What's in your Garage? AK Car Show!

[Sam08861]

Looks great. How are the Continental GT's to live with reliability and maintenance wise?

It's my daily driver, and honestly it's been as reliable as my previous VAG cars. Still have an '07 Q7 with ~ 220K miles and I had a 2000 audi a6 4.2, which I ran to over 250K miles before getting the GT used in 2014 with 28K miles for a very reasonable price. I'd say it's similar in running costs to a Benz or BMW if you don't go to the dealer for service. Think I'm around 65K miles now on the odo.

Nothing major so far, but some bigger ticket items have been air shocks, for which there are many 3rd parties for parts and a 3rd brake like above the rear window going out. Brake disks are massive so they aren't cheap either, but also 3rd parties for those and a relatively easy DIY.

I've got a pile of front suspension bits (many, many control arms/sway bar links with new bushings) and wheel bearings to install at some point to refresh the suspension and ride as the weight of the car makes these a more frequent maintenance item. The car is HEAVY at around 5500lbs and due to the fat tires, awd trans and thirsty twin turbo w12 6 liter it gets around 13mpg around town and up to 18 or occasionally 19mpg on very long highway drives. I've added a VR tuned tune, which states 626hp, but haven't confirmed with a dyno, and that doesn't help the fuel economy. I've also got a small leak in the radiator, for which I'll have to pay the piper as I don't want to skimp on that, but it's not completely insane, should be less than $1.5k if I diy, including new hoses and other while i'm in there parts.

Insurance has been the largest annual expense @ about 3k/yr. I had a cracked windshield, for which I happily paid the $500 deductible for a predatory $11K charge from the dealer to the insurance company, lol. I believe a Safelite replacement would have been no deductible, but I didn't like that idea and insurance let me choose genuine at the dealer.

A few gotchas are things like the starter require and engine out to change, but hopefully I don't have to go down that road.

Built for road trips, it's an incredibly comfortable cabin and the dialable suspension really masks the weight. However, the weight keeps you in check when braking for sure, even with the massive rotors, if you have an emergency stop at speed. Thankfully I don't have ceramic rotors to change out as those are very dear.

 

[Mr Boochie]

.

Is that a Nissan GT-R?

Thanks!

 

[Sam08861]

Was wondering too. My guess is a gen 4 3L TT supra with aftermarket bumper cover/nose? An absolute beast of a motor.

 

[Johnny_Law]

@Mr Boochie @Sam08861

It's a Dodge Stealth.

 

[Mr Boochie]

@Mr Boochie @Sam08861

It's a Dodge Stealth.

View attachment 3772988

Thanks!

How do you like it?

 

[Sam08861]

It's a Dodge Stealth.

Ah, I remember those! Brother to the Mitu 3000GT VR4

What a great era for high HP turbo cars. ^^^, Supra, and the lightweight twin rotor Mazda RX-7 @255hp.

 

[SeattleGuy]

‘83 XJ6 and an ‘03 Triumph Bonneville T100

My daily is an ‘05 Honda Element.

My ‘94 Mazda pickup has become the neighborhood “farm truck.”

My basket case is a ‘77 Yamaha XS650

 

[Johnny_Law]

Thanks!

How do you like it?

Love it - I've been in the platform since 2006, my first was a '94 3000GT VR-4 that was featured in a Readers' Rides issue of Modified Magazine (part of Motor Trend). I hit a tree at a hillclimb event in Vermont, and eventually replaced it with this '92 Stealth.

The '92 has basically the same setup as my old '94 (and many parts from it), which was a pump-gas mid/high 11 second car that was also competitive in autocross and a ton of fun on the street. Spent a lot of time stop light and highway racing in my '94 back in the early 2000s ... not the fastest thing on the road, but the AWD was hard to beat from a light, and a 3rd gear that's in its powerband until ~110mph made it not the slowest thing rolling around upstate PA / NJ at the time ...

Today, in addition to the '92, I also have a white '94 Stealth with a built engine / big single turbo setup that's been waiting forever for me to finish:



I have dabbled in some other platforms - I had an NA Miata for a minute, I have an E46 M3 that I gifted to my father (haven't seen either one of those platforms represented in this thread yet!) - but I think I'll always have at least one "3/S" in the garage given my connection to the platform personally. Plus, I love that they are often overlooked out of the group of '90's Japanese turbo platforms, and it's fun to be the dark horse.

