The Car thread
- Thread starter 6thElement
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I'm leaning 330ci convertible, because reasons. Plentiful, cheap, some horsepower, and six or five speed transmission. Back seats so the kids can ride. Otherwise a miata NB might be due.
I'm leaning Toyota GR86 because trailer hitch.
I think I paid $2,500 for mine in 2012 with 130k on it. 2000 330i w/ m sport package. It needed the crankcase vent valves replaced, BMW wanted $3,000 for the job. I did it myself for $350.
The same car today with 250k is probably worth $5k
I totally get the experience thing, in the bad old days I’ve been on road trip holidays specifically to thrash a big car through the mountains. I’ve done rally driving, and race driving back in the UK. The thing is, now I work in climate change and I am absolutely clear eyed about how ridiculous it is to still be burning stuff. I’ve harped on about that enough times, so suffice to say I honestly look at people driving big new cars that are more expensive than say a nice Tesla or a Merc EQC and think ‘what a selfish cunt’. I can’t seem to figure out a way express how urgent it is we stop using fossil fuels, even for fun, but anyway…
I also understand the ‘boring’ opinion for basic evs too, but on the other hand it is a different experience too; smooth, quiet, torquey af. I daily drive a Leaf, and going back to ICE on the odd occasions I’m forced to feels rattley, laggy, noisy, just outdated. I know that’s tied to some degree to my understanding of imminent climate catastrophe, but it is what it is. You won’t be able to enjoy driving at all if society has collapsed and the mountain roads are literally on fire.
I’m sure as we see more and more EVs we’ll see some pretty exciting ones. I saw a BMW review a while back that used some emotive language.
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Understand the science and act like a member of humanity, and not a selfish, blinkered individualist?
‘I don’t like other people’ much? Realise how much this says about you…
From my point of view 100% of people buying new ICE when they could afford an EV are… not good people.
Fuck off.
A well thought out point. How much more of your identity is tied to shitty, outdated ideas?
Just stating my observation from my first hand experience with EV buyers. I like most people, the EV buyers now are just a different breed. Which is typical when a new technology comes around.
Most people are still buying ICE vehicles 1. Because EV's are literally double or more than an ICE comparable. 2. They are not very practical for most drivers. I don't know where you live but EV's are not very practical here in Western New York. Most people have long(distance) commutes on the highway and it can get cold and snowy here. It is not new knowledge that the highway MPGe for EV's is not good, that the range drops rapidly in freezing temps or that the possibility of being stranded in traffic during a snow storm is much greater in an EV.
Find me an EV that will tow my 8,000lb trailer, fit my family of 5 plus 2 dogs(Third row seating) and drive 350 miles in a reasonable amount of time(7 hours?) for less than $90k and I am in. Otherwise I will continue to be a selfish cunt.
I have the feeling here EVs are often not driven by people who are concerned about the environment but want to be perceived as "green". It is a status symbol that goes well with other accessories. Those that I know fly around all the time for vacation, drive enormous amounts miles, have big houses that they heat to fairly high temps and consume above average. In contrast, those that I consider really concerned about the environment do not own a car, use public transport and bikes to get around, vacation in Denmark (summer houses) or neighboring countries.
As most households in the US are multi-car households there is probably a very nice place for an EV in the driveway for the daily commutes and chores next to a something for the more demanding trips.
One of the bigger problems around here where an EV would meet people's requirements nicely is the necessity of street parking. Hard to have an EV when you don't have a means to charge it at home.
I don't know, this thing looks like a blast:
If this was on sale for say <$60k I'd strongly consider giving up my 2009 Cayman for it and that's a car that's about as close to the classic manual shifting, great sounding, driving nirvana that everyone likes to talk about.
If this was on sale for say <$60k I'd strongly consider giving up my 2009 Cayman for it and that's a car that's about as close to the classic manual shifting, great sounding, driving nirvana that everyone likes to talk about.
I have a multi-car household. My daily driver for communting to work, shopping around town and driving across the city for stuff is a Hyundai Accent. I bought it used with 14,000 miles on the clock for $8,000 with 2 years of bumper to bumper warranty left. EV's just don't make sense yet for most buyers or drivers.
A question we get all the time is how will I charge my car if I live in an apartment complex, park on the street or a parking garage?
You're obviously a bad person.I have a multi-car household. My daily driver for communting to work, shopping around town and driving across the city for stuff is a Hyundai Accent. I bought it used with 14,000 miles on the clock for $8,000 with 2 years of bumper to bumper warranty left. EV's just don't make sense yet for most buyers or drivers.
A question we get all the time is how will I charge my car if I live in an apartment complex, park on the street or a parking garage?
One of ours will be EV eventually. It might only be an electric moto, but depending on what is available when we are looking to buy, it could be a car or truck.
We just bought the wife's CRV so it might not be for a few years, but I could see something fun, too. I would love to do an EV 356.
Electric Porsche 356 Speedster Replica
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Yeah, the economic case for EVs right now is the most salient issue for buyers right now. I wonder what it will take for the environmental case to be more pressing. Or perhaps just a rethink on car-based societies as some communities are doing.I have a multi-car household. My daily driver for communting to work, shopping around town and driving across the city for stuff is a Hyundai Accent. I bought it used with 14,000 miles on the clock for $8,000 with 2 years of bumper to bumper warranty left. EV's just don't make sense yet for most buyers or drivers.
