ron5864

My Challenger has the 3.92 rear end over the standard 3.73. That was my "must have" requirement. But Dodge does have the Scat Pack 1 that remaps the engine controller along with cold air intake and a lower restriction exhaust resulting in 395hp and 430 ft-lb of torque without messing up the warranty or CARB emissions.

Like Schizophrenic said, I do prefer lower weight. The Mazdaspeed3 weights 3160 lbs. and feels light on its feet (or tires). From accelerating, stopping, cornering, and sudden accident avoidance, this car does it without strain. But its ride is a little more jarring than what most people will tolerate. I do miss the days when a sport compact weights 2500-2600 lbs. If my turbo 2.3L went inside an Acura Integra. Man, that would be over-the-top awesome.

But I do love a big grand touring size American coupe. Eats miles with smiles. However, the 707 horsepower Hellcat Challenger/Charger might be the last car the owner drives if he/she is not careful.

My bad, I did a quick search and that was the lowest number I found. I don't think $60k is much these days though, to step into a 707hp turnkey car. The standard 5.7L engine is more than enough for me, pushing around a challenger. The delivery date hasn't been verified on the Hellcat yet, there is still some waffling on which model/colour combination would be best, as well as transmission option considerations.

Among my gifts received from family this year, I got a nice SRT-shirt with the hellcat logo incorporated, and a slick SRT pen.

Challenger R/T owner here. The standard 5.7L engine is ok at moving the car around. The car weighs 4080 lbs which is a lot of mass, even for 375hp and 410 ft-lb of torque. I don't race it so it is a totally acceptable motor. I have a Mazdaspeed3 as a daily driver and it feels much more punchier than the Challenger. The Challenger (6-speed manual) just cannot accelerate as fast at highway speed, like a 60mph-80mph burst for a quick pass, as the Mazda. If I were to buy the Challenger today, I probably would have gotten the R/T Scat Pack with the 6.4L. It's 110hp more for not too terrible of a financial hit, not SRT money. Just my 2 cents....

Yup. It's the classic "catch 22" situation with car weight and safety. They design the cars with stronger roof and doors which add weight, so they reinforce the floor pan to handle the extra weight. Now, the engineers have to put bigger brakes, suspension, and wheels on the car to stop the extra weight. Then a more powerful (usually larger) engine has to be installed into the car to pull the extra weight. So all these extra additions will mean an even stronger roof and doors will be need to protect the occupants and the vicious weight cycle spirals.

That's why I still love cars like the Integra Type R, Mazda RX7, and 1993 Mustang Cobra R. They were truly light weight performance cars from the factory.

The Nissan 240SX is a good platform. There are lots of potential in it. Look at what Motor Trend is doing with theirs. But stuffing a Chevy 6.2L V8 into one seems a little extreme and pricey.

It seems safety requirements and demand for more electronic gadgets are causing much of the weight increase in modern cars. They are becoming taller and thicker.

My 2009 Mazdaspeed3 (sport compact hatch) weights MORE than my dad's 1993 Toyota Camry V6 (mid-size family sedan).

The cars from the 1990's might not be the most powerful. But they weigh a lot less. A Honda Civic back then was 2500 lbs. Now it is about 2850-ish lbs. A 1995 Ford Mustang GT was about 3000 lbs. Now, it is a little over 3800 lbs. These cars also had gotten bigger too. Look at how low a first-gen Saturn SL1 sits compare to today's compacts (Corolla, Focus, Civics, Sentra, and so on)

Being a Mazda fan, I'm glad they will make the next Miata close to 2200 lbs. again. The large weight and size insanity has to stop.

Pop up headlights were a really cool design. Sure, it has a lot more moving mechanical parts, but they made the car look slick and fast. Like the Mazda RX-7, Honda Prelude, Pontiac Trans Am, and so on.

Now, the designs are all about large headlight assemblies with an overly large grill (GTR, Lexus RCF, Infinity everything, and so on). Wishing for the pop up headlight design to return in the future.

I was hoping there will be more variants of the X-wing fighters in this fresh reboot. They should have something like super pack X-wings with additional external weapons (missiles and/or gunpods) that can be jettisoned.

