Author Topic: Anything related to automobiles  (Read 100464 times)

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Offline Samsara

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #665 on: March 15, 2019, 11:07:47 AM »
Nick,

Love your choice. I am not in the market for a new vehicle yet. It'll be a few years. However, I think we're going to take the Tesla plunge ourselves. It depends on the market. We're absolutely going electric, but we'll see what options are out there in 2022. Right now we have a plug-in hybrid and a standard hybrid. The plug-in is PERFECT for my wife. With her commute, charging at work, and charging at night at home, she needs gas 4x per year. So basically, a max of $200 in gas each year. I think we want to keep the plug-in hybrid though, just to have a gas tank in case we want to take a longer trip. But the next vehicle will be full-on electric. We considered the Tesla Model S when we bought the plug-in hybrid (Sonata). But for the money, and the security of having a gas tank, it made more sense. But electric is absolutely the way to go.

Beautiful choice on the 3. I priced one out -- the upgraded wheels are bad ass, but man does that make the price pop up. I salute you for holding firm on the standard wheels. No sense wasting money.
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Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #666 on: March 15, 2019, 03:43:21 PM »
Nick,

Love your choice. I am not in the market for a new vehicle yet. It'll be a few years. However, I think we're going to take the Tesla plunge ourselves. It depends on the market. We're absolutely going electric, but we'll see what options are out there in 2022. Right now we have a plug-in hybrid and a standard hybrid. The plug-in is PERFECT for my wife. With her commute, charging at work, and charging at night at home, she needs gas 4x per year. So basically, a max of $200 in gas each year. I think we want to keep the plug-in hybrid though, just to have a gas tank in case we want to take a longer trip. But the next vehicle will be full-on electric. We considered the Tesla Model S when we bought the plug-in hybrid (Sonata). But for the money, and the security of having a gas tank, it made more sense. But electric is absolutely the way to go.

Beautiful choice on the 3. I priced one out -- the upgraded wheels are bad ass, but man does that make the price pop up. I salute you for holding firm on the standard wheels. No sense wasting money.

You're going to be in for a tough choice in 2022. I think the Tesla Model 3 will still be the best choice, but with the Kona, Niro, and potentially Leaf+ still getting 7500 federal back while Tesla gets nothing, plus any new entries, it'll be a lot tougher choice.

For the wheels, a very important note if you dig just a little deeper on the Model 3, you can remove the aero covers and buy a kit for $50 that makes the rims underneath look stellar. Definitely the way to go as opposed to a $1,500 upgrade.
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Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #667 on: March 27, 2019, 05:35:00 PM »
So I was supposed to take delivery of my Model 3 this past Saturday and got there as a carrier was unloading a group in cars. Checked in and the manager approached me shortly thereafter. My car had just come off the truck and during either loading or unloading had gotten some minor damage to the passenger front fender. I asked to see it and indeed did want them to take care of the issue before I took the car. I was obviously upset and sad about being denied the car at the last possible moment, but they went above and beyond in making it right.

I'm now in no hurry to get my car as I'm currently rolling around in a Model S P85D, which optioned as it is probably cost around 100k new and does 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. And yes, I've tested that out a few times.
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Offline cramx3

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #668 on: March 27, 2019, 05:40:44 PM »
 :metal

I had a little fender issue in my used car I bought last fall, I took it off the lot with the promise of "we'll fix it" I really needed the car at that time, and I had serious doubts as to whether they would actually fix it, but none the less they did a few weeks later and touched up on some paint I noticed.  It was nice for once to have some sales people hold onto their end of the deal even if the coordination was kind of annoying.

Sounds like you'll be all set soon and well, who cares if you have to wait longer at this point, you get to have fun with a super nice rental.

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #669 on: March 28, 2019, 06:05:59 AM »
@Nick

Your car was ready for delivery just 2 weeks after placing your order?

That's nuts. I thought the wait was much longer than that. I thought it was months. My Mini Cooper took 13 weeks.   


Also, someone on Reddit posted this Model 3. This color is awesome.

« Last Edit: March 28, 2019, 08:44:09 AM by Chino »

Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #670 on: March 28, 2019, 04:56:22 PM »
Your car was ready for delivery just 2 weeks after placing your order?

That's nuts. I thought the wait was much longer than that. I thought it was months. My Mini Cooper took 13 weeks.   

Well, let me give a better run through of my Tesla timing and story.

