fried rice with sauerkraut for lunch!

[Sactown]

OK, I'm going to lunch today, sitting at a red light, and a tricked out Acura and BMW pull up in the other 2 lanes. The 3 lanes merge into one lane ahead. The Acura and the BMW are reving each other into a game of merge chicken, ignoring me the whole time. On the green light they didn't know what hit them as I gave them both the opportunity to read my bumper! Currently I'm bone stock...you S/C owners must really be loving it!

This car is way too fun!

[teamrope]

Get used to the grin, it's permanant :D

[woaface]

Nice kill man:up: You're lucky...all the rice boys around here are too chicken to do anything. Today I tried to race one and I had to go 15 under to catch up with him! Loser...

[teamrope]

I'm kinda curiouse who the first looser was. BMW or Acura?

[CRUZTAKER]

Oil of Olay works great for permanent grin marks...the sore cheaks...? You'll just have to grin and bear it!:baaa:

[jgc61sr2002]

sactown - Nice job. :) :up:

[Sactown]

I'm kinda curiouse who the first looser was. BMW or Acura?
Acura stayed closest behind me.

[woaface]

Acura stayed closest behind me.
:baaa: Losers!

[89VERT]

Where do BMW's and rice look best ?

In your rear-view mirror !! Lol

[BillyGman]

Great story ST.

[Ross]

A twin kill! Nice job! :bows:

[Paul T. Casey]

Which one was second, why the first LOOSER of course! :banana2:

[Haggis]

OK, I'm going to lunch today, sitting at a red light, and a tricked out Acura and BMW pull up in the other 2 lanes. The 3 lanes merge into one lane ahead. The Acura and the BMW are reving each other into a game of merge chicken, ignoring me the whole time. On the green light they didn't know what hit them as I gave them both the opportunity to read my bumper! Currently I'm bone stock...you S/C owners must really be loving it!

This car is way too fun!


Nice kill, some people have all the luck. Last three times I took Out the Black Bomber nothing nobody wanted to play. Do you think it has anything with that whistling noise coming from the engine. :baaa:

[teamrope]

Nice kill, some people have all the luck. Last three times I took Out the Black Bomber nothing nobody wanted to play. Do you think it has anything with that whistling noise coming from the engine. :baaa:
Ya...Rub it in for all of us N/A owners with S/C envy :mad2:
Although, that would have ben REAL humiliating for the imports :D

[woaface]

Ya...Rub it in for all of us N/A owners with S/C envy :mad2:
Although, that would have ben REAL humiliating for the imports :D
Ya...Rub it in real hard for all of us NM/A (no marauder at all) owners with S/C (silly crap).

We've gotten above 70º finally and the car picks up a good bit better then it used to in this kind of weather before the SCT, but it's slackin' off a little.

Vortech for me in college!

[Sactown]

Nice kill, some people have all the luck. Last three times I took Out the Black Bomber nothing nobody wanted to play. Do you think it has anything with that whistling noise coming from the engine. :baaa:
I love how these moments come out of nowhere. The best part is that these guys didn't know what hit them. MM's are awesome sleepers. To these guys, I was just an obstacle in their race. To me they were whiny dogs needing a lesson. I loved their befuddled looks as I crept past them as the car started to wind up. With less than 1k miles on my 04, I look forward to it breaking in as I have read in other threads. It is already more responsive...to my lead foot that is.

[Haggis]

I love how these moments come out of nowhere. The best part is that these guys didn't know what hit them. MM's are awesome sleepers. To these guys, I was just an obstacle in their race. To me they were whiny dogs needing a lesson. I loved their befuddled looks as I crept past them as the car started to wind up. With less than 1k miles on my 04, I look forward to it breaking in as I have read in other threads. It is already more responsive...to my lead foot that is.

Yea that will get them to think twice the next time they want to play with the big boys. It also sounds like your Marauder had a full meal with whiny dogs, saurkraut and rice. Next time you will have to take a look at the desert menu maybe a Hemi or two.

[UAW 588]

I'm kinda curiouse who the first looser was. BMW or Acura?

My bet bet is on the rice burner for the loser. JAP CRAP!!!!!!!

