Thoughts on New Cars

[dkjones96]

I'm only 5'10" so most cars fit me well. I absolutely love the way it feels to be behind the wheel of an RX-8 but who wants to own a 1.3L that barely gets into the 20s and has no torque!

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

I'm only 5'10" so most cars fit me well. I absolutely love the way it feels to be behind the wheel of an RX-8 but who wants to own a 1.3L that barely gets into the 20s and has no torque!

The secret to Mazda rotaries (I've had 3 of them) is to wind them out to redline...they pick up power as they pick up revs.

Of course, they were the most fun when gas was 27 cents a gallon...

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

who wants to own a 1.3L that barely gets into the 20s and has no torque!

Is "20s" there referring to drag racing time, or MPG?

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Most claustrophobic? No way! Remember Thunderbirds from the early-mid '70s? There was enough sheet metal in the hood alone to build a complete VW but damn I could hardly wedge myself into one. There are quite a few modern cars I can't even get into comfortably i.e. new "retro" Tbird, RX-7, etc. While I can get into and get comfy in a Solstice, I can't see out of the stupid thing once I'm in there. Same with Camaro.

Yes, the Tempo 4-door doors are damn short; ingress/egress leaves something to be desired but I've gotten used to it. I put the seat all the way back, not to mention leaned back.

The one I drive most is a two-door. Nice loooong doors. Easy in/out.

In either case, once I'm in I'm very comfortable. And visibility in all directions is good. Ever notice the rear visibility (or lack of it) in Intrepids? It's so bad they could leave the rear window out and it wouldn't matter much. I do like the styling though.

I've ridden in high-end luxury cars and SUVs and have found Tempo seats more to my liking. What can I say, they just fit and the firmness/softness/bolstering is spot on. I can go 7 hours in them and not get sore. Heh heh, every time I have a passenger in my Tempo they fall asleep! LOL I ask them why and they say it's such a smooth quiet comfy ride, and I drive smooth too.

Didn't do the 70s or 80s over this side of the pond so never been in those. I guess my angles are all different, I'm close to 6'1". Had to use a 4dr Tempo for a while doing a longish commute loop morning and evening, couldn't tilt the seat far enough back because the kids needed somewhere to put their legs. So I was blinded in the rear quarter by the B pillar, my shins were only a hair off the dash, was using the pedals with the sides of my feet, and was always bruising knees and elbows trying to steer. My legs would be going numb after half an hour and after a couple of months being in the beast 2 hours a day I got cellulitis in my right leg. The rear view mirror was in the middle of the road from my POV, and I whacked my head off the door frame and roof a few times going through construction or on rough roads... On top of that, I was holding the ATX together with lucas and willpower and couldn't get more than 30mpg out of the thing, more often it was around 25-27, and it handled like a plate of jello. Damn thing made my Escort feel airy and cavernous and like driving a sports car.

[theclencher]

OK so I went somewhere and I'm thinking about this topic. I get out the tape measure and:

1) Legs to dash: 4"
2) Legs to steering wheel: 2"
3) Top of pointy head to roof: 2 3/4"

Hmmm.... OK, so how does that compare to a full-size extra-cab F150?

1) Legs to dash: 4 1/2"
2) Legs to steering wheel: 2 3/4"
3) Top of pointy head to roof: 2 1/2"

So even though sitting more upright in the truck, clearances from carcass to interior stuff are roughly the same, with plenty of room to move around in either vehicle.

Oh- I'm 3" taller than you.

The only conclusion to reach is that you are screwed together funny.

Ummm... wait. Yes, you are right. Tempos are awful. Anyone that has one, PM me, I'll help you dispose of it.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Too late, it went to the crusher when it was worth $300 in scrap (And the ATX finally let go, "coincidentally" after a "professional" touched it.)

This was a '94 LX, maybe they added extra crap??? It was unpossible for me to get in it unless the seat was slid all the way back.

Maybe it's in the legs and arms, I have to buy 34 inseam, and I can't buy shirts with arms long enough unless there's room for 2 of me in the body (Then the shoulders come halfway to my elbows, but the cuffs are on my actual wrists)

Edit: Also wear size 12s, had to have my heel well back or I was hooking up my toe on the pedal linkages and underdash wiring.

[theholycow]

People come in all shapes and sizes. I'm difficult to fit into a car and I'm not all that large. If I don't fit right, after more than a few minutes of driving I'll be achy; my elbows and knees will be in pain from pushing against the car, and my joints will ache from it too.

It could be a huge spacious vehicle, but if the layout isn't right, I won't fit and that's the end of that for me.

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by theclencher

OK so I went somewhere and I'm thinking about this topic. I get out the tape measure and:

1) Legs to dash: 4"
2) Legs to steering wheel: 2"
3) Top of pointy head to roof: 2 3/4"

Hmmm.... OK, so how does that compare to a full-size extra-cab F150?

1) Legs to dash: 4 1/2"
2) Legs to steering wheel: 2 3/4"
3) Top of pointy head to roof: 2 1/2"

So even though sitting more upright in the truck, clearances from carcass to interior stuff are roughly the same, with plenty of room to move around in either vehicle.

Oh- I'm 3" taller than you.

The only conclusion to reach is that you are screwed together funny.

Ummm... wait. Yes, you are right. Tempos are awful. Anyone that has one, PM me, I'll help you dispose of it.

Tempo Owner 4/1999-11/2000. This one was mine: http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/ford/tempo/r16104/

People either love or hate their Tempos. I hated mine. I have heard that there were two assembly plants, and that Tempos built in one location were bulletproof, while cars built in the other were junk. I guess I know where mine was built.

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Of course you didn't like your Tempo. Yours was a beat-up P.O.S. with, likely, major accident history and it wasn't properly repaired. You got suckered.

