KITT car poll PART II

flemmo · Post by **flemmo** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:43 am

Both a bit bland imho

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 1:37 am

tamatt27 wrote:It's FWD and isn't sporty. The body is made in Lansing, not the whole car. The GTO would be a better fit than anything Pontiac currently produces.

The GTO is cool but it's made in Australia to my knowledge. If they make new models in the USA I would go for it.

I think the 2008 G5 is very sporty!

I'm not a car guy so the FWD/RWD thing doesn't really resonate with me.

Also the whole 2008 Pontiac G5 is assembled in USA (Ohio, according to wikipedia). Granted, there may be parts from other countries, but the majority of the blue collar work on the car is done in the great nation of the United States of America.

I worked on an assembly line for medical devices (morphine/medicine delivery pumps) at one point and I can say from personal experience that assembly is still quite a bit of blue collar work. We had a wave solder machine, put all the chips on the board and wave soldered them on, then $15/hr employees did re-solder of the machine's mistakes, then $10/hr employees (including myself) put the board into the medical pump, along with assembly of the motor and other mechanical assemblies, and testing of the board and the general operation of the pump. Basically the only things in those pumps not made in the USA were some of the chips and the power supply. But even if all parts were made in other countries, putting it together and testing it still involves labor. About 4-5 hours of labor per pump (not counting the re-solder). So, "assembled in USA" is preserving American jobs. Employees at GM/Pontiac make a lot more than $10/hr too....union wages!

Unfortunately they ended up either firing or moving to a different line all of us who were hired through a temp agency, I quit voluntarily when I suspected it would happen.

But yeah just watch for example that show How It's Made, or take a factory/assembly line tour sometime, you'll see that "Assembled in" or "Made in" represents a great deal of work.

scottab21 · Post by **scottab21** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:49 am

I truly wish Pontiac would bring back the Firebird (Trans Am). The new Camaro look great, I can only imagine what the new 'bird would look like, and if they do bring it back, what better way to introduce it than in the new Larson project/movie!

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:12 am

scottab21 wrote:I truly wish Pontiac would bring back the Firebird (Trans Am). The new Camaro look great, I can only imagine what the new 'bird would look like, and if they do bring it back, what better way to introduce it than in the new Larson project/movie!

I agree there, but I still think the Pontiac G5 is the closest thing we have to the Trans Am in terms of current cars. But I'm in the minority on that I guess.

tamatt27 · Post by **tamatt27** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:58 pm

seeker78 wrote:
scottab21 wrote:I truly wish Pontiac would bring back the Firebird (Trans Am). The new Camaro look great, I can only imagine what the new 'bird would look like, and if they do bring it back, what better way to introduce it than in the new Larson project/movie!
I agree there, but I still think the Pontiac G5 is the closest thing we have to the Trans Am in terms of current cars. But I'm in the minority on that I guess.

Actually the Pontiac G8 is the closest Pontiac has to a Trans Am. It's a V8 and RWD. It is built in Australia as the GTO was. Holden, GM's Australia division, developed the Zeta platform which is what the G8 and Camaro are built. It is apparent that you're not a 'car guy' because FWD and RWD don't matter. Please don't take that as an insult, but your choices are flawed if you're looking only at vehicles assembled in the USA. Would you rather have the money go to American workers and the profits go back to, say Japan for the Mitsubishi, or stay in the USA if the car is built by one of the Big 3? Personally I don't mind where the car is built, the GTO has arguably one of the best interiors GM has ever offered in a car, as long as the profits go to an American car company and are invested back into the American economy.
Bob Lutz, the chairman of GM North America, has stated many times that the Firebird will not return. I suspect it will come back, however it won't be soon.
Honestly, the Mustang is the best fit from American cars.

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:22 am

tamatt27 wrote: Actually the Pontiac G8 is the closest Pontiac has to a Trans Am. It's a V8 and RWD.

Well it also has 4 doors, the Trans Am used for Knight Rider had 2 doors. The G5 is a "sports coupe", 2 doors and 4 seats, like the Trans Am. You can't really look at a car and determine that has a V8 engine inside and employs rear wheel drive, or at least I can't. Although I did say myself earlier that a 2008 Pontiac G8 would not be a bad KITT. The G5 is even better.

