*The Leaf has NO cooling for its battery pack. It’s in a sealed container with a thermal blanket around it. 

Also watch out if the Leaf just got any software updates. It can reset the battery health-o-meter, and take several weeks to learn the true state of the battery. 

A Leaf might be bigger, and cost lest... but watch out for battery degradation!

We picked up our 13 500e in April of 17. It had 9800 miles on the clock, and cost $8,000. We’ve put over 20,000 trouble free miles on the car - it’s the perfect city EV. Great efficiency (it’s easy to get > 4mi/kWh), good power, and a kickass air conditioner. Oh, and unlike a Leaf it has a thermally managed battery,…

The air conditioning in a W126 is particularly hard to work on. The expansion valve is buried up in the dash, and everything is individual screw fittings not clamps like newer systems. Add to that failing vacuum actuators on the HVAC box, and it can be a pain to get the system working properly. Pictured: Trying to…

Losing the TDI 4Motion really took the wind out of the sails of this model. Same with the Atlas....

Some of the coolant hose fittings on the V10 are sand cast. As I understand it that’s the most expensive way to do things, but it makes sense for low volume. There were only ~450 V10s for the USA in 2004.

I didn’t know you could get those in the USA!

I’m glad you’re enjoying this tuck! To be fair, I did do one repair to the air suspension - $45 to replace the compressor piston ring. 

IIRC the NA motors don’t have the piston cooling jets, external oil cooler, or sodium filled valves of the turbo engine. So you might be able to add a turbo, but I wouldn’t want to crank it up to ~12 PSI like the factory because it would melt under load... morespo huffing a G around.

Sorry. No turbo, no care. If it were an OM606 I’d consider it, but the NA OM603 is going to be a dog. Yes, I know you couldn’t get the turbo motor with a manual. But the 722.3 is a nice driving automatic, and when set up properly shifts crisply, and at appropriate times.

How about the promotional LaserDisc for these trucks?

The idea is you plug up to a ChargePoint station while you get dinner, shop, etc. 

Can you imagine how out of balance these would get in winter, when the gaps get packed with snow? 

I don’t think it’s silly. I’m in the process of selling my 99.5 Jetta TDI. I was with dad when he picked it up from the dealer in 99 (he hadn’t driven a clutch in a while, and stalled it leaving the dealer. We then went to lunch at ChiChi’s). I drove it my sr. year of high school. It was my Christmas present when I…

I wonder how many Audi 200s are left in the states. “Sudden Acceleration”, collapsing values, and electrical faults sent a lot to the boneyard. They’re really great cars (I’m a former 5000 Quattro owner). If I came across a nice 200 turbo quattro avant I’d be very tempted to buy it... 

To me they look like wheels off a early 90s Lincoln Continental. Note the shapes at the base of the spokes... triangles not circles like the BMW wheels.

But 3 engines? I’m kind of amazed it needed that many motors... but is still on the same automatic trans. 

VWs simply don’t check oil pressure below 2000 RPM... 

It’s also for safety. The computer in charge of turning on the high voltage contactors runs on 12v. When you turn the car on, it does a safety check. If that passes, it turns on the high voltage contactors. If the contactors are off, the high voltage is contained inside the battery assembly.