Car talk

[Harley Hexxe]

Holden had a Cruze?

   Chevy has had a model out by that name for the past 10-15 years. Geez I hope that isn't preview of things to come!

[rnolan]

The whole Holden Ford rivalry has been going on for years here, and Chrysler were in it for a while with Valiants in the early days and later a 2 door muscle coupe, Charger (which I think is like your Cudas?).  Each one has their diehard fans, probably depended more on what you father drove.  We still have the V8 supercars and the Bathurst 1000 (ks).  Although petrol engines are definitely on the way out.  Because the distances here are so vast, EV uptake has been a bit slow as range anxiety is a big issue.  So currently more hybrids than EVs.  The EV charging infrastructure is building slowly but it's a big part of why people are still buying petrol cars.

[Harley Hexxe]

Richard,
 
     There is a lot of talk here about converting totally to EV vehicles, but like you are seeing there in Oz, the support infrastructure isn't there, especially where distance travel is concerned. Plus, there is no shortage of backyard gearheads like myself who still like working on our own machines and making them better somehow.
     With my background in engineering, I'm used to turning wrenches, and have been doing it since I was a teenager. I would still own gas vehicles just because I know my way around them.
    For my personal tastes in what I do to my vehicles, I always try to improve performance, but keep fuel economy at the best level with the lowest possible emissions. This means I do everything I can to get better ignition with a more thorough burn to increase maximum combustion, (which equals more horsepower and lower emissions), and unrestricted air flow. And by all means, clean fuels are a must, meaning fuel with no additives if possible. Also, it's very important to provide the best lubrication to keep everything from wearing down and causing poor performance.
    For example, my daily driver is a 2006 Chevy Impala LT trim package. It has 209,000 miles on it. I use the best synthetic oil and filters on it, and it performs like a champ. I get 20,000 miles on my oil with a filter change at every 10,000 miles. Every time I change filters or oil, it is still golden in color. This means there is no blow-by, and the internals of my engine is clean. It's rated at 22 MPG, but I get closer to 30 MPG with it, so I think I'm on to something here. I'll be doing something similar with the truck after I've had a chance to evaluate the true condition of the engine in it.

[rnolan]

He Harley, 30mpg (~7.9 L/100km) is pretty good, is the donk a 3.6L 6?

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,

    No sir, This is the 3.5L V6 and rated at 217HP/ 22MPG.

    The 3.6L is rated @300HP/ 30MPG. This engine didn't appear until the 2012 model year.

[Kim]

I have a subscription to Motor Trend On Demand, and the shows on there feature these guys, but you can find them on YT as well. A couple of these channels are: Roadkill, Roadkill Garage, and Hot Rod Garage. There are a few others too, but the guys on the ones I just mention build cars that are totally bananas, and they do some insane stuff with them from time to time. I get a lot of my ideas for my own cars from guys like that.

Love those shows!  My disappointment however is that those guys always seem to find really nice stuff to work with for relatively cheap. You couldn't touch anything like those vintage cars they find around here that aren't already rusted too far beyond repair and then the owner wants a million dollars for the clapped out pos anyway.  Half a million if there's no Title.  lol

[Harley Hexxe]

I feel you Kim,

   They do get some seriously good stuff, but some of it isn't all that cheap. Plus, they have financial support from Motor Trend, which if they had to pay out of pocket for all the stuff they do to some of these cars, then their offspring for the next four generations would be paying off their debts.
   There are some classics out there that you and I could afford, you just have to look for them. There are also scammers out there with worthless, clapped out, disintegrated junk, and you need to go see what you're buying in person. The internet has made it easy for scammers to rip you off, so beware.
   General Mayhem if you recall, was a trade for some cylinder heads, and it was just a roller with only one front fender. Most of the motor heads have that one as a favorite, but mine is the Crusher Impala.
   I could find something like that around here, but the flip side of the coin is that where we live up here, we'd have a LOT of rust repair to deal with. Case in point: my Rust-a-rado!

[rnolan]

We get a few of these shows in Australia e.g. Kindig, Joe Martin etc.  I love watching Ian Roussel do his thing, amazing stuff.  None of it would be legal here  , but I love it anyway. While it makes great TV, just the hours involved (which of course you don't see in the programs (sometimes it takes years)) and, as Harley says, what about the parts???, some of your compatriots must have really, really deep pockets (and be heavily subsidised by MT?)...