Author

Daniel Kim

Automotive journalist, track junkie, amateur filmmaker

Porsche

2018 718 Cayman review

by Daniel Kim June 29, 2019

written by Daniel Kim

As I contort myself to squeeze between the storage shelves lining the outside edge of my garage and the Cayman’s low slung door, I feel a muscle start to pull near my right ribcage. I think of Jim Carrey escaping from the mechanical rhino in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. I try to ease my weight down onto the Cayman’s standard seat without letting it all come crashing down on the perforated leather surface, but my awkward footing can’t support a graceful landing.

Now fully inside the primarily black cabin, I notice the welcome animation, a graphic outline of a Cayman, in the right-most instrument cluster dial. I turn the key fob, made to look like a little toy Porsche, clockwise to the second position, pause for a second as the dash lights up, then another quarter-turn to fire it up. The starter churns over in a slightly shrill couple of chuffs, then the boxer engine thrums to life.

I can tell that the subtle mechanical bleating of the flat engine is coming from behind me, but it’s not as overt as I imagined. I always thought there would be this melodious sonnet of mechanical noise constantly reminding me that I was in a mid-engined car. As resting idle falls under 1,000rpm it becomes pretty businesslike in the cabin; the NVH department has done their job well, perhaps too well.

As I putt around the neighborhood warming everything up, I realize I am becoming part of the Cayman. The seating position really makes me feel like I’m nestled deep within the cabin’s confines, whereas in most cars you get the distinct sense you are sitting on top of a heavily upholstered chair that happens to be mounted inside a car. I do not sit in the Cayman, the Cayman receives my human form and cradles it.

Thinking about how weird I am for imagining that I have a symbiotic relationship with a car, I notice the oil temp tick over 190 degrees F. Beginning the ascent of a large hill, I floor it. The transmission quickly executes a few downshifts and the turbo-4 awakens. Or should I say, the vacuum cleaner. Any more than 1/2 throttle and I mostly hear induction noise, rather than the gentle punching of the horizontally-opposed cylinders, and, to me, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

Midrange power is probably the strong suit of the base Cayman’s 2.0-liter boxer engine, but it is painfully, undeniably a small displacement, 4-banger. This is when it becomes very clear why people pay $10,000 more for the 2.5-liter, 350hp S model.

I dig into the gas again and get her up to speed so I can test the brakes. I use about 80% pedal pressure. My word. If there is a single attribute of the Cayman that makes it worth the daunting lease payment, it’s the composure under braking. You feel the weight shifting forward under heavy braking, but it’s so controlled, it’s so stable. You never really get that unnerving feeling of a bunch of mass being hurled forward as you do in a front-engined vehicle. I start to see why Porsche is considered to be a step above the other high volume sports car manufacturers. The chassis makes no unwanted movements. Not a single one.

And in some ways the genius of the 718’s chassis in even more apparent at low speeds. The best way I can describe how the Cayman rides over the road surface is that it feels like its being pushed down by the hand of God. And I’m not describing downforce. It’s more like, the weight of God’s hand is allowing the level of communication between the tires and road surface to surpass what is possible based on the laws of physics. Yes, the ones he created.

I’m sure it’s just years and years of R&D put in by Stuttgart’s best. Speaking of which, there is a particular handling trait that Porsche engineers have imbued the 718 with, and I imagine all previous generations of Boxster/Cayman, that I must discuss. It’s the way it handles uneven road surfaces. As soon as you run over some kind of surface irregularity the suspension recovers immediately to a state of balance, which provides confidence to the driver to resume attacking. It always recovers itself into the best possible state to continue pushing.

And I keep pushing because it’s too fun. Precise adjustments in steering angle are always rewarded with corresponding reactions from the Cayman, now equipped with a more direct, quicker ratio steering system derived from the 911 Turbo. All the stressors of daily existence fade away as I temporarily ascend to driving nirvana.

