I'll get all the sleep I'll need when I am dead.

 

why did you name it spirit?

 

Ah, because it has the Spirit of my Old new Beetle, WHISPER. I took the antenna from that car (from a HONDA S-2000), and thus, that took the 'soul' from that car and put it into the xA.
(See, many peeps think that the soul is kept in the antenna)


And, it's a cool name.

 

 

Good question...I am so behind. What year is it ?

 

Hey stranger!!! I thought you had dropped off the face of the earth....Glad you climbed back on...

 

Thanks for noticing...Yeah, I have been less then active here...So very busy. I am surfing right now on the laptop (WI-FI) while I watch the playoffs...

 

I'm just waiting for the rallye replay on SPEED in a few hours...

 

Traded car in on 2007 TOYOTA CAMRY HYBRID. Got a ton of money for my xA. It was a great car.

 

how many miles did you have, and how much did you get, if you don't mind me asking

 

I had just under 11,000 miles on it, and I got $12,000 for it.

I did not drive that one as much as the xB I had.

 

Congrats on the Camry, any pics? Did you get it fully loaded or just bottom of the line hybrid?

 

You go thru cars like i go thru underwear....

 

Fully loaded. GPS, JBL stereo (really great bass in that), oh, and I put Status 18 inch Chrome Rey rims on the car right away.

 

it's my 37th car. Do you have that much underwear right now?



Hey, to be serious, I loved my xA, but the truth is in the trade. If you want to maximize your trade in value, you keep the miles low, and you keep the car in great shape (anyone who knows me, knows I keep my cars in great shape), and you get the most for your car.

I paid, I think, about $13,000 or so for the car when I got it. To get $12,000 for it as a trade in, is great.

 

ooo, it's so shiny . Wouldn't 18s kinda defete the purpose of a hybrid, which is gas milage? Got any pics of the interior? What are your current MPGs?

 

No, I made sure that the tires, after the rim and all, were close to size/weight. And they are only⅛ bigger.

My current MPG is about 37.8, which while not as high as my Prius, is much better then a stock Camry.

 

so you'll be keeping this for 1 year until the new xB comes out...


right??? right!!!!!!!

;)

 

The rims look good, but FYI MPG has more to do than total size of the wheel/tire. The further the weight goes from the axis of the wheel, the less efficient it is. It's called rotational inertia, and it is calculated by the formula:

(Rotational Inertia) = (1/2) x (mass) x (radius)^2

By increasing the radius of the majority of the weight (mass) from the axis, you have increased the inertia. Not only that, the increase in width, and furthers that effect. Not only are you losing MPG, you are losing HP as well. It's the reason why you NEVER see rubber band tires on huge rims on ANY race car, F1, drag, Le Mans, etc. And when comparing equal width and quality tires, it has been track proven that any gains from reduced sidewall flex are completely lost due to braking/acceleration/top speed reduction. . . that's right, braking too.

But in all honesty, it's still more than streetable, and if you like how it looks and acknowledge the loss in performance, than you'll go in all the wiser. But the HUGE misconception people have about this topic is what causes people to later complain about poor gas mileage on their xB's and xA's with 17's. Smaller diameter wheels (of equal or lesser weight) always out perform larger ones. And handling can be addressed by tire width, quality, and PSI inflation.

 

LOL