I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

stickguy

parked at Target, a MB GLA250. I liked it. really small and sloped in the back, so probably not very practical. But I thought it was neat. and looked tiny compared to a GLK parked nearby.

Sandman6472

Sat in another HR-V at the dealer plus saw a dark gray EX-L that needed body work on the back hatch, probably damaged in transport. Pity the slug that buys that unit as they will not tell it was damaged and fixed before being titled! But they will sell all they can make, for sure. If had not bought the Golf, that was what I planned on getting to be honest...just knew it and the Golf were the two perfect vehicles for me. Just hope the Golf behaves before the warranty is up because if things don't go as planned, would be very happy to get me an HR-V and go back to "cheap to keep"!

The Sandman

stickguy

I'm interested in driving an HR-V at some point. Not sure I'll like the powertrain with the CVT based on some of the reviews. Now, if I was going back to a stick shift, much more promising!

fintail

Stopped by the MB dealer to check out a new style C63S. I hadn't seem one before. Relatively well equipped, 82-83K MSRP. Seems dear, but as I saw an M4 for 86K, maybe not a big deal. The new model gets louder trim (red trim tape on mirrors and red trim on wheels is questionable) along with a pano roof, unavailable on the previous (W204) model. Still, a 500++ hp V8 in a small mild mannered looking sedan, hard to resist. Much improved mpg ratings with the twin turbo too, well into the 20s on the highway.

I talked to the salesman I dealt with for my past 2 cars, and he had to show me something parked in the back holding area - an SLR cabrio. A bit ostentatious, but maybe a future collectible.

kyfdx

Car show, today.

Porsche 918 and a Challenger Hellcat, among others.

fintail

Got behind what I assume was a new Juke (no plates) today. When performing a typical clumsy Seattle area merge (dawdle then floor it), it let out a cloud of grey smoke that would make the fintail proud (except the fintail would probably smoke darker). I've notice similar kickdown smoke from not-too-old Audis, and similar grey smoke from mid 00s V8 BMWs.

slorenzen

fintail said:

Got behind what I assume was a new Juke (no plates) today. When performing a typical clumsy Seattle area merge (dawdle then floor it), it let out a cloud of grey smoke that would make the fintail proud (except the fintail would probably smoke darker). I've notice similar kickdown smoke from not-too-old Audis, and similar grey smoke from mid 00s V8 BMWs.

Grey smoke from a brand new car?

Hmmm.

Doesn't speak well, does it?

stickguy

unless it was an older one, sounds more like water vapor.

ab348

fintail said:

Got behind what I assume was a new Juke (no plates) today. When performing a typical clumsy Seattle area merge (dawdle then floor it), it let out a cloud of grey smoke that would make the fintail proud (except the fintail would probably smoke darker). I've notice similar kickdown smoke from not-too-old Audis, and similar grey smoke from mid 00s V8 BMWs.

Typical Nissan, bean counters running the show again, only good until warranty runs out, leopard can't change its spots... oh, sorry, it was a leftover reaction from the Buying and Selling Cars thread bashing GM...

qbrozen

not out of the ordinary for turbo cars, even new ones.

stickguy

Sounds like NISSAN!

fintail

Running rich, I'd hope.

Tesla parked beside me the past couple days at work - a new cool thing in some places, but I see at least half a dozen a day here.

Michaell

fintail said:

Running rich, I'd hope.

Tesla parked beside me the past couple days at work - a new cool thing in some places, but I see at least half a dozen a day here.

Saw a Tesla on I-40 in Arizona last week ... and a Tesla supercharger station at a Burger King in Holbrook, AZ.

laurasdada

Teslas are fairly common in the Boston area from my experience. For better or worse, I think I see more Teslas than XFs! I've not seen a supercharger station yet. I'm still more of a fan of the Volt model; enough juice to commute, but a dino fuel plant to assuage range anxiety.

Michaell

laurasdada said:

Teslas are fairly common in the Boston area from my experience. For better or worse, I think I see more Teslas than XFs! I've not seen a supercharger station yet. I'm still more of a fan of the Volt model; enough juice to commute, but a dino fuel plant to assuage range anxiety.

+1 on that sentiment, ld. Depending on my budget for my next lease, I may consider a Volt.

robr2

laurasdada said:

Teslas are fairly common in the Boston area from my experience. For better or worse, I think I see more Teslas than XFs! I've not seen a supercharger station yet. I'm still more of a fan of the Volt model; enough juice to commute, but a dino fuel plant to assuage range anxiety.

There are superchargers at the Auburn Mall a mile from the Pike, Riverdale Shops in West Springfield a mile from the Pike and 91, and at a Dunkins in Bourne before the bridge a mile from Rt 3 an Rt 6.

