Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Trico...I haven't heard about that name since it was unearthed from a shallow grave by construction workers
 
Speaking of windshield wipers, Tesla got a thing to do a thing with LASERS!




 
How about a gently used Sienna then?

I wanted to recommend the final nissan quest, as it's basically just a JDM van with all of the high-quality trim that entails. Alas, they seem to be saddled with a CVT.

How about a Kia Carnival? At the same price as the stripper expedition, you get an utterly loaded Carnival with leather, dual sunroofs, Full LED lights, premium audio system, and assorted other goodies. It may be somewhat underpowered, you're asking the 3.5-liter, 290 HP corporate V6 to haul between 200 and 600 lbs more than it would under the Sorento before you begin to fill it with people. Nevertheless, it should at least merit a test drive
I veto the Nissan. Even as a Nissan owner who is likely to buy a Frontier next, I would not buy any of their cars/crossovers because of transmission issues. It's just not worth the risk.
 
Agreed. The Nissan/Jatco CVT is an extreme fail. Do not buy.

That being said, ours in the Altima is still going strong.

The yellow banana has one as well.
 
Today was the first time in ages I was annoyed by someone tailgating me. Usually I'm pretty chill about such things, and I maintain that it happens far less often than people complain about it.

I was going on the Autobahn, dense traffic but still flowing at about 110-120 kph, bad visibility due to rain. I was in the left lane because that was still faster than the right lane, keeping a distance of a good 50 metres. The guy behind me apparently was in a hurry, creeping up my back to 3 to 5 metres over several kilometres. At one point trying to overtake on the right despite there being no room for that. With the rain and the busy traffic, his driving concerned me so much I even lit up the brake lights (slight tipping with the left foot while applying throttle with the right, so not slowing down), but he never got that hint.
As soon as a third lane opened up on the right, traffic allowed me to move over to the now middle lane and I let him pass. He then proceeded to tailgate the next car, and again tried and failed to overtake on the right.

And all that in... an Opel Crossland.
 
Today was the first time in ages I was annoyed by someone tailgating me. Usually I'm pretty chill about such things, and I maintain that it happens far less often than people complain about it.

I was going on the Autobahn, dense traffic but still flowing at about 110-120 kph, bad visibility due to rain. I was in the left lane because that was still faster than the right lane, keeping a distance of a good 50 metres. The guy behind me apparently was in a hurry, creeping up my back to 3 to 5 metres over several kilometres. At one point trying to overtake on the right despite there being no room for that. With the rain and the busy traffic, his driving concerned me so much I even lit up the brake lights (slight tipping with the left foot while applying throttle with the right, so not slowing down), but he never got that hint.
As soon as a third lane opened up on the right, traffic allowed me to move over to the now middle lane and I let him pass. He then proceeded to tailgate the next car, and again tried and failed to overtake on the right.

And all that in... an Opel Crossland.

It happens pretty often here though people don't just sit behind you, they will swerve over so that one of their headlights is in your side mirror as a sign of "hey buddy, move." It's pretty common knowledge anything more if you honk or flash your lights, it's considered that you're being a major asshole and will be brake checked.
 
At first I thought the driver was just oblivious as many CUV/SUV drivers are when they tailgate a smaller vehicle, because they just look over and simply not register it. But his behaviour quickly convinced me otherwise.
 
I just found this and now I want a D Type again...




Why can't I be insanely rich?
 
Motor racing went to shit when we invented shit like grip and functional brakes.
 
Bjorn visits the Metron Institute in Slovenia:
 
I don't understand how a new all-electric model (Mazda MX-30) can launch for MY 2022 (Europe, likely 2023 for US) and have a base model with only 100 mile range. Seriously, who will buy that?
 
ooooooh! This matches something that made it past my desk this morning.

The statistical office of the European Union (Creatively called Eurostat) dropped a rather interesting article back in february about Passenger mobility statistics. There is more than a little of stat dweeb in me so I will usually leaf through them with some interest. Submitted for your consideration is this chart showing the average distance traveled per person per day.

Average_distance_per_person_per_day_%28kilometres%29_Feb_2021.png


So anything from 3.5 to 11 miles a day. Not all of this is done by car, but the chart should be heavily biased towards automotive travel, as car journeys accounted from a very large percentage of the data acquired per the following distribution chart.

Travel_distance_per_person_per_day_by_main_travel_mode_for_urban_mobility_on_all_days_%28%25%29_Feb_2021.png


The data suggests that for most people, presumably those who live inside greater urban or metropolitan areas, would be quite well served by something with even such middling range, even if they only do plug it to charge at night occasionally and when conditions will not be ideal due to weather or continuous use of ancillaries. The range is also on line with older "successful" EV projects such as the EV-1 (anything from 70-100 miles of range) to the Honda EV Plus (80-105). It is also within the range of more "value oriented" EV's, such as the base Nissan leaf (about 120 miles) or the mini E (115 or so miles).

Now range anxiety is something to take into consideration of course, not to mention that it seems like a lot of the marketing for electric vehicles hinges on range, it's an easy metric anyone can understand, however, from a purely practical standpoint, it should be sufficient.

America's larger distances and consequently larger averages for driving (31.5 miles, according to this 2016 study by the AAA foundation) may indeed make it feel rather more cramped though
 
The problem is that a car is far too expensive to be useless as soon as you want to drive a bit longer.
 
I guess while I totally understand that an EV isn't the car for every car buyer, I have a harder time detaching myself from the thinking that every EV had to be for every EV buyer...

We have a 2015 e-Golf and if we were to buy another EV this year, it would NOT have less than, say, 150, but my GF would likely say 200 (even though 150 would totally do aaaaaall of our typical driving with a little to spare...but not much. Not enough to pick up someone off-path to carpool, for example. So I *guess* if someone were living, like, way, in downtown San Francisco, then I guess 100 would be enough if you didn't have a job that took you out of the area like our household sometimes does, and for which we use my Mazda 3.

I guess my annoyance is more about how I was actually looking forward to this car a bit since I adore my 3 hatchback, but any desire completely dropped out the bottom once I read the pitiful range number.
 
I guess my annoyance is more about how I was actually looking forward to this car a bit since I adore my 3 hatchback, but any desire completely dropped out the bottom once I read the pitiful range number.

The problem with the MX30 is that Mazda did their hardest to make an EV that's as unappealing as possible...

They decided on a pitifully small battery, because they argued that EVs are second cars to an ICE anyway. They did not argue with the stats shown above - that I would've understood, even if it still meant nobody would buy the damn thing.
They decided to make a weirdly impractical crossover with weird doors and tiny insides - for the same reason. Thus, they resulted in a purely city-focused car that's still huge on the outside (considering the small interior).
They decided to MIMIC THE BLOODY BEHAVIOUR OF AN ICE CAR IN THEIR ACCELERATOR / MOTOR MAPPING in order not to "surprise" people.... argh. Thus, the car feels slow as a turd.

... the list goes on, but I have luckily mostly scrubbed my brain of the stupidity that is the mx30 :|
 
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