There is an issue with front suspension mount frame cracking with the early Gen 1 Audi R8. But it can be prevented relatively inexpensively, or perhaps even for no cost. Read on for full details.Read More →
I purchased a 2013 Audi S7 this year. While I absolutely love the car, and I’m particularly impressed with the fast and smooth shifting of the S-tronic transmission. I was very surprised and a bit disappointed that the transmission fluid (and spark plugs) have a scheduled maintenance interval of 40,000 miles. This is overly frequent for a modern car; the very similar Porsche PDK transmission has a 120,000 mile service interval. Since I prefer to do to my own vehicle maintenance, I compiled a list of the required parts and a general overview of the transmission fluid change process. Transmission Model: 0B5 7-speed dual clutch,Read More →
On March 1, 2013, I canceled my order for what I thought would be my next car, a Tesla Model S. The reason is because I felt Tesla was being hugely misleading with their marketing promises and warranty practices. I placed a substantial down payment on what I thought would be my next vehicle, only to find out that it didn’t meet all of the expectations that Tesla had created. They lost me as a customer by putting their needs above their customer’s. Here are the concerns that led to my order cancellation: Annual fee to maintain warranty: Tesla tries to make it sound likeRead More →
10 years ago today, on July 25, 1998, I took delivery of my 1999 Porsche Boxster. During that time, I’ve experienced 43,000 miles of top-down convertible bliss. My rule-of-thumb is that it should be driven only with the top down. I don’t want to be one of those top-up-on-a-beautiful-day people. Early each year, I look forward to first clear day above 40 degrees so that I can put the top down, the collar on my jacket up, the heated seats on, and enjoy the brisk prelude to spring. I’ve been determined to keep the car throughout the changes in life that typically cause owners toRead More →
The one performance technology that has been lacking from Porsche vehicles is a dual clutch, electronically controlled manual transmission. The wait is now over. Porsche was the first to develop this technology (about 25 years ago) but one of the last performance brands to implement it. Below is an excellent video explaining how it operates, but the benefit is instantaneous upshifts and downshifts with perfect engine speed matching. It will be available in the Model Year 2009 911 and 2010 Boxster/Cayman. Some additional details: This is a 7-speed transmission. 7th gear being is an overdrive gear for fuel economy. Max speed is obtained in 6thRead More →
As Nicole mentioned mentioned in a post today, we were completely snowed-in until a entrepreneurial BobCat operator cleared our driveway (see her blog entry for pictures.) I was thankful for the modern mechanical marvel, especially given the fact that I spent an hour-and-a-half clearing the driveway last night only to have my work completely erased by snow drifts during the night. Seeing all the snow and the machinery makes me think of a pretty amazing piece of equipment designed to function in a similar environment, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. I first learned of the novel approach to polar exploration about 4 years ago when someoneRead More →
After a disastrous experience with Mintex Red Box brake pads I decided it was necessary to upgrade something with much higher performance capabilities. I’ve gotten several recommendations, including Hawk HPS street pads, the Hawk track-only pads, and a couple of different Padgid track pads. However, my final decision was BHP XPS pads because they are essentially track pads that also can be used on the street. I really don’t see myself swapping pads before and after every track weekend. Track pads don’t perform well cold and street pads don’t perform well when extremely hot, but apparently the BHP pads overcame this problem and give closeRead More →
Last night, Nicole and I had several friends over and we wound up watching The Sentinel. The movie was not all that great but what I found even more distracting was the rattles in the room generated by the substantial bass of my subwoofer. I was probably the only one in the room that noticed or was disturbed by it, but so what. So today I’m identifying the offenders in the room. I know the door covering the equipment rack is rattling and there is a light fixture in the ceiling rattling as well. But both rattle at different frequencies and it’s a pain toRead More →
For the third time this year, I visited Putnam Park for Porsche Driver Education weekend. This event was hosted by the Central Indiana Region, and thought they did a better job than the Kentucky Region and Mid-Ohio Region (but all were great). I was surprised how long it took me to get back to the performance level I obtained during my previous weekend. I feel like I was slower the entire first day this session, but reached and maybe exceeded my previous levels on the second day. I don’t have a lap timer (yet) so I’m not really sure how I was doing, but it’sRead More →
I would have missed out on this great car show if it hadn’t been for my friend Kurt (whom I met at my first Porsche DE weekend) asking me if I wanted to go. So Nicole and I followed Kurt and his wife Becky to the small town of Oxford, OH. The entire downtown area was blocked-off for Porsches and there were a lot of great cars to see. Had I known my car was going to be part of the show, I would have washed it. It was still dirty from the track and still had the numbers on the windshield, Oh well. MyRead More →