In NH, there is one supercharger at the Hooksett plaza (aka State Liquor Store) southbound.

tlong

Michaell said:

fintail said:

Running rich, I'd hope.

Tesla parked beside me the past couple days at work - a new cool thing in some places, but I see at least half a dozen a day here.

Saw a Tesla on I-40 in Arizona last week ... and a Tesla supercharger station at a Burger King in Holbrook, AZ.

There are an astonishing number of Teslas here in the Bay Area (of course they are built here). I also see tons of Leafs and quite a few of the new BMW electric car.

I recently had dinner with a coworker from my company who is living in Michigan. He was also in the Bay Area and he said it was very noticeable as he doesn't see very many foreign-nameplate cars at home, and here the mix is entirely different.

laurasdada

There are an astonishing number of Teslas here in the Bay Area (of course they are built here). I also see tons of Leafs and quite a few of the new BMW electric car.

I recently had dinner with a coworker from my company who is living in Michigan. He was also in the Bay Area and he said it was very noticeable as he doesn't see very many foreign-nameplate cars at home, and here the mix is entirely different.

I enjoy my visits to my family in LA. Especially as the area is such a car smorgasbord. You see everything, no car I see on the streets surprises me. Hope to hit the refurbished Petersen when out there next.

Rob, I'd imagine the Bourne Supercharger would get a workout! At a Dunks, brilliant!

Mr_Shiftright

I kinda look at a Tesla as a BMW 7 Series with a 9 gallon gas tank.

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

I kinda look at a Tesla as a BMW 7 Series with a 9 gallon gas tank.

But one that you can fill up at home (if you are VERY patient).

odie6l

Took a ride out to a local Honda yesterday since that was delivery day for a lot of local dealers to get the new Pilot. On first impressions the outside looks nice but you can tell they dropped the ride height significantly. I will have to do a detailed walk through after I test drive it.

Odie
p.s. - Just for reference, we are replacing our '06 Pilot and have come down to either the 4Runner or Pilot. (see pictures below of both vehicles that I took pictures of yesterday)

2016 Honda Pilot


2015 Toyota 4Runner

ab348

Pilot looks like it got leftover Crosstour front ends. 4Runner front end looks like an angry Mitsubishi.

odie6l

ab348 said:

Pilot looks like it got leftover Crosstour front ends. 4Runner front end looks like an angry Mitsubishi.

I said the Pilot looks like it swallowed a Ford Fusion with the Gillette grille.

I actually like the front end look of the 4, it has that "Not a Fluffy SUV" look to it. Put a push bar over it and it will look a lot better.

Odie

berri

Looking at the Specs, I'm wondering if the new Pilot interior has a lot of Odyssey in it. Lower riding height and less legroom, as well as minivan seats.

slorenzen

Aren't they really for different purposes?

A 4-Runner has Hi/Low 4WD, and is a very capable off-roader, and gets less than stellar mpg.

The Pilot is a road warrior, isn't it? Probably gets better mileage, but I don't think it could keep up with the 4-Runner in the woods.

kyfdx

slorenzen said:

Aren't they really for different purposes?

A 4-Runner has Hi/Low 4WD, and is a very capable off-roader, and gets less than stellar mpg.

The Pilot is a road warrior, isn't it? Probably gets better mileage, but I don't think it could keep up with the 4-Runner in the woods.

I think both of them are used to ferry the kids to soccer practice, in most instances..

stickguy

the pilot is an odyssey, with AWD and less interior room and normal doors.'

the 4 runner is a truck and suitable for off road use.

would think that the Highlander would be the one to compare to the Pilot.

odie6l

MPG's are actually even for both. Towing on both is 5k. The 4 wins out with the ride height / clearance. Price wise they are also equal. The Pilot I pictured above was listed at $39,875 for the EX-L with no extras added on (Towing / trailer hitch), and the 4Runner was listed at $36,250. Both had leather interior, but the 4 already had the trailering package on it along with running boards, and 3rd row option.
The Highlander's 3rd row and clearance knocked it off the list since I need the 3rd row for Girl Scouts (I have two and I'm a certified driver for multiple troops.)
My grill on the otherhand (see picture) is the one major reason I need the clearance at the hitch. My '06 is good but if they dropped it any, I'm in trouble.

Odie

Mr_Shiftright

Home...two blocks from home...what's the diff really? If you've been driving all day in the Tesla and you come home to change for an evening out, you'd better have another car on standby.

All this recharging and solar this and wind turbine that sounds peachy until you actually try to live it day to day.

