What's Your Favorite New/Retro Pony Car?

[Dannyalcatraz]

After the Judas Priest show I attended recently, I noticed a new Camaro a couple of spaces away from me.

Since there was a huge traffic jam, I decided to hang out a while. Eventually, the car's owner and some of his buddies showed up, and he started showing off his car.

Apparently, the new Camaro has a remote starter.

Apparently, it does not have a remote turn-off, because Mr Stoner Priest-fan didn't or couldn't turn it off for the half hour he was showing it off before opening the car up.

 

[nerfherder]

Apparently, the new Camaro has a remote starter.

Why on earth would a car need a remote starter?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Why on earth would a car need a remote starter?

"KITT, meet me at the backyard". "Yes, Micheal".

 

[nerfherder]

"KITT, meet me at the backyard". "Yes, Micheal".

OK, why on earth would anyone from a country that doesn't obsess over the Hoff need a car with a remote starter?

As an aside, The Gadget Show did a great piece on making a telepresence car. They added compressed-air actuators, 4 HD video cameras and radio transmitters and receivers to a full-sized Land Rover. Then they set up a room with a modified gaming chair with steering wheel and pedals, a gear lever and starter button, 4 big LCD screens and transmitter/receivers. Then they raced the car round a race track, completely remotely, against two cars with real drivers.

You can see it here: FiveFWD - Telepresence Car - Complete Challenge video from The Gadget Show

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OK, why on earth would anyone from a country that doesn't obsess over the Hoff need a car with a remote starter?

I can think of 3 reasons:

1) Its hot and you want to cool the car off.

2) Its cold and you want the car warm when you get in.

3) Future Enzyte user.

 

[El Mahdi]

My wife and I went to Key West this weekend and rented a convertible Mustang for the drive. It does drive very nice. It feels really stable and responsive, and that V8 has significant presence when you hit it to pass someone. However, the drive is almost too nice. It definitely does not have the road feel of a sports car. It's very difficult to know your speed by feel, and although it feels very stable, it doesn't communicate the feel of the road at all. And that big hood makes it hard to judge your position when parking. Sports cars want you to see nothing but the road, so their front ends are usually sloped almost out of sight of the driver. It's the exact opposite in the Mustang. It "feels" like a very tame family car, except for being pressed into the seat when you hit the gas (and the resulting low growl from the exhaust).

However, the interior looks incredibly cheap and plastic. Also, the speedometer is hard to read (it's a relatively small, round, "retro" speedometer with jammed up markings showing only 10's and dashes for 5's - no markings or dashes for 1's or even 2's - with the smallness of the gauge it takes longer to figure out your speed - time your eyes are away from the road). It's set off to the right of the steering wheel, instead of centered with where you'd normally be looking (you have to look to the right to "find" the speedometer when you drop your eyes from the road to check your speed - doesn't take a necessarily unsafe amount of time, but it's still significantly more time your eyes aren't on the road). When you're driving a Mustang (an automatic ticket magnet) you want to make sure your speed is exactly in the safe zone. But, with the installed speedometer, that can be a little difficult.

The back seat is more for looks and insurance purposes than anything else. It's too small to use except for significantly small passengers. But, this was a convertible, so that's kind of expected. The non-convertibles probably have a few extra inches in the back seat.

But overall, it was a very fun car to drive, especially with the top down. Nothing cooler than rolling into Key West with the sun shining and the top down.

 

[El Mahdi]

"KITT, meet me at the backyard". "Yes, Micheal".

Ahhh, Knight Rider. The story of a guy and his car ... a car that's much smarter than him, has a better personality, attracts more woman, doesn't show as much wear from mileage, is better at just about everything and... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3JAp7vMuo"]doesn't_have_a_drinking_problem[/ame]

 

[El Mahdi]

I can think of 3 reasons:

1) Its hot and you want to cool the car off.

2) Its cold and you want the car warm when you get in.

3) Future Enzyte user.

4) Helps avoid death by car bomb (that is if you're worried about such things).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Ahhh, Knight Rider. The story of a guy and his car ... a car that's much smarter than him, has a better personality, attracts more woman, doesn't show as much wear from mileage, is better at just about everything and... doesn't_have_a_drinking_problem

Fits the original premise:

According to Brandon Tartikoff, the head of programming at NBC during the 1980s, the inspiration for the series came about when NBC executives started complaining about the problems of casting handsome leading men in TV series, because many of them couldn't act. Tartikoff and his assistant came up with a concept for a TV show called, "The Man of Six Words". Each show would begin with the leading man getting out of a woman's bed and saying, "Thank you." Occasionally, throughout the show, the leading man would say, "Okay," when receiving orders from his boss. Then he would chase down some villains and say "Freeze!" Finally, when the people he had saved from death would thank him, he would say, "You're welcome." For the rest of the show, the car would do all the talking. Although Tartikoff had meant the pitch to be a joke, the NBC executives liked the idea of a TV show about a man with a talking car, and approved it for development.

And I refuse to watch the video. It's violating my childhood!

 

[nerfherder]

My wife and I went to Key West this weekend and rented a convertible Mustang for the drive.

I've thought about doing this - I've just not needed to hire a car the last two times I've been in the US.

However, the interior looks incredibly cheap and plastic. Also, the speedometer is hard to read (it's a relatively small, round, "retro" speedometer with jammed up markings showing only 10's and dashes for 5's - no markings or dashes for 1's or even 2's - with the smallness of the gauge it takes longer to figure out your speed - time your eyes are away from the road). It's set off to the right of the steering wheel, instead of centered with where you'd normally be looking (you have to look to the right to "find" the speedometer when you drop your eyes from the road to check your speed - doesn't take a necessarily unsafe amount of time, but it's still significantly more time your eyes aren't on the road). When you're driving a Mustang (an automatic ticket magnet) you want to make sure your speed is exactly in the safe zone. But, with the installed speedometer, that can be a little difficult.

Yes, my car has a tiny speedo off to the left of centre, marked at 25, 50, 75, etc, with small dashes every 5mph. Since our speed limits are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70mph, then only one of them is covered. Fortunately, they put a digital speedo inside the rev counter, which makes me wonder why they bothered with the tiny analogue one at all.

But overall, it was a very fun car to drive, especially with the top down. Nothing cooler than rolling into Key West with the sun shining and the top down.

Yeah, this is my first convertible, and I'm loving it