Would you rather have the money go to American workers and the profits go back to, say Japan for the Mitsubishi, or stay in the USA if the car is built by one of the Big 3?

I've explained my position on that elsewhere and it's probably beating a dead horse at this point. I prefer Made in USA, let's just leave it at that, if it is not a factor for you that's fine, no worries, Hakuna Matata.

Honestly, the Mustang is the best fit from American cars.

I think the Mustang GT looks better, especially the Saleen one...but even the Saleen still has the relatively boxy grill at the front rather than a swept down front like the Pontiac G5.

http://saleen.com/s281_e_photo_gallery.htm

but I admit that after having seen the shelby mustang in action in I am Legend, my opinion of it is evolving...it looked pretty cool in that movie.

scottab21 · Post by **scottab21** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:26 am

Mustang GT500KR, great for the new Knight 3000 in the NBC T.V. pilot.... but when it comes to the hollywood production, (re-imagining of Knight Rider) the motion picture, should be something never seen before, which is why I hope by then Pontiac could have worked things out to re-introduce the Firebird Trans-Am...

JJSoCrazy · Post by **JJSoCrazy** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:20 pm

scottab21 wrote:Mustang GT500KR, great for the new Knight 3000 in the NBC T.V. pilot.... but when it comes to the hollywood production, (re-imagining of Knight Rider) the motion picture, should be something never seen before, which is why I hope by then Pontiac could have worked things out to re-introduce the Firebird Trans-Am...

I hear you, I am a Huge Firebird fan and I hope they do something to bring it back!

scottab21 · Post by **scottab21** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:56 pm

Well I guess it's safe to say we won't be hearing about that feature film for awhile anyway. With the writers strike still in full swing, and the studio still making revisions... Let's just be happy we at least have one sure thing comin' Feb. 17nth!

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:41 pm

I still say this looks KITT like.

black 2008 Pontiac G5, Made in USA.

of course if 2 seat is acceptable, I would say Dodge Viper, since the Corvette apparently can't be used because of carbon fiber content.

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:54 pm

black dodge viper, also made in USA, no carbon fiber issues, though it does have only 2 seats.

PHOENIXZERO · Post by **PHOENIXZERO** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:53 pm

That Viper looks cool but doesn't seem like there's enough room and IMO four seats are a must as only having two is rather limiting. I guess you could just hope you don't have to help more than one person.

tamatt27 · Post by **tamatt27** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:12 pm

seeker78 wrote:black dodge viper, also made in USA, no carbon fiber issues, though it does have only 2 seats.

The Viper is more expensive than the base 'Vette, and the base 'Vette doesn't have carbon fiber...just the ZR1. Honestly, if you knew what blasphemy it would be to have KITT as a FWD 4-cylinder car then your 'Made in the USA' feelings would be less important concerning the G5. KITT should never be FWD or come with anything less than a V8.

Nelson B · Post by **Nelson B** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:22 pm

Well I like that black viper it does scream I'am kitt. Sorry Toni your magic is not needed on that picture. Those wheels have to go though. Change the front a bit. It would blow that Mustang out of the water in the looks department.

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:02 am

tamatt27 wrote: KITT should never be FWD or come with anything less than a V8.

ok, well, why not?

You want only car enthusiasts to watch this movie or what? I vaguely know that a V8 has 8 cylinders, but it's still an internal combustion engine so it seems old fashioned to me. To me a high tech car, in 2008, would run off an electric motor. Surely, a lot of car enthusiasts like the Ford Mustang model chosen for the new knight rider tv series, so from that perspective the Mustang would be the best choice.

Visually, the Knight Rider car was black, had two doors, four seats, a swept down/aerodynamic/jet fighter front, with the red scanner, and a wing/spoiler on the back. Yes, the headlights did fold down when deactivated, but I think most would view that as a minor feature visually. As long as they are aerodynamically molded into the frame of the vehicle, I believe the intent is achieved.

Again, I don't know if you can, but I cannot look at a car from the outside, without knowing anything about it, and tell you what kind of drivetrain or engine it has. You only know the Saturn SC-1 had FWD because you can look it up, right? You can't look at the car and tell me it is front wheel drive. They could modify the transmission so it is driven on the rear wheels and it would look exactly the same from 6 feet away, would it not? So I'm questioning the relevance of that. But maybe I'm wrong.

