Watching Super Bowl commercials I got fed up with the Toyota/Hyundai/Hybrid bullshit. I don't get how anyone could buy something like that, what the hell happened to you guys over there?! 😢 It got me so angry I decided to actually do something about it.

Personally I am not a Chrysler fun but I guess it is cool to drive one in FI.

Might buy a 2007 Toyota Solara convertible this week to add some fun in the sun to the stable. 😀

Current line-up:
2004 Ford Expedition XLT 4WD
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited HEMI
2010 Toyota Avalon Limited

I wouldn't say it's "cool to drive" this anywhere in 2016. More likely people would say "why aren't you driving a Hybrid? or a small town car". It just saddens me to see that we seem to be one of the few EU countries where you can still see Sebrings, Aspens and Chevy Vans on a daily basis. I'm glad summer is comming and all the old Caddys and Camaros start filling the streets. There's no substitute for cubic inches. 😎 It's also weird to see how big a deal Hyundai and Toyota are in the US. Only old people buy those here. 🤣

Interesting to hear of so many American-market cars in Finland. Why would that be as I haven't seen many on my travels in UK/FR/DE?

It's really hard to say for sure. I know that before WW2 most cars were american and only in the 50's and 60's did we get cars from the east and rest of the Europe. Many taxis between 1950-1980 were american as you could get some sort of tax deduction when the car was not privately owned. For that reason most corporate executive cars were also US made. Problems started when the government began to tax luxury accessories in cars. A/C, power everything etc. and you could end up paying double the cars value! That's why, in the end, most American cars are in the same price category as E-class Mercedes, even though they only cost a fraction of that in the US. For some reason, GM and Mopar sold somewhat well in the 90's and early 2000. Maybe because none of the competitors offered as much bells and whistles. You have to rember that most of us were quite happy with manual trans + A/C at that time. You just couldn't buy a Toyota or a Volkswagen with power seats and cruise control back then, so your options were limited.

Anyway, I'm glad we have a lot of these oldtimers still available. Like this 1980 Oldsmobile which originally was a diesel, but now has a 5 litre Chevy engine. You could easily swap the engine/transmission to almost anything from Chevy lineup as long as one of the models were offered as a factory standard. They are also pretty cheap, around 4-6k€. I'm pretty sure the US prices have overtaken us a long time ago in this matter.

sf78 wrote:

Watching Super Bowl commercials I got fed up with the Toyota/Hyundai/Hybrid bullshit. I don't get how anyone could buy something like that, what the hell happened to you guys over there?! 😢 It got me so angry I decided to actually do something about it.

Convertibles are awesome. I've had mine for 4 years now, and every time I take the top down it puts a big smile on my face 😀 .

Interesting perspective on FI.

Hyundai / Kia do well in the US because they are very cheap and extremely reliable.

Nissan / Honda / Toyota do well in the US because they are extremely reliable.

Toyota is almost a cult in Russia. So much that a 20-year old Land Cruiser costs more than a 10-year old Mitsubishi Pajero 😀

Please tell me your lives aren't as grey as the color and interior of those cars? Reliability can't be a valid reason to buy a car unless you're a pensioner who has already lost the will to live. Driving should either be a fun and active way to transport yourself (as fast as possible) or a soothing ride into the sunset with a right song playing in the background. If you NEED a japanese car, then why not something fun? Like this:

A 95' 3000GT/GTO MR? That thing is gorgeous. Think I've seen just two in Uruguay from two guys who own a car tuning shop near my city, but that's still kind of a one in a thousand case since we probably have (tax related) the most expensive cars in all the world. Ahh, joys and wonders of living in a third world country ruled by communists!

