Once again, Mr. Flashing Lights and I join forces, this time for a trip to Virginia's Eastern Shore via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, after some close examination of hoonage devices (not shown).
A disclaimer: Some of my photos from the beginning part of the trip are very, very bright, a consequence of too much late-early-spring sunshine and too little lens shroud. I apologize for this. Either way, I still hope you enjoy.
I started taking photos after our test drive sessions, attempted sessions, and getting lost in Norfolk trying to find a Wendy's. Here are some mast-arm-sized street blades that ended up getting post-mounted. Welcome to Norfolk.
Continuing down US 58 east, more bizarre signage.
In Virginia Beach, major intersections along US 58 have overhead advance signage.
Someone decided to add how far away the public parking was, and to save money on a new sign, they did it this way.
On Independence Boulevard (VA 225).
The CBBT has its own shield design.
New Wendy's logo. I disapprove, but the new style of restaurant looks pretty decent.
Virginia Beach standard invariable variable message sign.
The neighborhood of Gracetown gets to make up its own signage rules.
Independence Boulevard encounters Northampton Boulevard (US 13) at this interchange. There one will find a repository of sign-shop horrors. There was also a fairly horrifying ramp-speed sign hiding in the bushes off to the right, shamed by its existence.
As it moves toward the oceanfront, Northampton Boulevard is a semi-freeway, with some access control.
Looks like Virginia Beach hired Billy Mays (1958-2009) to make some signage.
What the hell is this?
Coming up to the northbound toll plaza. The toll is twelve dollars one way, discounted to five dollars for a return trip made same day.
The last little bit of land.
Shoving off.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel carries US 13 across the Chesapeake Bay. Twenty-three miles long, it was completed in 1964 and its capacity expanded in 1999. We start out by taking the older lanes north.
I've omitted some of the worst photos, so you'll unfortunately have to do without what I thought were good shots of the open ocean, ships, and some of the signage. We're coming up on the first tunnel, the Thimble Shoal Channel Tunnel.
It's somewhere in all of this glare. The extra two lanes are shedded to enter the two-lane tunnel. The CBBT is an interesting place to spot license plates, we saw plates for Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec, in addition to the usual New England ones.
Some tunnel stats. I took a few pictures with my cell phone here, which was probably a good idea.
There's a pedestrian bridge over the tunnel entrance, allowing for plenty of Instagram opportunities.
Here's the tourist trap/rest area/restaurant. You can have fine seaside dining, Virginia wines and beers, normal drinks, and various souvenirs.
US 13 north is signed for Philadelphia here.
Somewhere in this photo, there is a boat.
Traffic flow out of the rest area.
A look back at Virginia Beach, the Lynnhaven Inlet area, to be exact, in maximum telephoto.
And back onto US 13. I was going to try to do more of the CBBT in this post, but just uploading these pictures took almost two hours for whatever reason, so I'm giving it up. Tune in next time for more exciting photographic experimentation.
Welcome back to another exciting edition of "Which One?", where two potentially similar and interesting vehicles duke it out for superiority in the Arena of Destiny. Today's episode is somewhat less of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Station wagons are very close to my heart. They combine practicality with all of the fun-to-driveness of a normal car. In a world where BMW Gran Turismos and Acura ZDXes exist and the 5000-pound crossover is king, station wagons stand out and run against the grain. So, 2011 BMW 328i xDrive Sport Wagon or 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi?
Some will say that the E90/91/92/93 3-series is the last great iteration of BMW's best-selling Ultimate Driving Machine. It was the last series to be imbued with a line-up of only Billy Dee Williams-smooth straight-sixes, the last in which any body style you wanted, be it sedan, wagon, coupe, convertible, could also be ordered up with a clutch. Sure, by the time the E90 rolled around, other non-sacred demons such as Active Steering and iDrive had found their way this low on the totem pole, but most seem to agree that, in general, the E90 had sacrificed little of the magic that keeps it winning comparison tests and staying on best-of lists, its inherent 3-series-ness.
