Indeed. The W12 engine originated a long time ago and first saw commercial duty in the Phaeton and A8L I believe. It's origins are 2 of the VW Golf R32's VR6 engines mated together iirc. The best car in that class in the VAG group is the Porsche Panamera. It is a bit ugly though.
Those VWs have a quality I find hard to articulate, but the best would be 'as if the whole car is in your hands when you grab the wheel'. You not so much turn the steering wheel as well as swinging the car around. If you know what I mean.
This was a V10 Phaeton a friend was test-driving and he let me hold it for some time.
Jan
Describing cars is a thankless job indeed.For example, the more south of Europe you go, tastes change in comparison with Northern Europe by design. An Alfa Romeo will never work as smoothly and reliably as a German or Swedish made cars, but it will give a sense of life, soul, fire and brimstone. It is not said in vain that most people who get to druve Alfas will inevitably end up owning noe or more of them. Alfas have a special way they do things, not necessarily bettter than the say German way, but certainly different.
To assess a car, you have to keep a broadd mind. For example, my own 2012 Chevrolet Cruz, despite the GM and Chevrolet logo, is an excellent example of a mid sized German car, since it was designed and manufactured (engine drive train and mechanics in general) by Opel of Germany (even if it was assembled in South Korea in ex-Daewoo facilities), with typically Opel characteristics, but tempered by Big Daddy GM, so it has better road golding than most Opels, is not sickeiningly soft as most Opels, it has by far the best 5 speed manual gearbox in terms of ease of use but with some miscalculations (in my view) I have ever come across (inc. Mercedes-Benz), a brake system designed by some geek at home on a race track (outstanding) and the best electrical system I have ever seen on any car at any price (the part where Americans usually shine). But it can't take the rough handling and cornering an Alfa usually does with ease, and, while smooth in operation, it has no "heart and soul" a typical Alfa possesses.
To assess a car, you have to keep a broadd mind. For example, my own 2012 Chevrolet Cruz, despite the GM and Chevrolet logo, is an excellent example of a mid sized German car, since it was designed and manufactured (engine drive train and mechanics in general) by Opel of Germany (even if it was assembled in South Korea in ex-Daewoo facilities), with typically Opel characteristics, but tempered by Big Daddy GM, so it has better road golding than most Opels, is not sickeiningly soft as most Opels, it has by far the best 5 speed manual gearbox in terms of ease of use but with some miscalculations (in my view) I have ever come across (inc. Mercedes-Benz), a brake system designed by some geek at home on a race track (outstanding) and the best electrical system I have ever seen on any car at any price (the part where Americans usually shine). But it can't take the rough handling and cornering an Alfa usually does with ease, and, while smooth in operation, it has no "heart and soul" a typical Alfa possesses.
Here is the whole thing, split into two pieces to get below the DIYA file size limit
Did anyone notice that we lost bonzai? His account is disabled 'at his own request'.
A shame. Another capable designer driven off by the semi-guru-bs-ing and the snake oil peddlers.
Jan
A shame. Another capable designer driven off by the semi-guru-bs-ing and the snake oil peddlers.
Jan
May be after explaining to us 1000'th time what CFA means, hew finally understood himself, and went to work?
In my years of technical work, the one thing that stands out is that I always managed to witness the breakthrough prior to anyone else, usually because I was the only one present. Those are some great moments for sure. Something my more educated coworkers had to see the "next time".
I liked the headlights on the A8, were some powerful leds, but they wouldn't sell them as a spare part unless you could prove ownership.
I had a ton of fun playing around with car suspension back 25 years ago, ultimately changing roll centers along with everything else, even adding a bit of caster to the rear, something Porsche did a few years later. Was just reading recently about a newer Lotus that won the national autocross, was showing how the raised roll center in front gave him a great advantage, yep, works pretty good that way...
I liked the headlights on the A8, were some powerful leds, but they wouldn't sell them as a spare part unless you could prove ownership.
I had a ton of fun playing around with car suspension back 25 years ago, ultimately changing roll centers along with everything else, even adding a bit of caster to the rear, something Porsche did a few years later. Was just reading recently about a newer Lotus that won the national autocross, was showing how the raised roll center in front gave him a great advantage, yep, works pretty good that way...
Well he did say
So somewhat to the point. Still a shame when people go and we've lost a few over the last 12 months.
The ones that go are often the ones that give genuine info, discuss design details and provide measurements.
The ones we can least afford to lose.
Jan
The ones we can least afford to lose.
Jan
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