Then I realize that I’m only about halfway to the Cayman’s true cornering limits. I can only imagine what a professional racing driver could do with a base Cayman, even on street tires, on a circuit. I decide I’ll leave the heroic stuff to the pros and I get out of the gas, grabbing the steering wheel-mounted downshift paddle a couple of times as I do. The downshifts are extremely quick to execute, and the two successive throttle blips that accompany them create a proper feeling of pomp inside the cabin.

The idle sounds gruffer after the short joyride, just like an athlete pacing his breath as he begins to get his heart rate up. Oil temp is now at 212 degrees. I make sure to give no more than 1/4 throttle on the way home so the engine isn’t taxed while it inhales that cold, dense, evening air.

I press the Homelink button and put her safely away in the garage for the evening. Performing my human contortion act once again, this time in reverse, I exit the car. I stand in the doorway and listen to the ticking of all the hot metal parts cooling down, admiring the Cayman’s pleasing form. Still engaged by all the metallic pangs, clicks and pops, I stay in the garage a few moments longer, continuing to lovingly glance at the 718.

2018 718 Cayman base
2.0L boxer-4 cylinder
300HP/280LB-FT
PDK 7-speed transmission
Power Steering Plus
20″ Carrera S Wheels

June 29, 2019 4 comments

Macbook on a wood desk in what looks to be a simple home office being using by a man in a blue dress shirt

Car Buying Advice

How to Save Thousands of Dollars on a Car Lease In 10 Minutes

by Daniel Kim March 14, 2018

written by Daniel Kim

It sounds too good to be true, right?

How is it possible to save that much money on a car lease that quickly?

First, you must understand why car dealers love leases.

“Who cares?” you say. “All I want is a low monthly payment.”

And that kind of mentality is exactly why dealers love leases. You’re too focused on the low monthly payment, making it easier for the dealer to add in extra profit on other parts of the lease contract that you don’t know about.

If you have just a basic understanding of where the dealer makes their money on most lease deals, you’ll know where you can save.

You could read only the first point below, and you’d already be in a position to save thousands of dollars on your next new car lease.

But you probably want to read the whole post for maximum savings.

Let’s get started then, shall we?

UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU CAN BARGAIN

POINT #1 – What you probably don’t know about leasing is that the price of the car you want to lease can be negotiated down first.

Many people see an advertised lease deal, are happy with the monthly payment offered and will sign the lease without ever thinking about negotiating the price of the car.

The difference between negotiating the selling price down versus paying MSRP or “sticker” price, can be thousands of dollars — that’s thousands of dollars you won’t have to pay if you bargain first.

You won’t find the word “price” in the lease contract. It’s officially called the gross capitalized cost.

If you see a lease acquisition fee included in the gross capitalized cost, don’t worry. It’s a standard fee that the bank charges for setting up the lease. It’s different for each manufacturer, but generally will be around $650.

The gross capitalized cost can also include any of the following items, and you will want to decline these when the Finance Manager offers them to you when you are signing the lease contract.

Fees (upsell items) you should avoid:

Extended warranties
Paint protection
VIN number etching
Fabric protection

If the gross capitalized cost seems a lot higher than the price of the car, some of these upsell items may have been added in.

In summary, the important thing to understand about gross capitalized cost is that it is negotiable on a lease.

Next, we’ll talk about capitalized cost reduction, and how it can make a terrible lease deal look like an attractive one.

AVOID FOCUSING ON JUST THE MONTHLY PAYMENT

POINT #2 – You know those really sweet-looking lease deals you see advertised with monthly payments that look too good to be true? Those are made possible by capitalized cost reduction, or in other words, a large down payment.

Capitalized cost reduction is just a fancy finance term for any money paid up-front that reduces the price (remember, “price” is the same thing as the “gross capitalized cost”) of the car. Most common would be a down payment, a trade-in, or a manufacturer rebate or incentive.

Some dealers will advertise a high-end luxury car with a payment of $500/month, but if you read the fine print, you will need to put something like an $8,000 down payment (capitalized cost reduction) to get that deal.

Unless it’s a rebate or incentive, you want to pay as little capitalized cost reduction out of your own pocket as possible. Three main reasons:

1 – If you wreck the car, you will not get this money back

2 – If you try to get out of the lease by transferring the lease to someone else, you will probably not be able to get this money back

3 – Since you’re technically “renting” the car, you don’t want to dump that much up-front money into it. If possible, save that money and put in the bank or invest it elsewhere.

