That’s Definitely Another Way To Describe A Car Fleet Reduction: COTD

Your favorite writers at the Autopian are evolving. David Tracy has moved from living in a house surrounded by frozen car parts to running a business, living in sunny California, and soon, he’s going to be a married man! Our rust-loving leader is doing a great thing in thinning his fleet. He’s flushing those cars out of his possession, purging them from his system, or…

As Canopysaurus says:

So, a fleet enema, then?

Sensual Bugling Elk is also pretty wise here:

When you have a job, a relationship, and any non-automotive hobbies/interests, this is the way. Bulletproof daily, fun convertible runabout, and eventually-rewarding project car.

I landed on this same automotive trinity this year and have been at least 27% saner as a result. Glad you’re getting to a good automotive place in your life too.

Bulletproof daily: 2009 Nissan Altima. Yes, with the Jatco CVT. I spend under $100/yr in parts and fluids keeping it running. It’s apparently the Lawful Good twin of Stef’s old Chaotic Evil Altima.

Fun convertible: 1990 Miata. Graduated from the Project Car slot last year. Solid OEM+ build after four years of wrenching.

Project car: Datsun 280ZX with 280k miles on the odometer. Free “gift” from a friend who’s had it in his family since the 90s. Came with a four-page writeup of all its issues.

(I also have an announcement coming about my fleet, but I’m not yet sure how to say it.)

Earlier today, Matt wrote a Morning Dump, which included a story about General Motors’ plans to take car development virtual. Pupmeow asked:

Am I the world’s biggest Luddite? Because I do not understand how performing solely virtual testing and validation on an automobile makes sense. Any engineers that can explain it?

Chronometric provided a helpful answer:

I am an engineer and yes it is possible to use virtual modeling to simulate every part of a vehicle’s performance over a wide array of conditions. This is done in auto racing because it is the fastest way to do iterative design and actual physical testing is expensive and limited by the rules.

Formula One teams have absolutely the best technology available and they often discover the finished car does not perform as their simulations predict.

Meanwhile, Thomas wrote about the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and there’s just something off about how it looks. Maybe TheDrunkenWrench is on the nose here:

I see that BMW is licensing Kia designs.

Seriously, change the emblem and slot this thing in between the Forte and the K4, see if anyone notices.

Have a great evening, everyone!