Yes, I know that title can cover a vast array of topics, but
Science Alert is telling us that global warming is now inevitable so I decided to live it up, sold the Jag and bought
one of these. It's an 02 and very vanilla featuring almost no automated doo dads at all. Still I got a manual trans, 3.8l engine with a moderately noisy exhaust, $3.20 in change in the center console and a Passport radar detector. It cleaned up nicely and the goo in the cup holder quit moving after one application of Goo Gone and a shot of Oil Eater, and with only 2 more soakings in G-G, is now completely gone.
This is a lot closer to a sports car than the Jag and I'm finding it more fun to drive. No it is not what I consider a sports car, but I believe it'll do.
No it doesn't come with a big black Stetson hat. That's a Pontiac option. As a mid-life crisis car, it suggests I'll live to be about 130 so I'll take that optimistic outlook.
4 comments:
For me no automated doo dads is a big plus!!!
Merle
The Jag was an exercise in wretched excess but this one is genuinely bare bones. The aftermarket radio is nice but none of the steering wheel controls for the original radio now work.
I also miss the cruise control.
Depending on how old the radio is, there might be a kit to hook it to the steering wheel controls. Typically, I check Crutchfield for that sort of stuff.
I assume that adding cruise control is do-able. I assume all the wiring harness hookups are there. The biggest obstacle will be the stalk controls. Or maybe those go on the airbag enclosure. Whatever.
The #1 thing I miss on my current vehicle is variable intermittent wipers.
Avoidance of automated doo-dads will only get more difficult. The ever-helpful feddies have mandated backup cameras starting with model year 2019. I haven't looked recently, but I suspect that full analog instrumentation is going the way of the dodo. I wonder how much longer it'll be possible to get a manual tranny in anything new, at the plebian market level. Is that even possible now?
Good thing you got the checkered flag go-fast decals.
The radio is fairly recent and I can probably live with the basic buttons. The cruise wiring seems to be there at least where the turn signal stalk sits, just pop out the old one and pop in the new one with the buttons. The mechanical bits will need to be scrounged from the junkyard.
You want intermittent wipers, get a Mini. Jos. Lucas invented them along with intermittent headlights and intermittent ignition systems.
The short circuit was an Italian invention. I'm told that Lamborghini is an Italian word for "fire under the dashboard".
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