Favorite Car Reviews

[NX74205]

Harry's a legend. Loved his three part series on taking the Silver Shadow to the Arctic Circle. Loved watching the restoration of that Silver Shadow, too.

[DFB FGXR6]

So, this is not really a spoken review.

To get around embargo's that prevent journalists from publishing "driving impressions", in turn giving all outlets a fair chance, The Smoking Tire will often post a "just the noise" video. In that format, he is not breaking the embargo rules, but reaps the benefits of being an early publisher............especially on high interest cars like the Cayman GT4 RS.

Those last raspy revs between 8000 and 9000 rpm NEVER gets old.



I want one, for the engine alone. I don't care about the whole RS thing, I would never get close to its handling potential, and I also don't care for the tacky wings. For me, I would love this engine in a tamer suit, like what they do with the GT3 Touring, a more sedate looking beast but with all the good bits underneath.

[NX74205]

I have been remiss in not mentioning JayEmm on Cars. His channel on YouTube is one of my favourites, and at only 355K subscribers I think he's very much underrated. His reviews are very detailed. I think he's one of the best.

[DFB FGXR6]

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.



Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............

Originally Posted by NX74205

I have been remiss in not mentioning JayEmm on Cars. His channel on YouTube is one of my favourites, and at only 355K subscribers I think he's very much underrated. His reviews are very detailed. I think he's one of the best.

Speaking of JayEmm.....................

[smoo]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.

image

Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............





Speaking of JayEmm.....................

What’s the speedo error on one of them, be 5-10%… so not really 250kmh?
A bit like my old GSXR1000, read around 10% fast. Went thru the 1/4 traps at 240k on the dash but it was measured at 135mph or around 220.
Had it at an indicated 299knh a couple of times but reality was around 270kmh. Good for bragging rights I suppose.

I also like Jay Emm, seems to have a tendency for reviewing luxury barges which is good.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Helping my longest-term customer do a tip run this afternoon, who's now vision impaired, he started asking about my cars, in particular the "blue Falcon". Of course, the topic brough up comments about inline 6's, which led onto a car he used to own, a BMW E36 328i.

I remember that car very well because when I first started working for them, I would always take out my earphones to listen to the exhaust on start-up, a beautifully rich BMW inline 6 rasp, then as it drove off down the street. It always made me smile.

It also made me smile when my customer spoke about the car today, clearly it left an impression on him. That particular E36 328i was a sedan in Arctic Silver Metallic with the M-sport suspension, wheels and body enhancements. He proudly told me of doing 250 kph in that car and of how well it drove. He replaced that car with two first gen BMW X3's, followed by a string of Subaru's. What we universally agreed on was how BMW are not what they used to be.

image

Naturally, I had to see if a 142 kW 2.8-litre 328i could do 250 kph, just.......................



Compare that to a modern 4-cylinder 328i, faster but no thanks...............





Speaking of JayEmm.....................

I looked at one of those for my first car - E36 328i.

1990s is peak BMW I reckon, E34, E36, E38 and E39


If anyone is a masochist, one of these is a good buy:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...17069263/?Cr=1

[Bossxr8]

I'm really liking the Revelations by Jason Cammisa on the Hagerty youtube channel. Not technically reviews, but stories about how certain legendary cars came to be, and what made them so great. He then drives them for a couple of minutes at the end, just so you can hear them.

Some good subject matter like Ford GT, BMW M1, Lambo Miura, FD RX-7, Vette ZR1 etc. Even some oddball stuff like Taurus SHO.

[roKWiz]

What ever happened to John Wright ?

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

What ever happened to John Wright ?

He was writing for Shannon's but I haven't heard from him in a while.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

He was writing for Shannon's but I haven't heard from him in a while.

Thanks, spent a lot of time mountain biking and boating with him years ago.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Thanks, spent a lot of time mountain biking and boating with him years ago.

No kidding!

I have always enjoyed his writing, he didn't seem to have the bias a lot of journalists have.

From memory, he also worked for Ford in PA during the AU years.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I'm really liking the Revelations by Jason Cammisa on the Hagerty youtube channel. Not technically reviews, but stories about how certain legendary cars came to be, and what made them so great. He then drives them for a couple of minutes at the end, just so you can hear them.

