The Automobile Thread

I think we need this to avoid future derailment of other threads. A place to talk about all things automotive. Cars we get, cars we want to get, things we want to do to our cars, car problems, and on an on. Hopefully @SnakeCharmer can properly christen this thread later with pics of his new ride. In the meantime, post on car geeks (and non car geeks).

 

Are you looking at a particular SUV @SnakeCharmer? Car based? Truck based?

 

Because Jaguar came up in the most recent derail. Though they have come a long way in recent years, I've long held the belief that Jaguar owners are inherently flawed people (driving inherently flawed cars). The worst combination of entitled and oblivious. Last week I was parked at my kid's school for pick up, which is in a residential neighborhood. I parked curbside at a spot with a driveway entrance in front of me. On the other side of the driveway was another open spot. As I sat in my truck looking at my phone I was startled by a loud crunch and the truck shaking. Apparently 20 feet of open space wasn't enough room for the old coot in the Jag to get into the spot ahead of me. He hit the front corner of my truck with the front of his car, but rather than hit the brakes, or steer left, he proceeded to drag the length of his car down mine in slow motion. Once he settled into his spot it took him several minutes to get out of his car. When he did he didn't acknowledge my presence until after he'd looked at his car. When he did acknowledge me it was to insinuate that it was my fault for driving a truck, because the wheels stick out past the fender. He complained that it was the second truck he'd hit this year. No hint of an apology. Lucky for me he did mainly get tire on my truck, with just a little scuff on the black plastic fender arch. He jacked his car up pretty good though. F-ing Jag owners.

 

Basically a non-issue. In CA hybrid and EV batteries are warrantied to last 10 years/150,000 miles.
https://www.carfax.com/blog/how-long-does-the-battery-last-in-an-electric-car
I don't actually have one, but read a LOT on them, so feel I am qualified to post anonymously on an internet forum!

The Nissan Leaf is the only BEV with a Sh!t battery, stay far away from those (basically thermal management issues). The new IPace, Etron, and even Taycan (P car pricing) are all going to be amazing cars with tons of utility. Each has positives in different areas (range vs. charge speed, styling, cargo, etc), so check them out... they may work for you!

Tesla is obviously a huge player as well. I'd love a Model 3, but need a hatch, so that means an S. I think the three new BEVs mentioned above are much better cars than the nearly eight year old model S. Yeah, they have been upgrading it over that time for sure, but basic architecture is dated. The upcoming Model Y might be the sweet spot!

 

Maintenance is virtually nonexistent as well, at least on the Audi. First scheduled maintenance at 10K miles is nothing but inspections, and topping off washer fluid. 20K service adds changing the dirt/pollen filter. Sounds like brake pads and rotors last much longer due to regenerative engine braking. EVs are an intriguing proposition all the way around, though I wouldn't want to have to depend on one as an only car, meaning a car that's going to have to make long road trips. Obviously that's still doable, but until there's more infrastructure that will require a lot of planning, and then what happens if charging stations are occupied, or even down for repairs.

 

We’re on it Bug! Every new development in California (where people’s heads are up all kinds of things, but at least not their asses...ok fine, up there too) must consider exactly the infrastructure you describe. I say “consider” and not “require” because there are naysayers whose days are numbered, and the infrastructure will indeed continue to shift. It’s just a shame it’s not so obvious to some, so it may still take a while in too many parts of the Country.

 

Sweeeet. We needed a thread like this. I dabble in car talk from time to time.

 

Hey @SnakeCharmer maybe a van...?

 

We had one a few years ago, but it fizzled... New blood will keep this one going, methinks.

 

Lol

I can imagine all the FREE CANDY signs Id find stuck on it.

 

Etron is very high on our radar. we'll see how they play out in a couple years oh, and that should coincide with our needing a new vehicle.

 

The one car I regret selling. I built Mustangs (Fox) all the way from high school until my late 20s. They were fun, but doesn’t compare to a P car.

 

Dang, that's a beaut. Looks fun.

