[s-cars] RE: SSKs

[Pasqualoni, James E]

Taka,

There might be more than a few people (even on this list) running SPEC
Miatas that would disagree with your assessment.  Some might also say they
would never drive an Sti because they don't want to be seen as a 'boy
racer'...

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Taka Mizutani
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 10:14 AM
To: Krasusky Paul (WQQ2PXK)
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] RE: SSKs


Paul-
In a road car, the Carrera GT is definitely one of the neatest sounding cars
out there. The high-compression "WHUP!" sounds it makes is soooo cool. V-10
is very unique sounding. Kind of a cross between the Panoz Esperante race
car (high-comp. Ford 4.6L DOHC V-8) and F1 car (at much lower volume).

I personally don't like BMW shifters- I think they're quite rubbery and long
throw, although they're precise enough that I've never complained about
missing shifts.

I've mixed feelings on short shifters- I like getting the rubber out of the
shifter so that it feels more precise, but very wary about shortening the
shifts. I've driven a few cars with short shifters and didn't like many of
them. The ultra-short shifter kits (40% reduction) for the A4/S4 were too
short, the E36 M3 40% was too short, Subaru WRX factory kit too short, etc.
I find that there isn't enough throw to accurately tell what gear you're
going into.

With the stock STi, I think the shifts are short enough that you may have
difficulty figuring out what gear you're going into, especially 3rd and 4th-
STi shifters are quite bad at grabbing a 5 to 4 downshift. I thought it was
just me, but Jeff Lorriman on Sports Car Revolution mentioned the exact same
thing, interesting.

Actually, except for the looong throw on Audi 6 spd ZF boxes (never driven
the Aisin equipped B6), I like Audi transmission shifters- precise enough,
gets the job done, better than BMW in that regard, I would just get rid of
the rubber.

IMHO, Hondas and Miatas are still the best in terms of shift quality. I'm
hoping the new Saturn Sky will be similar, that's my next sports car unless
it turns out to be a chick car (I won't drive a Miata partially for that
reason).

Taka
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