[junehhan]

Dude, what's with the derogatory comments about Japanese cars? They may not build cars for us, but they do not deserve such negative comments. Competition is what drives the market to produce better products, and the lack of any is a lose-lose situation as it would have forced consumers to be stuck with inferior stuff. I love Ford products, and have bought 2 regular Ford Taurus', 2 Taurus SHO's, a Crown Vic, an SVT Cobra, an SVT Lightning, a Land Rover Freelander(worst mistake ever), a Land Rover Discovery(not much better), and my Marauder. If the competition from the Japanese automakers didn't force companies like Ford to start delivering better products, or risk going out of buisness, the cars we drive today would still be like the cars during the dark ages in quality, refinement, and reliability. I have had my share of terrible Ford products as my 96 Taurus was a lemon with 8 water leaks, the 95 Taurus SHO had numerous annoyances and blew random electrical stuff, the SVT Cobra had LOTS of problems with water leaks and transmission issues, the Land Rover Freelander spent 85 days out of 150 in the shop for warranty repairs, and the Discovery was always leaking something. My friends in fact beg me to switch to a Japanese or German car brand, but despite all of these problems i've had with Ford, my love still hasn't decreased. However, I am also quick to admit from also owning a Honda that they don't build crap. While the cars they build might not be for me with tastes like me, or many of us here, you have to respect the level of quality and refinement they manage to engineer into such an affordable car. Will I buy a Japanese car? Possibly if they ever build me something that interests me, but I cannot deny that they build good cars. While I understand the feelings you have, especially being in a union like the UAW, I have to say that my experience as being a member of the AFL-CIO has just totally made me wish unions have never existed. The market we see out there today, is probably the best example of democracy at work as we as consumers get to cast votes for products by purchasing what we feel is best for our needs. Therefore, having competition keeps Ford really alert and ensures that Ford will always be giving us good products for whenever we are ready for our next vehicles. I buy Ford's because they are always building a car that seems just right for me.

[BillyGman]

It's been awhile since I've owned a rice burner, but I have also heard from others of their durability and quality assurance. However, I think that most of the guys in this thread here(myself included) tend to look at foreign cars(and especially japanese cars) from a performance aspect, since we ourselves are into performance cars, and using the HP that a car has to offer in the way that we often drive.

So from a performance aspect, I laugh at rice burners. Even the ones that do have a certain level of performance still look like a cross between an effeminate spaceship on wheels, and a recycled beer can. And they all sound like a high performance weed wacker, or like a blender when you hit the "Puree" button.

Furthermore, IMO any front wheel drive car is also a joke from a performance standpoint, and I know that the majority of members here share my viewpoint on that specifically. So I have no argument w/your view of the dependability of Jap cars. But from a hi-perf veiwpoint, jap cars are a circus show on wheels, and should only be driven by clowns.

[junehhan]

While FWD may be a joke from a performance aspect(and this is why I bought a Marauder), even Ford has proven that a FWD platform can be made to perform. A good example is the SVT Focus which can show many cars a trick or two about performance, especially from a handling standpoint. Of course, FWD has many limitations, especially when you want to maximize acceleration, and that I agree with you. I also hate torque steer which is something that exists in many FWD vehicles, and get's worse as you add more and more go-fast goodies. However, what's dissappointing is that stock for stock, many of these Japanese FWD vehicles have the capabilities to whup up on the domestics in a straight line as all of the manufacturers appear to be engaged in another horsepower war.

[BillyGman]

I think that you have to consider thw eight of the car in question. Of the two dragstrips that I've raced my Marauder at, I drove the car onto the scale. With a half tank of gas in it as well as 200lb driver(namely me) the car weighed in at a whopping 4,444 lbs!!!

Keep in mind that my car turned 15.2 sec ET's when it was bone stock, and now w/merely $3,600 of mods done to it, it has turned consistent 13.5 sec ET's at the track. The point is, that when it comes to racing, ET's, and acceleration times, weight is everything. And the question that should be asked here, is how many Japanese cars or euro cars that merely cost 30K and tip the scales at well over 2 tons can out accelerate a Marauder? I don't think there are very many if any at all.

As you can see, w/merely a few thousand dollars of mods, my car(as well as any Marauder) will do 0-60MPH in 4.9 seconds on street tires. And that's w/out nitrous oxide, supercharging, or turbo charging. the stock 0-60 MPH was about 6.9 sec. How many foreign cars that weigh 4,444 lbs w/driver onboard can beat that?

