Perhaps not with a lock that long out in the weather. Picking rusted locks is tough, but the ramset might do some damage.

Let’s just talk about the sheer lack of colors in that first photo.

It sounds like the Golf R was fine but not for that buyer’s situation. The Cayman  S is a little weird to hear. Usually they are known to be reliable. Maybe the buyer bought one used that wasnt taken care of. 

“But the whole point of a Golf is to have it be your d0-everything car, and at a certain point, it can price itself out of making sense.”

I wish I could say I regret nothing, but that would be a lie.

Short sighted in the sense that they were striving for “just in time” inventory on an item that has 6-12 month lead times, as well as capacity constraints and competing demands. They didn’t understand that chip supplies were not like most of their other suppliers that can turn production on and off like a switch.

Modern processors also require less power and are more thermally efficient. That makes them more reliable, not less.

There are three technical reasons, at least. One is that packaging methods can change with die size. A second, related issue is that chip temperatures can run hotter (or sometimes cooler) when moving/shrinking circuit traces and components. And a third is that parts of the circuit can interfere with other parts once…

I totally agree. One major part of industrial engineering is obsolescence planning, and there are companies that are...not very good...about this. It’s a major issue, not very sexy, but very much a strategic risk. It’s not a good feeling to learn that one of your suppliers is no longer making parts for that…

This is good stuff.

Yes and no. The high voltage battery needs to be completely isolated from the car when the car is off for safety reasons. So you need “something” to power the relay that makes that connection when you turn the car on. And the simplest and cheapest something is a good old-fashioned 12V system as used in billions of…

Great article, more in depth stuff like this please.

Funding R&D in ICE efficiency will do nothing to help climate change in the next 10-15 years. ICE has also hit the point of diminishing returns — it’s not like you’re going to build a 5 liter, 500hp V8 that gets 80mpg. This also does nothing to incentivize the actual consumer to drive more efficient vehicles.

As long as cattle get eaten, they will have hides that have to go somewhere.

He’s bitching that he isn’t making as much money selling indulgences as he thinks he should, so he’s asking the government to modify legislation to increase his profits.

It’s almost like he doesn’t actually give a shit about the environment and just wants to sell those credits for more.

Leather (the real stuff, not bonded leather, which is basically collagen particle board) is an inefficient pain in the ass to use in large scale manufacturing. The move away from leather probably has as much to do with Volvo just wanting to be done with it as it does shifting consumer preference.

It’s Volvo.

4th gear: Maybe Volvo has some data to support that the small portion of the populace who incorrectly believe that leather is somehow cruel, buy Volvo? Perhaps they have some data to suggest that the small portion of car buyers who think leather is cruel, have a lot of money and they want those buyers. I can only…

That logo looks familiar...