Yeah he is, his actual job is transporting supercars & high end vehicles to high profile owners. His hobby is rebuilding tow trucks, and Holden Utes & wagons.
Just saw an ad for the Nissan Qashqai. It surprised me since I didn't know it was available in North America, so I checked it out on their website. Turns out it's available with a 6-speed manual.
It's called the Rogue Sport in the US. Looks like you're not getting the manual, either. I guess people must still be buying them here.
What are Nissan even doing with that car? First it was the "Dualis" (Australia & Japan only), then the "Qashqai", and now the "Rogue Sport" in the USA.. Pick a name and stick with it for gods sake.
According to Wikipedia, Nissan thought Americans wouldn't be able to pronounce Qashqai . At least it's unified everywhere else now.
I've just figured that out and honestly, trying to build a Qashqai/Rouge Sport that's actually cool is making me violently angry. First I go to Nissan's website and don't see it, so I go to Wikipedia to find out I'm actually looking for a Rogue Sport. Hit up the configurator and can't find a manual anywhere no matter what I do. Realize Canada and find Nissan's Canadian site. Back to Wikipedia to find a plausible Canadian postal code since their site won't let me skip that step. Realize that only the basest of base models, with FWD, (probably) steel wheels, and a heavily restricted color selection, can be had manual. Realize that the best color (Caspian Blue) is not available with the best interior color (black). The Canadian base version, unlike the USDM base version, can't get an "Appearance Package" with better wheels, and gets a reduced set of accessories (can't have LED foglights, for example). Hey Nissan, what is your major malfunction? Are you deliberately trying to make it difficult to build a sporty version of this car? Furthermore, based on something I've seen in a video, I wouldn't trust Nissan's current CVT to take a sustained thrashing in the mountains. Final CDM build: Final USDM build: (LED foglights are a maybe on that one) Dream build is my USDM build, with the 19-inch wheels from the top trim model, the manual from the CDM FWD build, and MAYBE the LED headlights from an option package available on the top trim model. No other options not already seen.
You can get the manual with AWD, but that's about it. The only other AWD crossover available with a manual for the price is the Jeep Renegade, and it's available on higher trim levels. The Subaru Legacy and Crosstrek are considerably more expensive and everything else is either auto-only or FWD. Not even the Fiat 500X can have both, which is stupid because it's on the same platform as the Renegade.
Dunno what the deal is with the scene you mentioned. Musta put it in park or set the parking brake for some reason. The whole la river scene really shows how god awful those tires are around water. It looks like they're on ice. All police vics got goodyear eagles, and they are awful on wet roads.
I tried but if I select the AWD S on the Canadian site it won't let me even try to pick the transmission - and by that I mean if I click right on "transmission" it goes to "color" instead.
Oh yeah, you're right. Well, forget it then. I also realised I goofed with the prices of the other vehicles I mentioned. Both Subarus are actually not that much more expensive as long as you get the base model (which is what I should have been comparing) and the Jeep Renegade jumps up to almost $30,000 as soon as you select AWD, even on the base trim level. The whole AWD market right now is completely infuriating.
Late 90s Land Cruiser Prados are really expensive here in NZ. You are still paying over 10k for ones that have been to the moon and back.
The whole automotive market is completely infuriating right now. There are plenty of desirable go-fast specials out there, but the more mainstream offerings tend to be uniformly terrible. You want a manual transmission? Here's your manual transmission, available only on the Poverty Edition complete with tiny, ugly steel wheels. You want a V6? There is no more V6, but here's a turbo I4 pretending to be a V6, I hope you like automatic transmissions and equipment you don't need because you can't get rid of either with this engine. You want a more aggressive exterior treatment? Yo - see above. You want a wagon? Here, have a jacked up pseudo-SUV instead. It's heavier, slower, uglier, can't corner as well, and uses more gas, but at least it's not a wagon and also you can pretend it's a 4x4, so that totally makes it cooler! If you ask me, every car should have a version specced out as follows: 1. Most basic available interior appointments and technology 2. But with the loudest sound system that's normally available on that model and physically capable of working with a non-menu-based interface 3. Most powerful engine available on that car 4. Most aggressive suspension package available on that car 5. Most aggressive available exterior treatment including the low-profile tires 6. True manual transmission 7. AWD if available, unless the car is natively RWD, in which case RWD The fact that, with mainstream cars, such a package is usually completely impossible to build without having to scrounge parts post-purchase, is a disgrace. Usually, 1 precludes 2, 3, 4, and 5, 2 usually means a menu-based interface (hate those things so much; they turn trivial adjustments into dangerous distractions), and 3, 5, 7, and maybe even 4 preclude 1 and 6.
Conversations like this always make me wish I was a millionaire so I could just build my own cars. That said, I'm a teenager with a Wacom tablet so I'll probably be back tomorrow having designed a whole lineup. At least I can pretend
