Roundel magazine

[aceyx]

Originally Posted by davep-uk

just out of interest, being in europe and really liking a lot of U.S cars that i cant get my hands on..... which Euro cars do you like that you cant get?

Well, they finally brought over the elise, but I'd rather see the Exige. Also, Audi S3 or even the old A3 with quattro.

There were a bunch of them I fell in love with, mostly from playing GT2.

[JPerfect]

Originally Posted by aceyx

Back in May or so (the issue with a hot-air balloon on the cover), Roundel featured a story of a cross-country trip in a 318ti. I meant to write in about my own trip (NY-LA in 4 days) but I had so much on my plate with moving and the summer job.

I made that trip in 44 Hours with my cousin. You literally go mentally insane after so many Starbucks' Double Shots. Lol.

[aceyx]

We took our time. One of the cars was an old Benz (see gallery), and he couldn't go above 95 without the thing rattling and shaking.

We also had time to stop in Vegas. I mean, it's Vegas!

[weezer]

Originally Posted by L84THSKY

I wish there was a magazine called "European Hatchback". Now that would cover all of my favorite cars.

L8,

Ditto on the Euro hatches.....always dreamt of seeing.....better yet, owning some of those hatchbaks in Europe. The Peugeot 205s, 305s (I know you're a German car Nut, but I'm more of a Euro car nut), the VW Polo, some of the Lancia Deltas, the Ford escort xr3s, etc. Talk about discontinued cars; I owned a Merkur XR4ti; was supposed to be a German made Euro ford, but Ford F***ed it up by putting a turbocharged Pinto engine.......... That was also a hatchback.
It was really fast though....175HP w/ 200lbft of torque.

[L84THSKY]

I spent 10 years in Europe, one of them was in Italy. Those Lancia's are awesome. The Peugot 205's were cool as well. Even Ford Germany and Opel made a few nice cars. Anyone seen the Seat Ibiza? It was styled by Porsche and looked very nice.

Originally Posted by weezer

L8,

Ditto on the Euro hatches.....always dreamt of seeing.....better yet, owning some of those hatchbaks in Europe. The Peugeot 205s, 305s (I know you're a German car Nut, but I'm more of a Euro car nut), the VW Polo, some of the Lancia Deltas, the Ford escort xr3s, etc. Talk about discontinued cars; I owned a Merkur XR4ti; was supposed to be a German made Euro ford, but Ford F***ed it up by putting a turbocharged Pinto engine.......... That was also a hatchback.
It was really fast though....175HP w/ 200lbft of torque.

[cali-ti]

Originally Posted by aceyx

Well, they finally brought over the elise, but I'd rather see the Exige. Also, Audi S3 or even the old A3 with quattro.

There were a bunch of them I fell in love with, mostly from playing GT2.

nice call ... the exige is a sweet car!

[IndianaTravis]

I'd love to be able to get Alfas here. Or some of the hotter Renaults, and so on. Even the good Focus. The A3 two door. The list goes on.

[SDKmann]

If its not here then I want it.

[sparkchaser]

Diesels

[Bill Strong]

Originally Posted by weezer

L8,Talk about discontinued cars; I owned a Merkur XR4ti; was supposed to be a German made Euro ford, but Ford F***ed it up by putting a turbocharged Pinto engine.......... That was also a hatchback.
It was really fast though....175HP w/ 200lbft of torque.

Um... well... um... you do know that the engine that was in the Ford Sierra XR4i was a lowly 150hp 2.6 liter V6. And did you know that the Ford Pinto engine is the base for the most powerfull Ford 4-banger motors? The Pinto head was the best of the OHC ford engines. I have had many, many of these 2 liters in my Fords over the years. The cozzy engine in the Ford RS Cosworth was also based on the pinto block. http://www.motorbase.com/engine/by-id/640990797/
I owned a 1986 RS Cosworth. Stock to stock I compared the us spec XR4Ti vs my car and we were pretty even. But simple mods allowed for huge power output on the cozzy. I tried to buy a RS500... but simply could not afford it. But damn that was a crazy fast car.

Now back to Roundel...
Does Satch Carlson still write for them? He is still one of my most favorite writers ever at Autoweek. He was the only reason I subscribed to the magazine. Then he left them.. ... His stories about rally crossing a Mini in england and stuffing it on the roof are absolutely hilarious. His Saab rally stories are also legend. But to me the funniest car stores I have ever read were the Satch reviews of Lucas Automotive lighting, The Prince of Darkness

http://www.tigersunited.com/articles/sc-lucas/lucas.asp

[AlaskaBlue]

The exiege is coming to the states.