Now that you’ve successfully negotiated the starting price of your lease vehicle down, you can work on the next part of your lease deal, which is oftentimes where the dealer can make a ton of profit without you even knowing.

LEARN HOW INTEREST GETS CHARGED ON A LEASE

POINT #3 – There is interest charged on a lease, which is calculated using a number called the money factor, but you will never see this number advertised.

The money factor is a small number with a few decimal places, for example, 0.0010. Just think of it as the interest rate for a lease.

Personally, I like seeing the APR% – it makes more sense to me than the small money factor number.

Thankfully, it’s very easy to convert money factor into APR%. To get the APR% (interest rate), multiply the money factor by 2400.

The money factor is usually somewhere between 0.0010 (0.0010 x 2400 = 2.4% APR) and 0.0020 (0.0020 x 2400 = 4.8% APR).

The money factor does not appear anywhere on the lease contract, and by law, the dealer does not have to tell you what it is. It is based on your credit score, just like the APR% you would qualify for on a loan.

POINT #4 – Because dealers don’t have to legally disclose the money factor, they often mark it up to make extra money.

Make sure to ask the dealer what the money factor is on your lease deal. Then do a quick Google search on your specific vehicle to see what it should be to make sure it’s not marked up. For example, search “BMW M3 money factor.”

Some dealers will not provide this info. Insist that they provide it or you will not sign the lease deal.

There is a time and a place to be a firm negotiator. In the next section, we’ll discuss how you can save time, and be in a stronger position to negotiate a strong lease deal.

STAY AT HOME TO STAY IN POWER

POINT #5 – Do all your lease negotiations from home through email. Don’t go to the dealer.

You have the most power when you negotiate from home. There is no pressure to buy, and you will be able to look over the lease numbers on your own time, at your own pace.

Contact local dealers who have the car you want either via email or their website. Make sure to ask them to include the residual value, money factor, and any capitalized cost reduction being used in calculating their lease deal.

Ask about any current rebates or incentives being offered for leases on the car you want. For example, Audi often runs a lease promotion in which they will pay for your first month’s lease payment.

Then go use one of the many available lease calculators available online to check the numbers, or go to a leasing forum like leasehackr.com or edmunds.com and post the lease numbers your dealer offered to have other members look them over to see if you’re getting a good deal.

It feels very good to sign a lease contract knowing that you got a great deal.

Every time you make your monthly lease payment, you’ll think to yourself, “I can’t believe I’m driving this much car for this little money!”

Commuting to work will become more pleasurable, your kids will be proud getting dropped off in front of school in the morning, and your friends will ask you how you managed to afford that new luxury car.

Remember, you’re the consumer. You can walk away from any deal you don’t like, and any salesperson who rubs you the wrong way.

Now go out and find that dream car you’ve always wanted, and please post any questions you have in the comments and I will answer them personally.

March 14, 2018 0 comment

Porsche

Porsche PASM vs. Sport Suspension for Boxster & Cayman (981)

by Daniel Kim November 30, 2015

written by Daniel Kim

When buying a used 2013-2015 Porsche Boxster/Boxster S or Cayman/Cayman S, should you get PASM, Sport Suspension, or neither?

To start, a brief summary of both options:

1. PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management)

Electronically controlled damper system with two manually selectable settings (“Standard” and “Sport”)
Reduced ride height of 10mm

I think the easiest way to explain what PASM (+$1,790) is, is to basically think of it as a “smart suspension,” using the word “smart” like we do to describe “smart” phones. With Porsche Active Suspension Management, the shock absorbers will talk to the car’s central computer (think of it as the car’s brain) and describe the road conditions.

You can think of the shock absorbers as our feet, and the car’s brain as our own human brain. If your feet feel a jagged, rough surface, they will tell your brain, “Whoa, be careful, you can’t move too fast on this surface or else you’ll hurt yourself.” You will adapt based on that feedback by moving more cautiously or taking smaller strides.