But it would be cool to have dogfights between X-wings and TIE fighters in new perspectives, like Macross Zero style.

Hope Kakizaki is not flying one of those X-wings in that scene. Because we know what will happen next.

The GT500 is pretty well the maximum the SN197 chassis could withstand, and the Boss 302 was about the maximum the SN197 could handle. The S550 GT is supposed to out-handle the SN197 Boss, but the chassis is heavy and it can only take so much. It's a bit of a compromise, fitting those extra seats in, and making it cheap enough to sell near $20,000. Conversely the Corvette is purpose-built to be a sports car. There's more to play with. I don't really see the GT500 competing with the Corvette. They're entirely different approaches to only vaguely similar things.

I have to agree about American cars though. Ever since they went bankrupt, they've really stepped it up a notch. For the first time ever, I can name multiple American cars in a given model year I would buy. Quality and engineering have improved, no doubt thanks to massive corporate restructuring and union labor renegotiation. The Fusion we have is a cut above the one that left the year before it, and my cousin's Focus ST is both fun and nice to be in. (His younger brother had an 03 Focus for awhile- it was not nearly as nice)

My lust for modern extras has led me to a lot of the modifications I'm planning for my cars. I'm going to add auto-climate to the 240 at some point, and I'm waiting patiently for quality radio manufacturers to catch up to the Chinese and start making Android-powered head units because infotainment is so nice. Of course, every car I've owned over the past 2 and a half years, I've installed stereos with bluetooth hands-free and audio streaming. I hate what's on the radio, but I also hate plugging things into my stereo and having to keep a separate device updated with my music. Bluetooth is super cool.

Same position here on American cars lately. They really have improved in quality and performance overall, especially compare to the stuff from the 1980s to late '90s. Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Honda did well back then, but looks like they all ran into their bag of issues now. Though I usually prefer to own Japanese cars, like my current Mazdaspeed3, I actually have a Dodge Challenger R/T as well. No issues with the Dodge for the last two years. Consumer Reports will probably disagree with me. Also, I won't mind replacing my Mazda with a Ford Focus ST or RS when the time comes.

I have a Delorean. OK....it's the 1/18 scale version. At least it fits in my living room display.

^{Just got done with Outbreak Company. The concept of an anime/manga otaku, Shinichi, going to another world with elves, wolf people, and dragons and spreading the otaku culture seems pretty interesting. It's mostly a comedy. But there's some conspiracy involving the JSDF and Japanese government to add to the drama. The show was ok, like 7/10 ok. The ending was a little rushed and it left lots of room for a second season.}

In a way, the concept in Freezing was a good start. Human beings using alien technology implanted inside female combatants to fight off alien invaders. It is actually like a high-tech version of Claymore. Both are similar in terms of the girls being ranked and each person has a special skill which is then attached to their name, like Phantom Miria in Claymore and Arnett the Slashing Trickster in Freezing. In both shows, the implants inside their bodies could go out of control and consume the host turning them into the enemy.

Where Freezing falls short is that it tries too many comical and often ecchi gigs along with shallow character development. Claymore took itself more seriously with better characters, like Clare and Teresa, with pretty cool fight scenes. Even the villains in Claymore had more depth like Ophelia or Priscilla. I thought season 1 of Freezing was entertaining to watch. But the second season really went off in a tangent that really didn't answer any questions from season 1.

that was one of my random pick ups. glad i took the chance. finished watching some weeks back and thoroughly enjoyed it. seems not a lot of folks here are into slice of life anime so i didn't bother to mention it.

best not to marathon this one. for health reasons. you might crack a rib or two. it's just frickin' hilarious.

i looked for similar shows and found Binbougami Ga which i just finished. got me laughing a lot too, but it's more of slapstick comedy rather than the witty, dialogue-driven humor of BwMK. having said that BG has it's share of very funny dialogue and the parodies of various famous animes got me in stitches. they would pop up in unexpected ways and in unlikely scenarios, making them quite potent.

BG has a few melodramatic moments which unfortunately broke the momentum at times. it has a very catchy OP song though

seems a second season is in the works. can't wait!