Some good subject matter like Ford GT, BMW M1, Lambo Miura, FD RX-7, Vette ZR1 etc. Even some oddball stuff like Taurus SHO.

Jason's content is brilliant, I share a lot of his sentiments with regard to how certain brands have abandoned their heritage in a physical sense, but still trade on it in the marketing department.

His podcasts are worth listening to as well -

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCarmudgeonShow/videos

[Interceptor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWaNzBoGEyA

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWaNzBoGEyA

I remember watching that back when it was aired, what a waste of a Falcon.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWaNzBoGEyA

Just another day for the panel van.

This is what you get when a game show host, hosts a car show.
Thank god ol Burgo didn't cotton on to it.

[DFB FGXR6]

Such a shame this is the swansong for the Boxter and Cayman.

[Wretched]

Would love me a MST Escort.
I'd go this spec but with a series 1 Escort.

[anobserver]

For driving experience, what could be better than an air cooled Porsche, re-imagined by Singer?



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2MSyHu9bMPo

[DFB FGXR6]

While we are on old Porsche's................

Chris Harris and the Tuthill Porsche 911K, all 11,000 rpm of it..............




Chris Harris and the Porsche 911 Reimagined By Singer -



I love the harshness of the engine note at the top end on that car.

[DFB FGXR6]

Naturally aspirated V12 Aston's are a firm favorite of mine. So which of these two do you think I would rather have? One is considerably faster, one sounds better.....................

Vanquish -



DBS V12 Superleggera -

[DFB FGXR6]

Chevy Caprice PPV Review by Uncle Doug................



These cars were a strange concoction and only sold to police departments. The interior was based on the standard Commodore instead of the upmarket Statesman/Caprice. The front bumper was closer to the Commodore Omega instead of Statesman/Caprice. The door handles were unpainted black plastic, same for the fender vent. Vinyl flooring and unfinished door trims. No badging to keep the cost down to not advertise a car that the general public can't buy. They didn't even blank out buttons for the missing Sat Nav and other interior functions, why pay for that.

And its those last two aspects that sums up GM's view of Holden, not good enough to sell as an aspiration purchase, so they flogged them into fleets instead. Same happened with the later Chevy SS, no advertising and a high price to discourage sales.

[Tonz]

that 2nd Hyaundai (grey one) looks like a Lego construction

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Tonz

that 2nd Hyaundai (grey one) looks like a Lego construction

We've got an N Line Highlander. Looks are always subjective but i love the way it looks.

[DFB FGXR6]

Love this sound-off with a C63 and Mustang GT.................



I can't stand those turbo C63's, they sound the garbage. Sure, the pops and bangs from the exhaust are fun, but it just doesn't have the pure sound that the naturally aspirated Mustang has. I really don't know why people buy those turbo AMG's, and a reason why I died a little when Aston Martin started using the same 4.0 V8.

[mondeomatureguy]

Hi Guys,
iam one of these guys that have old car mags still after all these years and going thru one of them which i still love to read it tested two cars in 1978.

The first was a HZ GTS Holden 5 litre v8.
The second was a GXL Fairmont with a 5.8 lire V8.
Prices were for the GXL Fairmont was $10,135 and for the GTS Holden was $9,267. both hand manual gearboxs

The standing 0- 400m: Holden 16.8 falcon 16.3.
Top speed: Holden 187km/h and Ford 189km/h.

Then you go to 1979.
The falcon XD 5.8 and the Commodore SL/E 5. Litre.
Prices: Falcon XD 5.8 was $8,798 and the Commdore SL/E was $11,194.

they both had manual gearboxs.
Standing 0-400m: Falcon 15.8 and Holden 16.4.

Top Speed: The falcon was 4800 rpm and doing 195km/h. The falcon could have done faster as it was seen doing 5300rpm on the tacho coming back from a trip from the Flinders range.

The Holden was 5500 rpm and 202km/h was flat at that speed.

[DFB FGXR6]

Not necessarily a review, rather a retrospective.



This was filmed in 2018, two years after production ended so its interesting to hear Justin talk post development.

