Lift Kits: A Case Study

Since I'm the kind of guy who always seems to be questioning the thought processes of others, it should come as no surprise that I'm writing this little segment. See, since I also seem to have a strange fascination with "street sightings," I figured I would start a sort of log, just for entertainment value, since a vast majority of the population at my university seems to enjoy the, well let's just say, larger things in life.

Now of course, I'm talking about the cars, or in this case, trucks they drive. You see, it seems to have become tradition in the south, for some reason or other, to feel the need to drive a truck that is as big as your hold of land in Bulloch county. And I feel like it is justifiable to own a diesel-powered behemouth if you are indeed hauling farm equipment on a regular basis. However, the same does not ring true if you're just driving to class and back.

So for my little project, I've started to log some of my findings in iPhone photo form. So far I've only got two, but believe me, that number will grow. Also, to be fair, the photos are only of vehicles I know go to my school, so they will have to have the little round yellow parking pass sticker on them somewhere. Well I guess i'll give you my first couple entries. We start with this, a black Ford F-150 with a substantial lift.

My other photo for the time being was taken today; a Chevy Silverado diesel, also lifted.

Anyways, I'll keep you all posted on my latest and greatest sightings as they come up, and I am quite confident I'll have a pretty large catalog pretty soon.

Modern-Day Dinosaurs

Scrolling through Facebook today I came across a posting from Mercedes-Benz's official page. The post was a photo of the new GL63 AMG, set to go on sale in early 2013. Now the GL is a relatively new Mercedes-Benz model; it's only been in production for a few years. The GL is Mercedes' first full-sized SUV, and up until now, the trim options did not include an AMG tuned version.

Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Heading back towards the point of this article though, I really struggle to understand the point of making a vehicle like this today. Indeed, the figures are extremely impressive. 550hp. 560 lb ft of torque. 0-60 in just 4.9 seconds (faster than a Ferrari 348, mind you). Sadly, though, some equally shocking figures include a curb weight of nearly 6,000 pounds, an estimated price tag of well-over $100,000, and an estimated fuel economy that barely creeps out of the single digits, surely ending up there if you choose to exploit much of the twin turbo V8's grunt.

Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

And all of this got me thinking, with gas climbing ever-closer to the $4 a gallon mark, why do cars like this still exist? I mean, what's the point?

Photo courtesy of Land Rover International

Let's take a look at a couple more examples, starting with the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. Now, one may think, and this is what GM wants them to think, that because "hybrid" is attached, that this vehicle is going to be something that's reasonable. Truth is, the Tahoe hybrid is just a normal 6.0 V8 Tahoe with a small electrical engine, stop-start, and some shouty hybrid stickers on the side. What all of this returns you is a measly 15 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway; only a few miles more than the base model, which is also about ten grand cheaper.

Photo courtesy of General Motors

Going back to performance SUVs like the Mercedes, we have the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. While it doesn't carry Chrysler group's mammoth V10, there is still little practicality to be found, especially when you consider the massive improvements made to the current base models in regards to fuel efficiency.

Photo courtesy of John Neff at autoblog.com

Now, it may seem to you that I'm having a downer on the sport utility as it's come to be. In truth, however, there are many automakers who have been making great strides as of late in regards to making more efficient and practical sport utility vehicles. 

Photo courtesy of Chris Shunk at autoblog.com

Ford is an excellent example. While they continue to make the mammoth Expedition, they have completely reworked the Explorer; the SUV that disputably started it all. The new Explorer is already offered with a 3.5l V6, but for 2012, they also began including a turbocharged 2.0l inline four, which returns 20 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway; a vast improvement over the outgoing model, which had a thirsty 4.0.

Photo courtesy of Zach Bowman at autoblog.com

While the SRT8 is still alive and well, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee V6 and the accompanying Dodge Durango have undergone a monumental change, along with the majority of the current Chrysler group lineup. Both vehicles can come with the 3.6l V6, which produces a stout 290 horsepower, while returning the same sort of numbers as the aforementioned Explorer.

Photo courtesy of Chris Paukert at autoblog.com

However impressive their performance figures may be, SUVs like the GL63 and the Jeep SRT8 simply don't make sense today, especially when so many viable alternatives exist. Looking towards the future, I wonder how vehicles like this could do anything but become extinct.

Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Car Trips or "Car" Trips

Something I've really been trying to do more of this past couple of years has been trying to take more pictures when I travel places. More specifically, I've been wanting to bring my DSLR so that I'm able to capture some memories of my favorite places in the highest possible res. Well guess what? Today I did just that.

