liter inline 4 with a turbo that makes around 240 hp mate. and we put inside forged internals so we dont want you to hang out at the repair shop anytime soon.
the engine maybe cuts off too early but our goal is to make it reliable m8, if the customer desires we can make it rev to 9000. but we cant promise it will last
for those true petrolheads you get a 6 speed manual gearbox,
so if a vw golf 1 can be a pickup truck so can this, m8
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A turbo, FWD? Puh-lez. Itâs all about that glorious NA RWD POWAH M8!
@strop I still have a couple questions about the spreadsheet.
The âemissionsâ field, is that from the final (trim) tab, or from the engine tab?
âtaxâ is the âtotal taxâ as shown on the final (trim) tab?
I will have my google sheet updated soon and will put a link up for anyone to make a copy to their google drives.
PS: that story was pretty funny 
Can we get any numerical suggestions for other scores, e.g. what is considered tolerable drivability? Is environmental resistance (corrosion) considered outside of Offroad score?
Edit: I suppose some are provided in the spreadsheet, if those are assumed to be even remotely competitive.
Answered some questions in the rules post. If you have more, go ahead and ask to your heartâs content!
The utes in the example were 5 minute builds of âreasonableâ benchmarks, but note that none of them had tech sliders changed.
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Not sure if you want to drop this link in the OP for people that use google sheets to copy their own versions?
All the totals match your sheet for the test cars so it should be good to go. Canât wait to get started now that the math is settled.
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Yeah Iâll share it on OP today!
I have never seen a more compelling introduction to a CSR round before!
And @lordvader1 you may well have a point, but I prefer to build rear-drive utes with 6 or more cylinders and more advanced suspension setups for the sake of sportiness, which both of my test cars are.
Does Miss Whittlesea have any aversion to technology or can she abide some digital thingamabobs, electronic doohickeies, and modern whatchamacallits?
She doesnât mind, not nearly as much as you referring to her as Miss Whittlesea 
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