Fun to drive cars

[vskid]

Miatas are fun to drive. Not fun to get in and out of. Not fun to get -caught- in unless you like being made fun of by your friends, but they handle and turn like go-karts, get great gas mileage, they're pretty dang cheap, and surprisingly easy to work on. And contrary to what you might think, V8 swaps work very well in these cars!

lol, that's one of the main reasons I stopped looking into them. And I wanted a little more people room. If I were to ever get a "just for fun car", a Miata would be near the top of my list (just watch some videos of turbo'd ones accelerating on youtube and you'll know why ).

So John/jdmlight, are you looking to get a car with these ideas, or are you just wondering?

[jdmlight]

So John/jdmlight, are you looking to get a car with these ideas, or are you just wondering?

Mostly just curious, but it never hurts to keep things in mind. What mostly prompted it (aside from the Mazda commercial) is how much fun my Jeep Grand Cherokee (with the 4.7L V8) is to drive. I would not want to give that up in a different car, but I wouldn't mind giving up the not-awesome gas mileage. Increasing gas prices + ~16mpg + commuting 60 miles a day = not fun.

[vskid]

So John/jdmlight, are you looking to get a car with these ideas, or are you just wondering?

Mostly just curious, but it never hurts to keep things in mind. What mostly prompted it (aside from the Mazda commercial) is how much fun my Jeep Grand Cherokee (with the 4.7L V8) is to drive. I would not want to give that up in a different car, but I wouldn't mind giving up the not-awesome gas mileage. Increasing gas prices + ~16mpg + commuting 60 miles a day = not fun.

So that's about $12+ a day for gas? I would drop that thing like a rock. And I thought it was bad when I got a 25MPG tank it my car (short trips up and down hills, Monterey sucks). You could easily cut your gas costs in half with a car that gets 30MPG. In fact, at $3.50 a gallon, driving that far every weekday (so with weekend driving you could save even more), you could save ~$140 a month with a 30MPG car, or ~$180 with a 40MPG car. So depending on the payments and insurance for another car, you might be able to keep your Jeep and still save money. A Miata could probably get 40MPG pretty easy depending on where you drive (I'm assuming mostly freeway) and how easy you are with the throttle. Heck, you'll probably get 30MPG even with a lead foot.

[toby dawg]

@hot dog cart: flippin awesome man i got a notch back. (hope the pics work) Also the gts isnt that low any more, the black one is dead now

[bicostp]

Jalopnik is watching us.

http://jalopnik.com/#!5781238/what-is-t ... -30%2B-mpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bush]

John I totally understand how you feel about the GC. It is kick ass for an SUV. You should be able to bump your mileage up a tiny amount if you remove the horizontal roof rack bars.

[jdmlight]

John I totally understand how you feel about the GC. It is kick ass for an SUV. You should be able to bump your mileage up a tiny amount if you remove the horizontal roof rack bars.

I was wondering if that would make much of a difference, I suppose it doesn't hurt to try it out. Not like I use the roof rack...

And yeah, I dunno. It's just that I rather like my car and everything about it...except the gas mileage. It's fast for the size car it is, leather, nice Infinity stereo (well aside from a loose wire going to the right front tweeter, which just needs to be soldered on when the weather is a bit warmer), the V8 sounds nice, and I like the color. Plus it hasn't given me any out-of-the-ordinary issues (meaning not things like I just bought tires and I need to get rear brake pads).

I'm also being realistic and know that an 11-year-old car may get to the point where repairs are too expensive to keep it, so I'm interested in what my options would be.

[Bush]

Yeah, I have the I6 and gas mileage ain't great either. If gas goes back to 2.90 again Ill be content.

http://www.wjjeeps.com/crossrails.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's on the rack. I couldnt get the damn caps off so i moved the bars back like in the diagram.

[jdmlight]

Yeah, I have the I6 and gas mileage ain't great either. If gas goes back to 2.90 again Ill be content.

http://www.wjjeeps.com/crossrails.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's on the rack. I couldnt get the damn caps off so i moved the bars back like in the diagram.

Isn't that a fantastic site? I used that site to get info on how to remove the radio so I could wire up the iPod adapter I bought. (which is awesome btw, it just plugs into the CD changer port and then you can control the iPod from the OEM headunit )

Yeah I'll give removing the crossrails a shot.

[Triton]

It's just that I rather like my car and everything about it...except the gas mileage. It's fast for the size car it is, leather, nice Infinity stereo (well aside from a loose wire going to the right front tweeter, which just needs to be soldered on when the weather is a bit warmer), the V8 sounds nice, and I like the color. Plus it hasn't given me any out-of-the-ordinary issues (meaning not things like I just bought tires and I need to get rear brake pads).

check out 1990s volvo turbo wagons, like a 740. imagine almost as much interior space as your jeep, 165hp and nearly 30mpg highway in proper tune, mine got 21mpg on the way to MGC when i drove it, and that was with 4 people, a car load of stuff and an average speed over 65mph and as high as 112 and all of this was running with NO 02 sensor connected, strictly closed loop (i think thats right )

https://picasaweb.google.com/triton199/ ... directlink
here is mine

[Bush]

Yeah, I have the I6 and gas mileage ain't great either. If gas goes back to 2.90 again Ill be content.

http://www.wjjeeps.com/crossrails.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's on the rack. I couldnt get the damn caps off so i moved the bars back like in the diagram.