Seeing as it's only a 45 minute drive from where I go to school now, I sought it fit (since I have nothing to do on the weekends yet) to take a trip down to Savannah and Tybee Island.

So here we are at my first photo, and you can see right away what has happened, and what seems to happen every trip. My memory card becomes full with, not beach pictures, but pictures of cars on the street that I think are cool. Being the huge car nerd I am I can't help but snap pictures of the cars that catch my eye.

Now you may be saying to yourself "Oh, well that seems (somewhat) perfectly normal." I thought this too until today. See, today I came to the realization that I actually like to seek out cars that are of interest to me in different environments, which, needless to say, is a bit weird.

Anyhow, I left the island around 2 to go mill around the city of Savannah.

Savannah is a city that exacts a certain charm upon nearly everyone who visits. A walk through the historic district (which is exactly what I took) displays beautiful brick homes flanked by cobble stone streets and shady green spaces every few blocks.

Driving north on Abercorn street searching for a parking spot a white Nissan GTR naturally caught my eye.

So I parked on a side street and walked out to get some pictures.

Having fed the meter for a hour, I decided to see what else was out there. What I got mostly was an eyeful of some of the most beautiful residential architecture in the south.

Parked outside of another lovely home on Abercorn was a new car that has been on my mind. The new CT200 Hybrid definitely displays the more aggressive image Lexus is trying to push these days, even though it may critically be seen as sort of an over-priced Toyota Prius. Regardless, it's a design I cant help but enjoy, and the Arizona plates were intriguing as well.

Speaking of license plates, I'm always on the lookout for "extreme" out-of-staters, and I think this Hyundai I've spotted takes the cake. Save a few, I've seen every state in the union represented since starting school here (including Hawaii, Colorado, Washington (state), and (actually this makes two) Alaska).

As the afternoon became late and my meter came close to expiration, I headed back to my car on Perry and Abercorn and further contemplated the day I had had. I knew that the main reasons for this trip were boredom, a desire to get DSLR photos of the architecture, and just my overall desire to travel. But now I guess I can add to that: a desire to take pictures of cars (which I could have satisfied a lot easier by just going to a car show).

Stuttgart

From ghastly depression, to promises of a new and beautiful country made by a man who would later be associated with some of the most gruesome acts in world history, Germany has definitely led what some might call an infamous existence. But those people fail to recognize the colossal achievements, specifically in the automotive industry, that have been made in this country. Karl Benz created the first gasoline-powered car: the Benz Patent Motorwagen, in Stuttgart in 1886. The Bavarian Motor Works company, which first began producing airplane engines in 1918 has grown to produce some of the most highly acclaimed luxury performance cars on the market. And the Porsche family created a legendary sports car: the 911. Ferdinand Porsche began designing cars after being contracted by Adolf Hitler. Hitler wanted Porsche to create a "People's car," and he did. Not to gloss over the story of the indisputably legendary Beetle, but the car that really would capture the attention of enthusiasts for years to come was in the design process soon after World War II. This car was the Porsche 356.

The 356 was the first car to be produced under the Porsche name, and officially began production in 1948. Available with an array of tiny four-cylinder air-cooled engines, mounted at the back, the rear-drive lightweight proved to be an excellent performer for its time. Designed on a monocoque chassis, the 356 was available as a coupe or cabriolet, and the smooth, swooping body lines have made it a highly-desirable collector car for the present-day.

After Ferdinand Porsche's death in 1951, design was taken over by Ferry Porsche. The company became very successful in motor racing and in 1964 Ferry's son Ferdinand Alexander launched his new design for the rear engine, rear-drive sports car that is still being produced today: the 911. The 911 quickly became one of the most well-known sports cars in the history of sports cars. With a big six-cylinder boxer engine over the rear wheels, handling of early models of the 911 was unpredictable at best, and made worse with Turbo models. But, sticking to Porsche tradition, engineers have been able to fine-tune the 911 and all of its exciting variations into one of the best handling sports cars that money can buy.

Take the early morning drive to the Caffeine and Octane monthly meet up and you can see a vast array of these amazing machines. So many examples of every decade of 911 are on hand and all of them are beautifully restored. As you move along the rows of the Porsche section, you see that not much changes from decade to decade, as far as the sheetmetal goes, but maybe that's a good thing. Porsche could have just moved their engine to the front of the 911, but they didn't, and thank goodness they didn't.

2002 Lexus IS300: Taking the Road Less Traveled

Welcome, my friends, to a particularly woodsy two-lane in suburban Georgia. Now, I know what you’re thinking: there are a great many cars on the secondhand market today that can send you down a long, windy road like this with a big smile on your face. I’m writing today to share with you the car I have chosen for the task.

