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I did not realize how bad my left knee was getting until I didn't have to work a clutch pedal anymore. The constant pain that slowly built was only noticeable in its absence.
The slush-box is much easier on The Lovely Harvey's neck. No matter how smooth I tried to be, I was still jarring her some.
Being several inches higher off the ground sure aids ingress and egress. Harvey even predicted that there was a day coming when our old asses would not be able to get in an out of The Precious.
Displacement on Demand is seamless, the only way to tell it's changed from a V-8 to a V-4 is to turn on the mileage display in the information center.
It is so much smoother than The Precious! Bumps and potholes are not so back-breaking. Softer suspension and higher profile rubber will do that for you. Oh and being half a ton heavier...
Having a back seat is nice.
Having a trunk is also nice.
Putting the shifter in "L" limits the car to the first three gears. 3rd is the equivalent to having 4.11 gears in my old Camaro. The Beast is perky in 'L' in "sport" mode.
For the record, the old Silver Bullet had 2.73 gears running a TH350 and 215-70R15 tires. I just calculated what gearing I'd need to match 3rd in The Beast running a 2.92 rear and 235-50R18's.
Obviously a TH350 and a 6L80 have completely different gearing.
TH350 is 2.52/1.52/1 and the 6L80 is 4.03/2.36/1.52/1.15/0.85/0.67.
2nd and 3rd are the same between the two!
In short, I'm happy with my new hot rod.
Needs some exhaust with some rumble though. I'm not a cop so my car don't need to be able to sneak up on people.
Good thoughts on climbing in / out of vehicles as we age. I am about 60 lbs overweight (sez the body index table) and yesterday, found out how hard it is to climb out of a low slung vehicle. Had to hook elbow over on roof and pull myself up, creaky knees audibly complaining about the extra work. I'm not getting old - I GOT old. My pick-up, slightly lifted is much easier to enter and leave.
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Ingress and egress are why the PT Cruiser and Scion xB sold so well to the over 65 demographic. I notice the difference between the sedan and crossover we have
DeleteI recently got a C6, similar to the dear departed Precious. It's actually easier for me to get in and out of than my C3 or C4, particularly the C4, the C3 is pretty close. The C6 is also probably the smoothest riding vehicle other than the Silverado. The C3 obviously has suspension design dating back to the 1963 C2 so it's no wonder. Even with a new 1981-1982 style composite monoleaf in the back and new shocks all around it's still an old car. And the C4 is set up for AutoX, so it's not really ever going to ride smooth, albeit it is not as bad as the 1984 Z51 car I had... those were the stiffest sprung and roughest riding ones in the modern era. So much so that there were so many complaints about the 1984s the the 1985s are about the softest ones.
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