March 10: Ordered my Standard Range Plug Model 3. At this time this and the base Model 3 had been out 1-2 weeks and the deliver timeframe for the base had been moved to 4-6 weeks and the SR+ I was getting was 2-4 weeks.
March 11: Modified my order to a Mid Range Model 3. Delivery estimate for that car, as well as all other models was then and is now 2 weeks.
March 12: Received and email and call from my delivery rep trying to lock down a March 19th delivery. By March 16 I had my ducks in a row and confirmed that date.
March 18: 24 hours before delivery I got a call that the car was still nowhere near PA and we would have to push back delivery to March 23. Was told car would be arriving at the service center late March 22 and they would be detailing it that next day for a late in the day delivery.
March 23: Come to service center and get the news that the car just came off the truck with some damage. Get the car that makes me not care when it's done, but am told first week of April.

Now, as it happens now here is where Tesla stands.

Mid range (my car) is no longer an option, and as I have a 2019 VIN mine is truly one of the last produced.
All higher variants are still two weeks.
Standard Range Plus began getting delivered about a week ago to the first people who ordered, new orders are now at 2-4 weeks.
Standard, this is the depressing one, even those who first ordered are now being told the cars won't be delivered until June. New orders likely July.
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Offline SystematicThought

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #671 on: April 20, 2019, 08:09:52 PM »
Had the oddest thing happen to me last Sunday night.

Went to go grab something out of my truck (2014 F-150 XLT, 66,000 miles on it) and the keypad wouldn't light up to get in. Went to grab the key fob, tried to unlock it, nothing. Manually unlocked it, no electrical at all, key in ignition and turned, the car is completely dead. Wait until morning to call the insurance company to get it jumped. Jumped, starts up, go straight to my mechanic. It has a new battery and is still new enough that the alternator is still healthy.

Get a call a few hours later. Everything checks out. Battery is testing as new, alternator is charging the battery and in good condition, fuses all intact, solenoids, ignition switch, all good. Ran it through the computer, no problems or errors detected. Cables in good shape, tight, nothing to be found and starts up like a dream.

They had five people look at it and no one can find an issue. I've read a few other posts from people that say it's happened to them and just magically works, some say they just have to hit the unlock button inside and it works again. It's just so weird and it was kinda nerve wracking all week starting it up. It was also weird that my remote start was always sending me back a signal that the car started, even though it was dead and didn't start.

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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #672 on: April 21, 2019, 06:12:01 AM »
Sounds like there may be some loose wiring somwhere. I had something similar happen to my Golf years ago and it turned out to be a bad ground cable.

Offline goo-goo

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #673 on: April 21, 2019, 05:58:30 PM »
Anybody drive a BMW 328 circa 2015-2016? I've been looking at a couple but my concern is the maintenance. Is the maintenance expensive for this model? I currently drive a 2014 VW Jetta so that would be my reference.

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #674 on: April 21, 2019, 06:02:51 PM »
Maintenance can be expensive if you’re against doing it yourself. Reliability is good, the most important thing about bmws is that if you start having problem then you need to address it and don’t half ass a repairs. Do some searching on the forums for common issues to look out for.

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #675 on: April 21, 2019, 11:09:34 PM »
Maintenance can be expensive if you’re against doing it yourself. Reliability is good, the most important thing about bmws is that if you start having problem then you need to address it and don’t half ass a repairs. Do some searching on the forums for common issues to look out for.
This, although I'd put it a little differently. Common issues you will have to look out for. All BMWs seem to have the same problems. Every e46 owner here has had crickets chirping in their blower motor or had to repair their rear-pax taillight. What you're looking at is the F30 platform, so search some forums for that to get finer results.

The two things I'd suggest if you're looking to get one are, don't get a low end model. That market is mostly lease cars now, and I just wouldn't trust them as much. And the other thing is that if you can swing it you should look at the 335 or 340 version. I'm sure BMW makes a fine 4-banger, but they perfected the inline-6 decades ago and continue to refine it. At least make a point to drive one. Those are motors that will still be relative youngsters while the rest of the car is dying of old age at 250-300k. Done that twice already and I'm working on the third.
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Offline SystematicThought

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #676 on: April 21, 2019, 11:57:32 PM »
Sounds like there may be some loose wiring somwhere. I had something similar happen to my Golf years ago and it turned out to be a bad ground cable.
They checked the ground cable and any cable related to the battery and couldn't find anything. I just find it weird that the battery needed to be jumped and everything was fine afterwards. It happened to one of the delivery drivers to our store and his F-150. He said something shorted out on the battery, jumped it, and nothing ever happened again. It's weird....
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Offline Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #677 on: April 22, 2019, 06:07:43 AM »
Maintenance can be expensive if you’re against doing it yourself. Reliability is good, the most important thing about bmws is that if you start having problem then you need to address it and don’t half ass a repairs. Do some searching on the forums for common issues to look out for.
This, although I'd put it a little differently. Common issues you will have to look out for. All BMWs seem to have the same problems. Every e46 owner here has had crickets chirping in their blower motor or had to repair their rear-pax taillight. What you're looking at is the F30 platform, so search some forums for that to get finer results.