Oh and finally - since somebody posted theirs - this doesn't get garage space but it sure is handy carrying engines from one garage to the other

 

[Mr Boochie]

Love it - I've been in the platform since 2006, my first was a '94 3000GT VR-4 that was featured in a Readers' Rides issue of Modified Magazine (part of Motor Trend). I hit a tree at a hillclimb event in Vermont, and eventually replaced it with this '92 Stealth.

You know, I thought I saw the Mitsubishi "three diamond" logo in the center of the hood, from that far-off photo.

 

[peterp1]

It's my daily driver, and honestly it's been as reliable as my previous VAG cars. Still have an '07 Q7 with ~ 220K miles and I had a 2000 audi a6 4.2, which I ran to over 250K miles before getting the GT used in 2014 with 28K miles for a very reasonable price. I'd say it's similar in running costs to a Benz or BMW if you don't go to the dealer for service. Think I'm around 65K miles now on the odo.

Nothing major so far, but some bigger ticket items have been air shocks, for which there are many 3rd parties for parts and a 3rd brake like above the rear window going out. Brake disks are massive so they aren't cheap either, but also 3rd parties for those and a relatively easy DIY.

I've got a pile of front suspension bits (many, many control arms/sway bar links with new bushings) and wheel bearings to install at some point to refresh the suspension and ride as the weight of the car makes these a more frequent maintenance item. The car is HEAVY at around 5500lbs and due to the fat tires, awd trans and thirsty twin turbo w12 6 liter it gets around 13mpg around town and up to 18 or occasionally 19mpg on very long highway drives. I've added a VR tuned tune, which states 626hp, but haven't confirmed with a dyno, and that doesn't help the fuel economy. I've also got a small leak in the radiator, for which I'll have to pay the piper as I don't want to skimp on that, but it's not completely insane, should be less than $1.5k if I diy, including new hoses and other while i'm in there parts.

Insurance has been the largest annual expense @ about 3k/yr. I had a cracked windshield, for which I happily paid the $500 deductible for a predatory $11K charge from the dealer to the insurance company, lol. I believe a Safelite replacement would have been no deductible, but I didn't like that idea and insurance let me choose genuine at the dealer.

A few gotchas are things like the starter require and engine out to change, but hopefully I don't have to go down that road.

Built for road trips, it's an incredibly comfortable cabin and the dialable suspension really masks the weight. However, the weight keeps you in check when braking for sure, even with the massive rotors, if you have an emergency stop at speed. Thankfully I don't have ceramic rotors to change out as those are very dear.

Great info -- thanks for sharing. It seems like most of the difficult areas are a byproduct of limited access space in the engine compartment with the W12. 13mpg city is actually pretty good for a 5500lb 600+hp 12.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Honda Element. June Lake Loop, CA.

 

[krautmaster]

It's a KB3. Going after some 8 inch posts with it tomorrow.

Is that a 1948/49 model with the "Green Diamond" flat head six? I LOVE it !

 

[Sam08861]

Great info -- thanks for sharing. It seems like most of the difficult areas are a byproduct of limited access space in the engine compartment with the W12. 13mpg city is actually pretty good for a 5500lb 600+hp 12.

The other problem comes from VAG group making incredibly small water shedding passages for rain that can easily clog up. A known item for many of their cars. In the GT you have to regularly check the drain behind the gas fill (when clogged fills the spare tire well which has a wire harness umbilical coming in) and trunk as well as a scuttle drain near the firewall. On the Q7 the drains for the glass roof when clogged drains right onto all the CAN network electronics. The areas above the rear wheel well look like a tiny server room with metal cased devices stacked in a row and that's precisely where any clogged drain tubes cause water to get diverted to, unfortunately.

An annoyance if you know and potentially ruined electronics or engine harness if you don't. Quite a nightmare to troubleshoot if one didn't know to check, I'd imagine.

 

[peterp1]

The other problem comes from VAG group making incredibly small water shedding passages for rain that can easily clog up. A known item for many of their cars. In the GT you have to regularly check the drain behind the gas fill (when clogged fills the spare tire well which has a wire harness umbilical coming in) and trunk as well as a scuttle drain near the firewall. On the Q7 the drains for the glass roof when clogged drains right onto all the CAN network electronics. The areas above the rear wheel well look like a tiny server room with metal cased devices stacked in a row and that's precisely where any clogged drain tubes cause water to get diverted to, unfortunately.