Isn't that a fantastic site? I used that site to get info on how to remove the radio so I could wire up the iPod adapter I bought. (which is awesome btw, it just plugs into the CD changer port and then you can control the iPod from the OEM headunit )

Yeah I'll give removing the crossrails a shot.

I opted to grab a cassette to TRS adapter and hide it behind the radio bezel. I have an ipod touch so i don't think it would work anyway. I did use that site to remove the bezel though!

[vskid]

and all of this was running with NO 02 sensor connected, strictly closed loop (i think thats right )

Open loop. Closed loop uses the O2 sensor to fine tune how much fuel it gives, most cars go to open loop when they are warming up and at high throttle (if you're flooring it, you're probably more interested in moving quickly than saving fuel).

Removing the crossbars should help, but probably not enough to be noticeable on such a brick. I'm currently doing some modifications to my Civic to help it's fuel economy. I removed the airtube on the intake so it now gets warm air from the top of the engine. Not good for power, but some cars like warmer air (to a point). It drones like none other when at low RPMs and high throttle, drowns out everything else at wide open throttle getting on the freeway. Blocking off most of the grille, too. I have some pieces of foam pipe insulation in the upper grille and a piece of cardboard over half of the lower grille. Foam will probably be permanent unless it causes problems, the cardboard will get replaced with plastic when I can find a supplier. Smooth wheel covers and maybe rear wheel skirts will come with finding plastic, too.

[bicostp]

I still get about 35 MPG out of my sedan. Average lately has been around 33-34 because I'm doing 70-75 on the highway most of the time. (When I was in college my commute was all state highway surface roads, so by creatively exploiting the shift points it could coast around in fourth gear at 2000 RPM at 45 MPH. Doing that pushed 40 MPG in the summer.) I really wish it was a 5 speed now, though. Running at 3500 RPM to keep up with traffic at 70 downhill is depressing. No engine or aero mods, unless you count swapping the clogged original EGR valve with a stock replacement.

The fun comes in the corners. For example, an SUV tailgating me is taking the same ramp as I am, and they're simply judging their speed based on mine. I go into the ramp too hot for the SUV to handle, suddenly their front end dips down as they brake and barely stay on the pavement. They left plenty of room after that. Trolling can be fun too. BMW M3 bro keeps flashing his lights at me because I'm only doing 75? Time to engage Grandpa Mode. Some idiot parallelling the rear quarter panel as I'm trying to merge over? Let off the gas until they realize they're doing 40 and get all pissed off and step on it. Some jackass in an Infiniti keeps racing between the lights? Okay. Let him take off as fast as he can, then while he's waiting at the light I'm still coming. Light turns green, he stomps on it to get going and I just give it a bit more gas to get away again. Lather rinse repeat until the Infiniti gets so pissed off they do a ricer flyby and blow the next light.

* How much of a difference will a clay bar make on a plastic car? Let's find out this summer!

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

The fun comes in the corners. For example, an SUV tailgating me is taking the same ramp as I am, and they're simply judging their speed based on mine. I go into the ramp too hot for the SUV to handle, suddenly their front end dips down as they brake and barely stay on the pavement. They left plenty of room after that. Trolling can be fun too. BMW M3 bro keeps flashing his lights at me because I'm only doing 75? Time to engage Grandpa Mode. Some idiot parallelling the rear quarter panel as I'm trying to merge over? Let off the gas until they realize they're doing 40 and get all pissed off and step on it. Some jackass in an Infiniti keeps racing between the lights? Okay. Let him take off as fast as he can, then while he's waiting at the light I'm still coming. Light turns green, he stomps on it to get going and I just give it a bit more gas to get away again. Lather rinse repeat until the Infiniti gets so pissed off they do a ricer flyby and blow the next light.

Doing crap like that is so much fun.

I've got a 2003 Saturn VUE with a crap (loud and angry) transmission that will die at some point in the near future(known transmission problem with the model, GM refuses to fix it). It's not fun to drive at all by any means, and the radio sucks hardcore with no tape deck or CD player or any possible way to pipe my own audio into it. But it's for the most part a free car (free to obtain, not free to maintain), so I can't complain all that much. Gets me around 26-27MPG, driving 25 miles (50 round trip) to and from work every day, all highway for the most part.

[vskid]

Not all SUVs are lumbering bricks. My parents' '03 Yukon XL has quite car-like handling for a 4WD brick. In the right hands, it could easily corner much better than a car in most people's hands. In you story where the SUV slammed on their brakes, they should have given it more thottle. In my parent's Yukon, I've broken the back end loose at about 40MPH on one of those loop onramps (that probably had a much lower speed limit). It felt pretty predictable, I wish I could try it in a large open space.

I went for a drive down Hwy 1 a few weekends ago. It's a pretty curvy road. I would have people tailgating me in all types of vehicles on the straights, but I would lose most of them when it got curvy.