The two things I'd suggest if you're looking to get one are, don't get a low end model. That market is mostly lease cars now, and I just wouldn't trust them as much. And the other thing is that if you can swing it you should look at the 335 or 340 version. I'm sure BMW makes a fine 4-banger, but they perfected the inline-6 decades ago and continue to refine it. At least make a point to drive one. Those are motors that will still be relative youngsters while the rest of the car is dying of old age at 250-300k. Done that twice already and I'm working on the third.

In my experience, this is absolutely, 100% spot on.  Between my step son and I, we've had eight BMWs, six of which were three series (and one based on the three series platform).    For reference, I've replaced four blower motors myself.  :)   Look, they're not perfect, and you get lemons like with any car.  But well-maintained, well-cared for cars will last you as long as you are still interested in driving them.   My son's current car is an M3 with 175k on it, and while cosmetically it could do with some attention, it drives smooth as silk.   Like any car, your best bet is finding a mechanic you can trust - either in-dealer (the current dealers around me are useless, but I've had dealers in the past that were fair and knowledgeable) or independent - and having him/her do your service.   

Work on these is not impossible, and the forums are incredibly helpful.  I do my own oil changes/brakes on my X3, and did oil on my step daughter's '08 328.   My advice is your research time is well spent; case in point, I needed coolant in my car.  Through the dealer it's EXPENSIVE.   You also can't - shouldn't, you can do anything you want - just pour your standard Prestone bought from Walmart in there (colors matter when it comes to coolant; BMWs are usually blue, not flourescent green), but a little quick scoping finds that you CAN buy the right coolant fairly cheaply and do it yourself.   Bam.  Saved some $$$, but also saved having your cooling system corroding to the point where it requires flushing or worse.   

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #678 on: April 22, 2019, 06:25:45 AM »
Maintenance can be expensive if you’re against doing it yourself. Reliability is good, the most important thing about bmws is that if you start having problem then you need to address it and don’t half ass a repairs. Do some searching on the forums for common issues to look out for.
This, although I'd put it a little differently. Common issues you will have to look out for. All BMWs seem to have the same problems. Every e46 owner here has had crickets chirping in their blower motor or had to repair their rear-pax taillight. What you're looking at is the F30 platform, so search some forums for that to get finer results.

The two things I'd suggest if you're looking to get one are, don't get a low end model. That market is mostly lease cars now, and I just wouldn't trust them as much. And the other thing is that if you can swing it you should look at the 335 or 340 version. I'm sure BMW makes a fine 4-banger, but they perfected the inline-6 decades ago and continue to refine it. At least make a point to drive one. Those are motors that will still be relative youngsters while the rest of the car is dying of old age at 250-300k. Done that twice already and I'm working on the third.

In my experience, this is absolutely, 100% spot on.  Between my step son and I, we've had eight BMWs, six of which were three series (and one based on the three series platform).    For reference, I've replaced four blower motors myself.  :)   Look, they're not perfect, and you get lemons like with any car. But well-maintained, well-cared for cars will last you as long as you are still interested in driving them.   My son's current car is an M3 with 175k on it, and while cosmetically it could do with some attention, it drives smooth as silk.   Like any car, your best bet is finding a mechanic you can trust - either in-dealer (the current dealers around me are useless, but I've had dealers in the past that were fair and knowledgeable) or independent - and having him/her do your service.   

As a former Mini Cooper owner, I cannot accept this statement as truth  :lol

Offline Stadler

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #679 on: April 22, 2019, 06:30:02 AM »
Maintenance can be expensive if you’re against doing it yourself. Reliability is good, the most important thing about bmws is that if you start having problem then you need to address it and don’t half ass a repairs. Do some searching on the forums for common issues to look out for.
This, although I'd put it a little differently. Common issues you will have to look out for. All BMWs seem to have the same problems. Every e46 owner here has had crickets chirping in their blower motor or had to repair their rear-pax taillight. What you're looking at is the F30 platform, so search some forums for that to get finer results.

