I drive a 2013 Chevy Spark that doubles as storage for trash and my belongings. I like it. It'll probably be a joke like the Cobalt and Cavalier in a few years when they start falling apart but I haven't had any real problems with it.
Vintage Apple sticker. Maybe makes me seem less like a douchebag than people with white ones.
Trash goes in but it doesn't come out. My car is a black hole. Manual transmission. Infotainment system with Bluetooth, touchscreen and USB port.
"Size Matters" badge so rednecks in diesel trucks make sure to pass me whilst butthurt. There's also a Sinestro Corp sticker on there. Comics fans'll get it.
Tiny trunk.
Back seat. Got two lamps I built in there, multiple paintings that never made it out after I moved, clean clothes, a mirror and my college diploma. I effectively made my sedan a one seater.
kleinbl00 Let's see that Dodge Stealth.
Here it is! It's not in the cleanest of shapes at the moment, due to being a daily driver. Ironically, I was gonna clean it early this morning but decided “Eh. Fuck it. Who's gonna care how my car looks today?” Well, I guess the joke's on me. So please, ignore the bug guts. I think the 3/4 profile view is one of the best angles for this car. I've seen the preview for the 86's refresh, where Toyota is going to swap the car over to their badge, and I have to say, I prefer the look of mine much more, especially the whole front end. While it's not as exciting looking as a McLaren or anything, it's a pretty good looking car and I think it'll hold up through the years as such. Here is the engine bay. My FA20 happens to be all stock, with the exception of a light blanket of after market dust carefully collected over the past few years. You'll note the engine cover says “Subaru” and “Toyota” on it. The car is actually built at a Subaru plant and has more Subaru stamped parts than Toyota. The instrument cluster with the tach nice and large in the center. With a digital read out of your speed in the bottom right of the tach, it's very easy to read. Automotive purists will probably scoff at the automatic transmission. The car actually has a manual mode with paddle shifters when you're feeling sporty, and with the automatic transmission, anyone can drive my car if needed. It's not too hateful of a trade off. It's mine and I love every last bit of it.
Hey, if it's good enough for the likes of Lamborghini and McLaren, that should say enough. r/cars and many automotive forums have had the "manual is manly" circlejerk going for quite a bit though. I can understand why car manufacturers are going over to CVTs, apparently affording better fuel mileage and all. I've heard they have horrible reliability problems once they get up there in miles though. I ran into a guy at a gas station who had a Scion iM and asked him about the CVT in it and he said he liked it.a modern auto with paddle shifters is nothing to scoff at
There's a lot of hype around stuff people don't understand. A manual transmission is easy to understand - it's like a clock that doesn't tell time. Automatic transmissions have never sat well with gearheads because they're computers that use hydraulic fluid rather than electrons (not that they'd understand electrons). This is a big ball of Boolean logic: Paddle shifters really became possible once the fluid logic was augmented/supplanted by electronic logic. There's nothing wrong with planetary gears. Torque converters aren't great but the same people who have no problems whatsoever with viscous couplings are hateful of torque converters without understanding they're exactly the same. CVTs got a bad rap early on because the fluid logic necessary to make them work tended to burn power. They also are harder to make robust enough to handle real power. But yes, the ideal internal combustion engined car has a motor that makes peak efficiency at a very narrow band coupled with a CVT that's perfectly efficient. They're not more popular because it's still easier to make a motor with a broad power band than a CVT with great efficiency and the ability to take a lot of torque. That's changing, though. By the time everything is electric the CVTs will probably kick ass. ;-)
I didn't know what Boolean Logic was, so I Googled it, came across this and now find myself even more confused. If that's how gearheads view automatic transmissions, no wonder they don't like them. That cutaway looks really, really familiar though. The general maziness of it. I swear to God, I think I have an old Haynes Manual for 1980s GM G-Bodies lying around somewhere that I got at a garage sale and somewhere in there is a schematic that looks very similar to that. When I Google Turbo 350 Transmission Schematic though, I'm not seeing anything like that cutaway. I asked the wife when we got this car, once the engine goes out if we could do an electric swap, she said yes. That's how you know you married right.By the time everything is electric the CVTs will probably kick ass. ;-)
It's the thing between Parts 6 and 18, captioned "valve body. That's not a cutaway. That's what you see when you take off the pan and the cover. It's the second google images link. The trick to electrics is where to put the batteries (and buying them). The motors are simple. You'll need to go back to a manual, though, because electrics function best with no transmission at all.
That's not a cutaway. That's what you see when you take off the pan and the cover. It's the second google images link. Fuck. Well, I'm an idiot. That's still cool as hell though. Now I gotta find that Haynes manual. As for an electric conversion on the FR-S? I figured it'd be a bit tricky to pull off due to the balance of the car. I know there are a handful of shops around the country that do them. I wonder if as electric cars become more common, more garages will pop up with people experienced enough to make a good custom job.It's the thing between Parts 6 and 18, captioned "valve body.
