You know what is holding the Segway back from being more than just a doughnut crumb-covered mall-cop prop? Why, a pair of turbofan propulsion units, of course! Designer Samir Sadikhov realized this omission and has come up with the Falcon, a design proposal that rectifies this discrepancy, and adds a new term to the segway’s lexicon- cool. Check out some more images at Behance.net
Image source: [Behance.net]
Front wheel drive will not help with weight transfer, but the jet appears to be above the Cg, so good marks there.
Thrust vectoring might also help it be something other than an over-tired understeer monster.
/put this in your comically long pipe and smoke it, Geneva Auto Show
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/smokyburnout/1059361266971204.jpg">
Yeah, you don't need treaded tires or ground clearance to race off-road…
Fellow hooniversians, I have a moral dilemma, with some hope that you all will respond with your opinions. I am 15 and bout to turn 16, my Dad syays I will get a car at the end of 2010. I have a budget of $15,000 half of my money and half of his. So anyone would recommend any car. I'm partial to German, but any car from offroading to low coupes are cool in my book.
15K? Buy a cheap reliable beater, put the rest in a roth ira and retire in your 40s.
15 grand is a lot of money. The "hooniversal" thing to do would be to drop a couple grand on a daily driver, buy a cheap project car (or three), and save the rest of the money to buy parts/tires/fuel/etc. The practical thing to do is probably something similar. Could you pick up an E46 BMW M3 for $14,999? Yes. Is that a good idea, or a good first car? Probably not. When I bought the car I have right now, I had easily $5000 to spend, but I bought a $800 Mercedes. I've put a couple hundred more into fixing the little things, but I know if the engine blows or the transmission falls out, I still have money in the bank to fix it.
Anyway, my point is that you should probably buy a $5000-ish car, and keep the rest for registration/insurance/running costs/parts.
To all: I know i should get something cheap and reliable, but I just have thoughts of 6000 dollar Jaguar XJRs in my mind, knowing fully that I would curse it the day I buy it.
I like your style kid, but agree. Buy something reasonably nice for under five grand (which should be alot of car provided you don't live in Hawaii) put some cash in it to fix the tweaked bits and bank the rest. There's a fair chance you'll destroy the car before turning 18 (I did), so saving some cash back to buy something to get through college isn't a bad idea.
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/1625910102.h...
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/1625985976.h...
Now how did you know my other weakness was pre-Bangle BMWs?
Who said anything about reliable?
Just remembered this: required viewing.
[youtube 9GtF3wkFXCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GtF3wkFXCg youtube]
[youtube PNOOzehmZSE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNOOzehmZSE youtube]
[youtube -GYl18QZBeM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GYl18QZBeM youtube]
An old Volvo brick isn't a bad choice, actually. Your parents see it as a reliable, safe, practical, cheap to insure car, and to you it's a bulletproof, RWD, possibly turbocharged hoonwagen.
http://poconos.craigslist.org/cto/1622257196.html
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/1610003176.ht...
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1622979958.html
http://chico.craigslist.org/cto/1595530852.html
Who said anything about reliable?
Just remembered this: required viewing.
[youtube 9GtF3wkFXCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GtF3wkFXCg youtube]
An old Volvo brick isn't a bad choice, actually. Your parents see it as a reliable, safe, practical, cheap to insure car, and to you it's a bulletproof, RWD, possibly turbocharged hoonwagen.
http://poconos.craigslist.org/cto/1622257196.html
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/1610003176.ht...
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/1622979958.html
http://chico.craigslist.org/cto/1595530852.html
The pragmatic thing would probably be getting some 90's American land yacht that'll be reasonably low maintenance, and you won't care if it gets abused (it'll probably get abused). But knowing that's not the answer I would've wanted to hear at that age (well, I would've been and still am partial to a Crown Victoria, especially a P71), what about a MkV GTI (~$10k) and a weekend at Skip Barber? Or even just banking that extra money for maintenance?
Just, whatever you choose, try and go for something a little more forgiving (both in handling and upkeep).
Are you entertaining suggestions for budget rides, or are you looking to spend the whole load on your new rig? I feel that the former is the better choice, as $10k+ in the bank will never hurt you, but a money-pit car just might. Ask my old Audi.
I've ridden a normal Segway, and love it. It doesn't make any sense, it's not all that quick, but it's stupidly fun. Maybe that thrill would wear off after about 5 minutes, or in a straight line, but it was entertaining in an atrium.
I said the same thing after driving a Smart. Even did the hoonerable thing and drag raced a Corvette for a couple of stop lights… I lost very very very badly.
I wasn't all that enamored with the Smarts I've driven, but in my defense, it was on a pseudo autocross course, and I'd driven a C and E class during the same session. I just found the handling wonky, and if the transmission were any less responsive, I'd think it was herbally enhanced and looking for a bag of Doritos. Still, I'm glad the Smart exists, and really want to try out the Roadster.
That picture made me think of this:
<img src="http://www.swg1.net/encyclo/images/podracer-danakin-skywalker.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 263px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />
Which then reminded me of this:
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/58142620_6bfda187fa.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 375px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />
Now I want a beer and it's only 8AM. That's brefass scotch time.
What an outstanding blog post. I just thought I would share that.