Favorite Car Reviews

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Chevy Caprice PPV Review by Uncle Doug................



These cars were a strange concoction and only sold to police departments. The interior was based on the standard Commodore instead of the upmarket Statesman/Caprice. The front bumper was closer to the Commodore Omega instead of Statesman/Caprice. The door handles were unpainted black plastic, same for the fender vent. Vinyl flooring and unfinished door trims. No badging to keep the cost down to not advertise a car that the general public can't buy. They didn't even blank out buttons for the missing Sat Nav and other interior functions, why pay for that.

And its those last two aspects that sums up GM's view of Holden, not good enough to sell as an aspiration purchase, so they flogged them into fleets instead. Same happened with the later Chevy SS, no advertising and a high price to discourage sales.

What a poorly researched video by Doug, I was embarrassed for him. Americans do have a “not made here” syndrome, anything that’s different to their sense of normal blows their mind.

My fave review is Clarkson absolutely hating on the Civic Type R, still so entertaining
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XeGAmc...bGFya3NvbiA%3D

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by mondeomatureguy

Hi Guys,
iam one of these guys that have old car mags still after all these years and going thru one of them which i still love to read it tested two cars in 1978.

The first was a HZ GTS Holden 5 litre v8.
The second was a GXL Fairmont with a 5.8 lire V8.
Prices were for the GXL Fairmont was $10,135 and for the GTS Holden was $9,267. both hand manual gearboxs

The standing 0- 400m: Holden 16.8 falcon 16.3.
Top speed: Holden 187km/h and Ford 189km/h.

Then you go to 1979.
The falcon XD 5.8 and the Commodore SL/E 5. Litre.
Prices: Falcon XD 5.8 was $8,798 and the Commdore SL/E was $11,194.

they both had manual gearboxs.
Standing 0-400m: Falcon 15.8 and Holden 16.4.

Top Speed: The falcon was 4800 rpm and doing 195km/h. The falcon could have done faster as it was seen doing 5300rpm on the tacho coming back from a trip from the Flinders range.

The Holden was 5500 rpm and 202km/h was flat at that speed.

How do those prices compare to the median house price of those years in the capital cities?

Would be interesting to see, as a percentage of the median house price and then comparing it to the median house price today as a percentage and it puts into perspective what cars that would put on the table for you in 2024 if you did the equivalent.

Median house price in Melbourne in 1979 was $38,000

So that Commodore SL/E was around 30% of the median house price when it was new,

If you look at what 30% of the Melbourne median house price buys you car wise these days in 2024, gives you a $278,000 budget to spend on your car which buys something a bit nicer than a VFII SS Commodore

Get you into this - with a decent amount of change left over:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...23120743/?Cr=7

https://www.lotuscars.com/en-AU/emira

Or very close to a new Corvette Stingray:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...-AD-22552950/?

If you work on Sydney prices, well then you pretty much double the car budget and now we start getting close to Lamborghini and Ferrari coin for our 30%

[DFB FGXR6]

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.



Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............

Originally Posted by NX74205

I have been remiss in not mentioning JayEmm on Cars. His channel on YouTube is one of my favourites, and at only 355K subscribers I think he's very much underrated. His reviews are very detailed. I think he's one of the best.

Speaking of JayEmm.....................

[smoo]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.

image

Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............





Speaking of JayEmm.....................

What’s the speedo error on one of them, be 5-10%… so not really 250kmh?
A bit like my old GSXR1000, read around 10% fast. Went thru the 1/4 traps at 240k on the dash but it was measured at 135mph or around 220.
Had it at an indicated 299knh a couple of times but reality was around 270kmh. Good for bragging rights I suppose.

I also like Jay Emm, seems to have a tendency for reviewing luxury barges which is good.

[ivorya]

I love this review...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVuulXVaamU

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.

image

Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............





Speaking of JayEmm.....................

I looked at one of those for my first car - E36 328i.

1990s is peak BMW I reckon, E34, E36, E38 and E39


If anyone is a masochist, one of these is a good buy:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...17069263/?Cr=1

[FTE217]

That’s your peak pref Franco being your time mind you they are good times at BM but I vouch for a bullet proof E21 328i manual.
What a beast never missed a beat thrashed the hell out of that 6 handled and went like the clappers.
Trim quality as well was very those days and going into the series you fav started saving costs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DFB FGXR6]

Researching for a post, I once again came across this video. I've always loved how the naturally aspirated Barra sounded, especially in FG spec when they put some effort into tuning the tone of the engine. Just listen to it scream in the opening clip, then again at 1.29. I also love the in-car sound of the 1 - 2 shift.





I always lament not ordering the Turbo 16 years ago, but then I drive the car again and listen to the old Barra scream and all is well with the world.

The post I was researching was about the EcoBoost engine Ford used in the Falcon. While a fine engine and way better than many would have expected, the sound didn't have reach the same high for me.