Similarly, if the PASM shock absorbers feel a jagged, rough surface, they’ll pass on that information to the car’s central computer—its brain—which will realize, “Hey, this road surface is very rough, let’s be careful.” The car’s brain will send a message to the shock absorbers telling them to adapt by changing their dampening characteristics: a fancy way of saying they will become stiffer or softer.

2015-porsche-boxster-gts-center-console-controls

The PASM button is the shock abosrber icon directly below the ‘SPORT PLUS’ button on the left side of the console.If the road is smooth, it’ll tell the car, ‘Hey, you can stiffen up man, the conditions are great.’ Conversely, if you’re on some pothole ridden travesty in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, PASM will say ‘Hey, this road is nasty, make the car more comfortable for the driver!’

Hopefully I haven’t lost you yet because it’s about to get slightly more complicated. If you do not order the PASM option, there is a 2nd suspension option you can order called ‘Sport Suspension’ which goes for $1,235 (You can, of course, also order your Boxster without either, but I’d find that strange as the Boxster is aimed primarily at enthusiasts).

2. Sport Suspension

Non-adjustable (stiffer springs, stiffer shock absorbers, stiffer anti-roll bars)
Reduced ride height of 20mm

Sport Suspension equipped Boxster’s have a PERMANENTLY stiffened suspension vs. if you ordered the car without any suspension upgrade option. It’s kind of like having a PASM equipped car stuck in ‘Sport’ mode 24/7. This is not a ‘smart’ suspension as opposed to PASM, there are no sensors in a Sport Suspension equipped car to tell the car’s central brain what’s going on. It’s tuned for optimal performance all the time and you can’t change it.

Extra Notes on Ride Height

A PASM equipped Boxster is 10mm lower than a no suspension upgrade option Boxster. A Sport Suspension equipped Boxster is 20mm lower than a no suspension upgrade option Boxster. So, therefore, a Sport Suspension equipped Boxster is 10mm lower than a PASM equipped Boxster. Here’s a chart to hopefully simply things:

Boxster ride height from highest to lowest:
1. No suspension upgrade option (stock ride height)
2. PASM (~0.4 inches lower than stock)
3. Sport Suspension (~0.8 inches lower than stock)

You CANNOT order both PASM and Sport Suspension, it’s either one or the other. I think purely by the numbers, PASM is by far the more popular option. Owners seem to agree that it rides great on all road surfaces (it’s probably better for resale value too vs. Sport Suspension).

If you were concerned only with performance with little regard for comfort on harsher roads, that would be a scenario you’d tick the Sport Suspension option rather than PASM. A Sport Suspension equipped Boxster would look a little more aggressive too as it sits 10mm closer to the ground than a PASM Boxster.

Summary

Order the PASM option UNLESS you plan on taking your Boxster to the track a lot, or only care about maximum handling capabilities.

Footnotes

On Porsche’s website, their description of the PASM system is a little bit confusing. If I understand correctly, even if you are in ‘Sport’ mode, the system can still revert back to the ‘Normal’ setting if it senses the road is uneven. Conversely, it does the opposite if you are in ‘Normal’, i.e. it will switch to ‘Sport’ mode by itself if it senses you are driving fast.

This post from Rennlist.com seems to confirm what I wrote above – if you are in ‘Sport’ mode and the road is horrible, it will automatically make the car ride in a more comfortable manner.

In the same post, conveniently, the board member also writes: “I noticed they [Porsche] are poor describers of their own systems. This is very disappointing as many of us, I suspect, enjoy technology and have a capacity to understand.”

I, too, thought the same thing when reading their description of the PASM system.