The title of this thread is quite 80's... along with: - "what's your occupation?" 🤣

Back to the topic on hand... i've never owned a car personally, I worked in that many countries the company used to rent them for me. Now, driving abroad (out the UK) is another topic altogether! Especially driving in Arabic / Asian and Med countries. 🤣

sf78 wrote:

Please tell me your lives aren't as grey as the color and interior of those cars? Reliability can't be a valid reason to buy a car unless you're a pensioner who has already lost the will to live. Driving should either be a fun and active way to transport yourself (as fast as possible) or a soothing ride into the sunset with a right song playing in the background. If you NEED a japanese car, then why not something fun? Like this:

Fun is not objective. I just bought a 2016 (came out 3 weeks ago) Toyota Prius IV Touring with all options and that thing is a beauty to drive (for me). It has a ton of gadgets and I can go as fast as 50MPH and still be fully electric (granted for only a few miles). I think the drive is very good (hard-ish suspension with low rim wide tires). It also gets 55MPG which is something I care about. Other people might not but then again I am not calling their cars boring or saying "what is wrong with them for buying a VW GTi". Each to its own.

subhuman@xgtx wrote:

A 95' 3000GT/GTO MR? That thing is gorgeous. Think I've seen just two in Uruguay from two guys who own a car tuning shop near my city, but that's still kind of a one in a thousand case since we probably have (tax related) the most expensive cars in all the world. Ahh, joys and wonders of living in a third world country ruled by communists!

There's usually 5 to 10 (at any given time) being sold here. The one in the picture is also a bargain, less than 5k€ asking price! If I had the money (9k€) (and space on my yard for another garage) I'd have this one:

4WD twin turbo, 325hp and 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. Not too bad for a 20 year old car. I mean it's close to R8 performance for a fraction of the cost! But enough dreaming. Seeing how to world is switching to electric cars I should probably get a V8 just to balance things out. I was considering this TB, but decided to go for a full size 4 door instead (more room for that sweet sweet Estonian liquor 😀 ).

1994 BMW M3

Online repo here;

http://www.speedhunters.com/2009/09/car_featu … 36_ring_burner/

Featured in a couple of magazines as well. Currently undergoing a full rebuild (owner for almost 10 years). Be sure to check out the FB page at:

https://www.facebook.com/BMW-E36-M3-GT-Tribut … 478068/?fref=ts

http://www.streetfire.net/video/asskickers-eu … 3-30_154170.htm

😁 (old footage though)

AzzKickr wrote:

1994 BMW M3

Great car, used to own the same and loved it.
What's with the "GT"? Was it really an original British racing green GT as it looks like in the first picture and you turned it black?

That e36 is mean! Great looking car.

Thx guys.

In fact it was black on black before but throughout the years I managed to score some rare genuine GT parts and decided to build my own (replica) GT. Apart from the matching numbers mine will be 100% identical and then some 😀
I even have a giod turbokit to slap on in the coming years 😀

A 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX. Scored this first car of mine for 4,000 USD with only 48,000 miles on it initially and a practically brand new engine.

SpooferJahk wrote:

A 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX. Scored this first car of mine for 4,000 USD with only 48,000 miles on it initially and a practically brand new engine.

That era of Thunderbirds (I guess they're called "MN12") are great cars. We've had a few of them in the family, but they're all gone now.
Keep an eye on the cooling system. From the problems I've most often seen with old cars, I've come to the belief that the gradual decay of aging cooling systems is at the root of most of their suffering. They start to run hot which leads to a domino effect of more serious problems that eventually send them to their grave.

I remember one V6 Thunderbird that a relative bought. The previous owner was a bit of a car nut, which seemed like a good thing because that's the type of person who probably looked carefully after his car. Unfortunately that reasoning backfired because the car nut had thoughtlessly installed a radiator from a V8. That was a big mistake - the V8 radiator was meant to be used with a pressurized overflow tank, but the V6's tank is unpressurized. So every time it got hot it would blow coolant. Who knows how long it had been running like that, but it turned out to have lots of overheating inspired problems, plus all the electrical headaches that were caused by some aftermarket security system somebody had installed.
That particular car was problematic, but I can't blame any of it on the car.