Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

jmonroe1

corvette said:

BTW, I think of Musk as a crazier, more fanatical Steve Jobs. Almost like a version of Jobs for the meme stock era. He has a lot of nutty views, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. BTW, Inspiration4 Mission to Space is an excellent Netflix documentary focusing on SpaceX and that mission in particular. I also watched the more recent one (focusing on Musk and SpaceX) and thought it had a lot more puffery.

Make that time thing once a day if you’re in the military. Not very good at all if you are telling a squad down the hill when to duck.

jmonroe

ab348

Almost anything you read in the press or online is written by somebody with VERY limited knowledge of the subject matter, for the most part. So I wouldn't put much stock in it. I read something the other day that said the used car price bubble is about to burst. So who knows.

benjaminh

https://insideevs.com/news/580504/2022-ford-mustang-mach-e-no-longer-available-order-us/

Apr 18, 2022 at 8:55am ET By: Dan Mihalascu
The 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E is no longer available to order in the United States for retail customers in any trim level.

While checking the Mustang Mach-E product page on Ford's customer website, we noticed that the Select, GT, Premium, and California Route 1 trims all feature the a "not available to order" note in brackets. It looks like Ford has quietly closed orders, with the fine print below the list of 2022 Mustang Mach-E grades being the only explanation offered by the automaker.

"Due to high demand, the current model year is no longer available for retail order. Limited inventory may be available at selected dealers. Contact your dealer for more information"

xwesx

Makes sense on the ordering. However, they need to reconsider their approach to announcing new model year pricing and features so that when one shuts off, the other is immediately announced and available. Companies will undoubtedly lose sales (orders) if there is no option at all to order for a period of time.

xwesx

@benjaminh I agree with you about Tesla being good for the auto industry!

If nothing else, they went all-in on demonstrating what an electric vehicle could do as opposed to simply making it an electric version of a gasoline vehicle, and they thereby set the standard for others to follow. Features such as "camping mode," for example, are probably things that wouldn't have even hit the radar of a traditional automaker's electric offerings.

benjaminh

In this recent 8-minute video, Autoline explains some of the complicated things that happen when a specific gas engine stops production (the example given was the LT5 engine for the Corvette that stopped production not that long ago). This hasn't happened much yet, but several years from now this is going to be happening more often as EV production is ramped up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVZw7ywHJnk

andres3

28firefighter said:

I’ll take an EV as a daily driver any day of the week over internal combustion at this point. Quieter, faster, and more comfortable. Not having to hit a gas station and spending a fraction on energy costs is just an added bonus…

Quieter makes sense.... faster... okay, for most cars in a straight line (with exceptions), but I don't understand more comfortable. What advantage does an EV have in comfort?

benjaminh

corvette said:

BTW, I think of Musk as a crazier, more fanatical Steve Jobs. Almost like a version of Jobs for the meme stock era. He has a lot of nutty views, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day....

Musk is often right about electric cars, but when it comes to some of the other goals....?? Yesterday this 1-hour TED interview with Musk was released that covers all sorts of issues, many of them non-automotive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRvf00NooN8

I watched most of it at 1.75 speed, and here are some of the things that were said:

Musk predicts Tesla's self-driving might be released by the end of 2022. I guess we can believe it when we see it. But he seems to have dramatically lowered his own safety goals for self-driving. I think all he said in this new interview is that self-driving should be safer than a human driver. But back in 2016 Musk wrote: "Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning."
https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux

So seemingly the goal has gone from 10 times safer than a human driver to maybe 1.5X? That doesn't sound good.

Others things covered in the interview include:

According to Musk, the AI Optimus robot from Tesla will probably be getting close to being like an Asimov robot in ten years or so. Seems unlikely. But if it does happen unemployment is mentioned by the interviewer as a side effect. Don't worry about it, Musk says. Okay.

Probably Musk's biggest goal is getting humans to Mars by 2029—and then after that sending thousands of colonizing and supply missions to Mars in the 2030s and beyond. He's ramping up production of rockets for this now. The goal is to create a self-sustaining city of million on Mars at some point, so that if civilization dies on Earth intelligence can go on. When the interviewer asks who is likely to volunteer to go to Mars, Musks admits not many will want to go. Going to Mars will be very cramped, very difficult, very dangerous, and (although it's not quite said in this way) you probably won't have the life span you would have on Earth.