The two things I'd suggest if you're looking to get one are, don't get a low end model. That market is mostly lease cars now, and I just wouldn't trust them as much. And the other thing is that if you can swing it you should look at the 335 or 340 version. I'm sure BMW makes a fine 4-banger, but they perfected the inline-6 decades ago and continue to refine it. At least make a point to drive one. Those are motors that will still be relative youngsters while the rest of the car is dying of old age at 250-300k. Done that twice already and I'm working on the third.

In my experience, this is absolutely, 100% spot on.  Between my step son and I, we've had eight BMWs, six of which were three series (and one based on the three series platform).    For reference, I've replaced four blower motors myself.  :)   Look, they're not perfect, and you get lemons like with any car. But well-maintained, well-cared for cars will last you as long as you are still interested in driving them.   My son's current car is an M3 with 175k on it, and while cosmetically it could do with some attention, it drives smooth as silk.   Like any car, your best bet is finding a mechanic you can trust - either in-dealer (the current dealers around me are useless, but I've had dealers in the past that were fair and knowledgeable) or independent - and having him/her do your service.   

As a former Mini Cooper owner, I cannot accept this statement as truth  :lol

HAHA, and being familiar with your story, I can understand that.   Full disclosure for me:  I've never gotten one that was less than four years old, so that makes a difference. 

Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #680 on: April 22, 2019, 08:45:22 PM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be
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Offline Grizz

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #681 on: April 24, 2019, 12:45:58 AM »




Changing my oil did not go as planned

5.5 quarts=a lot of weight=a lot of pressure
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #682 on: April 24, 2019, 07:41:48 AM »




Changing my oil did not go as planned

5.5 quarts=a lot of weight=a lot of pressure

I hope I don't run into the same issues changing the oil on my Model 3. :biggrin:
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #683 on: April 24, 2019, 07:46:16 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.

Online El Barto

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #684 on: April 24, 2019, 08:13:27 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.
Hasn't this been a thing for a while now?
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #685 on: April 24, 2019, 08:35:03 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.
Hasn't this been a thing for a while now?

Not to this extent, at least not that I've seen. And you still have to get in and engage with the vehicle/be in the front seat. When I say "fully autonomous", I mean that you'll be able to summon a car from your phone like an Uber, and just hop in the back seat worry free.

Offline cramx3

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #686 on: April 24, 2019, 08:41:23 AM »
That video was really cool, I liked how it changed lanes and adjusted speed well.  Was passing so many people on the right ont he highway too :lol I like it. 

Life will certainly be different the day most or all cars aren't driven by people anymore.

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #687 on: April 24, 2019, 08:42:00 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.
Hasn't this been a thing for a while now?

Not to this extent, at least not that I've seen. And you still have to get in and engage with the vehicle/be in the front seat. When I say "fully autonomous", I mean that you'll be able to summon a car from your phone like an Uber, and just hop in the back seat worry free.

The thing that I found to be so amazing about this video is we're not talking about some car strapped with tens of thousands of extra equipment around it.

We're talking about the exact car I have, and now many others do too, with an upgraded computer (that myself and others who purchased full self driving will get for free), with an advanced version of the software running. This is literally a car people have no just waiting to catch up to this and to solidify what's shown here.
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Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #688 on: April 24, 2019, 09:06:00 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.
Hasn't this been a thing for a while now?

Not to this extent, at least not that I've seen. And you still have to get in and engage with the vehicle/be in the front seat. When I say "fully autonomous", I mean that you'll be able to summon a car from your phone like an Uber, and just hop in the back seat worry free.

The thing that I found to be so amazing about this video is we're not talking about some car strapped with tens of thousands of extra equipment around it.


They sure have come a long way since the early days of the annual DARPA competitions.   




 

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Offline cramx3

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #689 on: April 24, 2019, 09:12:29 AM »
I don't know about anyone else, but I've noticed a significant more amount of Teslas I see on the road every day now out here in NJ.  I swear there were 5 alone on one drive in last week.  I don't know if it's an effect where its on my mind so I notice it more or if Musk's really got Tesla in a position to be more accepted and available. 

Offline Chino

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #690 on: April 24, 2019, 09:17:23 AM »
I don't know about anyone else, but I've noticed a significant more amount of Teslas I see on the road every day now out here in NJ.  I swear there were 5 alone on one drive in last week.  I don't know if it's an effect where its on my mind so I notice it more or if Musk's really got Tesla in a position to be more accepted and available.

