Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Today I am going to try my hand at car jacking:

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There is always a better hand. ;oP

I would love to own that exact car - it's a long-nose, it's orange, it's a Targa. Bosh.

Hefty - is this a standard car, or something that's been put together from a variety of sources?

Classy dude

There's a green 912 on fuchs parked outside the British Museum most mornings, very nice

I remember reading an interview with a well known specialist who bemoaned the then-popular choice of "dog's knob red" as he called it. "To me, German cars should be silver."

Guard's red is one of the nicest reds on any car though. The Chrysler Viper red, Ferrari Rosso and the nice (but quick to fade) red Ford painted a lot of 90s Fiestas are my other favourites. (I'm don't do this for all the colours, but I made some notes when planning a custom Mini once)

This weekend I had a wedding to attend and then a trip deep into Wales to fulfil one of Toni's last requests.
Requiring decent luggage space, a good stereo and lots of comfort (plus I just wanted to try one) I decided to forego the Porsche and rent a new Jaguar XE from Avis Prestige. I got a 3.0 supercharged version which has the 340bhp engine from the entry level F type. Which is 100 bhp more than my Porker. Yay!

Fuck me, what a car the XE S is. The power is just fantastic - you put your foot down at even part throttle and you're flung back into the seat. Acceleration is absurdly fast, and the noise it makes is just incredible. You find yourself flooring the throttle just to hear it again and again. And you giggle like a loon every time. It never gets boring.

The chassis, though, is what sets it apart from the herd. BMW and Mercedes must be weeping at how much better it is (forget Audi, they've not made a car that is good to drive since the original Quattro). It rides so well and comfortably and yet it steers and corners like nothing else I've ever experienced. It's not so much like it's on rails as though it's being guided by a supernatural force. On the winding A and B roads of mid-Wales it was an utter revelation. I've never found a corner I've needed to slow the Boxster down for, but that's kind of its only trick. The Jaguar outclasses it totally.

Sadly my company list only offers the 2 litre turbodiesels. Fucking stupid carbon emissions.

Take car allowance in cash, lease Jag you want?

Quite probably a legit 70/71 targa that. Backdates are often so good it's tricky to tell, but I'd wager it's proper.

But.

Whilst 15x7 Fuchs were around then it's massively unlikely that car was delivered on them, I'm not sure they were even an option, so I'm calling wrong wheels, should be 15x6.

forget Audi, they've not made a car that is good to drive since the original Quattro

The original Quattro is actually pretty shit to drive. All nose heavy, laggy and under steery. Turns in like a thing that doesn't turn in very well at all. Proper disappoint compared to other good contemporaries like the Lancia Growler. They say the R8 is good, but otherwise I'm pretty sure Audi has never made a nice handling/steering car.

Like the rest then. It's that whole sticking the big heavy engine in front of the front wheels thing. That's why the Bentley Continental GT looks so wrong.

The golf based ones are no better. Literally the car I have hated the most of everything I have driven is an Audi A3.

Quite probably a legit 70/71 targa that. Backdates are often so good it's tricky to tell, but I'd wager it's proper.

But.

Whilst 15x7 Fuchs were around then it's massively unlikely that car was delivered on them, I'm not sure they were even an option, so I'm calling wrong wheels, should be 15x6.

It could only be a backdate if they'd swapped the entire interior, which of course they may well have done.

I loved everything about this car, other than it wasn't mine. Let me guess - £100,000 minimum, and it'd break down every hour and a half?

Can the forum fountain of Porsche knowledge enlighten to me as to whether the metalic green in the foreground of this photo is a legit porsche colour, and if so what that colour is called? I'm assuming it won't be a standard VAG colour, as it looks too old to be a VAG model..... Looking at you @Hefty

Is it Oak Green?

Thanks!

(disclaimer: I am in no way condoning any frowned upon body mods in the photo, just trying to ascertain the colour for a bike related project)

All this Porsche chat is making me nauseous:)

I've driven a 07 s3 like a fuckhead around Brecon Beacons and struggle to believe this.

Thoroughly capable, to the point of being a bit sterile, in my opinion.

How hard were you driving?

I also have to say the '14 S3 i test drove before i bought my M135 was a pretty sweet drive.

And it's the first Jag built in a Land Rover factory :)

So, is it really possible to flip a G Wagon at 10-15mph?!

I suspect an A3 diesel and an S3 are two very different things, but the A3 was heavy, plodding, dog slow and generally unpleasant inside. I expected it to drive like the Golf with the same engine but it was noticeably worse.

if you drive up another car then apparently yes!

agreed - that green is ace, i would also like to know what it is - i tried it once and the green came out way too bright, i was quite disappointed (bob jacksons)

Different cars for sure, but the chat was about audis in general, no?

Were you using a regular grey primer? You need to use red primer/base coat to get a good depth with dark green, especially metallics.

Don't think that is a factory finish (Porsche).

The colour is a dark metallic shade of Sage tho?

possibly

metallic green
olive green 274, a colour that didn't exist in metallic form in da '70s
irish green 213, ditto
leaf green 218, ditto

probably a custom palette refinish