Anyway....Getting back to cars. Although I think overall Tesla has been good, I personally don't want a Tesla for a few reasons. First, I like driving, and so I'm personally against so-called "AI" driving my car. Since I'm not going to use self-driving, I also don't want to pay for the $5k or whatever it costs to have all the cameras and computer power built into the car for that purpose. I also don't like a glass roof without a shade, especially since we have a family member with chronic migraines who is bothered by bright lights and the sun.

I feel a bit guilty about it, but I see some advantages to driving a gas car while things transition to EVs. One is financial. By keeping my car for ten years or more rather than being an EV first adopter I can save tens of thousands of dollars. Seems also likely that as EVs are adopted in huge numbers starting in 2025 that demand for gas will slowly start to fall, and then maybe the price per gallon will also start to fall. Finally, I've got a highway range that's more than EVs costing more than 100k. Since my bucket list includes taking some big road trips, holding off on getting an EV seems good for that. But yes, I am concerned about global warming.

ab348

In less sunny Tesla news...

https://www.autonews.com/regulation-safety/teslas-conflicts-us-regulators-coming-head-safety-crackdown-looms

Tesla's conflicts with U.S. regulators coming to a head as safety crackdown looms

A clampdown on Autopilot could tarnish Tesla’s reputation with consumers and spook investors whose belief in the company’s self-driving bona fides have helped make Tesla CEO Elon Musk the world’s wealthiest person. It could damage confidence in technology other auto and software companies are spending billions to develop in hope of reversing a troubling trend of soaring U.S. traffic fatalities.

It also could also bring long-simmering tensions between Washington and Tesla to a boil. The iconoclastic Musk has already derided NHTSA as the “fun police” and chafed at President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to lavish the pioneering company with praise. He’s not shy about lambasting lawmakers and regulators on Twitter, the social media platform he has offered to purchase for $43 billion.

{more at the link]

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

The Mach 1 had a stiff ADM even before the shortage. Who knows what obscene mark up their doing now.

I briefly toyed with picking up a Mach 1, but the ridiculous ADMs in my neck of the woods put paid to that.

roadburner

nyccarguy said:

Here’s a GR Corolla

Circuit Edition.
Want.

fintail

I thought a Tesla Bot was a member of his cult of personality who defends him no matter what

All I can say about his "self driving" claims is "autopilot".

benjaminh said:

corvette said:

BTW, I think of Musk as a crazier, more fanatical Steve Jobs. Almost like a version of Jobs for the meme stock era. He has a lot of nutty views, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day....

Musk is often right about electric cars, but when it comes to some of the other goals....?? Yesterday this 1-hour TED interview with Musk was released that covers all sorts of issues, many of them non-automotive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRvf00NooN8

I watched most of it at 1.75 speed, and here are some of the things that were said:

Musk predicts Tesla's self-driving might be released by the end of 2022. I guess we can believe it when we see it. But he seems to have dramatically lowered his own safety goals for self-driving. I think all he said in this new interview is that self-driving should be safer than a human driver. But back in 2016 Musk wrote: "Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning."
https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux

So seemingly the goal has gone from 10 times safer than a human driver to maybe 1.5X? That doesn't sound good.

Others things covered in the interview include:

According to Musk, the AI Optimus robot from Tesla will probably be getting close to being like an Asimov robot in ten years or so. Seems unlikely. But if it does happen unemployment is mentioned by the interviewer as a side effect. Don't worry about it, Musk says. Okay.

Probably Musk's biggest goal is getting humans to Mars by 2029—and then after that sending thousands of colonizing and supply missions to Mars in the 2030s and beyond. He's ramping up production of rockets for this now. The goal is to create a self-sustaining city of million on Mars at some point, so that if civilization dies on Earth intelligence can go on. When the interviewer asks who is likely to volunteer to go to Mars, Musks admits not many will want to go. Going to Mars will be very cramped, very difficult, very dangerous, and (although it's not quite said in this way) you probably won't have the life span you would have on Earth.

Anyway....Getting back to cars. Although I think overall Tesla has been good, I personally don't want a Tesla for a few reasons. First, I like driving, and so I'm personally against so-called "AI" driving my car. Since I'm not going to use self-driving, I also don't want to pay for the $5k or whatever it costs to have all the cameras and computer power built into the car for that purpose. I also don't like a glass roof without a shade, especially since we have a family member with chronic migraines who is bothered by bright lights and the sun.

