That's a typo. They meant 3462. Miata's weigh like 2400lbs. Not AWD 4dr sedans. Trust me.

and 180hp in a 3400lb car is not fast, although i'm sure you can beat a ton of cars 60ft since you have twice as many wheels spinning as them.

however, that carbonfiber from the factory shit's hott.

please don't beat it up, it's a beautiful car and doesn't need someone beating the shit out of it.

 

The typo makes sense after seeing this mailing list message that Audi brochures say it weighs 3300 lbs.

If you get to drive an Audi like mine, there is power everywhere, it can hold it's own past 60 feet. For all practical sprints from the red light, the Audi can roll hard. However, it falls in the pack in a racing course with cones. It's not a magic car, it can't beat everything, but it's definitely something special.

The carbon fiber trim is nice, however it wouldn't look good in my car, as I have Ecru leather, the wood trim strikes a good balance.

As far as beating it up, meaning my car, I don't at all. This guy I know makes fun that I shift at 4k RPM's (redline is at 6.4k), I do that to be good on gas mileage and the engine. I'm not trying to advance the aging at all, in fact I'd like to get it repainted with factory paint.

 

for some reason, shifting at 4k doesnt compute with getting good gas economy. i could be wrong though. i shift at 3k and i get 5 days on a 1/2 a tank. (a half tank is only $6-$8) 38mpg baby!!

 

i will leave myself out of this one.

 

n/a civic with stock compression = gas sipper. now if you add some forced induction into that mix... hehe

 

well that's a first..

 

with everything else being equal, it should make sense that more RPM's = bad fuel economy, if I keep the RPM's down, less gas is used.

 

OK lets get something straight here, AWD will not make your car handle(stick in the corner) better. It may allow you to get the power down better and exit the corner faster. And yes I have driven AWD cars, I have owned and open tracked AWD DSM's in the past.

 

I understand that AWD can't help with the lateral forces (perpendicular to the direction of travel) because tires are only made to go forward. With AWD you get balanced (more importantly, predictable) driving characteristics, you don't get oversteer or understeer on two-wheel drive cars; power is more evenly distributed to all wheels. You can point the hood and hit the gas and it gets you there. What this gets the average rally driver is more grip than the two-wheel drive boys. In some race leagues, AWD has been outlawed because it's ruled as being unfair.

 

Be careful how you word that. You won't get power induced oversteer or understeer but I guarantee that it has some understeer or oversteer characteristic. Just because you have AWD and jump on the gas at the apex does not mean you are going to make the exit. If you have too much speed you are still going to understeer off the road. Trust me, I understand the merits of awd and racing. It is just sometimes guys get awd cars and think they are now invincible. By the way I do like the car.