I had two very different experiences with stop/start tech on new cars & trucks. In 2019 I turned 40 and my wife got me a car guy's dream vacation to Germany and Italy to do everything car related. I even thought I got to pick out a fun turbo manual hot hatch as our rental car to fly on the autobahn and zip through the twisty roads in the swiss alps. Unfortunately, our travel agent sucked and stuck me with the exact opposite car I wanted and we could not change our car once we landed in Germany like she promised. So we got to put 1,500 miles on a big fat Volvo wagon with A/T and auto stop start. It SUCKED as it was extremely jerky starting out to the point that it would almost stall every time I started from a stop.

Fast forward to spring 2021 when I got my Jeep Gladiator with auto stop/start. That vehicle was slow and had horrible steering, but the auto stop/start was very good. It was so quick that I could almost try to race my foot from brake to gas before it auto started again. I could get behind tech that works that well if it saves me some gas money and I get to be a tree hugger while I wait at the red light for 3 solid minutes. My only thought is that doesn't the auto stop/start tech put more wear on the starter, engine, etc?

As far as safety features on new cars go, I am in the old school camp of thinking less intervention is a good thing for me. I know that is becoming much harder to find the newer the cars get, but if you want a more analog experience like me just know that most vehicles allow you to disable the features you don't want and even remember your preferences.

 

^^Supposedly the starters used in stop/start are beefier. The stinger has a H7 AGM battery (and it's just a 2.5L), the 3.3 has the H8 AGM. Start/stop will not work if battery voltage doesn't meet a certain minimum. If my car sits for a while (off the battery ternder), start/stop usually doesn't work until the car's been driven for a good 30-45 min first.

I agree, it is more wear and tear. Someone in the field told me the stop doesn't happen randomly, rather the pistons are at a very specific location in the timing to minimize effort needed to restart.

I only enable start/stop when approaching known long red lights (or train). Otherwise it's off 99.7% of the time.

h7 battery - 800cca, 140min reserve and goes for ~$200. The 4 cyl accord 2.4 NA originally came with a little 51R battery rated at 400cca.

 

Well that's interesting. How in the world do they determine which location will minimize effort to restart when the pistons are in different positions? I would imagine that gets more and more complicated as you go up the ladder to larger engines with more pistons.

 

^^Using the crank and cam position sensors. I can't recall for sure, but vaguely recall the ideal stop spot would be somewhere in the compression stroke being mentioned. The ecu knows current engine rpm, how long it takes to reach a certain degree point in the timing. It gets quite complicated. Some smart engineers must have really thought hard hard to best optimize this.

 

Fascinating. I bet they can easily figure out the position of the pistons. The really interesting part is that pistons have different firing orders so they would all be in different positions. I wonder how they determine which piston in which position will make the engine easier to start. Crazy stuff. Sorry if I am boring you guys. I'm a visual learner and just trying to picture that inside the engine. Anyway, carry on...

 

I've been debating for some time now what I want to get when I'm able to replace my G, and I'm pretty well stuck on getting a G8.
There's other options I'd be ok with as well like the Lexus ISF or a charger SRT.

 

I have an 09 srt8. If you're considering the obs srt get an 09 or 10. Limited slip and stronger axles.

 

I definitely wouldn't mind that gen, it's agressive in its own way. But I do prefer the 15+ models. For the price though, I'd take a clean 09-10 for $5-10k less than what the 15+ models are going for.

 

The 6.1 hemi is better if you're going to seriously build the engine in my opinion. No vvt, no cylinder cut out when cruising. A lot less electronic management. The srt has a pretty nice interior too. Not compared to a bmw or Infiniti but for a 12 year old dodge it's pretty nice, especially the seats. I'd post a picture of my interior but it's pretty stripped now.

 

I probably wouldn't be doing any serious build. I only have the budget for one car so it has to be my daily as well. Most I'd do is a heads/cam/tune with an exhaust and maybe intake.
Do that on any car and it will wake up bigtime, especially pushrod V8's.

 

I've got an intake from previous owner, exhaust, decat, cam, and tune. it's pushing 410 at the tire. Not to mention Hotchkis springs, Bilstein struts, eibach sway bars with billet end links, valve body upgrade. It's definitely fun and corners a lot better than g37 at the moment.

 

Ok car peeps I need your 2 cents on this one. I recently discovered that Audi is one of the last brands we carry that has a very nice employee discount on all of their cars, except RS models. My wife really wants a convertible and I think I would be happy with an S4 that she is not nearly as excited about, but it would perform better and cost about $10k less. The compromise is the S5 sportback which she really likes the look of and it is basically a bit more stylish version of the S4 with a hatchback and it falls almost right in the middle of the S5 convertible and S4 in terms of price.

Compared to my STI Type RA, all 3 options have much better fit and finish, a better stereo, massaging seats, adaptive suspension & exhaust, better mpg, a ton of other features, and 491 hp & 629 lb/ft. of torque with just an APR E85 tune!?! The only downside is no manual transmission option. 99% of my driving is to and from work and any of these Audi options are better for that and plenty of fun. Which way would you go?

Black S4 Premium Plus with options


Red S4 Premium Plus


Black S5 Sport Back Premium Plus with black optic package and other options


S5 Cabrio- my least favorite option

 

In black the S4 just looks like a Jetta to me. Looks good in red though.

 

I agree. The S4 is still a bit plain looking in black, even with all the chrome trim and the nicer wheels. You can also get a black optic package to black out all the chrome trim, but it almost looks generic in black. Because it looks plain in black I think you almost have to get red to be different. Black S4's are a dime a dozen. Too bad my wife really wants black lol. The S5 sport back is definitely more of a looker in black and more versatile for hauling things like my mountain bike with the hatchback.

The thing I struggle with is that I still enjoy my car when I drive it fast and there is nothing wrong with it. It is just not the best daily driver with a bit bumpy ride and racecar razor sharp responses. I just feel like a fast Audi is a car old retired guys get who used to have really fast cars. Or maybe I am just not ready to admit that I am getting older and the massaging seat is an awesome idea.

 

What about an Audi s7? I personally like the body style.