RE: RE: appropriate replacement car

[Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>]

>Didn't know there was a separate 20V200 list.
Yep.  Rob is sorta in charge; I handled setting it up on my box.

>I think pearl is lovely, especially on the 200, but agree its an expensive
>paint job.  What's this about mylar.  I'm not aware any component of the
>paint is mylar.
Pearl is mostly metallic white with mylar chips used instead of metal
chips, hence the funny "pearl" look.  It's a neat process...the Bently(5k
series) has a section on how to do it; if you have a set it's probably in
yours too.

>I understand a 20v turbo is a 20v turbo, plus or minus a chip, exhaust
>header, intake design, turbo type, etc., and I agree the post 91 proboscis
>is less appealing, but I thought the chassis tuning had been changed also.
>Are the chassis essentially the same between the 91 200 and 92 S4, say?  It
I do remember hearing that the S4 chassis is slightly better; slighty
stiffer.  Something about the floorpan getting beefed up, hence the added
weight?  I forgot about that change in my little list.  I wouldn't think it
to be worth it; I pressed my car fairly hard on Bear Notch Rd and it took
everything in stride.  I'd say that you'd have to be fairly into track
stuff to notice or care about the difference.

Now one thing Andrew and I both liked was the graphite trim on the S4(or
was it an S6?) that was there...that stuff looked really spiffy.  The
question is, how much $, time, and effort(and will it work?)  Several
friends mentioned the wood trim is kinda tacky and I tend to agree(esp the
wood shifter;I'm sorely temped to steal the leather one off the 5kCST; it's
larger and feels nicer.)  Doing the graphite would result in an interior
that is distinctly unique, but not ugly(as so many attempts at having
something "unique" are.  New VW bug is an excellent example) and it would
complement the black paintjob and black interior(I think the zebrano would
be better in a light colored interior.)

>I suppose if I liked gold paint I could look at the 200 down on the Cape
>that is hopped up (and fairly high priced) and has been for sale for a
>while.

Stay away from that car.  If it's the car I remember, the guy blew out the
engine on it on the way back from Lime Rock, and just finished
transplanting in a new engine or block, I can't remember which.  He had a
rediculous number of modifications to the car and expected to get all of
the money back on it; there were too many mods for my tastes; I wouldn't
consider more than Euros and Hoppen stage 1 in my car.  He had a fairly
snotty attitude about the whole thing(direct quote from my initial phone
conversation: "Look kid, what do you want with an old man's car?"), claimed
the car was "museum-quality"(right, you take a museum quality car to the
track, uh huh) and I personally would never buy a car from him from his
attitude alone.  He struck me as one of those rich, uptight assholes who
wanted the car to be SEP(Someone Else's Problem) after he trashed it at the
track(he claimed on the way home, bullsh*t.)  His "personal secretary"
answered the phone when I called his home phone #, he owns something like
5-6 Audis, runs several businesses in the area, and was very impressed with
himself.

I don't usually get so opinionated about a person and/or their personality;
this guy was an exception.


OTOH, if it was the car being sold by a dealership, then it's a different
car and I remember seeing it in the paper but know nothing about it.  If it
is, then I seem to remember avoiding the car because I thought gold would
look disgusting and tacky(totally my preference!)

Brett

------
Brett Dikeman
brett@arthur.malebolge.com
~)-|
Java, n.
        The Philosopher's Stone of the alchemists, the Second Coming of
Christ, the Maltese Falcon, and the fourth Star Wars movie, all rolled into
one. A technology for developing programs that will run on any platform,
and crash in a different way on all of them. A mighty acorn that grew from
a tiny Oak. An idea whose time has come, leaving General Magic to sleep on
the wet spot.
	-Godling's Glossary