Don't blame Ford for the shoddy painting of some backyard hack.

If it shakes bad at idle, something's broken and you failed to fix it.

If it was that slow, it wasn't running right. Your failure to tune it.

Same with the poor fuel economy.

If the exhaust system fell off and you didn't put a decent one on, how can you then complain about the noise?

I could go on and on.

You sound like someone that doesn't know jack about cars. Couldn't open the hood? Couldn't properly fix a trunk latch? Change oil every 2000 miles? WTF?

If you'd bought a Civic that had been through that sort of hell would you blame it too?

We knew the previous owner of the Tempo. The owner was the mother of someone my dad worked with. The car had 47K miles on it and had been garage its entire life. It had NEVER been wrecked.

I spent all the money I had (I was 16) trying to figure out why it stalled every time the car came to a stop or the brakes were applied suddenly. It turns out it was the throttle position sensor. I did not figure that out until after I had replaced everything else. As for the other stuff, it was not uncommon.

Motor mounts were a common failure on Tempos. I was told that by two different garages when I had them replaced (the first time for one motor mount and the transmission mount, and the second time at a different shop to have another motor mount replaced). The exhaust was replaced by a factory exhaust. The exhaust was not loud... just the sound of the motor revving up to 3,500 RPM on the highway (3-speed auto) sounded like a vacuum cleaner.

The battery cables rotted out. The coil and module had to be replaced. I also replaced the whole distributer. The rear speakers quit. The dome light caught on fire. The radio caught on fire. The rear shocks both went bad (the car would hit the bump stops over moderate dips). The right front tie rod went out. The left front lower ball joint was replaced. The vents leaked rainwater. The headliner sagged. The interior trim broke off. The right side power door locks went up and down on their own and killed the battery until I pulled the fuse. I went through several power window motors, gears, and switches. The trunk latch broke (which I did properly fix once I had the chance). The inside hood latch broke. The headlights had loose connections, so that they would only come on when I got out of the car and hit them. The wipers would not work on high, only low and intermittant. The horn started blasting one day and would not shut off (it was not winter, either). The alternator locked up, causing it to throw the belt. The power steering pump went out. The master cylinder sprung a leak (I've never even HEARD of this happening to any other car). The driver's seat came apart.

How much of the above can be explained by poor maintenance? Lack of maintenance was not the issue. I don't remember having the same problem twice. Once I fixed something, it stayed fixed. I did a tuneup twice in 13,000 miles and changed the oil every 2,000 miles. This was my first car, and I took care of it. I did not drive it hard. I did not drive aggressively until I bought my Accord. No tickets in my Tempo.

I did not mention problems that were caused by service issues. When the car started running on 3 (and finally 2) cylinders, it was discovered that the distributer was not tightened after it was replaced, and it screwed up the timing. This was not the car's fault, and I did not mention it. The windshield had been replaced before I got it, but it was not the car's fault (I mentioned it in my article because I was young and angry when I wrote it). The rear view mirror broke off two or three times, but it was likely due to the fact that I kept regluing it when it was too cold. Not the car's fault.

To theclencher;140317, I am disappointed. I kept my post honest and fact-based. I said that people tend to be Love it-or-Hate it with Tempos. The other posts on the website back that up. You responded with an attack without knowing all, or any, of the facts. The car was not a beat-up POS as you attest, but a garage-kept car with all service records and no accidents. The "shoddy painting of a backyard hack?" It had factory paint, right down to the orange peel. "If it shakes bad at idle, something's broken and you failed to fix it." Or, it could be that it was a big 2.3L 4-cylinder with no balance shafts and an automatic, causing the engine to strain while in drive with the brake on. That's why Tempo automatics were so hard on motor mounts. Manuals did not have the same problem. 1.9L motors did not have the problem to the same extent.

Regarding the acceleration and mileage, I did my best. The car could not chirp the tires from a start, and the best mileage I got was 24 mpg on a tank (all highway at 65 mph using cruise and no A/C). I tried two different kinds of wires and plugs. I cleaned out the throttle body. I had the timing checked. Nothing had any effect.

"If the exhaust system fell off and you didn't put a decent one on, how can you then complain about the noise?" I replaced the exhaust with a factory system.

"You sound like someone that doesn't know jack about cars." I was 16 when I bought the thing and only owned it for a year and a half. Of course I didn't know a whole lot when I bought it. I learned as I went. If the job was too big for me to handle with a Haynes manual, then I took it to a garage. "Couldn't open the hood?" The hood latch broke. If you actually read the article, you would see that the dealership could not figure out how to open the hood. In order to open the hood, I had to crawl under the front bupmer and stick a screwdriver into a blind hole and push it against the undeside of the hood latch. It took me a few hours of fiddlign around before I figured it out. Not everyone has that much spare time. "Couldn't properly fix a trunk latch?" I fixed it. I just had to figure out how to adjust it. "Change oil every 2000 miles? WTF?" Why is this a bad thing?

Idiot.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

as for the rx-8, I think the 20s refers to mileage. I have heard they are horribly inefficient. I would also think that it would do better than that on a qtr as most compact cars are in the 18s or better. also remember that this is mazdas sports car, it wouldn't be that slow.

for that small of a package, it get unbelievable horsepower (at 8k or so)

*edit*

mazda RX-8
6 speed manual
1.3 liter RENESIS 2-rotor rotary
232 @ 8,500 (hp)
159 @ 5,500 (tq)
9000 (redline)
10.0 : 1 (compression ratio)
16 / 22 (mileage city/highway)

I found a web site that said 1/4 mile time of 15.010 for a 2007 but take that for what it's worth here is the site http://www.dragtimes.com/Mazda-RX-8-Timeslip-12238.html