KITT didn't even have a V anything engine on the show, it was some kind of turbine/turbojet. This is taken from the wiki area of our very own Knight Rider Online web site:

"ENGINE TYPE: Knight Industries turbojet with modified afterburners"
"TRANSMISSION: 8 speed microprocessor turbodrive with auto pilot(needs no driver)"

So, clearly, KITT did not have a "V8" or "rear wheel drive", it was a totally different kind of propulsion system. The 1982 Trans Am did, but KITT on the show did not.

89IROCNDoug · Post by **89IROCNDoug** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:11 am

seeker78, I think KITT needs to be RWD for two reasons:

1. RWD and AWD cars perform better than FWD. Cars accelerate faster with RWD because the weight is transferred to the rear of the car during acceleration, giving more traction to the powered wheels. Also, cars with FWD will understeer on corners. While RWD cars can oversteer (or fish tail on corners), you can do controlled oversteering (like you see with sprint cars and drifting), so RWD is superior to FWD on a road course.

Read about rear-wheel drive on Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear-wheel_drive

2. You can do awesome donuts with RWD!!!

That's just too fun to watch!!!

I don't think doing donuts in reverse would work quite as well.

seeker78 wrote:ENGINE TYPE: Knight Industries turbojet with modified afterburners"
"TRANSMISSION: 8 speed microprocessor turbodrive with auto pilot(needs no driver)"

So, clearly, KITT did not have a "V8" or "rear wheel drive", it was a totally different kind of propulsion system. The 1982 Trans Am did, but KITT on the show did not.

Um, I guess I get your joke there.(I think you're joking) KITT is what then, APD (Auto Pilot Drive)?

But in all seriousness (as to not confuse any readers!

), KITT is obviously RWD. The rear wheels are the powered wheels and it doesn't matter what they are powered from. If you need proof, watch all the awesome burnouts and donuts by KITT on Knight Rider!

ck37 · Post by **ck37** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:57 am

Hello Everyone.

Been a long time Knight Rider fan and since the announcement of the new show my interest like most of you has been peaked.

I wanted to chime in on the new KITT especially since it's so radically different than what most of us grew up with.

I recently saw this move Redline. Its basically fast and the furious with exotic cars with a less than stellar story line but that's neither here or there. What they did have are most of the recommendations many board members have given in terms of cars they would like KITT to be in the film. including the Shelby Mustang GT500. It was actually racing a Ford GT.

I have to say that the mustang looked amazing onscreen. It photographs very well, looks powerfull, sleek and agile. I think it falls in line with what I always liked about the original Knight Rider.

To me, KITT could have been an exotic but in the knight rider world it would stick out like a soar thumb when Michael and KITT are going undercover to fight all these criminals. They need to blend into their surroundings. if you have Michael driving a one of a kind rare vehicle, wouldn't they stand out like a soar thumb? Of course.

KITT was only rare only when you sat inside. I think this mustang embodies that (hopefully). Mustangs are common, so for them to infiltrate places etc, they wont stand out. Except when it goes to into "fast and furious" mode.

Even In the show it was always referred to by outsiders as just a black "T-top", which we all know is no big deal.

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:29 pm

89IROCNDoug wrote: But in all seriousness (as to not confuse any readers! ), KITT is obviously RWD. The rear wheels are the powered wheels and it doesn't matter what they are powered from. If you need proof, watch all the awesome burnouts and donuts by KITT on Knight Rider!

Well, my point there was that FWD vs RWD is an esoteric concept which of concern almost exclusively to car enthusiasts. Those of us not in that category don't mind if a vehicle is FWD or RWD or AWD as long as it looks like we would expect kitt to look. In other words, if you're not a car enthusiast, you're not going to say "we can't use xyz car because it is front wheel drive", because that would be like saying "I refuse to watch a James Bond movie where he is wearing a watch with a 16 jewel movement instead of a 17 jewel movement".

Here are some videos of FWD drive vehicles doing donuts

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pPRZKL6DqnE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SOHcG0h1NBs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lYB5bA1eyjQ

Plus if you see the movie The Italian Job, you see a lot of stunts done with the Mini Cooper, which is a front wheel drive vehicle.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317740/

So you may very well be right that it is easier to do such things with RWD, but I'm not prepared to say, KITT can't be FWD even if the FWD car in question looks remarkably kitt-like...