Cover photo: “DSC_1673” by Mateusz Wołek, used under CC BY / Text imposed on original

November 30, 2015 15 comments

LA Lifestyle

5 Signs You’re New to LA

by Daniel Kim November 25, 2015

written by Daniel Kim

As an Orange County native I’ve always thought I was a little more sophisticated than the rest of America, until I moved to the metropolis next door: Los Angeles. I chose not the LA basin proper, as it is for this suburbanite a bit too cramped; I still get serious anxiety about street parking and I detest population density. Living in the valley slightly ameliorated both of these problems, but I still find myself struggling with these subtle nuances of big city life which perhaps you can relate to:

5. You spend hours circling for street parking

…at least in Hollywood or K-Town. Thankfully it’s not as bad in Studio City, I’d probably still be looking for parking instead of writing. I’m too accustomed to the ample parking available at most leisurely paced suburban shopping centers in OC. The will to find immediate parking is not ingrained within as evidenced by the multitude of times I am trounced upon by LA natives with far more desire to get on with their lives—and an innate ability to spot seemingly invisible gaps between cars at every piece of pavement not marked by red, white or yellow paint—who know all the best parking tips that us suburban folk have no clue about.

4. You aren’t moving with enough purpose

And I guess in a nutshell, that’s one of the biggest differences I spot between LA and OC. You can feel the need of everybody around you wanting to get to where they need to go—and you damn sure notice it anytime you have to drive anywhere. Polite use of your horn is not an option, it’s a way of life, a second dialect you hear spoken fluently at every intersection. It’s an inherent aspect of urban dwelling, an ear-jarring soundtrack I seldom heard played among the quiet tract homes of North East Orange County. I notice my relaxed OC gait and overly defensive driving manners are off-rhythm to the beat of the city; it’s more uptempo, more bustle and hustle—it’s alive.

3. Everybody is trendier, hipper and chicer than you

I suppose that’s what makes a city a real city, the vibe, the atmosphere. There’s a scene on every sidewalk, an Instagram or Snapchat worthy moment on every corner. It’s funny, as I write this article, I feel myself with a different voice, it’s more hip, it has more flavor. This must be how you instantly are able to tell when someone is from a big city when you meet them. It’s that influence from their surroundings that permeates into them everyday manifested in their mannerisms, their speech patterns, their body language. I suppose that’s something you get gratis when you have to pay at least $1,300 a month for a decent 1-bedroom apartment—at least one I would consider to be hospitable.

2. You’re alarmed by the cost of groceries and household items

Ok no juices here….just household items.

Coming from cookie-cutter neighbors where everybody has a landscaped front lawn, I never really understood why people would work so hard for 500-square feet of garage-less living space, but now that I can call LA home it all makes sense. And it’s not just the price per square foot that’s more expensive here: it’s everything. Every time I look at a receipt, I feel guilty for having spent so much and reminded that I need to get better with money management—a lot better. You’re not pinching cents here. I see single beverage items, juices in particular, hovering around a median mark of $5, and some as high as $7 or $8. Which brings me to my last sticking point: I guess I’m going to have to buy a juicer, and not just for kale and beets.

1. You now can have your food & errands juiced and bottled for you

If I can condense LA lifestyle into a single idea – it’s that everything can be made into a juice, literally and figuratively. People here can’t spare the time—but can definitely spare the money—to make everything more convenient, a concept which makes perfect sense in a city where a 10-mile drive can take 40 minutes. I’ve made two Postmates orders in the week I’ve been here, once for ramen and once for sushi; the only thing I’d ever been able to get delivered previously came in cardboard boxes, not fancy gift-box shaped containers with fresh sashimi from a driver with an Uber-esque profile photo. With a promo code, I’ve escaped the $5 delivery fee twice, but it’s something I’m finding myself more than eager to pay for now that my phone, and not my own physical body, controls what comes to my dining table (actually, it’s an Ikea plastic tray I eat everything on….a bad habit I get to indulge in now that I live alone. Thanks sis!)

November 25, 2015 1 comment

Car Tech F1 Racing and Motorsports

A simple guide to front wings and aerodynamics: IndyCar vs. F1

by Daniel Kim April 15, 2014

written by Daniel Kim

By: Daniel Kim

Featured Image – “How much did the R&D cost behind this piece of carbon fiber?” by ph-stop licensed by CC 2.0

By comparing the front wing designs of Indy cars and F1 cars, hopefully you guys will get to learn something about aerodynamics and the budget differences between the two open-wheel series.

What’s the point of a front wing?

