[Biturbos4] Now I've gone and done it...

[Keman]

> but still ... makes it *far* easier to justify trading
> so soon!

Yep. If I had paid MSRP, I'd have taken a loss  .. but with fords deals
stacking on top of x plan pricing, it was a steal. I think after the
monthly payments get calculated into things I'm about breaking even. Maybe
a couple hundred bucks in my favor, but fillups probably negated that. I
don't think I can honestly say I got to drive a car for -free- for 6
months. Especially not including insurance payments. But. Close enough to
grin about it.

> Was it the SVT version (or did Ford even make any
> other version than the SVT Lightning - pardon my
> ignorance)?  So you went from turbo-charged to
> supercharged and now your on to NA ... very eclectic!

Yep it was the SVT version. There was little that could cross paths with
it at 50-100mph. It's 0-30 was frightening, in the dry weather it didn't
take any skill at all to hurl that thing from a start, flying past 30mph
in just 1.7 seconds on average. It was fast enough to feel surreal. But
that's about all that thing could do. Tossing it into a corner, well, it
was really more like drop kicking it into a corner. Yeah it would hold but
... it was almost 5000lbs. Transitions? You must be kidding. :P

If it was raining out and you had a passenger to pick up at the airport
with luggage? Heh. I had no bed cap. There was no room. It only came in
the regular cab version, with 6" behind the seats. NO ROOM. Not even for
grocerys. :(

> funny that on snow days, he's driving an old F-150 up
> the hill!

That's not surprising. I purchased a $1200 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Turbocoupe 5-speed maual that needed a new heater core and a few other
little odds and ends for this winter. The Lightning comes stock with
295/45/18 summer tires. Snow tires cost a lot on rims that are big enough
to clear the monstrous brakes. More than that thunderbird, to be exact--
and it had brand new all seasons on it. L's just do not do snow. :P

The thunderchicken as I like to call it, is a real entertaining POS. :)

> Lot more car in the sense of size? gadgets/goodies? or
> overall performance?

It's a little quieter inside. All the windows have one-touch up, down.
Dual zone climate controls. Tap the turn signal once and it flashes the
lights 3 times, letting you do a lane change without a balancing act on
the turn signal stalk while you turn the wheel. It's got recarro very
thick bolstered seats front and rear. Some sorta noise cancellation system
in the stereo. Seat/Mirror settings are stored in the keyfob, so if you
hand your wife/so/whatever the other set, when they get everything to be
where they want to be, every time they unlock the car with their fob, as
they open the door everything is magically re-ajusting itself to where
they had it last. INCLUDING the climate control settings. A steering wheel
with volume/stereo controls on it is optional- something I really wanted
on my last S4 but couldn't get. The Avant now gets a full size spare-
something I was rather jealous of over my S4 Sedan friends, I pinched a
wheel on a pothole once and didn't have anything to swap out with besides
a donut.

Then there's the engine and transmission. The trans got lighter by about
50lbs and a lot smaller. It's got a bit of gear whine, probably due to
more straight cut teeth to get the box to stay strong. But it shifts CRISP
.. very similar to 1.8T transmissions. I tried very hard to get the
rubberyness out of my last S4 shifter, and the play exists inside the
transmission, there wasn't anything I could do to eliminate it. It wasn't
BAD or anything. I'll take a rubbery shifter on a bulletproof transmission
over a nice shifter on a trans that blows up if you look at it funny any
day (WRX anyone?)

The engine. Ohhh the engine. hand assembled all aluminum V8. Break in
requires no full throttle during the first 600 miles. Then infrequent full
throttle for 400 miles after that. This is agonizing. It produces peak
horsepower at 7000 rpm. It sounds.. delicious. No station wagon was born
with any right to sound this good in the eyes of other auto makers.

No other station wagon takes 3 gallons of oil for an oil change.

(Yikes!!!)

> that?" when they see it from the rear ... I answer
> with a grin, "A fast one."

Hheehe. I prefer "Oh just a station wagon grocery getter. Honest officer,
that's all this is... what do you mean, 115mph? You surely must mean that
porsche I passed back there."

- Keman

> --
> Single Malt
> '01.5 S4
> Garaged at 9200ft
> just outside Denver, CO