Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Spring is here... sort of

The Civic is out of storage, but it's still snowing some days!

So technically, it's Spring, according to the calendar. I took the Civic out of storage on Friday March 31st and a few hours after I parked it in front of the house, it began to snow. It snowed again on April 1st when we were in Deschaillons, and today the temperature has been below zero pretty much every day since then. Still, the roads have been dry and I used the Civic to run a few errands. I drove it to Jean-Walter's house today and let him have a short drive. It's fascinating to see your own modified car driven by someone else. I always say that this Civic is not so hard-core and that it's quite drivable on the street for a track car... it did not seem that way watching JW drive. He had no trouble with the clutch, but it hardly felt like a smooth and easy ride from the passenger seat. I think the lack of power steering is the worst feature for street driving. At least the front lip doesn't scrape on speed bumps, because there are dozens of them in his neighbourhood. The car is not terribly loud, unless you're in vtec, which doesn't really happen in the city. It's generally unpleasant to drive this car in the city, with all its potholes, speed bumps, traffic and lane closures. I don't know what I would choose to drive if I had to drive in the city for hours (like an Uber driver), but I can imagine a WRX or a small BMW would be the most enjoyable over all and would soak up some of the bumps in the road.

You can see that some other people have taken out their summer cars as well, as I have seen a few classics and exotics on the road in the past few days. It's not all good news though: tomorrow's forecast calls for freezing rain!

The Civic fresh out of storage, before it snowed

997 is still a nice car, not too big

Nurburgring sticker on a Civic Si

Nice white Veloster N

AMG when they still used the 6.2 liter V8

Lots of electric cars

Elantra N in the neighbourhood

Cool modified S2000

Nice colour for a Kia Stinger

Strange modern style camper

Two very expensive SUV's

I kind of like the S3 in yellow

Subtle M5

Orange accents on this Urus

Rare green E46

80's Jag on 80's style mesh wheels

A rare Acura ZDX in satin black

Winter-driven NB Miata

Skiing with the boys at Orford

I'm a sucker for a Mini on steel wheels

Probably the cheapest 911 out there (convertible 996), still a nice car

Cool flat green Volvo 240

Purple M240i

Looks hood only from certain angles

I had hoped the new Acura Integra would look cooler... it's not terrible

The Hyundai Tiburon design has aged well

Cool spec for this Mercedes

Nice plate on this Lexus (Land Cruiser)

Surprising red soft top on this red E36

One of one Corvette (designed by women expo) at the Musée des Beaux Arts

Bentley parked less than 1 cm from a Civic

Got rumble?

Another Elantra N

BMW i4

... and the better-looking M4

I think the same Elantra N

Another Nurburgring sticker (Sabine Schmitz version)
Cool yellow RX8

Sunday, April 2, 2023

2023 Montreal Salon de l'Auto

 I realized that I never posted my Salon de l'Auto photos from January. I went with Rob and the boys and it's a good thing that a good portion of the Poirier collection (mostly Ferraris and other exotics) was there, or it would have been a pretty unexciting event. We were also surprised at the number of companies that did not bother to participate, including Honda and BMW. Still, we had a pretty good time and got some cool photos. 

Over-the-top Lamborghini limited edition (I forget the name)

Lotus Emira is a good-looking car

New Countach is not as good-lloking as I had hoped

Weird Lambo from the front

I'm not sure if the Huracan STO is too much or if it's good-looking

Ferrari SP2... no roof available?

Front view of the Emira

Classic Ferraru V12, strange colour

Boys the Bugatti Voiture Noire

Singer is nice, but I don't think it's good value

The Maserati MC20 is very exotic-looking

... as is the 918 Spyder

Chiron in green

The boys enjoying the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

Jules in the Elantra N

Blackwing

We like the Elantra N

Sentra race car

Oscar and Rob check out the Nissan Z... I am not excited when I see it

Nice to see a real rally car at the show

There was a stange 90's tuning mini-area that had this 1KHP Supra

... and this very 90's style modified Integra

Mclaren Artura is nice

Two Lamborghinis from the Poirier collection

Artura and Isetta!

Another STO

The Poirer collection features all 5 Ferrari Hypercars, and they were all parked together

... a rare and amazing sight.

The 288 GTO was one of my top ten cars when I was younger

458 or 488 Pista, I always confuse them

GTO

Amazing F40

Iconic car

Enzo

The F50 has grown on me over the years

LaFerrari, not my favourite of the bunch

F1 car from a smaller era

Unrelated, a Cobra coupe replica

Very rare 599 GTO

F12

One of the Pistas

Front-engined V12's

New F8

The Pista looks cool

This is cool: new Corolla GR

Oscar likes the driver's seat