The Semi-Unofficial Pistol-Forum Car geek, gearhead, hot rodder, and vehicle thread

[OlongJohnson]

If I were getting weird with an aluminum 4 cyl it'll be a Honda K-motor. There's lots of other cool engines but none have the innate advantages or aftermarket support of the K.

I eventually figured out that I'd been steered away from that only by confusing product marketing on the part of a key component manufacturer. Current plan, if I ever build that project, is dry sump a K24. But since I'd like to retire one day, the whole project idea is on the shelf pending really substantial earning increases or a Powerball windfall.

[TGS]

Our biggest power 2.3L Focus ST build was ~560whp on E85. While it had clutch and powertrain problems the engine survived a ton of abuse at that HP level without incident.

That's pretty awesome for a 2.3l. I bought a UTEC (man in the middle ECU, pre-Cobb reflash stuff) for my 2005 STi off a guy who had wrecked his STi, and his best tune on the UTEC for the 2.5l was 480whp on race gas. I used it just for the generic stage 2 map, btw....don't think I tried plugging his car specific tune into mine 🙂

As an aside, all this talk on Honda K engines has me thinking to check out any updates on the Gears and Gasoline YouTube channel. Check them out if you haven't.

[mmc45414]

If you're towing, especially in hot weather or with heavy loads (or both) I would step up to premium.

Towing you say?
Heavy loads?
In the summer?

Thanks for the advice...



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[TheCarl]

Yeah, there's so many ways to go with "something more fun to drive than an Outback that doesn't need to fit the whole family".

Do you go all-in on sportiness with a BRZ or Miata? Or something utilitarian and sporty like a WRX, Civic R, or GTI/Golf R? Or maybe a more traditional, larger coupe/sedan from the muscle car heritage segment?

Lots of different ways to go here with the wife's given metrics. Danger. Danger! Might want to get another consultation with her before going down any decision tree, given she might have a totally different idea of what you should be buying:

Good meme, was judged entertaining at the end of a rough day!

Thanks to everyone who contributed; I had assembled about 80% of that list, and every response is appreciated.

The wife and I consult frequently, and don't make hasty moves about large sums. While our debt is small, income is modest (and shrinking because of inflation).

My fantasy probably looks like a straight-up trade of my Subaru for a used BRZ/Miata/Cayman. I might not have told her about that yet.

[TheCarl]

In my case I am always on the lookout for what I might replace the Focus ST with, at some point it will probably be worn out, and I also seem to dig the BRZ. A Miata would be cool, but would you really run with the top down that much? For about 4.5yrs I commuted 65mi x 2, also mostly on the interstate, and am not that sure I would want to be doing that much with the top down.

Maybe another factor might be location/weather and if FWD/AWD matters. I have snow tires for the Focus and really do not want AWD as much as I used to think I would.

And mileage is coupled with range, and I hated getting gas every 2.5 days. Some of the smaller cars are a little better for mileage, but then have a smaller tank. And the turbo cars are going to be best served with 93, though I think they all tolerate 89. My Focus gets 27-29mpg on road trips, and can probably go 340mi, just enough to get me home from Chicago without a fuel stop. I think the GTI is going to be the mileage champ, I understand them to routinely get over thirty.

I would likely only opt for the RF hardtop, and don't expect I'd drive open very often. Willing to surprise myself, if it came to that.

Fuel is probably the biggest factor in long term cost of ownership--or the one that is likely to affect my decision making. Turbo isn't a big draw, but I could likely live with it. Spent some time on the web with someone's total cost of ownership estimate tool, and made the Good Idea Fairy disappointed several times.

[mmc45414]

BRZ/Miata/Cayman

Wow, I like the way you just sorta slid that in there...

Another thing I was thinking though, is do you really want to give up all of the utility and end up with something that probably only gets used on your commute or lite errands? I like the three mentioned (I think I would love a Cayman), but none of them are probably even gonna make a grocery run for a family of five. A Cayman (I would be jealous...) wouldn't even haul a cooler of after game snacks. And you would be getting pushed back into the van because you have no back seat. If you are dropping just one of them off someplace on your way to someplace with your wife you are stuck driving a van all day while your Porsche sits in the garage.