The front wing (the big shovel-looking thing at the front-most part of the car) is the most important piece of aerodynamic equipment on a racing car. It provides downforce and sets up the airflow for the rest of the vehicle. When you think about a car just going forward in a straight line, it’s cutting through the air, right? Of course air is invisible so we don’t actually see it, but you imagine what happens to the air as it hits that big shovel in the front of the car. It can’t go through the front wing, so it has to follow it’s curvature, then go wherever the curvature takes it.

If the racing car is traveling very fast, a lot of air is hitting that front wing. As it hits the front wing and flows up and over the car, it creates downforce, which is a force that pushes the car down onto the track. This is important because we need that downward force to keep the car glued to the track so it can turn better.

What happens to the air after it hits the front wing?

By: Jake Archibald

The biggest trouble point for aerodynamicists who work on race cars is the wheels. They can shape the bodywork of a car beautifully and to be extremely slippery, but there’s nothing they can really do about the wheels. So if we look again at the front wing and we can imagine air following the path of the curvature of the wing, where does it go after that? Well, connecting the dots, it looks like the slope of the wing leads the air right up over the front wheels. This is an effect purposely created by the aerodynamicists, who want to avoid any air getting into that turbulent section near the wheels. Ideally, they want the smoothest airflow possible all-around every surface of the car.

A good front wing design will not only provide good airflow at the front of the car, but will make the air travel to the certain places at the middle and rear of the car that the aerodynamicist wants, to provide downforce at the rear and cooling in the necessary places.

Complexity of F1 front wings

By: Jitesh Jagadish

If we look at an F1 front wing, it is very complex. Nowadays, some have 9+ ‘elements’ (an element is basically a fancy name for each part or ‘thingy’ attached to the wing). In this photo of four spare front wings for the Williams F1 team, I count about 6 elements. Each wing has two extra ‘steps’ known as flaps (the white parts with the at&t and globe logos), and 4 ‘winglets’ (the little black pieces that look like miniature front wings).

All these pieces don’t end up there by chance. Each has a specific purpose, and has to be researched, designed and tested – which of course isn’t cheap. It’s like performing a high school lab course over and over and over except with a much more complex experiment.

IndyCar vs. F1 front wings: A big difference in budgets

By: Nathaniel Steele

If you look at an IndyCar’s front wing, it looks relatively simple compared to that of an F1 car. I’m fairly certain all the teams in IndyCar use the same bodywork – they purchase it from one specific company. Compare that to F1, where each team must build every single component on their car, and are free to develop them however they wish as long as it meets a certain set of criteria/dimensions.

So to gain a competitive edge, F1 teams spend huge sums of money researching and developing the best front wing possible. It’s just one part of many, but it’s a crucial part, so a lot of $$$ is going to go into that. IndyCar team’s budgets are nothing to scoff at, but nothing compared to the mind-boggling numbers in F1. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars per season for F1 teams.

Not to disparage IndyCar at all, but in comparison to Formula 1, it’s relatively simple. And in that way, I feel like it’s more pure – kind of like how some basketball fans prefer college to the pros.

April 15, 2014 0 comment

Ferrari

If you want to join Ferrari’s Corse Clienti program, study hard kids

by Daniel Kim April 10, 2014

written by Daniel Kim

“it may be true that money can’t buy happiness, but you still need a lot of it to go racing”

The FXX (based on the Enzo) and the 599XX (based on it’s street-going namesake the 599 GTB) form the backbone of the Ferrari Corse Clienti program. Both cars are for track-use only and cost roughly $3 million and $1.5 million respectively.

Plopping down the requisite seven figure sums will get you the car, a few track days a year, your own personal pit crew and the honor of having your telemetry studied by the boys back in Maranello, who use the data in the research and development of the company’s future vehicles.

Both the FXX and 599XX were offered an upgrade package during their mid-lives called ‘Evoluzione’ or ‘Evo.’ As per usual, more power, less weight and more aerodynamic performance were on offer for about $300k. I believe every owner opted to upgrade to ‘Evo’ specification.