This particular example is a 2011 E91 328i xDrive, which in Europe would have been called a Touring. Underhood is a naturally-aspirated 3.0-liter straight-six producing 228 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque, provided to all four wheels through a six-speed manual. I think all E90s were great-looking cars, and this wagon is no exception. The original owner didn't go crazy with the option boxes, adding only Bluetooth connectivity, heated front seats, and a panoramic sunroof before putting 39931 miles under the tires. The lack of iDrive is a great thing, leaving the interior unmarred and frustration-free. But the lack of a sport package means this Bimmer is tuned more for the college drama professor who, likely concerned with the demise of his favorite carmaker by this time (can you guess?), decided to jump ship, instead of a genuine canyon-carver. Regardless, this car does wear the roundel, so there will be some driving enjoyment to be had, and its sure-footed all-wheel-drive grip will keep things safe, if somehow you lose hold of 228 horsepower.
I like this car a lot, for reasons already mentioned above. There's cargo space galore, thanks to the fold-flat rear seating, it has the nearly-impossible-to-find-in-a-wagon-this-new manual transmission (Save the Manuals!), and it has decades of Bayerische Motoren Werke cred to back it up. I don't particularly like the sea-of-black interior, or lack of satellite radio connectivity in a car this expensive, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. $32500 and a trip to, bizarrely, a Kenosha, Wisconsin Kia dealer will have you driving away in this fine example of why it's baffling that America hates wagons so much.
Okay, yes, technically this 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi is a hatchback. But it still checks out all the practicality boxes that the Bimmer does, and this comparison becomes narrower than you think. Both have five doors, drive all four wheels through three pedals, both wear a similar shade of ticket-me-please red, and their prices are even similar. However, the STi also checks a few boxes that the Bimmer does not.
How many Scandinavian flicks has your drama teacher attempted in his BMW? This STi is the latest iteration of the decades-old Evo vs. STi battle that has only recently spread to these shores. By 2010, the STi had received its mid-life freshening, wearing meatier bodywork and allowing the option of a sedan, after purists howled at the fact the earlier models were five-door-only. A 2.5-liter boxer four strapped with a massive turbocharger cranks 305 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque, meaning this machine can get you and your groceries to 60 in about five seconds, no sweat. And when the way home just happens to be a rally stage, its all-wheel-drive system with an electronic center differential will keep the hoonage factor turned to eleven.
This example has 23635 miles on the clock, so hopefully probably few of those have been spent hooning or riding around with untold ill-advised modifications. 305 horsepower is a tough number to resist, although it's very easy to draw the attention of the constabulary in a machine like this. The Scooby looks tough and muscular without being super gaudy. I would definitely have to find a set of gold rims for it, however, and the interior has the same sea-of-black problem as the Bimmer. Unlike the Bimmer, the Scooby also has satellite radio capability and even navigation, which is kind of a plus. It's also a shade cheaper than the Bimmer, at $31998 for a package that's sure to provide the tickets thrills by the ton.
So, which one? The ultimate driving machine or the ultimate hoonage machine? I'm actually torn. On the one hand, I would love to enter into the halls of BMW ownership with something so eminently practical, yet still eminently drivable. On the other hand, 305 horsepower. And it's an STi. What's not to like? What say you?
You have to have a portrait of Herr Diesel on your wall, to have written a passionate and heartfelt Facebook note professing your undying love for compression ignition (From the moment I first took in the aromatic fumes of my grandmother's VW Rabbit...), to really understand, much less be willing to spend possibly six figures (!) on, a Porsche with a tach ending with the number six and its red marks beginning at 4600. I fully support the proliferation of compression ignition on these shores, but I'm afraid I'm not one of those people.
It's one of the big facets of my car nerdiness, the idea that out of something built and sold in obscene numbers, one can still find something that no one else has. And it's just that today with the two trucks shown here, whose lineups are the best-selling vehicles in the country, just not in these ways. 2009 Ford F150 XLT Flareside or 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4x4?