The Model 3 is leading EV sales in just about every country by a huge margin. I am seeing a ton of them in CT lately, especially around Hartford. We have a super charging station a few blocks over (5 or 6 spaces) and it's regularly filled.   

Out west, Tesla is starting to deliver the 3s using their own trucks. It's pretty cool. 



I wish they'd make a bare-bones Model X. In 4 or 5 years when I'm ready to dump my CX-9, I'd really like to look into an EV. The new Model Y is going to be too small for me. The size of the X is what I'm looking for. I don't needs all the bells and whistles, or the "bio-defense" mode or whatever it's called. If they could make a vehicle of that size in the mid-$40K range, that'd be awesome.

Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #691 on: April 24, 2019, 09:21:29 AM »
Well, Tesla full on impressed today. They had an autonomy event to talk about their new full self driving computer and the software they are working on to utilize it. It all sounded good, and my personal experience shows they are on the right track for sure. But then this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlThdr3O5Qo&feature=youtu.be

Fully autonomous trips are much closer than a lot of people realize.

I mean, as it stands now if I had to do 100 miles on a highway I'd certainly be comfortable with the car handling it. Do I agree with all the cars decisions? No, but I wouldn't feel unsafe. And if I could be distracted by other things (meaning actually having the car in charge), then I wouldn't really care about it's exact driving style.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've noticed a significant more amount of Teslas I see on the road every day now out here in NJ.  I swear there were 5 alone on one drive in last week.  I don't know if it's an effect where its on my mind so I notice it more or if Musk's really got Tesla in a position to be more accepted and available. 

It's happening everywhere. The rate at which Model 3s have hit the road in the last few years is exploding the overall number of Tesla vehicles. Add to that the push going forward to get the Standard Range + sold, which is currently the cheapest official offering, and that trend will only continue as more people are able to afford their vehicle.
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Offline Samsara

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #692 on: April 24, 2019, 09:33:15 AM »
Nick,

As you know, I'm all in on the plug-in hybrids and EVs. But one thing that really pissed me off, but makes sense out here in CA, is legislation for a special tax against EV owners so they contribute to the highways. Since we barely use gas in our plug-in hybrid (our commute makes gas a once every three months thing), we aren't paying into the gas tax that helps fund road repairs here. So we are going to get nailed next tax year from the state. I'm not sure what is on the legislation agenda in other states, but its something to keep in mind for folks buying EVs to avoid buying gas alone -- eventually you're gonna pay one way or another. Sucks, but I get it.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #693 on: April 24, 2019, 09:38:48 AM »
I mean, as it stands now if I had to do 100 miles on a highway I'd certainly be comfortable with the car handling it. Do I agree with all the cars decisions? No, but I wouldn't feel unsafe. And if I could be distracted by other things (meaning actually having the car in charge), then I wouldn't really care about it's exact driving style.
Wouldn't you be bored doing what the driver in the video did? I think I'd rather drive that 100 miles just to have something to do while I listened to tunes. If I could sit in the passenger seat and play video games or something it'd be alright, but you're still required to be effectively a copilot from what I can tell.
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Offline Nick

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #694 on: April 24, 2019, 09:41:45 AM »
Nick,

As you know, I'm all in on the plug-in hybrids and EVs. But one thing that really pissed me off, but makes sense out here in CA, is legislation for a special tax against EV owners so they contribute to the highways. Since we barely use gas in our plug-in hybrid (our commute makes gas a once every three months thing), we aren't paying into the gas tax that helps fund road repairs here. So we are going to get nailed next tax year from the state. I'm not sure what is on the legislation agenda in other states, but its something to keep in mind for folks buying EVs to avoid buying gas alone -- eventually you're gonna pay one way or another. Sucks, but I get it.

Certainly not the only state that is doing this or similar measures. I just think it's too early for this sort of thing and that states should short term be increasing the gas tax to make up for lost revenue, thus prompting more people to switch to EVs, thus hastening the changeover to them, and then once closer to parity to gas vehicles find ways to get the revenue from EV drivers. I'm a pretty staunch environmentalist, so punishing EV owners this early in the game is bonkers to me, but eventually once the numbers grow large enough they will have to shoulder a load for road maintenance and such.