Thanks for tip. I'll check it out once I'm done with a couple of other ones.

Started watching Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou.

It started sort of like Suzuka. But then the story got bat crazy comical with Usa and his bizarre roommates at his apartment. His NEET roommate, Shiro, somehow gets the most F-up masochist ideas. But that guy might be the coolest character so far. My ribs are still hurting from all the laughs. Next episode!

That 1/6 Delorean will cost some $$$ and take a good chunk of space for display.

Is she really tall or is the roof chopped? Something is off here. Hmmmmm......oh yeah....I see her dress is too long.

I said goodbye to my Cavalier, that had been good to me since college, the other day and picked this up as my new daily. After further inspection, I found it needs a new air filter. This was on my to-do list anyway but I was wondering if a K&N drop-in filter is worth that added cost over an OEM filter?

I have the Mazdaspeed3 with the turbo 2.3L MZR engine and my car is completely stock. But I did change the tires from Bridgestone RE050 to Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position. That made a noticeable gain in accelerating, stopping and cornering traction. This is my first Mazda and it currently has 55,000 miles with no issues. One of my buddies has a Speed3 as well and has over 250,000 miles on his. So, I would say these cars should hold together ok.

Started watching Aquarion Evol.

Seems to have the same feel as the original with different characters. Like how they integrated the opening song "Go Tight" from the original Aquarion into Episode 8 fight scene, when Zessica, Mikono, and Amata were going almost nude for battle.

Imperial forces spotted near Frankfurt !

Imperial Airlines was recently rated as the worst airline with most delays and lost luggages. They recently changed my connecting flight to Bespin without notifying the passengers. Their customer services just said "Pray we don't alter it any further." They suck. I'm flying Star Tours airlines next time.

I suspect the new Macross series will be out along with its several OVA movies before this Robotech project gets off the drawing board. I don't want to discourage anyone from donating to this. But this is like a few fans trying to resurrect the Oldsmobile car brand that no one really cares for.

very cool. I'm planing on getting a new car by the end of the year. I'm right now I'm going back and forth between a mazda3 and a WRX, but if anyone has any suggestions for a new model under 30k, I'd love to here them.

If you want a performance car, the new WRX is a really good choice for the money. The Mazda 3 is an excellent everyday car with decent fuel efficiency. The Ford Focus ST is also a good choice standing somewhere between the Mazda 3 and WRX. I have a 1st gen Mazdaspeed 3 and it is a really great performance hatch for the money. But the car has a bit more road noise than other cars in this class, even in the new 2015 Mazda 3.

There should be some excellent deals at the end of the year. I got over $4500 off MSRP when I bought my Mazda in December many years ago.

Type-Moon is doing a redo of Tsukihime,so hopefully it fleshes out the Shiki family linage and bloodline abit more.

So Arcueid will be more like the Carnival Phantasm version with magical girl Phantasmoon powers? Or maybe not....

For car loving freaks in California, I just found out you can get retro CA license plates being reissued in 1950's, 60's, and 70's style. Dude, I am so getting this for my car. $50 now for registering into the program and then $35 for plate transfer (I just want my current plate numbers onto retro-issued 60's style plates). Finally!!!!! What I've been hoping for!

CA DMV link below...

www.dmv.ca.gov/legacyplates/index.htm

Watched Tsukihime. While good with the mysterious aspects of the show, it didn't really explain too much as to what was going on with Akiha and her red hair(demonic powers) and her maids, Hisui and Kohaku. Too many loose ends.

But Date-A-Live is pretty good in a silly way.

Finished Fate Zero. I heard it was a dark series before starting. But man, was it a depressing and tragic series, like with a Shakespeare-esque ending.

But finished Kill la Kill also. Now that was an awesome show. I love the insane crazy fights between Ryuko and Satuski with random Mako rants. Want second season. Now!!!!!

Wonder if they will take the new Macross series in a direction it has not tried before.....an action comedy that does not take itself so seriously. The way Martian Successor Nadesico was itself a parody of Macross in some parts worked well. Nadesico used a robot anime TV show to bond the two enemy sides together instead of a song like in Macross.

Either way, we all have some time to build up our toy fund for this new series.