Norm Peterson

Your family experience matches my daughter's experience (2013 Dodge Dart) . . . the common factor being Chrysler Corp. So if your job predisposes you to see a high percentage of ChryCo vehicles, I could certainly understand why you might not consider US domestic nameplates to be generally reliable. FWIW, nothing you've listed and nothing I've had go wrong with the Fords or the Chevy that I've owned comes close to the (manual) transmission problems on our first Maxima - it kept disassembling its input shaft bearing on about a 50,000 mile schedule. Dealership shop did the first fix, I did the next two. I now suspect that either the bellhousing or the back of the block was not drilled within spec, a far more serious deficiency from a quality standpoint than the occasional alternator that goes bad electrically (I've had more issues with Nissan and Mazda than Chevy or Ford on this item). Norm

Feel free to mostly ignore the recent Euro and Australian crash ratings and the resultant commentary. They're much to heavily based on the absence of various nannies, less on the vehicle's inherent qualities. Check with the US data. Norm

Ditto for at least the early buyers of Nissan's Murano, lots of CVT failures, and the only 'repair' was replacement of the entire transmission with a new unit. Norm

Biased much? FWIW, the imports I've owned haven't been particularly more reliable or repair-free than the US domestics. And that includes the LGT which has never been autocrossed, tracked, or drag-raced (it's currently on its 3rd sunroof motor and second center diff). Norm

This ↑↑↑ . More than once I've felt like I dodged a bullet by buying the Mustang before Sync was available in that model. Not having to face sales pressure to opt for something I still wouldn't get no matter how much improved it might be now . . . priceless. Norm

Thanks. I'll have to keep that in mind. Norm

What did that involve? I watched a video a couple of days ago where a slight modification to the front of the magazine was made to the (IIRC) Springfield for what sounds like the same purpose. Norm

How much of this might be a consequence of 'limp-wristing'? Of thinking of the 9x19 being such a relatively light-recoiling round that a good firm grip could be relaxed a bit? Serious question that I should have asked before. Norm

Got it, and that sounds like more than I need or would ever really want. Thanks. Norm

I appreciate yesterday's comments (edit - didn't catch today's, above). I'm definitely NOT looking at 4" and shorter versions, and so far I definitely do prefer the 1911-style trigger. a 4.5-ish barrel length is a maybe. I'm not exactly hide-bound to tradition in either guns or cars. Why would the 10mm be hard on the frame if .45/.38 Super/9x23/9x19 aren't? Norm

As an update - I looked at a few more 1911's yesterday and came away very impressed with Springfield's Range Officer (in 9). A bit pricier (still under $1k) but has an adjustable rear sight and a stronger warranty should I ever need that. New leading candidate. Norm

So I was restocking myself with ammo for the Mini-14 and purely on a whim I picked up a Kimber Two-Tone 1911 in 9mm with a 5" barrel. For being several ounces heavier than my son's XD-S it actually felt lighter and more natural with a nice smooth feel to its operation. I'm thinking real serious about picking it up, so does anybody have any direct personal experience with Kimbers? Supposedly Kimber has made all the extractors internal, which I have heard was a problem in the past. I'm in NJ, where CC is damn near impossible to get, so I'm specifically looking at the 5". Didn't seem to be a bad price, well under $800, and I'm not looking at starting a big pistol collection. Norm

To date, no. Never had it on the track - it was her DD until she retired so I guess it's still nominally hers. Not hard to guess how it goes from there. But I'm reasonably certain that it's seen 0.8x laterally based on some street-ish datalogging in the Mustang. Miss Daisy she's not, so Miss Daisy's chauffeur I'm not. Norm

Not sure how you're lining up the generations here - the 2015-up S550 chassis is generally referred to as the 6th gen. What I can tell you is that even the previous-generation S197 (2005 - 2014) has a lot of potential, and it responds well to basic wheel/tire/suspension upgrades. I've datalogged 1.3x lateral g's in my '08 GT at my home track on true street tires (as opposed to autocross-intended 'specials' like the RE71R and Rival S or weenie R-compound tires like the R888 and PSC2). Norm

That's why - aside from any traffic law considerations - you don't drive them to their maximum capabilities on the street. But after a familiarization lap or three at a track day I wouldn't be the least bit hesitant to squeeze the throttle to the floor wherever full power could be put to the pavement. Anything under 500 HP I wouldn't even wait that long. Didn't when I took a Z51 7th gen Corvette out for a demo lap, with less than a dozen total lifetime miles worth of drive time in Corvettes. Norm

That would be nice. In the meantime, the '01 Maxima - aka, the "spare car" - is getting a lot more use than it normally might (and it's still fun to drive). Norm

We've been more than pleased with our Legacy to date, and would put it on the short list again but for the deal-breaker fact that Subaru no longer fits any Legacy trim with a manual transmission. We've jumped to competing mfrs over this before. More than once. Norm

Thanks . . . I think. Center diff is what I've been thinking as well, having briefly scanned a few of the troubleshooting pages in the shop manual. But before I bring it in I want to drive it up on ramps for a closer look and look some more to see if there's any reasonable chance I could pull off this repair as a DIY effort. On the other hand, I do need to get that windshield wiper thing done . . . Norm

For us, the WRX might be at the top of a pretty short list, but I'm hoping that we don't have to go car shopping quite yet. Have to see what's causing sort of a stick-slip shudder/chatter during tight turns first, and hope that it's not going to be to expensive to fix. A manual transmission is (still) an absolute requirement . . . and the absence of certain features no less than highly desirable. Norm

Don't need to wear 30 db headphones (and hope that your long gun stock doesn't move it off your right ear). Cycling in semi-automatics (so I've heard). Norm

Yes, a strut suspension usually does hand you a net "camber loss" (it's why most of the really serious cars so suspended feature such large amounts of static negative camber. I'm thinking of 'camber gain' as a property of suspension travel rather than the final result. While it's possible to "lose" some negative camber at this level (independent of chassis roll), it would imply either horrible geometry to start with or a horribly lowered car with uncorrected geometry to put it there. Norm

Spring rates, bar rates, shock & strut damping, and optimum static alignment settings are inescapably intertwined. At least two separate things are going on with either bars or springs even in steady-state cornering. The front vs rear distribution of lateral load transfer usually changes, and with it so do the tire slip angles. The difference between front and rear slip angles is the definition of understeer (and oversteer if you'd prefer to not think in terms of "negative understeer"). Roll is changed, usually reduced at least a little. Ultimately, this puts the more critical outboard tires at a more favorable/less unfavorable camber situations . . . at any given amount of lateral g's. This 'operating camber' won't be what the shop measured on the alignment rack - the body rolls one way, and the suspension can cause the outboard tires to "roll" slightly in the opposite direction relative to the body ("camber gain"). Tire slip angles are not constant - among other things, they vary with vertical load (including that outward lateral load transfer) and on how much lateral force they're being asked to develop. And with the actual camber under those lateral g conditions (which you hope you've improved upon). "Operating" camber on the outboard tires is static camber minus the amount of roll plus camber gain. Everything affects everything else, or something like that. Transient handling (while the car is in the process of taking a set but hasn't got there yet) is much more complicated. Norm

Have you guys checked the location of the very end of the bottom coil of the spring? Norm

You've already narrowed the choices down, so start by ignoring everything that isn't a 1911. Norm

Picked up my NJ Firearms ID card this afternoon, after about a two month wait. $5 fee (is any regulatory agency fee that cheap any more?). Maybe I should put it away so it doesn't get too expensive too quickly with impulse purchases. Something about being retired and on an annual family membership plan at the range . . . Norm