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In: Automotive
With: 28 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 30 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 5 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 0 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 2 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 0 Comments

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 →

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In: Automotive
With: 1 Comment

After my first Drivers Education weekend, I was hooked.  I loved the opportunity to take my car to a road course and push my own limits (if not those of the car), all while having an instructor in the car with me and not worrying about being faster than anyone else.  I felt safe and had fun, so I was back for a second time. I was not surprised that I remembered the road course completely.  I didn't lose much from my previous time on the track, but it took me until the end of the first day before I was back to where IRead More →

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In: Automotive
With: 0 Comments

I completed my first Porsche Drivers Education event at the Putnam Park road course this past weekend.  I'd been wanting to do something like this for quite some time, but just never made it happen.  I'm very pleased that I finally did.  The people I met were awesome and the time on the track was probably the most fun I've had in my Boxster in the 8 years I've owned it. At first, I was concerned that I'd feel this strong urge to upgrade my 2.5L Boxster to something more powerful.  I was surprised that the weekend had the exact opposite effect — I wasRead More →

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In: Automotive, Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I finally took the first step in getting my music collection back into my car. I used to listen to CD’s all the time when I had my Pioneer 6-disc changer and a bunch of cartridges. However, after my headunit when bad, I had no changer and starting listening more to the radio. Today, I ordered a PhatNoise PhatBox for my Infiniti. If all goes well, I’ll probably get one for my other vehicles as well. I was seriously considering the Omnifi devices (with openfi add-on) because of WiFi synchronization, but decided on the PhatBox because of FLAC support, OEM headunit interface, and voice promptsRead More →

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In: Automotive
With: 0 Comments

I guess things have changed since my last post. Michelin has admitted that they made a mistake in designing their tires and has offered refunds to race fans. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I’ll have no problem buying Michelin tires again and I’ll definitely be at the USGP next year. Too bad this wasn’t the response initially, but Michelin definitely cleaned this up in the best possible manner.Read More →