A mate in Switzerland own the previous gen of the Golf R variant (the name of the wagon version in EU). He says it is hard to drive sensibly with it.
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A mate in Switzerland own the previous gen of the Golf R variant (the name of the wagon version in EU). He says it is hard to drive sensibly with it.
The US hates wagons.
Unless they're lifted so they're SUV-like. And they can't be called wagons. Then we love them.
Sad but true. We were actually good at them, back before our eyes wandered from the Roadmaster to the Suburban. Buick drove a stake through the heart of this monster, just one year before its 50th birthday:
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod...1660507825.jpg
Even Consumer Reports gave it decent marks.
The Buick Roadmonster Is a Beautiful, Memorable Dinosaur
The Boss Wagon is alive and well in a very unlikely way with the final Buick Roadmaster.
I had two, a '94 and a '96. Great cars, especially the latter. One of the last off the line, bought it from an orthodontist whose father worked in the plant. Maroon with tan leather, must have taken half a herd of cows. Towing package. CD changer. I once put over 100 2x4's in the back.
Now that's^ a truck. Probably has a bigger bed than most of the sofa-couch 4WD house boats these days.
That was my truck for many yrs. Got it from a transplant team nurse who stopped making payments. Holy cow could that thing go thru snow. Even rusted out it easily passed emissions. I donated it because my neighbors were talking trash. Eh.
What I loved most about that truck was the simplicity.
I don't disagree, but wagons seem to cluster in specific neighborhoods.
Here's the curb across the street from one of our local playgrounds a couple weeks ago:
https://i.imgur.com/HS1sLSX.jpg
While your indicated location (and the license plate of the black Volvo) somewhat gave the game away, I would have guessed a well-to-do urban area of an Upper Midwest city even without those hints.
The same set-up would also not look out of place in certain parts of Madison, WI or in say Whitefish Bay, WI (an original street-car suburb of Milwaukee).
If I were a betting man, I'd wager $25 that your photo was taken in Saint Paul, say the western part of Macalester-Groveland. The free library and the housing style are the significant hints.
And to bring this home a bit, I think at least five active posters here presently own a wagon:
-1 Audi,
-1 Mercedes-Benz, and
-3 Volvo.
Road cyclists who place importance on aesthetics tend to buy wagons.
Ha, really close. This is across the street from Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, so just southwest of your guess. Could have just as well been Mac-Groveland, Highland Park, Prospect Park, Cathedral Hill, or Kenwood.
If you're within a half mile of water (lake, river, or creek) in south Minneapolis or St. Paul, and you include Outbacks as wagons, wagons still outnumber SUVs on many blocks.
My wife had an interview at Hennepin Medical Center back in February. And while she was interviewing, I drove around to check out potential places we'd want to live. Those neighborhoods along the Mississippi (such as the one in your photo) are really charming, and the trails/ roads nearby appear to be very conducive to road cycling as well.
We would be very open to moving to the area (even with the winter months).
https://i.imgur.com/AFOxPSH.jpg
Spotted on my coffee walk this morning in Belltown.
There’s an orange one on Phinney Ridge that is clearly owned by a classic Volvo nut (is there a name for those people?)
It has subtle mods all over it that indicate love and probably obsession.
Back to the Golf R.
The basic 2 liter turbo 4 is used in VWs and a number of Audis are similar, although with different levels of “tune”.
The Golf R and S3 have the pinnacle version of the engine.
In VWs and the Audi 3 series, the engine is mounted transversely, whereas in the A4 and A6 lines, it is mounted longitudinally. The AWD systems (for those models that have AWD) are different between the two engine layouts.
And that blue Golf R is making me drool. Not long ago, dealers were asking 5-10 k over sticker. I hope that’s a thing of the past now.
I would love to have one but decided against even stopping into the dealership to look further. It makes zero (far less than zero actually - negative) financial sense. As lukewarm as I feel about some aspects of my Model Y, I’m not moving on from it anytime soon. And a Golf size/shape of car has far too much overlap with my current car. Additionally, I can either add a car or a small camper in my current living situation but not both. Not sure about either but if I got a second car that’d be the end of the musing about a small camper for occasional getaways to state parks or beyond.
I'm always stunned at how long car bodies last in places where the roads aren't covered in salt six months of the year.
Practical question for folks in the salt belt: Do any of you do underbody treatments on your cars? I tried Googling it and found one shop that specializes in it an hour away. It must not be that common here. If you've done it, did it help?
I do monthly underbody washes on my V60 CC and call it good (so three total, one for each of January, February, and March). Volvo is supposedly very good when it comes to corrosion resistance, as would be expected of a manufacturer based in Sweden.
My Dad worked in a steel mill environment for 44 years and we lived in Pittsburgh. A common Winter joke was “there is so much salt on my car, that when I pulled up to the last stop sign, a deer came over and started licking the car.” Needless to say, as kids, we became very skilled in bodywork and bondo if we wanted a car to last 5 years, and also pass the bi-annual state safety inspections.
https://i.imgur.com/9JWdHmC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Zf7tPfT.jpg
So bad arse, there’s no model designation, although when I see that blue, it reminds me of my Dad’s ‘72 Chevy Vega.
Did you find that in Madison Park? Pretty sure I’ve seen a vintage Targa in apple green over there. If you’re looking.
What is the outcome when an El Camino and a Porsche mate?
https://i.imgur.com/GhJcY7T.jpg
yep…about $2,200 if I recall…close to what my first year of tuition and room and board cost too.
While we are in the 70’s, seen at the bodyshop while picking up the Mini yesterday…
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c45d9dea_c.jpg
My wife's Bolt charging last night (our Level 2 gets installed next week) after she successfully (and slowly) drove from Ann Arbor MI up to Hancock MI and back for a week up north. Will echo the charger reviews from above (from her standpoint, I already knew this rom work trips). Having to download and charge all the various Apps sucks. (vs being able to just swipe your cc directly). DC Fast charging rate doesn't matter much with the Bolt since ours only charges at 55kW until up to 65% or so SOC and then tapers off - so even the underperforming (vs their rating) DC Fast Chargers max it out. No non-Tesla DC Fast charging in Marquette (WTF? - it's the upper peninsula's largest city) so she had to drive up through Escanaba.
It is crazy efficient around town though (4.5-4.7 m/KWh).
She ordered the stripes a few weeks ago and we put them on the car last week. Ours has a brand new battery with slightly higher capacity and an 8 year 100k mile warranty on it.
Attachment 124351
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/09...omments-page=1
The Ars Technica review of Mercedes' level 3 driving system. It deactivates under what seem to be well-defined conditions, including the presence of pedestrians or cyclists. In the aftermath of iffy decisions by Uber and Tesla, I'm on board with the approach of the automaker defining their responsibility at the outset and then clearly explaining the driver's responsibility.
I like that, assuming the map contour lines reflect a real place. I don't like any single place enough to have it mapped on my trick, but I like the idea that this individual does.