A question we get all the time is how will I charge my car if I live in an apartment complex, park on the street or a parking garage?
perhaps we never have a power grid developed enough to handle households with multiple ev's and we end up just rationing power....
pretty sure i saw a i8 roadster this morning in gastonia...kind of forest green/black...
better looking than most...
Or even if you rent/lease a house, who is going to put in the charger? Unless the government gives back some sort of incentive, I'm guessing no one.A question we get all the time is how will I charge my car if I live in an apartment complex, park on the street or a parking garage?
I'm looking at getting a hybrid vehicle for two reasons - save on fuel costs and my current car is getting tired. Though the more I think about it, even if gas is $2 per liter, will I really actually save or reduce costs by spending an extra $5000-$8000 on a hybrid vs the regular ICE version of the same car? Hmmmm.
I for one can't put the environment first in these decisions, as I don't make enough $$$$ to dictate that. I can't afford two cars and whatever I buy, I'll have it for a long time. My work and a lot of other places also don't have chargers, so there is that too (I know I know, thats a problem that can be solved etc etc).
My next vehicle for commuting and running around will probably be a plug in hybrid like the Hyundai Tucson. Those actually make sense for most drivers and they are somewhat affordable.
Speaking of being a bad person and a selfish cunt, I saw a dude driving a new Hummer EV today.
Speaking of being a bad person and a selfish cunt, I saw a dude driving a new Hummer EV today.
Yeah, the old Chevy Volt was a great one. Give it 40 miles range and you can do most inner-city things just fine. Gas kicks in for longer stuff. People owning these and the newer Rav 4 plug in say they go like 3 months with only $10 of gas...but then a trip comes up and you are ready for that too. Also for towing, like using electric for the high torque situations, getting going, hill, etc., but then a relatively smaller gas engine for the cruising and low demand...would transition to a hybrid plug in when not towing, etc...
Moving away from status symbol cars to tools for transportation would be the right move. Limit the horsepower, ICE or EV to something reasonable for the category. Strip the functionality down to the basics, comfortable driving. Make the EVs more affordable for the average and low income households. Build up the charging infrastructure. Incentivise the people the right way to go EV.
When I bought our latest minivan, a 2019 Pacifica (Plug-in) Hybrid, its MSRP was all of $700 higher than the non-PHEV/non-hybrid at all version at the same trim level*. But the PHEV was eligible at that time for $7,500 Federal and $6,000 Colorado tax credits, and afterwards was/is both cheaper to run and better to drive, especially when in those electric-only miles. Total no-brainer, IMO.
Nowadays the CO credit is down to $2k or $2.5k or something like that and the gas model has optional AWD (which it didn't before--both were FWD-only in 2019) but it still makes a ton of sense financially.
* to be precise, it did lack HIDs, comparing Limited to Limited. But otherwise equivalent. I popped in aftermarket LED bulbs into the projector housings a few months ago.
What, remove materialism from western society? Good luck with that.
I paid $28k for the Leaf after taxes refund and incentives if memory serves. That made it cheaper than every other vehicle I was considering at the time, and not just a little bit. It serves 99% of my driving quite well, and we have the Mazda for when it doesn't. It's by no means a "cool" car, but then again I don't think of any vehicle as an adjunct to my personality. A car is a tool, and in this case I bought the Leaf because 1. It was cheap, 2. It's maintenance costs (should) approach nil, 3. It meant I wouldn't have to buy gas, 4. Its significantly fewer moving parts means I'll have to spend less time under it in my garage.
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When SUVs become normal and sedans are abnormal.
that's what I think we need. I'm starting to get on board with making cars more difficult to get around in, so people will use bikes and public transportation now. Shame that public transit is a literal trainwreck in MA. I may end up buying another ebike if I can find a cheap one- commuting to work has been pleasant but sits right at the "too long for a day" sort of distance.
so $60k before dealer markup?
for whatever reason alot of videos about buying a house in a dying town in italy for 1 euro are popping up in my youtube feed...with strings attached....
streets are narrow but the towns are 600+ years old...
The city of Colorado Springs has had a "future" Greenway trail on its map for the entire 20 years we've been here that would be almost perfect for my daily commute. I recently ran into a guy from Trails and Open Space Coalition that told me it's supposedly starting to happen. Not only would it keep me off of a pretty major north/south artery, it would also create a tunnel under that would be perfect for a lot of the cross town riding I do recreationally. I would totally be willing to buy an e-bike and commute 4 days a week on it if this trail ever actually gets completed.
I can highly endorse off-street greenway commuting + e-bike speed. 'tis a nice way to get around town, on one's own parallel, little used set of infrastructure.
They are supposed to finish a rail trail a quarter mile from my house. Not sure how useful that would be, as it runs north south and work is to the west, but if I can leverage it to get to the commuter rail, that could be neat. At some point it will interconnect with another dead rail line that goes west, but it would have to be paved from my town to the next town over, and finished in the last town, before it's a reality. Still, pretty close to being able to commute 90% of the way to work on paths. Roads are mellow for the most part, aside from pickup trucks.