 

We own a Tesla Model S (and have owned it for about 2.5 years). There is zero maintenance. Wiper blades and tires is it. They don't even need brakes because the car uses its momentum to recover energy to recharge the battery while driving. Once about two years ago, the car detected it needed a small secondary battery to be replaced. It sent my wife an email for her to schedule service, and a guy came out to our house in a service van and did the service in our driveway... for free.

No oil. No tune-ups. No transmission. No belts/spark plugs/etc. Plus we have solar panels... so the car charges for "free" (solar paid off its investment 5 years ago and now just generates cash each year).

Anyone who talks about a Tesla "engine" doesn't know what they're talking about They don't have an engine, they have an electric motor. In our case, we have two motors - one for the front two tires and one for the rear. And as far as the battery pack goes, there are now enough Teslas on the roads that external labs are confirming the batteries maintain at least 85% of their capacity at 150,000 miles:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1110149_tesla-model-s-battery-life-what-the-data-show-so-far

Oh and... it will out-accelerate any car on the road that doesn't cost at least 2x as much, so pull to the right please

It isn't a question of "if" electric cars will replace internal combustion engine cars - just how quickly. Even Porsche acknowledges it. Volkswagen (the largest car manufacturer in the world) is going 100% electric. Its last gasoline-powered car will be sold in 2026. It is only our stupid domestic manufacturers who are (once again) stuck in neutral while the rest of the world moves forward. Of course, the Big Three have two HUGE millstones around their necks... (1) unions and (2) their dealer network. Tesla has a gigantic cost advantage versus all of them - to say nothing of the fact that their entire business model is built around direct-to-consumer relationship management.

 

Bought a BMW 335is a few years ago...apparently they only made apx 3800 for the US market exclusively. Seems it may be starting to appreciate in value now which is kind of a mind blower as cars are notorious money pits. It's a grip of fun to drive and faster than I need.

Only down side is the wife now drives it to work and back, it was a pampered garage queen for weekend fun. Just don't tell the wife I said that.....

 

You are correct about the low cost of ownership on electric vehicles. I'm definitely intrigued and will be looking at them but have some thoughts.....

How much does the electric bill go up, particularly in late summer when rates are high? And how long does it take to get a charge when on the road, if an hour, or even a half hour, what is your time worth?

Apt or condo dwellers without a garage couldn't own one if they wanted to, no where to plug in overnight. This needs to are addressed to hit the main stream. Thankfully I do have a garage at this time.
Electric cars are coming for sure, petroleum is unsustainable in the long term.

 

Can't speak to electric bills directly, but in theory if you have charging capability at home you can set it to charge at a time when rates are lower. I know someone who owns a Model 3. I asked him what it costs to charge the car and got an unhelpful response at first, but he later bragged about $90 round trip cost to Salt Lake City which equates to about 17 miles per dollar of power assuming 1,500 miles round trip. In my truck that trip would cost around $300 in gas, or about 5 miles per $ of fuel at 20mpg and $4/gal. To achieve the $90 cost I'd have to get 67mpg out of my truck. I would expect the cost to charge at home would be less than at a charging station, and much less again if you have solar.

I'm sure the charging station infrastructure is getting to the point these cars are viable for most people. Maybe not so much for mountain bikers since we often visit more remote areas with less access to charging stations. I've read that you can get an 80% charge in 30-40mins at Tesla chargers, which is about the time time needed to get a bite to eat. When I'm on the road many of my stops seem to take half hour or longer by the time I fill up, go in the store, check messages, etc. I'm sure people will have no trouble filling a few more mins with facebook or whatever, if needed, so I don't see 30-40 mins as a big deal.

Maybe at old apt buildings and condos people are out of luck, but they could still get a charge elsewhere. In some new condo developments a charging station is an available add on to their purchase. In others and at some new apartment buildings the developer is adding a bank of charging stations for residents to use. These can be retrofitted into some older developments too. And lots of businesses are adding them to parking garages. My workplace has about 8 charging stations now. If the demand is there, they will be added. It is an amenity that can help attract new tenants.

