Month: July 2014

Z4 Love: Rowen, ADV1 (render), and bet-safe

The BMW Z4 has been on the market for quite a bit now. Its popularity has grown, due to the perfection in its styling and precision of BMW engineering. Now that BMW has entered a new era in its F(X) chassis models, the Z is one of the last models to move from its current E89 to a F(X) update.

The naming scheme might change as well, but with BMW changing its 2-door/coupe like vehicles to even numbered vehicles and 4 doors to odd numbers, will the BMW Z got to a 6 or stay with its current trend and go to a 5? I’m also surprised that this Z model hasn’t received an M version!

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Anyways, there have also been news that the next gen Supra and Z4 are going to be a joint project. Mostly in the drivetrain department, I hope that Toyota accepts a manual transmission with the non-hybrid engines the Supra will sport.

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Even though BMW has been one of my favorite manufacturers and the Supra is my all time favorite car; the new models that BMW and Toyota have been producing have been so-so. Especially BMW putting an all turbo line-up for their vehicles and Toyota removing manuals from the Lexus brand.

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Koenigsegg: A Modern Marvel, Built With Forbidden Technology

As computers, robotics, and technology are continuously being updated; humans are depending less on ourselves and more on the “techy” gadgets to think for us. We google, bing, basically use the internet for trivial questions instead of running for a book or to the library or just experimenting with the questions we have.

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Automobiles are moving in the same way. Manual transmissions are being thought of as a minor option and big screens and flashing lights are being introduced into our cabins, just as they are in homes, work, and mobile devices. Okay, maybe I’m ranting, but we are relying more and more on computers and less on ourselves for basic activities and questions in our daily lives.

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One company that does quite the opposite when manufacturing their cars is Swedish supercar giant Koneigsegg. The expertise that go into making such a marvelous car is all done by these things called hands that have carpals, which are controlled by a system called the nervous system……yes amazing right and a bit more detailed that how I said it! Every component of the car is done by human visualization and craftsmanship; it goes to show how expensive a handmade product is versus a mass produced computer built toy. More than one million dollars expensive. What I like is that you can even

2002 Koenigsegg CC 8S_10

All said and done, its amazing to hear the Koneigsegg dream, and how we still value a one of a kind product. Yes humans are more expensive, however we have passion and emotion in everything we do. When you see cars that are custom built it amazes you to wonder how this was done without the help of your little pocket mobile phone. I’ve loved the CC and CCX when I first heard about this company and hope all goes well for them. However, 1.5 million is out of my budget.

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Check out Pagani as well, they too are

Product Review: 3M Paint Defender Spray Film

Product: 3M Paint Defender Spray Film

Umbrella: Automotive

Cost: Relatively low

Pros:

  1. Lower price – than film applications that are more than 12 times the cost of it
  2. Quick spray protectant – don’t have to tango with putting on a protectant piece uniformly.
  3. Removable Film – you can remove whenever you want, and not worry about spending another $500+
  4. 3M product

Cons:

  1. Spray on Film – it’s like paint; you don’t want anything landing or rubbing on it as its drying, if that happens, you’ll have to start over.
  2. Matte Gloss like layer – on darker cars the film produces a sort of Matte “gloss” appearance.
  3. Durability – the $400 – $600 protectant films are thicker and can stop chipping from rocks on highways. This film can protect the paint from bugs and minor rocks that come into contact with your protected parts at low speeds, but be careful on highways especially behind lorries.
    1. Avoid high-pressure washers or using a high pressure hose directly on a protected part, this may cause it to “tear”.
  4. Results are subjective – I’ve seen complaints on reviews on how this product hasn’t been up to par as most 3M products. I believe the main reason behind this is how it was applied. If your car isn’t coming brand new < 1500 miles from a dealership, then make sure you give the part being protected a full detail (i.e. wash, clay, compound, and wax). This will give the film a canvas with fewer impurities to adhere to. I’ve used this product 5 times and results are accurate and precise.

Rank:

  • Overall this product ita kula tatu na nusu ya tano (3.5/5). Score means it’s a good product.
  • Recommend it to drivers who don’t tail gate and have custom bumpers on their cars or can’t find film protectants for their cars.
  • Take the time to cover all parts that won’t be treated, this will save you time when it comes to apply or remove the film.
  • If washing your car means taking it through an auto car wash, I would stick to the more expensive adhesive film protectants.
  • If you spray too much don’t try and wipe it off.

Manually Getting There.

So I composed a list for North American car manufacturers offering a manual transmission in their line up. I found a lot of interesting things when searching through different car web pages, especially gaudy flair.

The Alfa Romeo webpage was by far the most confusing of them all. I tried to get a simple spec sheet that took me more than 6 minutes to find, I should have been paid for fanyarin’ that kazi. Porsche also has too many options for their cars that they fail in giving a clean webpage to properly choose and differentiate between the options. Honestly, if you are getting a brand new Porsche, find a dealership and let them help you with those choices. The easiest page was Scion, nothing flashy and quite simple to understand and build my car.

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Few surprises were with Audi only having manuals for its A4, A5, and R8 lines, this includes S models. They had the easiest and cleanest web configuration when building a car out of the other luxury brand vehicles. Volkswagen also shares parts with the A3 through the A6 models, so I was surprised that the A3 didn’t have a manual transmission standard/option, yet all Volkswagen’s do. With the release of the new Lamborghini Huracan I won’t be surprised if the new R8 V10 loses the manual option too.

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The three Japanese luxury brands have essentially phased out all manual transmissions in their line up. I know Acura is now officially overseen by U.S. management as of the beginning of this year, so I’m not sure if the ILX will even remain a manual. Infiniti hasn’t released its official Q60 coupe since it shares engines with the Fairlady Z and Lexus decided the IS models don’t need manuals anymore.

For the American brands, Ford had options on almost all their sedans and coupes besides the Taurus. Chevrolet and Dodge also had a great line-up for a manual transmission package on their cars. As for  luxury U.S. cars, Buick and Cadillac had at least one or two options performance cars with manual options.

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Lotus, Porsche, and Subaru were my all time favorites. They still offer manuals as standard and their line-up’s were amazing. The BMW range disappoints me, it looks like they are slowly trying to let go of the manual. However I’m glad the M6 and M5 still have that option available.

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