Fuck that, hang one on your wall! Your wife will love it. Electric conversions are trivial. I mean it. I've done four. None of them were my idea. One of them was a riding lawnmower for my boss and it took me a weekend. Not only that but weight distribution is the least of your problems. You're replacing this: http://image.superstreetonline.com/f/36072029w660h440q80re0+cr1/impp-1205-14-o%2Bscion-fr-s%2Bengine.jpg With this: And you're replacing this: ...okay, that was a mild exaggeration. But it's no exaggeration to say that the battery pack in the first Insight was literally 120 NiCD D-cells. You can put that shit anywhere. Wanna see the "stupid vehicle" I'll buy when I have the bandwidth? 4 wheel independent, three locking hydraulic differentials, geared hubs, hauls a platoon of troops. The downside? Aircooled slant 4 in a cabover. This limits its top speed to about 55mph. And because in order to make more room in the compartment for...well... anything, you need to move the people. Most people saw a coil off the springs in the back or replace the springs to make them ride better anyway. Far better to put in an electric motor (max rpm: ALL THE RPM) and a thousand pounds of batteries in back. You've just solved two problems. It'd probably have a range of about 20 miles when all's said and done, though... ;-) But hey. There are calculations for that. When I have more money.
I know nothing about automatic transmissions, but I'm pretty sure in this case, it's nothing to do with Boolean algebra - he's saying it's Boolean in the sense of 1/0, on/off, yes/no - i.e. in contrast to fuzzy logic. Boolean logic yields ON or OFF only, whereas fuzzy logic can supply a range of values, which might be interpreted as "cold", or "near".
I know nothing about cars, but pneumatic logic is a thing used in them, and is a model of Boolean algebra in the same way as switching circuits are. A friend of mine designs breaks for Freightliner and ends up implementing insane things like "decide the driver is in idiot and we really should/shouldn't be breaking now even though they haven't/have told us to" in pneumatic logic because microcontrollers are verboten.
Hot Rod Magazine had a great article back when Kenny Bernstein first broke 300 in the quarter mile back in '92. Because computer control was forbidden, and because his whip made around 4500 horsepower, they needed to come up with a complex set of hydraulic logic gates to control clutch slip to get the power to the road because it isn't really something humans can do. There's an impressive amount of corner-case physics in top fuel.Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass by it. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the ‘Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. Just as you pass the Top Fuel Dragster the ‘tree’ goes green for both of you. The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it – from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot that's a cool perspectiveLets say the you are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06.
These are my daily wheels: 1981 BMW R100 with lots of customizing, including the black/gold Norton-inspired paintjob. If it's too shitty outside, or I need to take some stuff to the dump, or bring my dog, I drive a Pontiac Vibe (identical to a Toyota Matrix) with 160k miles on it that I picked up for a couple of grand. It's white and looks like a corporate fleet vehicle. Which is exactly what it was.
My first car, an '86 Toyota MR2, in all its current glory: I miss driving it; hopefully I will get to do that this summer again. It's been almost two years thanks to me procrastinating on working on it. My wife's car, an '84 VW Rabbit: She's a little worse for the wear nowadays, but hopefully the MR2 will be drivable soon and I can take some time to patch her up right. I only have pictures of the beater truck ('91 F150) doing truck things: And, the latest addition: another damn '86 MR2, this one with a supercharged engine that needs a rebuild. I got it for cheap thinking it'd be a good parts car, then realized it's in really good shape and that I couldn't bring myself to cut it up. So, this one's a long term project, now. 
True story - a friend of mine used to have an MR2 and was involved with a local MR2 car club; so he had a bumper sticker on it, which displayed their web address : "mr2.org.nz". My wife saw it and asked me "Why does he have a bumper sticker that says 'Mister Two Organs' ?"
I love it. :) Just like I told elizabeth with her current car, you should do a youtube video series based on your build and share it with Hubski. I'd follow the crap out of that.My first car, an '86 Toyota MR2, in all its current glory
And, the latest addition: another damn '86 MR2, this one with a supercharged engine that needs a rebuild. I got it for cheap thinking it'd be a good parts car, then realized it's in really good shape and that I couldn't bring myself to cut it up. So, this one's a long term project, now.
Im not a car guy. I just wanted something reliable and safe so I bought a Subaru Outback earlier this year. Turns out it's bad ass. Pretty damn near close to driverless. 
