Be Excellent To Each Other

He says the only things they really have going for them are that they're cheap and durable. I found this and sent it to him but he remains unswayed.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/nz3763v/ - Why Muscle Car Guys Love the Live Rear Axle so Much

I like the ones in the video who, having made it abundantly clear that they have no business showing off by trying to do skids, immediately try to recoup but just double down on their utter shiteness instead.

It's amazing how easily they seem to go sideways when they're going in a straight line.

It's not so much the sideways as the full rotation.

I see one driving every day on the way home, and have often wondered why it's being driven at such a pedestrian pace. Now I know why - guy is not shitting himself all the way home and burning wads of cash for the privilege.

They look sketchy as all hell.

Sketchy is the way I roll.

Why don’t you lease one for a year. A new one.
We might, if we actually get bloody organised, be test driving a new one soon. (V8 obvs)

He's been so mollycoddled by the recent cars, I think he's forgotten how to drive a car with all that power and a live axle

'Stangs are dull. Challengers are where it's at.

You shut your whore mouth.

That car is totally gorgeous.

It's no Shelby GT500. And it's certainly no OG Shelby GT500.

No, because it's much prettier than one of them, and shares a lovely retro styling look with the other.

Yeah, I much prefer the look of the Challenger.

It's the cleanliness of the lines I like. There's just a single crease along the side, and the hood and trunk lines are similarly simple and unfussy, and the road stance is slightly higher than a modern car that (again) apes the classic look. All the other modern pony cars (including the Mustang and even the other Dodge, the Charger) have curves and creases everywhere, and they all look the same.

I've driven the V6 Charger, the V6 Challenger, the 2l turbo Mustang, and the V8 450hp Camaro SS. I no longer remember if I love muscle cards ironically or unironically, but it all smells like the same burnt rubber at the end of the day.

The tail squirm out of the Camaro SS under full acceleration in Sport mode was breathtaking. You were very, very aware of how powerful it was -- it squats down on the rear tyres and just wiggles like mad. I assume they're tuned this way on purpose. I didn't have the cojones to go for Track mode and turn the traction control off entirely. I'm sure I'd have put it backwards through some scenery.

(Over the last two years, I've driven about twice as many miles in California as I have in England and Wales...)

I drove past the dealer's forecourt on the way home and the Mustang did look absolutely splendid. With a tremendous force of willpower I drove past and didn't stop.

I'm just thinking in my head of the gargantuan road tax costs, equally ridiculous fuel costs (I reckon it'd easily triple my fuel bill), insurance costs, the fact it's ten years old with 60K on it, repairs would be troublesome and expensive, and so on. I'm not sure what the reliability is like on them either. Plus consumables like tyres and brakes would be very expensive.

On top of all that I'd lose out big time on practicality from the Leon.

I think they look really cool though.

I think the Challenger looks great, but there is no way on earth I’m buying a left hooker.

It's a fair point, the fact the Mustang is available here officially is a powerful factor.

Because when you're buying a V8 gas guzzling car with crappy visibility to drive down London roads narrower than it is, obviously, practicality is top of mind.

I like these sorts of cars and love seeing them about but I think driving one about over here would get old pretty quick. If I was a multi-millionaire with a ten cars all lined up in a massive garage then maybe. Probably a slightly better proposition on the IoM, though.

It'd be glorious cruising over the mountain road in a car like that, and that's where I do the majority of my driving.

It's one of those cars that I genuinely don't dare to take for a test drive, because I just know I'd end up buying it. (I've watched a few videos about that generation of Mustang now, and that's when I know things are getting into danger territory.)

That said, my car is worth about £15.5K on trade-in and he's got the Mustang up at £11K, and car dealers generally don't like to handover a chunk of cash and a car, in return for a car.

So we're gonna run a book on how long before Hearthly buys this thing right

He won't get it, it is too powerful and the Seat has made his life too routine.

Of course.

Yeah. He's sensible now. No need for silly cars

Well yeah, driving them over here would be pointless for the most part.

People don't buy them for the handling. They buy them for the sheer raw power and engine sound.

He'll feel sad when he drives past on Thursday and it is gone. Poor Hearthly. The one that got away. Still, he has his Leon. That is more than adequate for a commute and shopping. His needs,really.

And that radio. Very practical

This is one of those “interesting” scenarios, High Command is quite keen and she will be paying for this, but I don’t think it’s an appropriate car. Let me add some further details — both of our parents are aging and we will increasingly spend time blasting up and down motorways to visit them. We currently have two cars, we live in early zone 2 in central London and do little mileage per annum, so our cars are fine for zipping about town (Mk1 Focus St and Clio 172 Sport) but they’re elderly, noisy and hot hatches and they’re both quite tedious to drone down motorways with. My plan is to buy some luxobarge coupe about five years old for 20-25k, as we will do <2k per annum in it, so I’m thinking CL500, or 6 series or, I dunno, a jag saloon. HC wants to test drive a Mustang. I’d be surprised if we buy one as I don’t think it fits the quiet, refined ride we’re looking for. However, in light of the fact that neither of us has driven much in the way of modern cars recently we may be surprised.
It won’t get used in London much, regardless of what we buy.

Bagsy all times in the past.

This one's quite funny, I particularly like the guy who, in the world's biggest, empty car park, manages to disappear off the side of a hill.

Have you booked in for a test drive?

My gearbox is haunted.

Mustang update.

I stopped at the dealership on the way home this evening and had a look around the car. It's awesome and gorgeous and I lust after it but IT HAS NO BACK SEATS.

That is to say, it has things that look like back seats where back seats would ordinarily be, but you couldn't fit any actual people in them if anyone was sat in the corresponding front seat.

With the driver's seat where I'd want it to be, you'd be getting a bag of shopping onto the rear seat behind me, but nothing with legs.

With the passenger seat in a comfortable place for Mrs Hearthly or Jnr (and they're interchangeable height wise now), neither of them would get into the back seat behind the passenger seat in anything resembling comfort.

Since the car will need to do three people duties, and occasionally four people duties, that holes it below the waterline to the extent it wasn't even worth taking it out for the offered test drive. (I could have done that of course, but since I knew full well I wouldn't be buying it at that point, it seemed rather cheeky to do so.)

How they've managed to make a car the size of a planet and yet have less usable rear seats than an Audi TT I have no idea.

So that's no Mustang for me, unfortunately. I loved absolutely everything else about it though, if it weren't for the rear seat situation, I'd probably have had it.

Yeah, nah. It's a 2+2 like a Porsche 911—not a family car by any stretch.

Drive it and find out

Since there's only going to be 3 of you for the majority of the time, can't the person in the back just stretch their legs across the seats?

Nope. I’ve done this. It’s incredibly uncomfortable.

And Doc's legs barely reach past the end of the seats.

Shush... I've got £20 on him having the car before the weekend!

The odds have gone up though.

Clearly: get the Mustang and keep the Seat.

The issue in Mustang is the seat

Tow the Seat?

Or:

Currently looking at early- to mid-00s VAGs. Found a tidy-looking 2001 1.9 TDI Golf for £800 with 130k on the clock but it's 90bhp and I'm not sure I can go down to something that takes 13s 0-60. That just takes the piss.

Found a 2003 Bora which I liked but 195k on the clock which seems high.

Current frontrunner is a 2003 Octavia TDI, which is 130bhp which seems more reasonable.

If you want bulletproof, the 110 bhp Octavia is slightly prefereable to the 130 but they are both very good cars.

Sounds like Grim...s puma. Barely enough room for even a Dave.

My 75 bhp car is somewhere north of 15 seconds for 0-60. Some mornings I can't even look in the mirror because of the shame of it.