I know in certain places in the US gas is moderately high, but on the whole it's laughable the number of Americans who think gas is expensive. Travel around Europe a bit and it's easy to see why the demand for EVs over there is insane. At this point the only thing keeping EVs from Europe is a constraint on battery production.  Certain countries will buy out their allotment of new vehicles months or a year+ in advance there.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #695 on: April 24, 2019, 09:45:47 AM »

Certainly not the only state that is doing this or similar measures. I just think it's too early for this sort of thing and that states should short term be increasing the gas tax to make up for lost revenue, thus prompting more people to switch to EVs, thus hastening the changeover to them, and then once closer to parity to gas vehicles find ways to get the revenue from EV drivers. I'm a pretty staunch environmentalist, so punishing EV owners this early in the game is bonkers to me, but eventually once the numbers grow large enough they will have to shoulder a load for road maintenance and such.

I know in certain places in the US gas is moderately high, but on the whole it's laughable the number of Americans who think gas is expensive. Travel around Europe a bit and it's easy to see why the demand for EVs over there is insane. At this point the only thing keeping EVs from Europe is a constraint on battery production.  Certain countries will buy out their allotment of new vehicles months or a year+ in advance there.

Agree with you. But big oil has a lot of money for lobbyists, unfortunately. LOL.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #696 on: April 24, 2019, 09:49:52 AM »
I mean, as it stands now if I had to do 100 miles on a highway I'd certainly be comfortable with the car handling it. Do I agree with all the cars decisions? No, but I wouldn't feel unsafe. And if I could be distracted by other things (meaning actually having the car in charge), then I wouldn't really care about it's exact driving style.
Wouldn't you be bored doing what the driver in the video did? I think I'd rather drive that 100 miles just to have something to do while I listened to tunes. If I could sit in the passenger seat and play video games or something it'd be alright, but you're still required to be effectively a copilot from what I can tell.

As someone who would rather drive than sit in the passenger seat, I'm with you, but at the same time, I think it's certainly a cool feature, but until you don't need to sit there and pay attention, it means I can't call my car to drive me home from a bar and to me, that's the most useful feature of automated driving. 

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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #697 on: April 24, 2019, 09:59:02 AM »
I mean, as it stands now if I had to do 100 miles on a highway I'd certainly be comfortable with the car handling it. Do I agree with all the cars decisions? No, but I wouldn't feel unsafe. And if I could be distracted by other things (meaning actually having the car in charge), then I wouldn't really care about it's exact driving style.
Wouldn't you be bored doing what the driver in the video did? I think I'd rather drive that 100 miles just to have something to do while I listened to tunes. If I could sit in the passenger seat and play video games or something it'd be alright, but you're still required to be effectively a copilot from what I can tell.

As someone who would rather drive than sit in the passenger seat, I'm with you, but at the same time, I think it's certainly a cool feature, but until you don't need to sit there and pay attention, it means I can't call my car to drive me home from a bar and to me, that's the most useful feature of automated driving.
Agreed, though it'll be a long time before you're allowed to do that, I think.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #698 on: April 24, 2019, 10:45:03 AM »
I mean, as it stands now if I had to do 100 miles on a highway I'd certainly be comfortable with the car handling it. Do I agree with all the cars decisions? No, but I wouldn't feel unsafe. And if I could be distracted by other things (meaning actually having the car in charge), then I wouldn't really care about it's exact driving style.
Wouldn't you be bored doing what the driver in the video did? I think I'd rather drive that 100 miles just to have something to do while I listened to tunes. If I could sit in the passenger seat and play video games or something it'd be alright, but you're still required to be effectively a copilot from what I can tell.

As someone who would rather drive than sit in the passenger seat, I'm with you, but at the same time, I think it's certainly a cool feature, but until you don't need to sit there and pay attention, it means I can't call my car to drive me home from a bar and to me, that's the most useful feature of automated driving.
Agreed, though it'll be a long time before you're allowed to do that, I think.

I mean, it'll be situation for sure, but it's about having the choice that'll make it appealing. Nice drive and I want to? Sure. Have work that I want to do on my drive? By all means Tesla, take over. I wouldn't buy a car that didn't allow for driver intervention (Musk says he will be building a version of Model 3 without a steering wheel), but love the idea of handing over the reigns when I want to.
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Re: Anything related to automobiles
« Reply #699 on: April 24, 2019, 06:19:55 PM »
So a lot of this will be dependent on logistics and future factors, but I think I want my next car to either be an eGolf or a manual Mazda3 Sedan.
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