If someone who has a rice burner that weighs more than 1,000 lbs less than my car does cannot show me his tail lights when the light turns green, then he should be embarrassed. Don't you think? But some of them cannot. And as for the ones who can, then put them up against a Corvette or any V8 engine American car that doesn't weigh 1,000 lbs more than their foreign car does, and the American V8 car will fare much better.

So I just think that when comparing the performance of foreign cars to American cars, you have to compare apples to apples.

[junehhan]

Well, that's the thing about the Marauder, in that there is nothing else like it on the market, which makes it so unique. To quote these damn surveys that seem to keep haunting my mailbox, "mark the box if you agree that you like driving a unique car."


I think i've gotten just about every survey you could possibly get about the Marauder...........

[BillyGman]

Really? That's funny. cuz I haven't received any of those. I assume then that it's the dealer sending those to you, and not Mercury. Right?

[junehhan]

Really? That's funny. cuz I haven't received any of those. I assume then that it's the dealer sending those to you, and not Mercury. Right?


These surveys have been from various research firms, and i've gotten a total of 8 now, which i've filled out and returned.

I got the official Ford survey they send out to every new car customer
Strategic Vision
JD Power
Maritz Research
and 4 others that I can't remember because after enough surveys, you forget who it's for.

I just got done filling out the Maritz Research survey, although those cheap bastards have been the first firm that hasn't given me a dollar for my efforts :(

[BillyGman]

Hmmm, I wonder if the dealer that you bought your car from is in the habit of selling their customers' names and addresses to a mailing list company. :confused:

[junehhan]

Hmmm, I wonder if the dealer that you bought your car from is in the habit of selling their customers' names and addresses to a mailing list company. :confused:


What's interesting, is that i've gotten numerous surveys on just about any car i've bought since my 01 SVT Cobra. With the Cobra, I got a total of 5 surveys, 3 surveys on the Lightning, 6 surveys on the Honda S2000, 4 surveys on the Land Rover Freelander, 5 surveys on the Discovery, and a whopping 8 so far for the Marauder!

[UAW 588]

Dude, what's with the derogatory comments about Japanese cars? They may not build cars for us, but they do not deserve such negative comments.

I guess my negativaty stems from me working for Ford Motor Company and being a PROUD member of UNITED AUTO WORKERS LOCAL 588 (UAW 588). I am so sick and tired of the american public being brain washed into thinking american cars do not have the right stuff. :mad2: Yes, the big 3 has screwed up in the past, but the public doesn't see what it really takes to build a car. Well, I see it every day at work and try my damnest to make a good quality part. Can you blame a person who just wants to keep his job security, because our goverment sure doesn't. To each his own I guess, but I am second generation union and I like it to stay that way. Yes, unions can look shady to some, but that shady doesn't make you work for minimum wage. I just don't want to be Pearl Harbored and out of a job. Just call me an American who buys American. Just my big 2 cents.

[junehhan]

Well, I have to agree with you, because the public really is brainwashed into percieving things differently, than what reality really is. The Japanese manufacturers do a good job exploiting this difference in public opinion, vs. reality as well. I have no experience with the UAW, but it sounds like they are a good union. However, the AFL-CIO is NOT after some of the atrocities the union let's happen, and some of the crap this union does. I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but as a member of the AFL-CIO for 3 years now, I have pretty much sworn to never be in a union again if the choice is up to me.

[89VERT]

In agree with you UAW , as I am a Canadian who likes to buy Canadian.

Thank god for the St. Thomas assembly plant and the Ford Motor Company !

[UAW 588]

In agree with you UAW , as I am a Canadian who likes to buy Canadian.

Thank god for the St. Thomas assembly plant and the Ford Motor Company !
AMEN BROTHER!!!!!!!

[CRUZTAKER]

Furthermore, IMO any front wheel drive car is also a joke from a performance standpoint, and I know that the majority of members here share my viewpoint on that specifically.
Well I'll bet the SHO drivers have something to say about that....you know they're faster don't you? :lol:

[BillyGman]

Well I'll bet the SHO drivers have something to say about that....you know they're faster don't you? :lol:

LOL......bring em on. I'll meet em at the track in NJ, or NewHampshire.