And if thrashing either of these two street-forbidden, 700+hp Prancing Horses just isn’t enough to wet your racing whistle, you can also opt to purchase retired Ferrari F1 cars, supposedly dating back as far as 1970. So for the price of a private jet, you really can be Schumi, Rubens or Lauda.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Featured Image – “Ferrari FXX Car No.77” by emperornie licensed by CC 4.0

2nd image – “H.R. Owen 599XX” by Mark Holloway licensed by CC 4.0

April 10, 2014 0 comment

Car Tech

A Simple Guide To Hybrid Cars

by Daniel Kim April 9, 2014

written by Daniel Kim

Yup, the McLaren P1 is classified as a hybrid car / “MCLAREN P1” by Eddy Clio is licensed by CC 2.0

Okay car n00bs, Hybrid Vehicles 101 is now in session: You’re about to learn the 3 different types of hybrid technology.

hy·brid: something (as a power plant, vehicle, or electronic circuit) that has two different types of components performing essentially the same function

1. Series Hybrid (aka Extended Range Electric Vehicle or Range-Extended Electric Vehicle)

This is the simplest form of hybrid technology. Its basic components are a gasoline engine, an electric motor, a battery and a generator. The energy flows in the order I listed, i.e. it moves in a SERIES (ahhhhh moment).

If there is one point you must absolutely take away from the Series Hybrid, it’s that the wheels are turned by the electric motor ONLY.

The electric motor has to get power from somewhere, right? So you put gas into the gasoline engine, the gas engine burns this fuel and creates energy, which is used to power the generator. The generator then fills up the battery with energy. Now the battery can give power to the electric motor which turns the wheels, and thus forward motion is achieved.

Examples include the Fisker Karma, BMW i3 with Range Extender and Chevy Volt.

2. Parallel Hybrid

Honda Insight / photo credit: Theodore Lee

A Parallel Hybrid also has a gasoline engine, electric motor and battery. However, the main difference between the Parallel and Series Hybrid is that BOTH the gas engine and electric motor can move the wheels together (remember, in the series hybrid, only the electric motor could move the wheels).

It’s called a Parallel Hybrid because the gas engine and electric motor are lined up with each other along either the cars front wheels or rear wheels, i.e. they are ‘parallel.’

Vehicles using this technology include the Honda Insight, Honda CR-Z, Honda Accord Hybrid, Mercedes Benz S400 BlueHYBRID and BMW 7-series hybrids.

3. Series-Parallel Hybrid

Toyota Prius / photo credit: Robert Scoble

This design combines the best of both the Parallel and Series hybrid designs, thus the name. The same basic components are present: gas engine, electric motor, generator and battery.

Cars using the series-parallel hybrid design can A.) run on just the gas engine B.) run on just the electric engine or C.) use the power of both engines together.

To maximize efficiency, generally a series-parallel hybrid car will use its electric motor(s) at low speeds and then switch to the gas engine at freeway/cruising speeds. If you need a sudden burst of power, it will use both.

The Toyota Prius, which is a Series-Parallel hybrid, is also called a ‘full hybrid’ because the electric motor by itself (it actually has two electric motors) can get the car up to 25mph without the gas engine’s help. The gas engine can also power the generator to recharge the battery as needed.

April 9, 2014 0 comment

Featured Image - "LP560" by Winning Automotive Photography licensed by CC 2.0

Feature Articles

Underground Racing Lamborghini Gallardo: UGR’s Twin Turbo Monster

by Daniel Kim April 1, 2014

written by Daniel Kim

Featured Image – “LP560” by Winning Automotive Photography licensed by CC 2.0

By: Daniel Kim

One of my good buddies is a bit of a roll-racing fanatic, and through him and his intimate knowledge of 1/4 times, trap speeds and dyno plots, I came to learn of a car which is now a bit of an internet phenomenon – the UGR (Underground Racing) Twin Turbo Lamborghini Gallardo.

