Automotive Nostalgia and How to Spot a Bad Salesperson

Assembled here are the best Oppositelock posts from Wednesday and Thursday. Today we’ve got sleazy sales tactics, rose coloured glasses, how much slower the 2014 cars are and more.

As an automotive buyer’s consultant I have dealt with a lot of salespeople. Most of them are good, some of them not so good. In my last installment, I told you how to spot the good ones. Sometimes we are not so lucky. The absolute worst sales experience I ever had didn’t happen at a car dealership; it happened when I needed windows for my house.

From the Greek words meaning, “pain from wanting to return home,” it afflicts most people. It’s the reason so many are willing to neglect factual information for the comfort of the familiar… It’s the reason we romanticize the high-maintenance, unsafe, inefficient, and underpowered cars of yesteryear, despite the fact that today’s cars are faster, more reliable, more efficient, and far safer than those manufactured even two decades ago.

Before you and your pals go off knocking around the new 2014 Formula 1 chassis for being slow enough to stop the world, it may be best to attain some statistical data to back up your arguments.

We see them everywhere, but what the hell do they mean and where did they come from? Ferrari: The logo was first seen on Italian fighter planes flown by the top ace Francesco Baracca back in WWI. Enzo met Francesco’s mother after a race who gave the nudge, nudge, wink, wink idea for him to plaster them all over his cars as a symbol for good luck…

It was the 3rd of July 2013, and I was absolutely astonished. I re-read the message from Nissan UK three, maybe four times. Maybe it was even more than that. This was really going to happen, and I felt like the luckiest bloke on earth. ‘Congratulations Jonny you have won our contest and are off to Goodwood’s Moving Motor Show on the 11th of July, and you get to drive the Nissan Juke Nismo up the hill!’

Perhaps I’m a bit grumpy this morning, maybe the single cup of coffee hasn’t quite been enough to get my brain working to the point where I can avoid getting annoyed by the slightest thing. Or perhaps I have a point, and the following rant is perfectly reasonable.

The X4 might just be the smartest car BMW has made. Now before you all try to revoke my Jalop card, let me explain. The X4 is a compact crossover, you know who wants compact crossovers? EVERYONE! O.k. not everyone, we want wagons and Miatas, but the people that actually buy new cars want compact crossovers.

All the talk about the Koenigsegg One:1 and its bonkers 1 BHP/kg power to weight ratio got me thinking. First of all, the mixed unit systems in “BHP” and “kg” grates on me for aesthetic reasons, and the fact that the number is “1″ is a happy accident but ultimately meaningless. Even deeper than that, however, is the fact that dimensional analysis reveals that it is not immediately obvious how to massage this metric into a dimensionless number that can be used as a figure of merit for automotive performance.

The first generation Toyota MR2 was a lightweight 2-seater budget sports car built from 1984 to 1989. A speedy version had a small Roots supercharger mated to an inline-4 cylinder making 145 hp…not exactly a screamer by any standard. Stick a big V6 from a Toyota Avalon into the back and suddenly things get exciting. Also check out The Daimler DS420G Is The Thinking Man’s Version Of A Minivan.

While the Alfa 4C is pretty car, there are several huge problems that will likely doom the car here (and likely elsewhere). 1. Alfa’s well earned reputation for poor quality and massive, jaw dropping depreciation. Top Gear UK had a good discussion on this point. Alfa’s reputation in the US is even worse. 2. It is really expensive, especially for that engine…

The brazilian auto industry history is curious. Between 1976 and 1990, our economy was completely closed, meaning we could not import nothing. Because that, many gearheads projected and built cars in garages, and started small businesses selling them for other people. The vast majority of them was based on VW Beetles, VW Brasilias and VW Kombis, because they were readly available and were quite cheap (compared to other options). The “fora-de-série” culture grew large, and became a very important part of our automotive history… We begin now, with the Cintra 959.

Nobody ever suspects the Chevrolet Beretta, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s the most versatile tuning platform ever created for those who want the ultimate bang for the buck performance. It’s the car you never knew you wanted!

I ride bikes, I have friends, and I often find myself travelling to places with no pavement. Therefore, I now lust for a full cab, short bed, Toyota Tacoma TRD. Probably none of you know me personally, but take my word for it, this vehicle seems highly out of character for me. It is far too reliable, sensible, and dare I say even boring for a Jalop to be seen in. But it’s also perfect.

Two years ago, driving a Mazda3 hatch, the word “mod” wasn’t a part of my vocabulary. However, things quickly changed in the days and weeks leading up to the purchase of my BMW 335 coupe. It all started with a little basic innocent car research that brought me to the numerous BMW forums out there. From there, the floodgates opened. I started convincing myself I needed car parts I had never even heard of before!

If you were born in the former Soviet Union you will most likely know this vehicle but have never seen it in person. If you are from any other part of the world chances are you probably weren’t even aware it existed. Meet Soviet era minivan named “Start”.

It never fails. Every auto show season, there’s at least one automaker who rolls out a concept version of a new SUV that is — although they vehemently deny it — bound for production. That’s all well and good, except when they somehow manage to lose the back two doors on the way to reveal day.

Hello Oppo, I’m back. Or, I’m still here but I’m actually posting something. And by something, I meanChasing Die-Cast Cars which is a weekly (I hope?) attempt by yours truly to attempt to try and summarize the latest Hot Wheels (and etc) posts made b you, my fellow die-cast addicts and Opponautohaulics.

So this is one of those “Cadillac” things everybody is always on about. I like it. If the first gen CTS re-launched Cadillac into the 21st century, the second gen proved that the former “standard of the world” was ready to take its title back.

The Best of the Rest

Dr861 spent a weekend day in a bucking’ Bronco. Quarterlifecrisis shared some pictures form a New Years Eve cruise and Brickyard Grand Prix practice. Harris Lue took a nice photo of his Mustang at the beach. Thomas Nourse went to Mardi Gras. Feather-throttle-not-hair found some nice Bimmers around Seattle and made a neat video of some RC cars. FreddsterExprs saw his first Model S. Reigntastic got some new wheels. Jagvar spotted some weird cars in the Caribbean. AncientOfDays posted some photos of his AMC Eagle. 505Turbeaux’s father forgot he had a penis. BiTurbo228 attempted to straighten the chassis for his Spitfire. Jesuschrysler bought his first project. Briannutter1 attended the CLE Auto Show. RotarylessLover picked up an NC Miata.

As always, If I’ve missed something and you would like me to include it, let me know.

Fun Discussions

There were several posts that asked questions and sparked some good discussion on Wednesday and Thursday. Take a peek and chime in on some of those listed below:

Just the #tips

Honorable Mentions

These posts have already been shared with Jalopnik directly but deserve to be mentioned again because they were first posted on Oppositelock:

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