Doesn’t matter how far away they are now or have been for the last 10 years, the rules of diminishing returns favor legacy automakers catching up. Even still, they are only just now putting their weight behind EVs in earnest; I think the second generation of VAG’s PPE and MEB platforms will pretty much seal the deal…

I am not disagreeing. Rather, I am stating that when it becomes clear that Tesla aren’t the only ones who know what the future wants, the fantasy Tesla is living in will collapse.

They are piling onto Tesla because Tesla has its finger on the pulse of the immediate future of transportation. When legacy automakers catch up, and they absolutely will, that’s when the fun begins.

Right, I mean it’s the antithesis of the new EV Hummer. It achieves very similar performance, it just does it in the most inefficient, old-fashioned way possible versus the newest and most technologically advanced solution. And the price isn’t even that far off. One is all noise and middle fingers to mild manners, the…

It will probably look like a grey banana, like every other current Mercedes with four doors.

Stellantis*

This is, like, the anti-Hummer.

It’s no simpler than the Veloster, just more poorly assembled.

Have you been in both after they’ve been broken in after some years?

Did I say Gran Coupe?

Do I care?

“Hey, we got this car in and we know you wanted to be one of the first to get one. Price is X and we expect it to be on the lot for at least the next week or so at that rate, let us know what you think.”

Nobody said you had to floor it from every stop. My car has 400 HP. It has a stick. I get to shift five times on the way up to 70 while still accelerating at a pace that a GTI strains to keep up with.

Your understanding sounds like it’s a little bit out of date.

Anything with ~400HP or more is totally fine with an automatic. With that much power you really don’t have time to use a manual transmission unless the gears are waaaay too long

I have my S3 in “M” 99% of the time because it adds a little something to the drive. Just pressing a pedal and moving the steering wheel feels...weird.

Counter-point: DSGs are also a dying breed, and not because of electrification. They are a dying breed because torque-converter automatics are now also sufficiently fast enough while also being better able to handle high-torque applications that DSGs are being phased out across model line-ups as they get refreshed.…

Joke is on the automatic when people just floor it to force it into a lower gear anyway, or use paddles to keep it in its responsive zone.

$3k option and you have my attention. If I can buy an Audi S5 with a 6MT with a price premium for that transmission, I will go down to the dealership tomorrow to turn in my current S3 lease early and order a car.

Penalty box is relative to the current market and what you value. A WRX is still a penalty box compared to an M340i.