[weezer]

[QUOTE=Bill Strong]Um... well... um... you do know that the engine that was in the Ford Sierra XR4i was a lowly 150hp 2.6 liter V6. And did you know that the Ford Pinto engine is the base for the most powerfull Ford 4-banger motors? The Pinto head was the best of the OHC ford engines. I have had many, many of these 2 liters in my Fords over the years. The cozzy engine in the Ford RS Cosworth was also based on the pinto block. http://www.motorbase.com/engine/by-id/640990797/
I owned a 1986 RS Cosworth. Stock to stock I compared the us spec XR4Ti vs my car and we were pretty even. But simple mods allowed for huge power output on the cozzy. I tried to buy a RS500... but simply could not afford it. But damn that was a crazy fast car.=Quote]


Bill Strong.....I had no problem with the base engine's bullet proof block. However, the ignition, fuel delivery systems, cooling and electronics that make the thing run is very unreliable. Ford did a poor convetion job to the XR4ti, the turbo was guaranteed to fail at 120k miles. I wish they had used the DOHC engine used in the Euro Escorts, they were fantastic machines.
The 175 hp rating was overrated also, my guess is it had 150-160 tops, with not more than 120-130 qt the wheels. I was blown away many times by lowly 4 banger Honda accords with only 145hp.....
I even fabricated my own cat back system, deleting the rear muffler. When dynoed afterwards......132.4 at the rear wheels.....that puts engine hp at around 165.5 (?). I had the car for a painful 3 years, putting nearly $1,500, just to keep it running, on top of the mods and regular maintenance.
It was a great car mechanically, independent rear suspensions, nearly 57-43 front to rear weight distribution, struts all around and sub-frame reinforcements up front.......again the Germans really know how to dsign and buid car.....

[Bill Strong]

I don't know man. I traded my then new BMW 316is for a Ford Orion that was much more reliable than that POS BMW I had. It was an absolute lemon. Now I am finally in love with BMW now that I have actually purchased one that works like promised, though there was a close call with the A/C that the local Charlottesville BMW dealer did end up fixing.

Now those numbers you gave on the chassis dyno are actually pretty darn good. The RS did about the same. You seem to be comparing apples to oranges with your old ford vs. probably newer honda. There are so many variables. Best to compare the cars in proper racing, like showroom stock or something like that.

The ford electronics did have some issues okay, lots of issues. But that used to be part of the fun of owning a car. Now a days there is really nothing left to do on the damn things. Everything lasts 100,000 miles or 10 years.

bottom line is that cars today are so much better than cars of a few years ago. Kinda sucks. I miss getting knee deep in grease and oil on my old 1973 Ford Capri 2000GT V4.

[weezer]

But European Fords are different though. I think they were given better engines and mechanicals to start with. My point was that here in the US we never get the good cars that you guys get in UK and Europe. I hate American made cars for the reasons I've stated; reliability, mechanicals, electronics and design. However, Ford and GM Europe produces great looking cars with poweful yet fuel thrifty engines. GM Europe offers the Opel/Vauxhall Astras for instance and Ford Europe offers the Fiesta.......we don't get those here i the US. I like quirky cars......I've owned VW (2 '86 Gtis and an '84 rabbit Gti) Audis ('86 4000 and '91 80) and in between that crappy 1986 Merkur/Ford XR4ti.
They were all quirky yet running, unlike the Ford....when quirk happens it dosn't run....

[Phil Marx]

Originally Posted by Bill Strong

Now back to Roundel...
Does Satch Carlson still write for them? He is still one of my most favorite writers ever at Autoweek. He was the only reason I subscribed to the magazine. Then he left them.. ... His stories about rally crossing a Mini in england and stuffing it on the roof are absolutely hilarious. His Saab rally stories are also legend. But to me the funniest car stores I have ever read were the Satch reviews of Lucas Automotive lighting, The Prince of Darkness:
http://www.tigersunited.com/articles/sc-lucas/lucas.asp

Satch is editor-in-chief of Roundel and writes an editorial and a column every month in addition to frequent feature articles. Join BMW CCA here BMW CCA and twelve issues of Roundel are included along with local chapter and national club membership, tech line, new BMW discounts, and part discounts at many dealers.

-Phil