Minor Confession Thread

I never heard of Donut Media until a few days ago when I watched Tony Angelo's video about why it's failing. 

Bought a set of C5 Z06 wheels for an upcoming challenge project.  Like the way they look so much, they may end up on my 1st Gen S10, which would require me scoring another really good deal on wheels for the project.

The GF made me promise that I wouldn't burn any weeds until she got home from work today.

As soon as she got home, she asked me "You wanna try out the torch?". Well, yeah I wanna burn stuff.

I used it to kill a bunch of weeds along the back of the house. It's a strip about 4 feet wide and about 40 feet long.

The GF manned the garden hose to ensure nothing got out of hand. She was a bit, uh, proactive with the hose a few times. This GIF sums it up the best:

I saw a Hyundai Genesis Coupe today and realized, I forgot those even existed. It's amazing how badly, despite being the vaunted RWD manual transmission sport coupe configuration, the Genesis Coupe just absolutely failed to catch the public interest.

One of my few sources of joy these days is coming over the hill at full throttle in 3rd then engine braking the whole way down as it goes past the golf course. I don't know how many drives or putts I've screwed up, but I know it's more then zero, and that makes me chuckle. 

In reply to NickD :

They weren't even bad cars, and they can look pretty good with tasteful appearance mods.  But you're right, they just didn't light many people's fires.

In reply to Duke :

Some people (still) can't get over "but it's a Hyundai" stigma.

In reply to Duke :

They tried breaking into Formula Drift, which could've boosted popularity, but they absolutely bombed there. Dennis Mertzanis' LS-swapped car was such a dog that he lost his Pro license, Pat Mordaunt's Genesis with the supercharged Hyundak V6 chewed through three engines in the first round and was never seen again, and Odi Bakchis, owner of Feal's Suspension and a real chassis guru, ran one for three events and threw in the towel, saying the chassis was just fundamentally flawed 

I turned in my rental car that I had this week. It was a black 2023 Nissan Altima with 14k miles. It was... Ok? The CVT had fake shift points to mimic a traditional automatic, which I felt was unnecessary.

But I need another rental for next week. I told the counter jockey that I wanted a subcompact, like a 5 door Corolla that I had seen there when I picked up the Altima earlier this week.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any Corollas but they did have a Hyundai Sonata. As we walked out to the lot to look at it, I saw another car.

Now, I'm a bit of a crapbox connoisseur. A cheap rental is a great way to try out a car with no commitment. I had to fulfil my curiosity.

The car I spotted? A Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback. When I told the counter jockey that I wanted the Mirage, he looked at me like I had a leg growing out of my forehead. "But sir, you are authorized up to an intermediate size car". I told him that it's fine and I'd take the Mirage anyway.

So I traded a perfectly adequate Altima for a 2021 Mitsubishi Mirage with 57k miles.

The Mirage is hilarious to drive. You can pretty much drive it flat out and no one has any idea. It has loads of body roll and the tiny tires squeal at any hint of aggressive cornering. The manual hand brake locks the rear tires up with hardly any effort and makes hand brake turns effortless.

I was giggling all the way back to the house from the rental company.

NickD said:

I saw a Hyundai Genesis Coupe today and realized, I forgot those even existed. It's amazing how badly, despite being the vaunted RWD manual transmission sport coupe configuration, the Genesis Coupe just absolutely failed to catch the public interest.

I saw a V6 Coupe last week.  The tech in the bay next to me was doing various services.

That's when I noticed that the engine sits really, really far forward in the chassis.  Like, what were they thinking far forward.

Did they move the firewall up into FWD car territory so they could get more rear seat room or something?

In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :

Try renting a Nissan Versa.

In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :

Reminds me of when I rented a Nissan Micra once on a work trip in Canada.  That thing was way more fun than it should have been, perfect for cutting through Toronto rush hour.

Speaking of Hyundais... I have been thinking a lot about the non turbo Velosters that came with the twin clutch trans.

The 18" wheels are a huge turnoff but it looks like 15" wheels will clear the brakes just fine.

I watched the last hour of the movie Jaws today. I hadn't seen it in about 20 years and had forgotten a lot of the details.

I would have been okay if Richard Dreyfuss had died. 

Datsun240ZGuy said:

In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :

Try renting a Nissan Versa.

the cvt in those is hateful. I have a last year manual versa note. Its a surprisingly adequate E36 M3box.

I suck at autoslalom and I proved it again yesterday.

In reply to Wayslow :

But did you have fun?

In reply to Duke :

I had a blast but cones are not my friends.

In reply to Duke :

I had a blast but cones are not my friends.

I had to turn in the Mirage after 5 days. It wasn't a bad car and it made no attempt to be anything but the cheapest new car in America (when you could buy one) but it was time for it to go. I spilled a bunch of coffee behind the front seats because I couldn't find the single floor mounted cup holder in the dark as the dome light switch was broken. I made a decent attempt with my carpet shampooer to get as much as I could but it still reeked of sweet coffee creamer.

Oh well.

When I turned it in, I wanted another subcompact. I was hoping that the 5 door Corolla was there but they didn't have it. So I got upgraded to an "intermediate SUV" for the same price.

It was a Kia Soul. A 2023 Kia Soul LX with 11k miles to be exact.

I can see why Kia sells a bazillion of these things. It's nicer than I thought it would be. It's decently zippy with the 2.0L and the Intelligent Variable Automatic Transmission is unobtrusive. The interior is nice, even on the base model. I was surprised at the standard features. The 8" touchscreen head unit is light years better than the one in my Ford Maverick. Compared to the Mirage, it feels like a Bentley. It's a nice package.

I could honestly see myself owning one, maybe a GT Line with the Technology Package so I can get fog lights.

Isn't the Soul built on the same chassis as the Veloster, or did they diverge?

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I'm unsure. As of the 2025MY, it looks like they discontinued the Veloster. But here is what the Souls have for F/R suspension:

One thing that I noticed, is that the highest trim level, the EX, is rated higher in fuel economy than all the other trims despite having the exact same drivetrain across the model lineup:

I think the EX comes with 18" wheels? Maybe that would explain the difference?

Nobody chooses a Kia Soul, their bank account chooses a Soul for them. 

After a slight accident in March, I had the rental car choice of an Altima or a bright red Soul. I chose the Soul to try something different. It was way more fun then expected... Like you, I was quickly looking at used ones and could see living with one easily. 

Reminds me of when I was looking at Forte's and PW said, get the EX, because the only good Kia is an ex-kia.

Confession #1. I've had two pretty bad encounters with wildlife in the last month. It didn't go well for the front bumper or fog light, but I glued it all back together with PL300. It looks great and I didn't lose my mind when I saw the damage.

Confession #2. I love driving a E36 M3 box for the above reason.