The Car Shopping Round (Round 64): Tears in Heaven

Honestly, I’m not surprised about people choosing FR over F-AWD. AWD is expensive and heavy. It also reduces gas mileage a touch.

FR means you have more money to put into cabin quality (more comfort, more prestige), better brakes (better drivability, sportiness, comfort), better aero setups (more drivability, sportiness, economy), etc.

F-AWD means you’ll get off the line faster, and you might be quicker. I’ve seen it a few times in challenges where a well-tuned FR can beat a well-tuned F-AWD just due to the lower weight.

This challenge wasn’t just about lap times. Sure, the cars had to be brutally fast, but they also had to be very comfortable.

No, the thing I’m surprised about is how many people (including myself) forgot about cylinder count directly boosting Prestige. There’s a lot of six-cylinders in the lineup.

Edit: and I get ninja’d by Strop while I was busy confirming that there were a lot of 6 cylinder cars in the running.

awesome almost top 5 well done to everyone and awesome round

and i was FWD lol

GG to all here and I can not wait for the next round of Car Shopping to begin (#shamelesspug- I have a comp running at the moment, it is the Realism challenge 1-First Car. I have received 1 entry so far and the deadline is the 20th)

#CSR 15 - Muscle or Pony?

It’s late 2012 and 19 year-old me has yet to buy my Mustang. I really want a 4-door muscle car-esque sedan, but Ford doesn’t offer that right now and I’m not about to buy a Dodge Charger or Chevrolet SS. I have my F-150 so I don’t really need another practical vehicle, though. That being said, two-door sports coupes and pony cars are definitely on my radar. However, I would love to be wowed with a sports sedan done right.

In real life, we know what kind of car I went for (see my profile picture and Note 2 below), but it’s before then and I still haven’t found that gem of a gently used (1501 miles) 2013 Mustang GT/CS. The question is, can you build a four-door sports sedan or a pony car that can catch my eye before I discover a Mustang I like?

This round is going to be really subjective and it’s up to you to decide what approach you want to take. I’m 19 at the time, but I’ve always worked hard and saved my money. Therefore, I have some dollars to spend, but I’m not some super-rich-daddy’s-money-having individual, so let’s ballpark the price around $30,000 - $40,000 with a 10% mark-up. You don’t have to be in this range. If you can do more with less, that’s fine by me. You could be way over, but it better be the last car I will need to buy for a long time.

I will look at used cars, but I want them to be relatively new and therefore you may want to really think about how old the car is. Now, I will say that I’m totally open to buying a classic muscle car with a huge big block and lots of power as long as it hasn’t been destroyed, tuned to oblivion by the prior owner, or rusted away.

###Rules

  • All tabs MY 2013 or older.
  • Front Engine, RWD
  • Naturally Aspirated
  • Safety > or = 60 (except for cars built before 1985, then Safety > 35).
  • Average Reliability > or = 65
  • 4-door or 2-door sedans or coupes only. (No hatchbacks. Corvette and Viper-like hatches that are fastbacks are okay.)
  • Road legal (headlights, tail lights, indicators, door handles, etc.)
  • At least one muffler (I’ll cut it off later if I need to.)
  • Catalytic Converter Required (except not required on vehicles built before 1973)
  • No semi-slicks (I would like to be able to afford new tires at some point)
  • Fuel must be unleaded premium 93 AKI (95 RON) or less. I’ll buy premium, but it’s nice to be able to save some money at the pump.
  • Do not adjust Factory settings.
  • Mods, including bodies, MUST be available on the steam workshop.

Scoring will be based on whether I can afford the car (both buying it and driving it), how it looks, and how many cars I can beat when I pull away from a red light. The most important factor comes down to how much fun it will be to drive the car when I don’t need the practicality of my truck.

###Submission Guidelines:

Model: CSR 15 [Username]
Trim: Vehicle Name
Engine Family: CSR 15 [Username]
Variant: Engine Name

##Deadline is June 17, 2016 at 1700 Hours EDT.

Note 1: I’ll answer any questions you may have about the details, but I will not get too specific. I’m not trying to make this rule-heavy or overly restrictive. I want to see some variety.
Note 2: For reference, my Mustang is a stock 2013 GT California Special with the Performance Package. 5.0L V8, 420 HP, 390 Ft-Lbs mated to an MT-82 6-speed Manual Transmission.

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Naturally aspirated only? Nooooooo :cry:

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Naturally Aspirated only, YEEEEESSSSSSS!

(lol had to)

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If we do make a pre 80s muscle car, what price tag would you spring for? How do we calculate resale?

Well a pre-80s muscle car would probably market really cheaply in today’s dollars. (Unless it’s somehow new old stock that’s been meticulously restored.) I’m willing to spend the equivalent of 2013 dollars since that’s when the sale would occur.

Anything I put forward now would be completely arbitrary. Let me think about it a little before I give a specific answer. Be prepared for me to just say be reasonable and to make it affordable. Talk to your manager and determine what a reasonable sale price would be. Price isn’t really prohibitive or worth anything objective in this scenario. I will do what I can to be more specific.

$30000-$40000 is quite a lot in automation dollars, that generally puts it squarely in the Muscle Premium market. For this price I wouldn’t be surprised to see luxury interiors or hp approaching 4 figures. I don’t really think they would compare to a Mustang.

Also, if you want to see some variety, then allow turbochargers!

Hey hey the customer spoke, he wants an NA, so if you make a turbo, he won’t buy it!