This thing isn’t even ‘fucking’ fast. It’s asinine.

http://youtu.be/Ih-hrsQY6j8?t=17s

As you just witnessed above, it makes what’s considered a very, very fast production vehicle look like it’s standing still. For reference , the C6 Z06 is just a tad over 3,000lbs (its low curb weight is courtesy of an aluminum frame, carbon fiber body panels and even balsa wood in certain places) and has a 505hp 7.0-liter V8. A C6Z would smoke your friend’s bolt-on Honda Civic like Tyrone Biggums would smoke a fresh rock after a week of forced sobriety.

The UGR TT Gallardo is a grown man’s ultimate toy. Well, I suppose at least before you get into airplanes and yachts.

Going fast isn’t cheap, and going really, really fast is even less cheap. If you want to take out a 2nd mortgage, the Stage 2R Underground Racing TT kit will be yours for the low, low price of only $225,000. That DOES NOT include the car. Yes, that’s right, the turbo kit costs more than a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo LP570.

Just let that sink in for a second.

So what do you get for the price of what most newly weds would spend on their first home together? Bragging rights? A dyno sheet that car nerds the world over can geek out on? A wheel horsepower figure that makes you do a double take? (when I see 1000whp, my mind can fathom it, but when there’s a number greater than 2 in the 2nd digit, it just doesn’t compute).

The Stage 2 Race Version build is known to make 1700+WHP on VP Import (120+ octane racing fuel). Now the question I had for my friend was: “Does it really cost $225,000?” Well let’s turn on the out of focus projector and Altec Lansing computer speakers for a second and have a little lecture, shall we?

There is a sort of implicit financial mechanism inherent within the automotive tuning/aftermarket industry where parts for certain platforms (platform=specific car model) are ‘taxed.’ The more expensive the MSRP of your ride, the more expensive the shiny goodies for it are going to be. Porsche owners refer to this as ‘P-tax.’ Other common taxes are ‘GT-R’ tax, ‘Supra’ tax and ‘M3/BMW’ tax.

This also actually exists within the dealership/service department model. It is true that parts for certain makes like BMW, Mercedes and Porsche are more expensive, but the overall rates for maintenance are certainly inflated to adjust for the average income of owners of these vehicles.

Now, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I wanted to understand why it is that UGR could charge such astronomical rates for their products and services and not have market forces adjust accordingly.

It appears UGR originally became notable by building high power Dodge Vipers. If you happen to be a fan of what former Chrysler head of Global Product Development, Bob Lutz, termed the ‘modern Cobra’, you’ll know its gargantuan 8.3-liter V10 was produced in conjunction with Lamborghini. It’s a myth that the engine was engineered entirely by the boys at Sant’Agata, but they did provide advice on how to make the powerplant lighter and more powerful.

So my theory is, as Underground already had experience twin-turbocharging V10’s, they naturally transitioned into Gallardos, which are also powered by a factory naturally-aspirated V10 (which may or may not have some similarities with the Viper’s V10, I like to think it did giving them a leg up on the competition).

Getting back to the economics of high-end aftermarket vehicle builds, I suppose UGR currently has sort of a monopoly on a big portion of the market for these ‘exotic builds.’ I’m not sure what kind of setbacks they had initially in developing their Gallardo twin-turbo kit, but they seem to be fairly confident in their product now, offering a 2-year/24,000 mile warranty. It’d take too much time and money for any other shop to even think about trying to compete with them, so essentially, they can charge as much as they want.

In any given industry, the less the outside world tends to know about your internal practices and methods, the more they can charge for their products or services. It’s no secret then that UGR’s builds are super secret.

I didn’t mean for this article to turn into a micro/macroeconomics class, but perhaps for those reading who were interested in learning a bit more about why big boy toys cost so much, hopefully things are a little clearer.

So if your husband starts asking you about refinancing the mortgage and your internet browser’s history has the words ‘UGR,’ ‘Underground Racing’ ‘TT’ ‘Gallardo’ or ‘Texas Mile,’ in it, hug him, smile and say, “You don’t need 1700WHP babe, I think you look really sexy when you reverse the Naples Gold Honda Odyssey down the driveway.”

Hahahahhaha. I’m never getting married.

Sorry my stock photo is low-res and watermarked because I don’t want to get sued, but SpeedHunters has a great gallery available here.

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April 1, 2014 0 comment

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