Of course I am not suggesting that the 1982 Trans Am was not a RWD car. It clearly was. I'm just saying I don't think the drivetrain is a deal-breaker.

capridrifter · Post by **capridrifter** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:39 am

flemmo wrote:Victor, is this vote 'just for fun' or is it being used to get a measure on what car/style of car gets picked for Glen's Movie? If so, why do we have the Mustang on there? As you have already said it will definately NOT be a mustang for the feature film. Also if Dreamwork have the movie rights for the Camero (Transformers) then isn't that an unrealistic choice? Without these 2 cars as choices, the voting might go very differently indeed. But if it's all just for fun then it doesn't really matter

LOL!!!!! Its a Shelby Mustang! Funny how things work huh.....And I'm Glad! I'm tired of going to the movies and seeing a two hour long Chevy commercial

89IROCNDoug · Post by **89IROCNDoug** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:18 am

capridrifter wrote:
flemmo wrote:Victor, is this vote 'just for fun' or is it being used to get a measure on what car/style of car gets picked for Glen's Movie? If so, why do we have the Mustang on there? As you have already said it will definately NOT be a mustang for the feature film. Also if Dreamwork have the movie rights for the Camero (Transformers) then isn't that an unrealistic choice? Without these 2 cars as choices, the voting might go very differently indeed. But if it's all just for fun then it doesn't really matter
LOL!!!!! Its a Shelby Mustang! Funny how things work huh.....And I'm Glad! I'm tired of going to the movies and seeing a two hour long Chevy commercial

You must be thinking of the NBCU TV movie, because it is not a Shelby Mustang for the upcoming feature film. This vote is for getting an idea of what fans want for the feature film only.

NBCU TV movie Knight 3000: Shelby Mustang
Feature film by Glen Larson Knight 2000: UNDETERMINED (that's what this poll is for

)

I can't believe I misspelled "poll" originally when my state just had the presidential caucus polls the same day! lol

Victor Kros · Post by **Victor Kros** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:47 am

The car for the feature film remains undetermined at this time.

=VK=

seeker78 · Post by **seeker78** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:39 pm

can't believe this car has the most votes, it is a cool looking car, but for one thing, there is no wing/rear spoiler.

I like the list of choices that I posted better.

PHOENIXZERO · Post by **PHOENIXZERO** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:54 pm

Well it does look cool, paint it black and add a good, fitting spoiler (not the stupid Mustang KITT "Attack Mode" kind) and it's good to go. Too bad it won't look like this.

Only thing is that the concept wouldn't have a chance in being used though and from what I just read though the car went back to the drawing board and looks different though I really didn't dig too much. I'm sure there are newer pics out there as these are a year old.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/acura-previ ... ncept.html

1982 · Post by **1982** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:09 am

PHOENIXZERO wrote:Well it does look cool, paint it black and add a good, fitting spoiler (not the stupid Mustang KITT "Attack Mode" kind) and it's good to go. Too bad it won't look like this.

Only thing is that the concept wouldn't have a chance in being used though and from what I just read though the car went back to the drawing board and looks different though I really didn't dig too much. I'm sure there are newer pics out there as these are a year old.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/acura-previ ... ncept.html

True, the Acura NSX has been push back until 2010, if then.

It would nice to see an original design concept for a change, rather than what was in a Popular Mechanic's as old as the original KITT. Too many cars today just look too much the same, even with subtle changes, regardless of manufacturer. Very few have their own unique personality.

I don't see any car that has big rims and low profile tires on it doing any "real" jump scenes without blowing tires and trashing the rims, not to mention body panels (especially if the bumper and fenders are integrated as one piece). Even with CG and/or the use of models, the physics of the stunt doesn't compute.

Victor Kros · Post by **Victor Kros** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:24 pm

It makes no difference if the Acura NSX is pushed back or any other production/concept vehicle, Transformers used a concept camaro body on a Pontiac GTO chasis. Also if interest and demand is shown for a production model car scheduled for release later in the year, it's development can be moved up and the car can be released ahead of schedule. It's all about money and demand.

=VK=

KITT car poll PART II

What type of car should KITT be in our modern age?

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