I’d imagine you can blame the design changes on continually worse pedestrian crash regulations.

No manual parking brake handle is a big NOPE.

Bought a Mk7 GTI 2 months ago.  Zero regrets after seeing this new one.  None.

Mostly agree, other than the pad shoe comments.  Those things basically last forever anyway so I don’t think it’ll matter much.

This article would be useful for most people about 10 years ago. Now hardly any new cars actually have hand brakes.

Jesus man, I mentioned cobalt because YOU DID. I’m well aware it’s used for electric motor materials, not Li-ion batteries.

Cobalt, from it’s current sources, is easy to come by. Assuming you’re cool with child labor procuring it for you.

True point about “too cheap” to mine currently. Though I must say, well done avoiding the issue of how wretchedly horrible mining is for the environment. Or that currently most of the mining/manufacturing is done in China, where they don’t give two shits about polluting their environment.

And you don’t know what you’re talking about if you think that’s the only issue with that topic.

I’m not a Tesla fan (or EV fan given current technological limits), but overall I would say that’s impressive for any car company that’s only a few years old, regardless of propulsion method (ICE or EV).

I own a Cayman S with 114,000 miles and my maint costs (dealership, aftermarket shop & DIY work) haven’t amounted to even a 6th of that. So yeah, I wouldn’t really go by that as an example.

50% inflated price.

Next gen Maxima just needs to be the Nissan JDM Skyline rebadged for the US.

I prefer Double Dash.

“The way I’d like to see governments treat subsidies for EVs would be to... ditch them all and more heavily tax ICE cars instead. But what’s your take on the situation? Has an EV credit ever convinced anyone you know to scoop up a Leaf, Bolt, or whatever?”

It’s not that difficult with EV technology is half baked.

I’m not sure I ever claimed it wasn’t?  Human’s influence however, not so much a big problem.  Not too upset here either, one of the best way for me to get my jollies :)

Not sure how that’s funny.  A brand new model came out in 2017.

Until batteries are produced with no rare earth metals, I agree it will just be a short term solution.

Oh yes, I’m familiar with how crazy that used to be.