 

Maybe what we need is a rude, entitled, selfish, inept idiot driver thread...that would never run out of legs.

PS: What a monumental dipsh!t

 

My buddy has Tesla's free charging for life on his Model S... pretty damn awesome. He picked it up used, but the free-charging offer transfers with ownership. He hasn't paid a penny for electricity yet! There aren't any superchargers nearby, so it is a bit of a hassle, but he manages.

 

Here we go again. First it was e-bikes now it's EVs.

 

Suppose you could say I'm a car guy I worked for Ford for 12 years in Product Development, the last major vehicle line I was involved in was the Ford Ranger. The 2nd iteration of which is now being sold here.
Heres my toy, bought it over from the UK as part of the move. Hopefully I can get it registered and put on the road here in California, if not then I've been collecting bits and pieces to convert it to EFI so it can go back to its natural state (bonnet up and missing bits). Got to much invested in it (financially and emotionally) to ever let it go.
This is it getting picked up in the UK

Size comparison against the other halves Exploder, yeah its tiny!

 

Kazlx, I dig all round headlights!!! Beauty!

My first car was a 914 (not quite a P) which I started autoxing with. That led me down a rabbit hole...

 

I think you are on the wrong side of this argument. Electric vehicles save you TONS of personal time. My wife hasn't been to a gas station in two years. If you are like me, and regularly have to work gas station stops into your schedule, and dislike sitting in the gas line at CostCo, she is hours and hours ahead of us. Toss in days spent with your car getting a brake job, or tune-up work, etc, and it isn't even close.

In two years there has been only one instance when our 300 mile range didn't work. We were driving up to Idyllwild to spend the weekend in the mountains, and felt that we wouldn't have enough charge to drive there, drive around for a couple of days, and drive home on one charge. So we stopped at the Tesla super-charger in Cabazon by the discount malls, and got 2/3rd's of a full charge in the time it took me to eat a quarter-lber with cheese Did I mention we have free lifetime charging at all the super-chargers? How much do you spend per tank of gas?

 

LOL I hope no one is arguing that electric cars aren't going to completely replace those with internal combustion engines And I also think that e-bikes are here to stay. Just keep those e-bikes on legal trails and we wouldn't have a single discussion about them!

 

EVs right now are like PCs have always been: Don’t get one this year unless you have to, because next year there will be a better one.

Charging at home is super convenient, and most folks could get by with just the wall charger that comes with the car (but get a faster unit installed if you can).

For my Chevy bolt, charging overnight works out to $.04/mile. That is roughly in line with competitors smaller than a model S.

Electrification makes any car a better version of itself. The Bolt would be an econobox either way, but with electric it’s a quick and quiet econobox.

 

My apologies if I came across as augmentative, that is not my intention. Once again what I call email syndrome!

This is good info and what I'm looking for. My feeling is many people ask the same questions on EV's. For time, i seldom spend more than 10 min at a gas station, and do buy gas at costco, but even that is only a 10 min wait. For cost, on a plus side 90% of my driving is paid by my employer as its a company car and most of my driving is for business. Although yes it adds up on the Beemer...

I think you're right on the distance. Although there is the occasional trip for long distance ( I'll be drive to Santa barbara and back this week in one day apx 350 miles) most trips are short and within 120-160 miles I'll drive on a typical day once or twice a week.

In reality, an EV is on my radar when a new vehicle is needed.

 

I've had 2 EVs, Chevy Spark EV and Fiat 500e. Technically, they were leased.

They were excellent for intended use, I had charger and 220V installed in the garage. The Spark was
excellent in every way compared to the 500e. The 500e shocks/struts were completely blown in about 1 year
(12K miles per year). Not just mine but several of my friends, we all leased them at the same time when
it was $69-99 per month). And the right rear brake light all went out and Fiat tried to weasel all of us
that it's not under warranty.

I've owned Alfa, should've learned my lesson then...

 

So did Vince complete the Floop 100?

 

Well played, sir.

 

Really...Sorry, couldn't resist.