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Thread: The State of The Car

  1. #991
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    Quote Originally Posted by jcp123 View Post
    Seems like cars are marching towards being appliances. Electric power steering, those idiotic iPad screens, the agonizing death of stick, the varying degrees of autonomous driving functions.

    Will enthusiasts become akin to what horse owners are today, a quaint niche group of hobbyists?
    I think cars should be more dangerous rather than safe. People are getting complacent about vehicular safety, it would be helpful just to let people know, hey, you're piloting a 2.5 ton missile moving at 70 mph, get off the damn phone. Plus, lightening vehicles dangerously would do wonders for fuel mileage.

    Simplify and add lightness I say! Plus, losing any weight is bound to be great for driving excitement. When I went car shopping I looked at a Civic Sport Hatchback. It had ticked all the right things I liked about it but then omitted a manual parking brake. I can't imagine why anyone would want an electronic parking brake, it's one of the basic necessities in a manual transmission car.

    On the other hand, I think Ferrer did well by simply renting an Alfa Romeo as opposed to owning it.

    Unless of course you think breaking down is character as opposed to piss poor Fiat/Chrysler build quality/quality assurance.

    Edit- there was a Jalopnik article about how terrible the reliability is on the Alfa, but I couldn't paste it here because the HTML goes crazy and gives me a 40 page code in this post.
    Last edited by NSXType-R; 07-13-2017 at 07:23 PM.

  2. #992
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    So... no more new internal combustion engined cars and trucks in the UK by 2040?

    Britain to ban sale of all diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040 | Politics | The Guardian

  3. #993
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    Is anyone not surprised that Tesla appears to be imploding?

    As much as I'd like to give Elon Musk the benefit of the doubt, he appears to be making it hard on himself.

    1. Making 3 separate cars/crossovers that are totally different and don't share any parts other than possibly drivetrain

    2. Hype. Lots and lots of hype. Accepting Model 3 preorders and failing hard on the launch date.

    3. Falcon doors on the Tesla Model X.

    4. Center console or lack of standardized/expected controls on the Model 3.

  4. #994
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    Elon Musk is still trading on the slavish goodwill of his fans. Anyone else would have gone down the toilet a long time ago. Tesla, however, still has time.

    Honestly, I in no way believe that cars are his endgame anyway. Teslas are merely a means by which he creates hype, as well as a demand for his real business model, charging infrastructure and batteries.
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

  5. #995
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    Quote Originally Posted by jcp123 View Post
    Elon Musk is still trading on the slavish goodwill of his fans. Anyone else would have gone down the toilet a long time ago. Tesla, however, still has time.

    Honestly, I in no way believe that cars are his endgame anyway. Teslas are merely a means by which he creates hype, as well as a demand for his real business model, charging infrastructure and batteries.
    Musk definitely has the money to get it done, and credit where credit is due, he does make the most attractive electric car and has a decent source of refueling around the country, which can't be said for the electric offerings from the other manufacturers.

    That being said, some of his stuff is borderline if not complete vaporware. His hyperloop stuff is probably not going to be built, at least not without massive government funding which he would never get anyway.

    I've also heard a lot of issues with getting repairs and body work done on time with Teslas because there just isn't an established dealer network to turn over work efficiently and quickly. Plus, he treats his car buyers like beta testers, which is downright dangerous. I don't mind beta testing software on a phone. The car on the other hand, is a projectile, and when everything is drive by wire, it damn better work when I need it to work.

    His blatant support of autonomous driving cars is definitely dangerous. It's a half baked idea at best and with people blatantly believing that it is actual autonomous driving is incredibly naive.

    His space program is definitely interesting. His direct sale idea for dealer networks is also interesting because it takes all the haggling out of the purchase process, which needs to be commended because that would end price gouging. That being said, the lobby network for dealers is so strong that it would never fly.

    All in all, he has lots of great ideas, I just don't like how heavy handed he is in implementing them. Perhaps he's the modern day equivalent of Thomas Edison. He was regarded as a really smart man, but deep down inside, he wasn't a very nice guy and he was a patent troll.

  6. #996
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    Wow, last post in this thread was by me... and just over a year ago.

