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Climax, NC Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Burnt Smell Outside Car in New 2009 Corolla [rnakawat]

by tzanak on Sun Jun 15 09:46:18 PDT 2008

I got mine 2 weeks ago and I got the same problem except it climaxed to a lot of smoke under the batterry and my console had a significant amount of smoke come out from the mid console. I wouldn't park it in the garage after that and actually i'm getting it towed to Toyota on monday. Does this problem still occur with yours?

Re: marketing [Mr_Shiftright]

by andre1969 on Mon May 19 12:39:45 PDT 2008

The facts have been right there on the table for at least a decade. Well, remember "at least a decade" ago puts us at a time when the SUV market was exploding. Heck, GM even dropped their full-sized RWD cars after an abbreviated 1996 run to switch the assembly line over to build even bigger, heavier, thirstier Tahoes and Yukons...simply because they were more profitable and the demand was there for them. I don't think that first uptick in fuel prices in late 1999 was really enough to change people's buying habits. I remember complaining about $1.40-1.50/gallon gas at the end of 1999, and by the summer of 2000, hi-octane was breaking the $2.00 barrier. But then by the fall of 2001, we were back under a buck a gallon for 87 octane. Now, it didn't stay under a buck for long, but it seemed to hover around $1.30-1.40 per gallon until early 2004. Then suddenly, around maybe May/June 2004, we were seeing $2.00 per gallon again. Now THAT, IMO, is when the tides really started turning and people were trending towards smaller cars. Still, it came down a bit in the fall/winter. Then it shot back up in the summer of 2005, and went WAY up when Katrina hit. But by late 2005 it was back down to about two bucks a gallon again. Then in the summer of 2006, it was back up north of $3.00. I remember the most I paid that summer was about $3.25 for 89 octane. But by October of 2006, it was back down near $2.00 again. I think we got used to these cycles in fuel prices, and started thinking of the increases as just momentary spikes that would ultimately come back down. The only problem is, the late 2006 drop-off was short-lived, and 2007's onslaught seemed to hit extra early. And then there really wasn't a drop-off in late 2007, like there "should" have been. I think it was that spike in 2006, and then the even more brutal prices in 2007 onward that have really helped fuel the fire for smaller cars. There was also a market "correction" in the summer of 2006 that scared a lot of people. The stock markets dropped about 10-11% in the course of a month or two. And the housing market was starting to climax. If anything, I'd say small cars were starting to go away, until just the past few years. The Echo wasn't a very strong seller. Neither was the xA, but the xB wasn't too bad and, surprise of surprises, the larger tC was by far the strongest seller of them all. The Metro went way, and was replaced by the Aveo, which while small, is considerably larger. The Escort was replaced by the larger Focus. The Neon was replaced by a larger Neon, and then finally the Caliber. The Lumina grew up to become the Impala, while the Corsica grew up to become the Malibu. The Protege was replaced by the larger 3. The Accord, Altima, Maxima, Corolla, and Avalon all grew pretty substantially. And to a lesser degree, so did the Camry and Civic.

Re: Interesting that the new Ford Fiesta/Verve [iluvmysephia1]

by podred on Mon Jan 21 09:33:17 PST 2008

As a fellow "my 1st car was a 65 Mustang" guy, I too find the Verve quite compelling. However that said, Ford of Europe has always designed and produced great small cars. It's just that they never made it over here to the USA. When you and I were enjoying our Mustangs, in Europe they were enjoying the powerful Coventry Climax Twin Cam Engined Lotus / Ford Cortina. This was a coupe that combined superb handling, lots of power and great fuel economy, all in one tidy package. I had the pleasure of driving one for a week in London and the surrounding countryside, and it was a sheer delight. One could order a new Lotus / Cortina with the Coventry Climax engine in various horsepower outputs. The top engine at one point was a 1.5 liter , 170 hp, twin cam engine with dual Weber carbs and the entire engine only weighed 150lbs. All aluminum head and block, it was ahead of it's time. (source) http://race-cars.com/engsold/other/1102116944/1102116944ss.htm http://www.lotuscortina.net/Story1x.html Unfortunately the "average American" simply has little or no appreciation for really great small performance cars, therefore little demand. Combine that with the overall "greed factor" mentality of Ford's North American Operations and it's practice of pushing (huge profit margin) Trucks and SUV's just like General Motors and you see where they are coming from. These two mfgs in particular are addicted to super high profit per vehicle numbers. Then add to that, the glee and profit taking of Exxon, Chevron, Shell, etc, and we have one receipt for continued marketing and sales of gas guzzlers.

Re: Article Comments - Full Test: 2007 Westfield XI [sprocketboy]

by dedion on Tue Sep 18 15:58:23 PDT 2007

The engine used in the original Lotus 11 was the exotic, ultra lightweight Coventry Climax FWB, which in racing trim put out about 140 HP. Amazing back in '56. These engines are still with us today, and can be found at better vintage races everywhere. If you want one, it will cost you the better part of $20K. Yes, there are some Westfield XIs with this engine installed. The choice of the Spridget engine was made back in the early 80s, when the Westfield was first produced. The engine was plentiful, cheap and could put out enough HP for most owners. Some of the cars were fitted with the Ford X Flow (AKA: Kent Engine, AKA Cortina), which put out far more power. This can still be done today as the Cross Flow Ford Cortina engine is still plentiful. A special pan has to be installed, and new engine mounts would have to be made to fit the Ford low enough in the chassis. Not a difficult task as the XI chassis is built to take a different motor mount if necessary. The limiting factor in fitting one of the more modern engines, such as the Ztec, Duratec, or the Miata is that it wont fit under the sleek body. A bulge has to be made on the bonnet, and it isn't pretty. That said, owners have fitted Alfa Romeo 1600 engines and Mazda rotaries in addition to the specially fitted Ford Kent or Cortina cross flow. Fitting the engine and transmission is not the problem (the test car has a T9 5 speed already). Making it all fit under the beautiful Frank Costin designed bodywork is another story. My personal Westfield has a 120 HP Sprite engine. I find it to be quite lively, and lots of fun to drive. One more thing...Though the Miata is a wonderful sports car, it is no Lotus Elan, and never was intended to be. The Mazda is nearly twice the weight of the lithe Elan to start with. One drive in a properly prepped Elan and you will understand exactly what I mean.

Re: Funny Story in the sales meeting this morning [cdnpinhead]

by tayl0rd on Wed Aug 29 08:11:46 PDT 2007

I'm with you, pinhead. I'm not into the tantric story telling. I want the buildup, plateau, and climax all in one sitting, please. It was okay at first, but then they got ridiculous with it. Stuff that could've been told in a couple of paragraphs got dragged on for days... :sick:

Re: Car of the Year [mfletou1]

by thegraduate on Wed Nov 22 11:56:52 PST 2006

Nooooooooo! I didn't have my Motor Trend yet, and planned on reading it to find out the winner (like the climax of a movie). Oh well. Also, on the Accord discussion, all I can tell you is that here in the Mid-Atlantic, I had my choice of Accord EX V6's in every color for under $24k when I was buying this summer. I had multiple offers for $23,300 and I went through the process at one dealer so I know its legit. See scape, it isn't just me who can find these prices. Trying to make me look bad or saying I have no credibility isn't a very mature thing to do when proper research hasn't been done.