Freind: Hey, I heard you just picked up an RX7?

Me: Yeah man, its badass, an NA 88 Vert.

Friend: an what?

Me: a convertible.

Friend: oh **** man that's cool, well its an RX7, its Turbobright?

Me: Nah man its just NA all original.

Friend: Hey man well at least its faster than your RX8.

Me: Nah man actually its not.

Friend: Ah **** man, then why did you get it?

Me: Because its a rotary, its convertible, and I wanted one before summer.

Friend: Ah man, well you can always turbo it and it'll be faster than your 8.

Me: Yeah maybe.

 

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that language is more descriptive than prescriptive, so it really depends on how the word is used. Obviously there are plenty of people who know what one means by "rotary engine", but I've had a couple misunderstandings with people who were talking about the piston variety.

Yeah, I know, I wasn't trying to start an argument or anything (especially since I always call them rotaries), I was just mentioning it.

 

Last week I drove to the same bank I mentioned in a story earlier in this thread. As I pulled into my regular parking spot, a nice late model (2010 or 2011) silver Corvette pulled into the spot beside me. I exited my car, responding to a BBM as I closed the door. I then heard the older man say as he exited his Corvette:

"Hey...Nice car"

I absently responded "Thank you" as I continued to type out my message (a little rude I guess, but I was busy with the message before he spoke anyway).

He then said "It's a good practice car."

At that point looked up and was thinking "Wait...what?". I said to him "Huh?".

He then pointed to his Corvette and said "It's a good practice car before you upgrade to something like this."

What is it with people? I don't go around demeaning other people's choice in vehicles, even though other people's choice in vehicles is almost universally lame. I don't think he really meant any hostility, but it did strike me as very condescending towards me. So my response was to look his car back and forth, and then say:

"I bet you $100 that yours is automatic".

He replied "What?"

"Automatic. I bet you $100 that your Corvette is automatic. We're at the bank right now. Open the door."

"Uh, no.....mumble"

"Well car that isn't a 'practice car' must surly not have things like traction control, stability control and an automatic transmission. Open the door and show me the 6 speed and you've made a cool $100. We're at the bank right now, I'll get the money."

He sort of mumbled "No thanks" and walked off.

The best part was that his windows were tinted, I couldn't even see the shifter.

 

^ Nice. :slow clap:

 

x2
you could've looked through the windshield more than likely.

 

He probably ment it's a good car for people that want to get into fast cars to learn how to drive sports cars with, but yeah you probably took it as him looking down or saying it's slow (I guess).

 

Lol your car honestly probably cost around the same anyway with all the work done. That man probably doesn't know the feeling of having a car that he's built, and probably wouldn't even know how to handle your car lol

 

my buddy had his bridgeported t66 at a meet, he rolled out slow.. with a good BRAP BRAP BRAP. as he is leaving this kid yells out. "listen to the cam in that V8!" -_-

 

hahah. best one on here. i lol'ed

 

Yeah I woulda been like

 

The one I hate is "oh, this is your rx7(Fc) when are you gonna drop a 350 in it"??
Or "oh yeah, those engines suck"! Rx-7s get no love in Tulsa Ok... : /

 

haha good stuff guys i always get park it infront of ecolagy and leave the keys in it... NEVER!!!

 

Maybe, but like many things in life, it's not what you say, but how you say it. The tone of his voice seemed very superior.

That's the nail on the head right there. A Corvette has so many electronic nannies that you have to try to be stupid to get into any serious trouble. I bet he'd fill his depends if he went for a drive in my car.

A few weeks ago I happened to be in the back seat of that car on some country roads on a Sunday morning (her and I rode our bicycles about 50 KM to a friend's cabin, he popped by around 11PM for the overnight and took us to breakfast the next morning). We turned onto a long stretch of road and he put his foot down. I watched as the car creeped from 80 KM to 120 KM where he left off and just couldn't help thinking that in the same time, my RX-7 would have done 80 MPH to 140 MPH.

After he drove home and we were riding back, I mentioned our little high speed run. She said "I knew you were biting your tongue".

 

Eh, they're about average for a modern car. Remember that every car will have to have stability control for MY 2013. A lot of the high end AWD vehicles today (GT-R) pretty much figure for you how much power goes to each individual wheel, in addition to braking each individual wheel. And they launch the car for you. And back in the day, the FC was considered to have high tech techno-wizardry with the DTSS, adjustable suspension system, ABS, and variable ratio power steering. Now I know you have a base model and all but let's be fair. An FC isn't an Rx-2, or even an SA 1st gen for that matter.