The IS300 shares same power plant, save a few small differences, as the famed Toyota Supra. This rear-drive, 218 horsepower sports sedan was built expressly to give BMW's 3-series sedan a 5a.m. blast of ice water to the face. And I believe it has.

Straight away, power delivery from the inline six cylinder engine is smooth and uniform, feeling torquey throughout the entire rev band all the way up to the 6500 RPM limiter. The transmission in this particular model is a five-speed automatic, with the option to shift up and down via the buttons on either side of the steering wheel. In normal mode, the transmission seems hesitant to kick down, but click the ECU into power mode, and gear changes are much sportier.

Steering feels remarkably tight, even with the car going on 160,000 miles, and the excellent feedback gives the driver utmost confidence in spirited driving. Behind all four 17 inch alloy wheels lie steel disk brakes, which provide excellent stopping power, although ABS does seem to cut in a bit too sharply at times. The chassis, while not balanced quite as well as a 3 series’, is still quite sporty, with power delivered to the rear wheels and through an optional limited-slip differential. With this kind of setup, all too commonly, come jitters, stiffness, and often downright annoyance when you want to drive around in a real world filled with potholes and speed bumps. In the Lexus, however, there's a good balance between the nimble handling and a comfortable on-road experience. You get more jitters and reverberations than in an LS or ES, but the ride is far from intolerable.

Sitting in the leather and suede trimmed cabin you definitely get the feeling that you are in a luxury vehicle. The car transforms from a formidable back-road barn-stormer into a quiet and sumptuously comfortable oasis.

The speedometer, styled to look like a chronograph watch, has definitely caught some critical aversion. However, I feel that it adds considerably to the character of the car. What does not deserve praise, however, is the dashboard coating, which, as it heats up in the sun, becomes soft as silly putty. If you so much as touch it, your fingerprint will forever remain.

Aside from sharing the same coating along the sides, the center stack proves to be intuitively designed, with dedicated tuning and volume knobs for the radio and extremely easy-to-use climate controls above it. Being a small sedan the IS does lack in the cabin storage and head/leg room departments. The driver’s seat is easy to get into a good position, extremely supportive, and comfortable, even for those of us more vertically gifted. However, my 6’4” stature means that I only have about 1.5 inches of room between my head and the ceiling.

Headroom is the same story in the back seats, and while you could easily fit two adults in the back, comfort will quickly go down as your distance traveled goes up. Trunk space is modest and the lack of folding rear seats could definitely be a negative point if you’re looking to haul much more than groceries.

If this car has one thing, it's presence. The IS sits low on handsome-looking 17 inch alloy wheels, which, on this particular car, are also finished in the highly desirable graphite metallic paint. It’s a small car, shorter than a Honda Civic sedan, but the IS’s sheet metal has been styled much more aggressively than any Lexus that's come before it. Parallelogram-shaped headlights with standard auto-leveling HID projectors flank a familiarly Toyota-shaped grill opening. A bulge in the center provides some drama to the otherwise standard issue hood, and moving back the drama increases.

The door line sweeps up sharply into a wedge shaped rear, which houses tail lights which, arguably, began an aftermarket trend. The tastefulness of the chrome-housed tail lights is, as always, a matter of opinion, but know that they can easily be transformed with a pre-cut transparent red vinyl covering.

As a driver’s car, the IS300 is brilliant. I also feel that it accomplishes the goals it set for itself very well; acting as a formidable back roads bruiser while also maintaining an air of luxury and sophistication.

The powertrain and chassis configuration prove excellent, but still trail behind the leader of the pack, the BMW 330i. Some interior and exterior design features may not be to every luxury or sports car buyer’s liking, but overall, I feel that it is a good looking package.

If you’re looking for a sports sedan with a bit of luxury that can keep up with the well-established alternatives while not blending into the crowd, then the Lexus IS300 could certainly be the vehicle for you.

The Varsity Meet, August 2011

As I headed into the city, the dark clouds certainly started to loom, but I remained hopeful and stuck it out in order to catch one of my favorite car events in Atlanta: the monthly Varsity meet. You never quite know what you'll see. Walking in my attention was first grasped by this Mustang, a common occurrence, but rarely ever one that results in a photo. Maybe it's because of the wheels..

And speaking of wheels, some SSR's soon caught my eye.

Along with the wheels on this Acura

This VW Van pickup has just begun showing up this summer

I always seem to focus on some of the more unusual/uncommon cars, like this Camry

A nice example of the highly-anticipated and apparently highly sought after Scion Fr-s was also on hand

A few more noteworthy cars were on hand as well