First off I was delighted to get to watch it in HD after DirecTV upgraded my system last night. Having never toured the factory I found it highly informative and I learned a lot about how my car was made.
I did find the show to be inconsistent on how they presented the model variants - the narrator talks about 3.0si roadsters while they show us an ///M Coupe out on the track. Almost all of the track footage showed off the ///Ms and yet they never even mentioned that the ///M existed. For a lot of viewers these nitpicks probably aren't relevant but I did find them notable.
The part I found most fascinating was the speed with which the whole assembly took place. I had a fantasy of flying out to SC to pick up my car in maybe mid to late March when I first ordered it in late January and was left with my jaw on the floor when my dealer scored an almost instant production date and told me I would have to take delivery at the factory in mid Feb instead. I had to bail on such an early date for a cross country return drive (a good thing considering the weather that showed up for the projected travel dates) but was bewildered at the time over the speed of production. This now makes a lot more sense out of that.
The other thing that struck me was how little time our cars have spent in actual use when they roll out the door. The engine/drivetrain only had the one 4-5 minute run up on the rollers before they pushed the car out the door. It's no wonder the drivetrain felt so stiff when I took delivery. I have noticed recently that my car is just now feeling like all of the parts and pieces are fully married and working together the way that the engineers felt was the goal - as of just about 9000 miles. Sure the engine felt like it was OK with being revved a long time ago, but it's only now that the engine feels fully smooth at all parts of the rev band from idle up to 7.2K, the tranny, brakes, suspension, and steering are all working together in full harmony and happy with whatever I want to ask the car to do.
I had often heard about other manufacturers doing initial runs of the engine while it was on a stand to initiate the break in process but in this case it was just the tolerance testing with the engine being spun up on an electric motor before the engine was crated for delivery to SC.
All in all I feel like I know my car a little better this evening. Thank you National Geographic!
I did find the show to be inconsistent on how they presented the model variants - the narrator talks about 3.0si roadsters while they show us an ///M Coupe out on the track. Almost all of the track footage showed off the ///Ms and yet they never even mentioned that the ///M existed. For a lot of viewers these nitpicks probably aren't relevant but I did find them notable.
The part I found most fascinating was the speed with which the whole assembly took place. I had a fantasy of flying out to SC to pick up my car in maybe mid to late March when I first ordered it in late January and was left with my jaw on the floor when my dealer scored an almost instant production date and told me I would have to take delivery at the factory in mid Feb instead. I had to bail on such an early date for a cross country return drive (a good thing considering the weather that showed up for the projected travel dates) but was bewildered at the time over the speed of production. This now makes a lot more sense out of that.
The other thing that struck me was how little time our cars have spent in actual use when they roll out the door. The engine/drivetrain only had the one 4-5 minute run up on the rollers before they pushed the car out the door. It's no wonder the drivetrain felt so stiff when I took delivery. I have noticed recently that my car is just now feeling like all of the parts and pieces are fully married and working together the way that the engineers felt was the goal - as of just about 9000 miles. Sure the engine felt like it was OK with being revved a long time ago, but it's only now that the engine feels fully smooth at all parts of the rev band from idle up to 7.2K, the tranny, brakes, suspension, and steering are all working together in full harmony and happy with whatever I want to ask the car to do.
I had often heard about other manufacturers doing initial runs of the engine while it was on a stand to initiate the break in process but in this case it was just the tolerance testing with the engine being spun up on an electric motor before the engine was crated for delivery to SC.
All in all I feel like I know my car a little better this evening. Thank you National Geographic!