Automotive enthusiasts?

@ᎶㄖҜㄩ 乃ㄥ卂匚Ҝ
Please don’t tell me it’s the Puma.

@ᎶㄖҜㄩ 乃ㄥ卂匚Ҝ
I remember reading that Ford was going to make a lifted Focus and call it the Focus Active, but that never happened.

@kleptomage
Even Toyota Aygo has a cross version

@RD4590
Take a regular hatchback, jack it up a couple inches, add body cladding, and charge thousands more. It’s a marketing thing. I’d rather have a wagon with good headroom.

I was thinking about the Ford Ranger Raptor. It’s neat, but I could take or leave the offroad gear because I’ll never use it. What I’d like is if Ford built a street racing truck, something lower that prioritizes speed and handling while maintaining a decent towing capacity.

@kleptomage
It could also be a way to get around CAFE standards, since “light trucks” have it way easier than sedans.

@ᎶㄖҜㄩ 乃ㄥ卂匚Ҝ
That is possible, yes.

@ᎶㄖҜㄩ 乃ㄥ卂匚Ҝ
Ute? It’s a shame nobody builds these anymore. Certainly cooler than a van or pickup truck.

Handling is always a problem for commercial vehicles. Its weight distribution changes too dramatically because of the weight of the cargo. When it’s empty it’s nose heavy. When it’s laden it’s tail heavy. It’s hard to find am equilibrium.
Holden Maloo the LS-engine ute has the same problem. Tail is too light and easy to lose control when unladen.

@RD4590
My Mom had an El Camino back in the day and said there was so much power to the rear that the front of the car would lift when she mashed the accelerator. I wouldn’t mind having an ute. It’s a good all round sort of vehicle.

One sad thing about car scene in China is that car customization will never be fully legalized. And the reason for that is to deter overweight trucks. Even now you can see this kind of 4-axle trucks, probably having 2000hp, plated 55 tons but actually carrying 200 tons of rubble or cement or soil, full beam, doing 100mph on the national highways. When they set off they literally tear a hole on the tarmac. They don’t use motorways because there are toll booths with weight bridges, but they do run in the cities after dark. And it doesn’t matter if they kill someone because they have expensive insurance. And if the victim were just injured they might go back and ram them dead because according to them, compensation for the dead is cheaper than that for the crippled.

And back then it was even worse. 18-wheel artic carrying 300 tons, farming tricycle towing a 2-axle 40-ton trailer, road trains, van carrying stolen petrol. It was completely bonkers what those loonies could do.

The Bugatti Chiron production line has ended today with a special edition final unit.

It was a beautiful Veyron successor. I can’t wait for this thing’s successor.

@RD4590
Wow I never imagined China to be that way, I’d always thought of China as being governed with an iron fist and that law breakers would be puished severely. I find it odd that the assumption is that car customisation will lead to truck customisation, here in England truck customisation is quite common, however it’s well regulated, tachograph tampering is rare as is speed limiter tampering; the most common customisation we have here is aesthetics, remaps and straight pipe exhausts (usually with a valve to bypass the silencer).

If an company is caught with any truck with such tampering it can lead to their operator licence being revoked, making their whole fleet unusable. Also trucks in England (when used commercially) must be inspected every 6 weeks by law, and once a year by a official government tester, so illegal modifications would be found quickly anyway.

@midob
Our laws are not thorough enough in terms of vehicle and road safety. I didn’t even know there was this thing called tachograph. And if they were thorough, the government wouldn’t spend enough on enforcement, because our police is understaffed. And local government isn’t as bright as the central government. And the punishment isn’t as severe as you thought, often a lot less than their income (i.e. ¥3000 job minus ¥200 fine), and they are often private contractor / outsourced so there wasn’t a “fleet” per se. And these lowlives wouldn’t mind killing a cop to get away.
There are many loopholes in China if you look closely. But at least now it’s less severe than before. There are height restrictions on local roads, with big barriers and gantries, and most HGVs cannot pass unless the driver gets crushed. On the trunk roads and motorways there are all these cameras connected to the “Skynet” surveillance system with facial recognition (not the Terminator Skynet :P). They could get away with one job but cops will knock on their door shortly. And major freight terminals and ports have banned overweight trucks because they destroy the roads, cutting off their demand. It’s a never ending armament game between the police and criminals.

@𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫
I wonder if they would develop a new engine.

That would be a loophole. Imagine a Ford Ranger with a juiced up Cummins and a lorry hitch welded onto the bed, towing a 55t trailer.
But the police also knows it so they usually turns a blind eye on small car customisation. A stage 1 remap and sports intake is not an issue, as long as you don’t do stupid things (like doing 120mph in city centre) or make it look stupid (like ricer widebody). Modified small cars are the least of the road hazards in China.

Chiron’s successor will officially arrive on June 20.

@𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫
Yay V16!