    Any new thoughts on how the industry is? From last year to this year, I feel like Tesla lost a lot of good will with me. They always tended to over exaggerate, but this year they promised a bunch of vaporware and the stress is starting to crack Tesla. Of all the electric cars, I still think Tesla is the best. But I still wouldn't be caught dead in an electric car if I can avoid it.

  7. #997
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    GM announced it was closing 3(+?) plants today, including one near and dear to me, Oshawa Assembly, just east of Toronto (was gonna apply there). Very sad news for all the thousands of workers losing their jobs, and a kick in the pants for the industry.

    Shares were up around 5% today.

  8. #998
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    Given the governmental kickbacks and aid that GM has received (an entire neighborhood was destroyed to create the Hamtramck plant), people are understandably pretty irate. I can't say I blame them.

    How 'bout that invisible hand?
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  9. #999
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    I was discussing this with some friends the other day. Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century came up. My friend's takeaway was that Piketty viewed our (i.e., Western liberal democracy's) economic system as not a free market at all; in fact it is a distorted market that favours large rent-seeking corporations. His interpretation was that Piketty (a socialist!) figured the free market better than our current arrangement.

    Now, I have not read the text (I should) but this development gives credence to Pikety's argument.

    Yes, I brought up politics.

    The Canadian, Ontarian, and American government bailed out GM to the tune of billions of dollars and poof, they're gone. A piss-off, for sure. Corporate welfare seems stupid.

  10. #1000
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    GM announced it was closing 3(+?) plants today, including one near and dear to me, Oshawa Assembly, just east of Toronto (was gonna apply there). Very sad news for all the thousands of workers losing their jobs, and a kick in the pants for the industry.

    Shares were up around 5% today.
    Wow, I missed this post. GM pisses me off, they're too short sighted and run off beancounters to see what's around the corner. Even if gasoline wasn't finite, it doesn't take a genius to know that cars/SUVs/crossovers should be fuel efficient. Killing off sedans is stupid. If American manufacturers made sedans worth buying, there wouldn't be any reason to kill them off. When oil goes past $100 a barrel, we'll see what trucks/crossovers they'll sell. It'll be a repeat of the 2008 bailout.


    Also, side note on Tesla- I also saw this coming from a mile away.Tesla's (I mean Elon Musk) too vain and making too many different models and stretching their supply chain too thin. If you're a first time auto manufacturer, you don't complicate production by making difficult cars. You build one chassis and modify it slightly to make many different cars. The Model X's gullwing doors add unecessary weight and production difficulty for no reason. Also, if you're going to promise a 35k EV, you better deliver on it. Their cheapest option is around 45k or so at this point.

    Tesla announces plan to cut 7 percent of its workforce to aid Model 3 production - The Washington Post
    Last edited by NSXType-R; 01-21-2019 at 06:22 PM.

  11. #1001
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    Again, I'm not sure where this sudden surge in support of EVs are coming from. People have no idea how hard it is to mine rare earth metals for the batteries. Just because they can't see the pollution doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Forget about people also not knowing about how electricity is generated in the US.

    As More Electric Cars Arrive, What's The Future For Gas-Powered Engines? : NPR

    There also doesn't seem to be a universal charging plug for EVs, which just ultimately hurts them more. I don't see this being a reality until at least 2035 or 2040.

  12. #1002
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    Main reason I want an electric car for my next car is that I just don't drive terribly much since I'm usually walking, but also so I don't have to do emissions checks anymore.

  13. #1003
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    Good riddens to this guy if he's the one who green lit the X6 and X4. What abominations.

    Also, so much wasted potential in the BMW i8 when they decided not to give it more power or make an M version of it.

    BMW's CEO Krüger Steps Down

  14. #1004
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    I can't tell if this is real or not, but if it is, I agree: good riddance.

    https://jalopnik.com/you-know-they-want-this-1836130149

    (Even if it isn't, few tears will be shed)
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  15. #1005
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    We did a bunch of hinges for BMWs at my old workplace. A very good young engineer was working on them.

    It is a shame the programs he was working on all turned out to be extremely hideous cars.

    I don't even bat an eye when a new BMW comes out anymore. They're losing the quality and quantity race to Mercedes, and increasingly, Audi.
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    Last edited by Kitdy; 07-07-2019 at 01:05 PM.

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