An annoyance if you know and potentially ruined electronics or engine harness if you don't. Quite a nightmare to troubleshoot if one didn't know to check, I'd imagine.

I went through this with my Macan. I can't tell what I went through with dealers (I could but I'd probably run into AK post size limits ). Those designers are completely nuts -- both for terribly designed drainage and for lack of fail-safe drains where the water accumulates. I went through tons of dealer visits replacing various components. Several dealers, many visits to address the Macan drainage issues. Finally an independent Porsche expert fixed it on the first attempt -- they sent me videos of the water drain testing before and after they cleaned it as a standard part of the service.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Those designers are completely nuts -- both for terribly designed drainage and for lack of fail-safe drains where the water accumulates.

You would think that a not-cheap, modern European-designed car would have adequate drainage. These manufacturers seem to tout all their water-immersion tests.

 

[Sam08861]

You would think that a not-cheap, modern European-designed car would have adequate drainage. These manufacturers seem to tout all their water-immersion tests.

The count on the fact that the drain issues are usually a bigger problem after warranty periods are over & make dealers with service bays money, incentivizing dealers with multiple brands to push their own.

When I worked at RCA, we did the same with engineered obsolescence and parts selection, depending on tier, which defined warranty periods. That also increased our revenue for proprietary test equipment sold to dealers, who were happy to pay due to the increased service revenue.

Later on this included digitally disabling features in lower tier items, as it was cheaper than running 2 production lines. A person with the right equipment and know how could re-enable these features on lesser versions and many could be enabled without equipment in hidden service menus.

 

[Mr Boochie]

A person with the right equipment and know how could re-enable these features on lesser versions and many could be enabled without equipment in hidden service menus.

That is the problem. Finding that correct information. There are a lot of online myths and outright lies to filter through.

 

[peterp1]

You would think that a not-cheap, modern European-designed car would have adequate drainage. These manufacturers seem to tout all their water-immersion tests.

Porsche, in particular, is pretty bad about not fixing chronic serious problems. The valve tensioners on 911's that were bad (failure prone) from 1963 through 1978, when the 911 SC model finally fixed them. The IMS on 911's was a huge problem from 1999 through 2009, which not only wasn't fixed, was made worse in 2002 when they increased engine displacement (increasing stress) but decreased the size of the IMS, making it far more failure prone (Porsche replaced a LOT of engines under warranty). In 2006 with the later version of the 997.1, they made the IMS bearing quite strong (such that failures are rare), but the IMS bearing could no longer be changed without completely disassembling the engine. They finally fixed it in 2009 with the 997.2 that eliminated the IMS bearing altogether. The drainage issues have been an issue for more than a decade, I don't think it's been addressed (though I haven't paid close attention to it).

 

[peterp1]

The count on the fact that the drain issues are usually a bigger problem after warranty periods are over & make dealers with service bays money, incentivizing dealers with multiple brands to push their own.

When I worked at RCA, we did the same with engineered obsolescence and parts selection, depending on tier, which defined warranty periods. That also increased our revenue for proprietary test equipment sold to dealers, who were happy to pay due to the increased service revenue.

Later on this included digitally disabling features in lower tier items, as it was cheaper than running 2 production lines. A person with the right equipment and know how could re-enable these features on lesser versions and many could be enabled without equipment in hidden service menus.

My drainage issues started with the second "20k" service when the Macan had only 12k miles. They weren't going to cover it even though it was 12k miles and under full warranty. I had to have the dealer I bought it from, in a different state (about 2 hours away) pick up the car from that dealer. That dealer was very helpful (they also picked up and dropped off from my house 2 hours away) I think 3 times -- they covered all the expenses, but the problem kept coming back. Another dealer did some replacement of the sunroof and seals under warranty, but the problem came back. Finally, the Porsche-specialist independent fixed it in one service, and it was very inexpensive, they just knew what they were doing apparently.

 

[Sam08861]

For the IMS bearings, there was a class action lawsuit for which Porsche paid out a paltry $4m (up to $200 for towing or something ridiculous) and I think some for engine damage, which I would imagine would have been difficult to attain during the period it was offered.

I have many a story from varied industries where we would look at the cost of a lawsuit or regulatory fines and the boards and legal teams determined it was far more profitable to simply continue what we were doing and deal with the consequences and fines, which were like mosquito bites on an elephant and simply a 'cost of doing business.'