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I don’t like turbos and the price range is a suggestion. Feel free to build a turbo engine, but like strop said, you will score terribly. Also if you think you can build a premium car, build one. Being fun is not congruent with being Spartan nor is it dispositive of being high quality. My Mustang has a premium leather interior with power everything and Bluetooth. You could also spend money on good internals or transmission components that will lead to higher reliability. You could come in way under budget with an impressive package and appeal to my frugality since I like to save money. The choice is yours.

#1976 Cadilent Salem V12

The First Salem Run from British Company “Cadilent” was fitted with a V8, and run from 1970-1975. The Next run had the highest end model fitted with a V12. This model here is one of the Few Surviving (in a somewhat good condition) painted in a British Racing Green, and such. Has been daily driven since I bought it, showing around 250,000 miles on the clock. Little rust, engine has had a few parts changed, but are from donor cars. Wife’s telling me to sell it, so I’m looking for around 20,000 ono. Here’s some images to tickle your fancy:


Call Neil on [Redacted] or email [Redacted]@[Redacted].com

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so i am making a ford falcon then lol

2013 Bogliq Coyote Sport

Quick, fast and classically styled, the 2013 Bogliq Coyote Sport has everything you’re looking for and is as exciting to drive as it is to admire!

Priced at $27170 for what you see here, this Coyote represents fabulous value for money with no compromises…

Buy better, buy Bogliq :smile_cat:

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I have a good feeling about this round. I’ll go make something really quickly… You’d like a nice 4 door car that thinks it’s a muscle car, and I might, just might, have something in mind.

tried modifying my fruinian muscle car. but i’m not sure about it since the ‘economical’ decision of that car might effect it.

and it’s pretty true on a glance though, ended up with 8.2L v8 pumping 770hp with premium interior, and barely cost 30k even at 10% margin…

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The ever-present war in the back of the mind: Do I buy the muscle car and have fun, or accept that I’ve grown up and buy the boring corporate sedan? But, what if there was a third option?

The comfort of the corporate cruiser, and the practicality of one as well, with four doors, five seats, and a full size trunk, combined with…

The raw brutality of the muscle car, with a 7.2L V8, 600+ horsepower, 6 speed manual, and rear wheel drive.

Sounds insane, right?

Meet the Storm Insaniti LX.

Not designed to be a true sleeper car, but not intending to look outlandish, either, the Insaniti was designed to look a little sporty, a little angry, but still quite normal. Four doors and five seats means that even when you’re traveling with a full crowd, they’ll be able to fit. A trunk means there’s even room for luggage, so you don’t have suitcases hitting you in the head when having fun on the way to the airport. Try that with a fastback.

All of the lights are LED based, reducing maintenance costs. 19-inch wheels were chosen to give the optimal balance between comfort and handling. The underside of the car is covered in an aerodynamic undertray, with specialized holes placed so maintenance is still easy enough to do. Draining the oil doesn’t require dismantling half of the car. A fuel filler door on either side of the car, filling the same main tank, guarantees you won’t be pulling the ever-so-infamous “I pulled up on the wrong side of the gas pump” shuffle.

Inside the car, you’ll find 5 very comfortable leather seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, gearstick, and parking brake handle. The entertainment package is top-of-the-line, with 21 speakers, a 5-disc CD changer, MP3 compatibility with 32GB of internal storage, and a 10 inch touchscreen that controls your climate control, GPS, internet connectivity, and functions as the radio’s tuning system. Climate control is multi-zone, with heated front bucket seats. Bluetooth connectivity allows the use of any phone hands-free, as well as using your phone as a media player. A rear view camera comes standard and is activated when you put the car in reverse.

So, with all this wonderful luxury hardware installed, you’d think you’d need something radical to move it, right? Well, we didn’t think it had to be all that wild. We stuck with a simple V8, crossplane for the iconic V8 rumble. Dual Overhead Cam, with 4 valves per cylinder, VVL and VVT, Direct Injection, high-flow catalytic converters, and the loudest street-legal exhaust we could fit. Displacement is 7.2 liters, so it rivals some diesel trucks for displacement. 10.5:1 compression ratio gives you a healthy amount of power, and we’re running it very lean, so if you feel you need more power, there is still plenty to be found in this engine. 7500 RPM redline keeps the reliability up. We expect these engines will still be kicking around 20 years from now. It needs premium, but with understandably good reasons, 611 of them. Torque curve is reasonably flat, and only dips below 400 ft-lb of torque past 7000 RPM.

So, what does it cost to drive a luxury car with the heart of a muscle car? Just $35310. It’s expensive, but there’s a lot of car for your money.

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@Madrias Phwoaaar that rear end, it’s kind of Shelby GT500 esque, looks amazing. Real grunty.

Everybody’s going with such big displacements! Well, apart from being heavy and more material, it isn’t that expensive to simply use more of something I suppose.

@koolkei I am seriously contemplating doing the same myself. But seeing all these entries that will give you very good stats for not much, I’m not so sure. I tend to be a little… spartan in my choices!

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@strop I took inspiration from a lot of the big American sedans, as well as some of the Muscle/Pony cars. I’m not entirely surprised a bit of Shelby GT500 creeped into the car. In fact, I’m glad of it.

As for Displacement, we don’t have access to Replacements, so as you said, it’s not really a huge (ha ha) deal to make the engine bigger. It’s not too much more expensive, it’s only a little heavier, and you get even more power out of it.

“No replacement for displacement”

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