I feel a bit guilty about it, but I see some advantages to driving a gas car while things transition to EVs. One is financial. By keeping my car for ten years or more rather than being an EV first adopter I can save tens of thousands of dollars. Seems also likely that as EVs are adopted in huge numbers starting in 2025 that demand for gas will slowly start to fall, and then maybe the price per gallon will also start to fall. Finally, I've got a highway range that's more than EVs costing more than 100k. Since my bucket list includes taking some big road trips, holding off on getting an EV seems good for that. But yes, I am concerned about global warming.

corvette

Methinks hell hath frozen over: @roadburner now likes a Corolla.

qbrozen

nyccarguy said:

I didn’t take a picture, but the new WRX is hideous.

one of the main reasons I bought a '22.

benjaminh

"Adrian Lund, who retired from IIHS-HLDI in 2017, credits his car, a 2020 BMW 540i with saving his life. The model, a 2020 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK, earned good ratings in all six crashworthiness tests, including the ones most applicable to Lund’s crash, the small overlap front and roof strength."

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/former-iihs-hldi-president-recounts-how-his-car-protected-him-in-high-speed-crash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfeT0NJlIDE

benjaminh

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess: The 60 Minutes Interview
Lesley Stahl speaks with VW CEO Diess about his efforts to electrify Volkswagen's fleet and focus on the U.S. market.
APR 17, 2022

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/volkswagen-herbert-diess-60-minutes-video-2022-04-17/#x

breld

Nice wagon if it checked out. If only I had a Prius V to trade for it.

https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/brighton-2005-bmw-325xit-e46-manual-awd/7471246207.html

28firefighter

Me want. Wait. Didn’t I just get rid of something similar? Is it different enough my wife won’t notice?

kyfdx

I don’t love AWD in an E46

explorerx4

Back from adventures in Ohio.

Currently we live in a five-four-and a door center hall colonial, but we are moving to Ohio to be closer to the grandkids.
New house under construction is basically a 3-2 ranch with a loft area that has an additional bedroom and full bath.

While we were their we picked out the granite, carpeting and flooring. So many choices. Made my head spin.

Towed a one way U-Haul trailer out there and put the contents in some rental storage, also U-Haul.
If I tow again, I'm going to get a tow bar with a 4 inch drop instead of the 2 inch drop I have now.
Trailer was tipped back even when loaded.
Also, some tow bar insulators to quiet the hitch, especially when empty.
Explorer, 4 cyl turbo, towed great. Kept speed to 65. got about 18 MPG in Tow/Haul mode.
Adaptive cruise is really great for towing.
When the trailer was hooked up, BLIS, rear view camera, reverse sensors and cross traffic alert were all automatically disabled. It does let you 'save' the trailer. Not sure what that does.
Brought back a bunch of wardrobe and small and medium boxes, filled just about the whole cargo area.
Wasn't able to use the rear view mirror the whole trip there and back.

nyccarguy

explorerx4 said:

Back from adventures in Ohio.

Currently we live in a five-four-and a door center hall colonial, but we are moving to Ohio to be closer to the grandkids.
New house under construction is basically a 3-2 ranch with a loft area that has an additional bedroom and full bath.

While we were their we picked out the granite, carpeting and flooring. So many choices. Made my head spin.

Towed a one way U-Haul trailer out there and put the contents in some rental storage, also U-Haul.
If I tow again, I'm going to get a tow bar with a 4 inch drop instead of the 2 inch drop I have now.
Trailer was tipped back even when loaded.
Also, some tow bar insulators to quiet the hitch, especially when empty.
Explorer, 4 cyl turbo, towed great. Kept speed to 65. got about 18 MPG in Tow/Haul mode.
Adaptive cruise is really great for towing.
When the trailer was hooked up, BLIS, rear view camera, reverse sensors and cross traffic alert were all automatically disabled. It does let you 'save' the trailer. Not sure what that does.
Brought back a bunch of wardrobe and small and medium boxes, filled just about the whole cargo area.
Wasn't able to use the rear view mirror the whole trip there and back.

Very exciting! Congratulations!

tjc78

Sounds exciting @explorerx4 !!

explorerx4

The house being built across the street from our new one is same design but different color scheme.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

The house being built across the street from our new one is same design but different color scheme.

Which garage bay is for cars and which is for tools? It looks like the larger bay would be a tight turn for a car.

xwesx

28firefighter said:

Me want. Wait. Didn’t I just get rid of something similar? Is it different enough my wife won’t notice?

No. If it has a manual, it isn't different enough.

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

Which garage bay is for cars and which is for tools? It looks like the larger bay would be a tight turn for a car.

I was wondering similar... are those both garage bays, or is one a covered, open sided area? I sure hope it's garage!

explorerx4

There is a driveway extension to the right that provides extra room for entry/exit of the side load garages.
That house, now occupied, also has a space to the side of the forward facing garage.