The good old Falcon seating position complaint was explained from the point that the steering column moved for the FG program, and a fixed hard point being the crash support beam that prohibited the column from moving sufficiently high enough. To change that beam would have been cost prohibitive, mainly from crash testing point of view.

The Bosch test engineers in Germany finding a slight calibration issue with the wide open upshifts in 5th gear....................something that would mean 240+ kph on a car with a speed limited set at 230 kph. Apparently, the Germans coded out the speed limiter and were running along the Autobahn in a right-hand drive "white XR6 police car" setting land speed records. I highly doubt a Sprint customer will ever discover that improvement in the full throttle 5th gear upshift. I love it!

The XR6 Sprint's carbon fiber intake ironically ended up being the cheapest solution to a problem they found in development. For short runs, the carbon fiber intake was cheaper than tooling up for a regular plastic part.

The above insider information is something I miss from having a local car industry. The Mustang has had a similar long running history like the Falcon did, and when you listen to engineers who work on the Mustang program talk you can see the pride in working on an icon. But it's just not the same. While the Mustang eventually became a better car than the Falcon, for a loooong time that wasn't necessarily the case and the Falcon punched well above its development budget would suggest.

Oh how I wish I could go down and order a new Falcon right now. Waiting two years for a Mustang sucks and makes the one month I waited for my FG seem like a blink of the eye. We have lost so much.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by mondeomatureguy

Hi Guys,
iam one of these guys that have old car mags still after all these years and going thru one of them which i still love to read it tested two cars in 1978.

The first was a HZ GTS Holden 5 litre v8.
The second was a GXL Fairmont with a 5.8 lire V8.
Prices were for the GXL Fairmont was $10,135 and for the GTS Holden was $9,267. both hand manual gearboxs

The standing 0- 400m: Holden 16.8 falcon 16.3.
Top speed: Holden 187km/h and Ford 189km/h.

Then you go to 1979.
The falcon XD 5.8 and the Commodore SL/E 5. Litre.
Prices: Falcon XD 5.8 was $8,798 and the Commdore SL/E was $11,194.

they both had manual gearboxs.
Standing 0-400m: Falcon 15.8 and Holden 16.4.

Top Speed: The falcon was 4800 rpm and doing 195km/h. The falcon could have done faster as it was seen doing 5300rpm on the tacho coming back from a trip from the Flinders range.

The Holden was 5500 rpm and 202km/h was flat at that speed.

How do those prices compare to the median house price of those years in the capital cities?

Would be interesting to see, as a percentage of the median house price and then comparing it to the median house price today as a percentage and it puts into perspective what cars that would put on the table for you in 2024 if you did the equivalent.

Median house price in Melbourne in 1979 was $38,000

So that Commodore SL/E was around 30% of the median house price when it was new,

If you look at what 30% of the Melbourne median house price buys you car wise these days in 2024, gives you a $278,000 budget to spend on your car which buys something a bit nicer than a VFII SS Commodore

Get you into this - with a decent amount of change left over:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...23120743/?Cr=7

https://www.lotuscars.com/en-AU/emira

Or very close to a new Corvette Stingray:

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...-AD-22552950/?

If you work on Sydney prices, well then you pretty much double the car budget and now we start getting close to Lamborghini and Ferrari coin for our 30%

[nibble]

One of my all time favourites is Clarkson's review of the Ferrari 458

[FTE217]

Well having the TS50 and Sprint in my stable I can only thank my lucky stars in the position doing so.
My luv for the Falcon has never wained to this day thankful I can take em out for a workout and relive some of the best car times in my aussie life.

Getting back ontop Wheels mag, I always rated Motor the far better mag for Wheels COTY always triggered my dislike towards it.
Fancy the P76 getting the gong and before a Reno12.
Then I thought WTF the damn Camira and a Nimbus couple of years later.

I know the carpark wasn't as diverse as the modern times but come on, those above were a joke.

[DFB FGXR6]

Tiff Needell and Paul Woodman drive every BMW M5................



My favorites were the V8 E39 and V10 E60, the E28 and E34 were before my time, the F10 and F90 are not M-cars in my opinion.