I have two friends who live entirely off the grid in the Sierras and it requires a very high level of technology and a lot of planning. This is not Daniel Boone simplicity. They're going to add a Tesla home battery to their life support systems when (if) it becomes available. It's taken them 12 years to achieve a highly efficient level of sustainability.

stever

If the panels here at my friend's off-grid house near Taos aren't showing 25 on the gauge, I use the propane stove to boil coffee water in the morning instead of the electric kettle. The sun needs to be hitting the panels before using the kettle or the batteries take a hit. Still, they have zero utility bills, except for the cell/wifi stuff and the mandatory trash fee (and as you can imagine, after composting and recycling, they have little use for the landfill).

Lots of '12 Leafs are coming off lease and there are some great deals on them out there if you just need a car to run errands in around town.

robr2

I'm in the Bay Area this weekend. I drove from SFO to Sacramento yesterday to see family. It's Teslaville out here. I even saw a car carrier loaded with Teslas outside of Sac city. 

berri

Have you been there long enough yet to stop waking up by 4 in the morning? Going back east to Boston will be even more fun adjusting to time zones. Enjoy California, it's just such a beautiful state with so many different things to see and do. Unfortunately, can't seem to find much in the way of free wine tasting in Napa anymore to toast your trip home.

BTW, next time out on the west coast, you'll have to visit Seattle. It's downtown tunnel project may make Boston's look well done

robr2

I arrived yesterday and went to bed at 10 PM PDT after waking up at 4 AM EDT. I woke at 6 this AM and decided that more sleep was needed. I did see another odd thing today - my BIL took me to a motocross track to check it out. He rode for a couple of hours. Interesting how family oriented it is with the whole family riding. 

PF_Flyer

Not really a spotting since it's just from a popup ad (grrrr)... yet another version of "the future" (get in line behind the Segway I suppose)

odie6l

looks like they smacked a Scoot Coupe enclosed body on a Spyder.

Odie

fintail

I didn't know Elio was still a thing. If that's the future...it's a motorcycle with doors and none of the fun.

texases

Elio's made a bunch of noise lately, mostly of the 'once we get $XXX million more we'll be ready to go!' type of thing. Waste of time/money, IMHO...

PF_Flyer

Keep your hands and arms inside the ride until it comes to a complete stop

stever

Nissan NV 2500 with temp tags on I-25 and a Transit Connect EV on a side street off Central Avenue (aka Route 66) in Albuquerque.

Not new but saw a Smart car on the freeway with a rancher's cowboy hat on the dash that amused me.

explorerx4

In the parking lot at work...
A new Ram quad cab and a BMW 4xx power folding hard top.
Also, new TLX, with some kind of, I hope, after market body kit on it.

PF_Flyer

stever said:

Not new but saw a Smart car on the freeway with a rancher's cowboy hat on the dash that amused me.

My most interesting smart sighting was on the DC Beltway at about 4PM one day. The driver looked a little too tense to be intimidated by my Versa

laurasdada

On the road this morning, a BMW i8 and Caddy ELR. Electrifying!

PF_Flyer

Not new, but getting pretty rare... A Daewoo Lanos with no wheel covers, a missing gas filler door, and a late teens guy with his seat leaned way back, windows open and music thumping

Mr_Shiftright

that's the way they came from the factory

PF_Flyer said:

Not new, but getting pretty rare... A Daewoo Lanos with no wheel covers, a missing gas filler door, and a late teens guy with his seat leaned way back, windows open and music thumping

PF_Flyer

And it was making SUCH a pathetic sound when he was all the way down on the gas. Sort of a resonant, hollow sound... whhhhaaaaaaa

Mr_Shiftright

I actually borrowed one of those for a few days when a friend was thinking of investing in a Daewoo dealership way back when. My answer was "Ah......NO".

laurasdada

Aston Martin Rapide, Florida plates. Nice. But, only for those who can't afford a Jag... Is that right? Yeah, thanks Jeremy Clarkson.

fezo

I so wish I had taken a picture back when. There was a Daewoo dealership up here and at that point it was dead. What inventory there was sat under a foot of snow. The only light was a neon OPEN sign.

fintail

I remember when Daewoo hit the market, the local dealer was also the MB dealer (and Toyota, I think). The MB and Daewoo shared the same building, which made for unique signage.

andre1969

These Daewoo stories that paint such a miserable picture make me think of a time when I went with a friend of mine, back in college, to go look at cars. The Hyundai Elantra had just come out, and he wanted to give it a try. I remember it being crude, noisy, slow, sounding strained, and at the end of the drive, there was some kind of burning smell coming from under the hood. Needless to say, he didn't buy it. I think that was 1991. At the time, he was driving an '89 Ford Escort LX hatchback coupe, but he wanted a new car, and his brothers were going to get the Escort. Ultimately, he held off and got a '92 Corolla.

I actually thought the Daewoos were kind of neat looking little cars, in an offbeat sort of way. I think the bigger one, the Leganza, was ultimately redesigned and sold as a Suzuki something-or-other.