28firefighter

The ZHP said farewell today officially and is on an enclosed carrier headed to its new owner. I encouraged them to pop in here and give all of us an update on it from time-to-time.

breld

pensfan83

Ha! Well played. And a great buy.

xwesx

Well, you guys are a sneaky bunch.

28firefighter

I'm sure that's just an Amazon package.

Michaell

Guess @breld will update his signature line once it arrives in Colorado. Very much looking forward to seeing it.

au1994

You gotta be kidding…between a Bronco, the ZHP and the fleet they already had, that fancy new garage is filling up! Well played sir, well played.

breld

Coincidentally, I finally get my X5 back from the shop this week after the minor repair to the rear bumper.

So it's like I get two new cars this week!

Quick pic that @28firefighter was kind enough to share, just before the loading into the truck to start the journey to its new home…

Michaell

au1994 said:

You gotta be kidding…between a Bronco, the ZHP and the fleet they already had, that fancy new garage is filling up! Well played sir, well played.

I had the same thought. And, two of them need to share a single charge point.

28firefighter

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

pensfan83

@Michaell said:
Guess @breld will update his signature line once it arrives in Colorado. Very much looking forward to seeing it.

It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

He's pretty easy to deal with. Even took me to an Avalanche game.

breld

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

Likewise!

I appreciate being given the opportunity to purchase the car! Such an amazing color combo, and no concerns over the thorough maintenance history...that's a tough thing to find these days.

Michaell

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

He's pretty easy to deal with. Even took me to an Avalanche game.

Here's hoping I'll get preferential treatment when he decides to sell it.

(and that I can convince the wife that having a stick shift, RWD BMW with over 100K on the clock is a good idea)

andres3

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

But for how long? Maybe this can become the CCBA car that gets passed around more than the cheerleader.... never mind.

breld

Michaell said:

Guess @breld will update his signature line once it arrives in Colorado. Very much looking forward to seeing it.

I suppose I can update the signature line now...I paid for it, I have title and I contracted with the shipping company. Pretty sure it's mine.

pensfan83

@andres3 said:
But for how long? Maybe this can become the CCBA car that gets passed around more than the cheerleader.... never mind.

The first rule of owning a ZHP is that you do not discuss the sale of the ZHP publicly. Second rule is that you must sell to a poster in this thread.

I wrote those down.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

andres3 said:

So who here reaches for their wallet when a car advertisement says "EPC light on and salvage title" everything else is perfect!

What’s an EPC light?

According to Google:

The Electronic Power Control (EPC) warning light is an indication that there's a problem with your vehicle's throttle system (which could include the accelerator pedal, fuel injection throttle body, traction control or cruise control).

oldfarmer50

andres3 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

andres3 said:

So who here reaches for their wallet when a car advertisement says "EPC light on and salvage title" everything else is perfect!

What’s an EPC light?

According to Google:

The Electronic Power Control (EPC) warning light is an indication that there's a problem with your vehicle's throttle system (which could include the accelerator pedal, fuel injection throttle body, traction control or cruise control).

Yeah, I looked it up. I know it as a throttle position sensor. Never heard it called that.

venture

Michaell said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

He's pretty easy to deal with. Even took me to an Avalanche game.

Here's hoping I'll get preferential treatment when he decides to sell it.

(and that I can convince the wife that having a stick shift, RWD BMW with over 100K on the clock is a good idea)

You better start talking.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

Sounds exciting @explorerx4 !!

Sounds more like work to me.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

He's pretty easy to deal with. Even took me to an Avalanche game.

Here's hoping I'll get preferential treatment when he decides to sell it.

(and that I can convince the wife that having a stick shift, RWD BMW with over 100K on the clock is a good idea)

You better get it right the first time because they don’t make a pill that’ll fix that failure.

jmonroe

Michaell

jmonroe1 said:

Michaell said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

Can't thank @breld enough for making this such a smooth transaction - probably the easiest private sale I've ever done, in person or online. And I'm happy that it is going to a great home!

He's pretty easy to deal with. Even took me to an Avalanche game.

Here's hoping I'll get preferential treatment when he decides to sell it.

(and that I can convince the wife that having a stick shift, RWD BMW with over 100K on the clock is a good idea)

You better get it right the first time because they don’t make a pill that’ll fix that failure.

jmonroe

True that.

I'm hoping we will be a lot closer to moving to NM at that time, where a RWD car is easier to rationalize.