It's rusted, but that's what you get for the price. It's mostly just the back door, so we might look around the scrap yard to replace it. AC is not working but the boyfriend promised to attempt fixing it. Initial internet research point to electrical problems being more likely (which he says are better than problems with the actual AC). Time to find the voltmeter and do some diagnostics. The engine sounds good, transmission is smooth and the interior is super clean. It's in great shape for a 12 year old car. It must have been a premium model with leather seats, cruise control , electrical windows, skyroof etc... The first owner had the car for 11 years : he was a pilot driving it to and from the airport in the highway a couple times a week. Anyway, it's a great deal for the price but getting the rust under control would be nice. I can't really drive it yet but I'm eager to learn manual. At least I won't be designated driver for a while hahahaha! He has a motorcycle too, and getting around town is more convenient by metro or bicycle in the summer anyway so this will be our winter beater/garage sale/country house machine. That's why we went for the wagon: trunk space is what mattered and vans are ugly.
Wow! That actually looks like it's in half decent shape for $900. You two getting that car back in shape will be quite the bonding experience. Maybe now that you're travelling vlog is done, you can make your blog about working on the car? I'd watch the heck out of that. I'm actually pretty jealous, as I've never had the right combination of space, tools, time, drive, and money to work on a car of my own. One of my friend's boyfriend's picked up an Acura Legend a while back that he's fixing up that I was hoping to help, but we work two completely different shifts and our schedules just don't line up. Oh well.
The stealth is a thousand miles away and will be for the rest of the summer. I'll be in a position to visit it in a couple weeks but nobody will care by then. Above is my summer transport, a 2015 Specialized Cirrus Elite XL, with very, very few miles on it. By the end of the summer it'll have racked up something like 2000. Okay, just for you I dug one up. Here's the beast at mile zero, about to drive up from North Hollywood to Seattle for my wedding via the PCH in 2009. I listened to the Left Behind series the entire way and the whole world was freaking out about swine flu. It looks much the same now, only the SRS light won't turn off, the wiper fluid occasionally rebels, and there's a car seat in the back. It had been paid for like 4 years prior to this picture being taken.
TSW lagunas. I think it came with 60 series and that's dumb. So when the tires went flat I upgraded to the Lagunas 'cuz Discount Tire had four returns for like $80 each. Then I went 40 series. Then two days later I lost my job. It was awesome. I actually put some cheap-ass TSWs on my wife's Fit, not because I think it's dope but because the only viable differences between a Fit Sport and a Fit Vanilla is the Vanilla comes with shitty tires and a smaller anti-roll bar (and without 250lbs of ground effects). So we wore the tires off the Vanilla and then put some 40s on it. The anti-roll didn't make the pain-in-the-ass factor.
Well at least you got a heck of a deal on them. They look great. As for the Fit, not that you'd want to, but I think there is actually a decent amount of after market support for that car in the realm of strut bars and such. So if you ever did feel like changing it, the option's there.
Every whip I've ever had. My actual car is a silver '07 Accord, which has no place here. It's so boring that I've never once been pulled over in my 5 years of ownership.
My first automobile was an '83 Rx-7. So fucking badass. Sadly, I crashed it in less then three weeks! Also, after our chat the other day, I remembered that I also had an I6 in my 2006 325Ci, which was also awesome. BMW switched back to an I6 for the M3/4 in 2014, and it's gotten all positive press so far as I can tell. Can't quite afford one yet, but one day...
Oof. That's painful to hear. FBs are pretty rare these days too. I see a few FCs and FDs here and there, but rarely and FB. If I remember right, you were picking up a Malibu, yeah? How are you liking that?My first automobile was an '83 Rx-7. So fucking badass. Sadly, I crashed it in less then three weeks!
The real worry with Rex's is the reliability of the EJ25 (pretty certain that's the right engine). Some people swear they're perfectly fine, other people have problems with blown head gaskets to completely blown engines. Some people blame it on the stock tune from Subaru, some people blame it on people hopping up the engine and using after market tunes. The stigma is there though, as it's a question that is frequently brought up. My car has the FA20, a completely new engine which can also be found in current WRXs, and so far it's been perfectly fine for me. ::knocks on wood:: Though initially, right out of the gate, there were some very disconcerting engine issues. Hopefully Subaru has got those hammered out by this point.
When I read the OP, I didn't think I had seen a Chevy Spark before ever. Without thinking much about it, I went out for a quick 20 minute drive and inadvertently noticed 3 of them, 2 of them with the same coloring. This was a good perceptual screening test.
I test drove a spark, hell I test drove just about every smaller 4 door hatchback and small SUV when I finally got the Crosstrek. The spark felt solid but I was not comfortable in the vehicle. I've already got 11K miles on the new car; i drive a ton. I needed something that I enjoyed sitting in. And the OCD, neat-freak in me is triggered heavily by that interior!
I just went for a quick drive and took some photos for you. I'll share them a bit later tonight, after dinner with the family. I like your Spark quite a bit actually. I always found that yellow to be a semi-decent color. It stands out without being so bright and loud as to catch attention from traffic police. How's it handle? I was behind one just yesterday and I was kind of surprised that it sits a bit tall for such a short and narrow wheel base.