As I was saying before, the Corvette really isn't all that bad, especially if the guy had a C5 or early C6. The very latest C6's have a new traction/stability control system that allows you to literally mash the gas pedal in a turn and the electronic throttle will figure it all out for you.

 

I get "Four banger piece of ****!" and "Wtf is rotary?" a lot. I just smile and walk away. Not worth the breath.

 

Which I find to be...ridiculous. Stability control alone will keep me from buying a vehicle made after 2011. It sickens me that it's almost impossible to find a vehicle without ABS (which, has been disabled on my Insight since before it left the dealer's lot).

That is true of course, but none of those things directly change or oppose my inputs. If I mash my foot to the floor, I expect the throttle blades to be wide open.

I'm looking for a car, not a driving appliance.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't think the Corvette is a bad car at all. It's a world class performer which for the money, is probably the best value available. When I'm 50, with a bad back, I might consider one.

 

Them: Holy **** yo bro come check out this California red convertible Ferrari nice car man
Me: It's a Mazda man

 

It's not so bad really. There's a button to turn it off, although some cars don't "really" turn it off. It's kind of nice to have in inclement weather. There's no way you can brake one individual wheel with just your foot on the pedal.
You can still get econoboxes without it. Not all ABS is the same. The FD has awesome ABS IMO. It takes a lot for it to kick in.

And it usually is, unless traction/stability control is on and the sensors detect some spin. If you have the right tuning software you can make the throttle blades go wide open with the pedal 1/4 of the way down. A lot of newer cars have multiple driving modes which can give different levels of throttle sensitivity and different boost levels by changing the accelerater pedal vs requested engine torque tables.

It's just a different mentality to have. You really should try tinkering with some of these latest performance cars. When you start digging into the tuning software you don't get that powerless "the car is driving me" feeling so much. If you can come to appreciate how the systems are all integrated--accelerator pedal, boost control, throttle valve, braking system, you might slowly change your mind.

 

So... I'm at work(honda), and one of lot dudes wants to trade cars. He has a bmw... I say, I can't because my car is more reliable. he agreed.

 

That's pretty funny, how people would think that a 1.3 liter would be very easy on gas. Power over fuel economy all day I drive a fc not a Prius. Jejeje. Rotary power!

 

I was taught how to drive properly as the weather dictates and have never been in a situation where I have not been able to recover the vehicle without any electronic aids. Now of course, we as enthusiasts are in a minority and it is pretty clear that the majority of the driving population needs these aids.

I don't get why I would need tuning software to alter the car to achieve something it should have done off the showroom floor?

 

Since I've been 16, every car I've owned had no abs. Then one day I was driving my gf's jetta in the snow and approached a stop light. I normally applied the brakes to stop and the abs started going crazy. I almost rear ended the car in front of me cuz of the stupid abs. I was amazed at how this brake "aid" helps people.

 

Not to start a shitstorm or anything, but there's definitely some near-Luddite sentiment here. I guess this is a car forum for a 20 year old car so I should expect that. Yet I'm sure SA/FB owners said stuff like this back in 1986 when the FC came out with adjustable suspension, sequential fuel injection and variable ratio rack-and-pinion power steering.

It's all about flexibility. The throttle response can be tuned for emissions and fuel economy or it can tuned for sporty response. The engineers tune the frumpy sedans for the former, and the sportier cars could be tuned for the latter depending on the requirements. There are a bunch of tables setting up the relationship between accelerator pedal position and throttle valve position at different rpm. Try driving a car with different throttle response modes. The same type of thing can be done for the traction control tuning. GM was an early adopter of ABS and later on electronic throttles.

I have two cars without ABS and one car with ABS & traction control (90s style, not as advanced as today). You shouldn't drive a car with ABS the same way as one without. You might as well get used to it, because eventually you are going to own a car with one.

 

nah, we just called em boat anchors, the GSL-SE is 2550lbs, an 87 GXL is 2880lbs(!)

that's a 22% weight increase, and torque only went up by 2lbs-ft....

 

The workers at Long John Silvers walked up to the cashier to ask me if my car was a corvette lol