There is only one style car Aussie police may use. It is the interceptor. http://madmax.wikia.com/wiki/Ford_Falcon_XB_GT_Coupe_1973_%22V8_Interceptor%22

You are correct - with my Volt (2013) and my wife’s Passat Wagon (2008, the bigger one), we still ended up taking two cars frequently. We recently traded in the Passat for a Pacifica Hybrid minivan, with 7 seats we can now take 1 car instead of 2, and as a result we use the Volt less. The van gets 30 miles all…

Sounds like you live near me. LMK if you want to check out the Pacifica in depth or get some tires installed (I have full tire machines at home)

PHEV and BEV vehicles won the race. Hydrogen is DOA. It’s interesting, but there is already too much momentum towards BEVs and a good charging infrastructre (that still has a long way to go) to see Hydrogen fuel cells hit real world use.

I love VoltStats! Which one are you? I’m 2608 https://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/2608

Most likely they didn’t get the revised gasket with the aluminum core. I had to do one 1500 miles from home and couldn’t get the aluminum gaskets. 5 years later I got to do that car again... I’ve actually bought two 3800 cars that “need head gasket” to just do intake gaskets and have a perfectly good running car to…

Never needed to do head gaskets on a 3800, it’s always been the intake gaskets. Once they are replaced with the revised aluminum gaskets these just run and run and run... I’ve had about a dozen 3800s, some supercharged and done a lot of tuning. I really want to do a supercharger swap on her LeSabre, it would be a riot…

Not a bad idea, but a big PIA and costs $ she doesn’t have... in the long run I’d prefer she just upgrades to something newer overall since I’m the family mechanic anyway...  for now I’ll just start patching the rust before it spreads too far.

My mother in law has an ‘04 LeSabre that’s starting to get eaten by rust in the back, but is mechanically sound. Trying to figure out if we repair the rust or just look for another one. I kind of like her car, it’s been through a lot, and her budget is basically zero, so I’m going for the ‘repair the rust’ approach…

The Volt is definitely a small car, but I’m 6'3" and don’t need to slide my seat all the way back. When I was looking for a car (6 years ago) the Volt was the only option like this. The car is paid for and I’m just racking up the savings now... My kids are not in car seats, 9 and 14 and we have no problems taking all…

There is a YouTube video about 30 minutes long of a guy who does a full teardown of the Volt transaxle. It’s not possible for the engine to do anything except drive one of the motors. The motor can drive the wheels. There is no “transmission” - it’s literally two electric motors and a planetary, very simple…

All the gas engine is doing is driving one of the electric motors. It’s really, really hard to claim either way that the engine does, or does not, power the wheels. The reality is that this is how nearly all dual-motor systems are made, and both electric motors need to be active for the wheels to turn. Whether the…

That’s where the Volt fits perfectly. Full EV driving until you need to go past it’s EV-only range, then the gas engine runs but it still drives exactly the same. It really doesn’t need a plug, but it’s great when you can plug it in.

I totally disagree. I love driving electric, it’s superb for a commuter car, but I can take long trips too. I have to fill up my Volt every 1200 miles or so. My last tank lasted 1700 miles!

They are pretty cheap used, many less than $10K now.

Technically, you can push the Volt too hard if you try to drive up a mountain or something,

Most PHEVs will go into a ‘fuel maintenance mode’ where they will start to burn off old fuel. Also, the gas tank is pressurized to preserve the fuel longer. My Volt is this way - if you don’t use enough gas it will start to burn it off for you. I don’t know how the i3 works in this way, I’m surprised to hear 17…

I just can’t get over the idea of owning a Buick in my 40s though

Ways to piss off car people with a GN-look Regal:

You could get a turbo regal that wasn’t a GN. A buddy of mine built a baby blue ‘85 Regal Wagon with a well built 3.8 T that runs 11s, he called it the “WaGone” and put a baby seat in the back for track days...  It’s just about paying homage to it’s roots. Hey any survivor is good with me, as long as it avoids the…