The Ford F150 may be the best-selling full-size truck of all time, but finding a twelfth-generation (2009-present) version with the Flareside box isn't quite as easy as going to your local used-car dealer, unless of course your nearest dealer is this one in Kentucky. The Flareside bed went extinct after 2009 in the F150, likely after not selling enough to even leave a mark on numbers for the rest of the lineup. Despite the fact you could get one in all three cab types, in STX, XLT, and FX4 trims (at least based off what I've found online), it's still very uncommon to see one around anywhere, even in the land where a F150 Platinum is considered a luxury vehicle. As a matter of fact, I didn't even see one for the first time until fully two years after the style was discontinued, after which I decided I had to look for one. I had been hoping to find a nice extended-cab Lariat 4x4 model, but I ended up having to settle for this fire-engine-red XLT regular cab in Paducah, Kentucky. The XLT is the highest trim level available with just two doors and three seats, and this one appears to be appropriately equipped (with no interior photos to go by), if not the zenith of regular-cab luxury. In 2009, the Flareside box was a carryover from the previous generation, with only the new-style badging giving a clue as to what year truck you're following. This example is in like-new condition, with just one previous owner who put 28701 miles under its tires.
While the ad does encourage prospective buyers to go out and do some work with this handsome truck, it doesn't provide much information on the engine. In 2009, F150 shoppers could choose from a two- or three-valve version of the 4.6-liter Modular V8 (248/294 or 292/320, respectively), or the 5.4-liter Triton V8 (310/365), all mated to four-speed automatic transmissions. Since this truck has a 3.55 rear-axle ratio, it's most likely the two-valve 4.6, which would make it seem somewhat Eocene compared to the direct-injection V6s and six- or eight-speed automatics that power trucks these days. Still, it should be adequate for picking free couches off the street or driving through a slightly muddy dirt road to the airsoft field. Bluegrass Honda of Paducah is asking but $16870 for this hard-to-find truck, which may seem a bit overpriced until you realize that similarly-equipped 2013 EcoBoost F150s can easily run past 35 large, so this low-mileage example isn't that bad of a buy.
When I was in high school, I remember spending most of my typing and multimedia classes on the Internet, browsing various car companies' online configurators, checking and unchecking option boxes to make perfect (or perfectly weird) configurations for cars. One of the vehicles I remember well was the Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD. In Louisiana, it was not that uncommon for the high schooler's first vehicle to be a heavy-duty pickup, usually one handed down from a parent or uncle who ran a stump-pulling business and wanted something bigger. Figuring at the time that I wouldn't need multiple doors or seats, I went for a regular cab LT model, with an eight-foot box and the awesome 8.1-liter Vortec V8, and a six-speed manual transmission, since the six-speed Allison automatic added something like four thousand dollars to the price. Doing this, I remember being able to get a very well-equipped truck for less than $30000.
Apparently, I was the only one who ever thought to build their Silverado 2500HD that way. The 8100/manual combination was even harder to find than the F150 Flareside, and I managed to find exactly zero that spawned from my idle noodlings in class. This 2004 W/T model, so long that it doesn't even quite fit in frame, was the closest I could find. Unfortunately, this results in somewhat of an apples-to-oranges, or perhaps apples to really, really big apples, comparison, but it does demonstrate how difficult it is to find twenty-first century trucks with manuals.
For towing your LeMons heap to and from races or pulling 300-year-old pine stumps out of the ground, this is definitely your truck. The massive 8.1-liter Vortec produced 340 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque, netting you up to 15500 pounds of towing capacity, with the minor caveat of possibly single-digit fuel economy. Without making the switch to compression ignition, this is probably as good as it gets. The six-speed manual has a dogleg first gear, since first is best suited to getting a 10000-pound load started up a 30-percent grade. The 8100 has so much power that you could probably just keep it in fifth gear and leave it there, whether it's trundling around town or rolling down the open Interstate.
Unlike the Ford, this Chevy is also four-wheel-drive, so when you have to build an airsoft field in, say, a swamp, you're in luck. It's also built to work-truck spec on the inside, with the light tan cloth on the seats and power windows being its only luxury features. None of these were option boxes I ticked back in the day, but I suppose work is work. With 61000 miles of work having been accomplished since this truck rolled off the assembly line, a visit to the McKinney, Texas dealer with $17000 in hand will net you a workhorse that will never let you down.
So, Internet, which will it be? A stylish Ford best suited for parking and light hauling? Or forego the ability to park entirely to drive all four wheels through a real clutch? Personally, I lean toward the Ford. Even just having a little more than half the power of the Chevy with two fewer forward ratios and driven wheels, I think the fill-ups on the F150 will probably be less painful in the wallet area than they would quenching the thirst of the beastly Chevy. What say you?