Or maybe you need to stop at Lowes on the way home without going home first to get the van. When I got the Focus I had the F-150, so I didn't need to haul anything more than my laptop bag, but after another job change (sales can be volatile...) I ended up needing to cover great distances, park in crowded inner-city locations, and haul stuff with me, and it has amazed me (I have always had some kind of truck around) how much will actually fit in a hatch. My wife is a customer, so when she makes purchases I go do an "office day" and pick the stuff up for her, it saves shipping and I get occasional face time with my boss. I just about over did it this day:

[rob_s]

I think that "fun, daily-driver, ~$35k" is a great thought experiment that we've probably covered in the past.

as some others have mentioned, whether or not you need 4 doors, and whether or not you need a hatch are probably some of the key criteria.

I wonder what the last year of the WRX hatch-back was? Were those 4-door or two? Maybe you could get a hatchback STI for the price of a new trunked WRX...

[JRB]

That's pretty awesome for a 2.3l. I bought a UTEC (man in the middle ECU, pre-Cobb reflash stuff) for my 2005 STi off a guy who had wrecked his STi, and his best tune on the UTEC for the 2.5l was 480whp on race gas. I used it just for the generic stage 2 map, btw....don't think I tried plugging his car specific tune into mine 🙂

As an aside, all this talk on Honda K engines has me thinking to check out any updates on the Gears and Gasoline YouTube channel. Check them out if you haven't.

That 2.3L was running out of headroom fast at 560whp - IIRC that setup was on a Garrett GTX3076R and going up to a GTX35 of some flavor would have added a lot more lag based on the Focus ST compatible turbine housings available at the time.

As for STI's, honestly I think those cars are just about perfect at ~400whp. Round it out with lightweight wheels with sticky tires, a good set of pads and fluid for the factory brakes, and a really good coilover setup and just leave it the hell alone.

Anything more than about 400whp in any EJ Subaru and stuff just keeps blowing up all the time or otherwise compromises the rest of the car's enjoyment. That didn't stop a customer of ours from doing a PTE 6766 rotated setup on a built 2.5L with a Cosworth intake, insanely aggressive BC cams and valvetrain kit, etc that made around 875awhp all-in on E85. That car was amazing to experience, but it was always on the ragged edge of blowing up everything in the powertrain. The AWD helped with that much HP on the street, but there's only so many roads or even highways that are conducive to uncorking 900+whp sanely. Large gaps in traffic on open roads get REAL small with that much HP.

That car is also how we discovered Manley's rods & pistons for the EJ25 couldn't reliably survive more than about 150hp per cyl, and Manley ended up offering a stronger 'turbo tuff' option for the EJ engines as a result.

[TGS]

Wow, I like the way you just sorta slid that in there...

Another thing I was thinking though, is do you really want to give up all of the utility and end up with something that probably only gets used on your commute or lite errands? I like the three mentioned (I think I would love a Cayman), but none of them are probably even gonna make a grocery run for a family of five. A Cayman (I would be jealous...) wouldn't even haul a cooler of after game snacks. And you would be getting pushed back into the van because you have no back seat. If you are dropping just one of them off someplace on your way to someplace with your wife you are stuck driving a van all day while your Porsche sits in the garage.

I think you'd be surprised how much a Cayman can fit. They're in a different league compared to the Miata. I can fit 2 carry-ons and 2 medium checked bags in mine, still with room leftover to squeeze in your woman's purse, satchels, travel bags/bags of snacks, etc.

Grocery runs are certainly not an issue in it, I've done overflowing shopping cart type trips to Costco with my Cayman and had plenty of room. I even transport the cat:

[OlongJohnson]

I lived with an MR2 for several years as my only car. Having both a trunk and a frunk is pretty awesome.