I consider myself fortunate for buying an off-lease 2013 Fiat 500e with 20K miles on it for $7,300 out the door. Car was used as an errand car and commuter car from Newport Beach to Downtown Los Angeles where it enjoyed solo-HOV lane access and free use of the 110fwy toll-lane. My wife’s work garage had free…

I recently saw a cross-dressing Wayne Brady sing and dance in a cocktail dress, heels, wig, and make-up in the Hollywood Bowl production of Kinky Boots.  Still, I would have to be a different degree of stupid to try and fight the man.  I’m assuming that just about every Hollywood celebrity has some level of crazy…

My assumption was that Tesla went into the insurance business to claim first dibs on the core parts in the event a vehicle is salvaged such as the ~$20K battery pack, $6K drive unit, and various parts that not readily available on the parts shelf that Tesla will not sell without a core swap.

Lots of EVs where I am too in coastal Orange County, Ca. We have two used EVs; one is an off-lease Fiat 500e and the other is a 2013 Tesla Model S 85. The Fiat has about 1/4th the power of the Tesla motor, but it uses a reduction gear ratio that makes it rather peppy off the line but unfortunately has lousy passing…

I came here just for this. I mean what else are you gunna do when the odometer isn’t rolling backwards…not gunna crack the glass and rewind it by hand?  No, it’s time to kick the car off the jacks and stanchions and watch the car roll out the back of a hillside garage. 

I’m not a fan of the touchscreen MCU on our 10 year old Model S.  It’s not easy at times with the sun glaring on it, the buttons and menus change with software/version updates, and the lack of a feedback system requires your eyes to leave the road to confirm the location of the virtual button.  Meanwhile, my physical…

What bothers me dearly is the value destruction that these people caused.  The insurance companies were paying out top dollar for expensive OEM replacement cats which results in higher premiums for everyone insuring a vehicle.  On top of that, a number of vehicles had to be salvaged since the repair costs were exceed…

Say what you will but GM’s done more than what Tesla has done. Around June 2019, Tesla released an over-the-air software update that appears to have limited the voltage of the traction battery that in turn reduced power output, capacity, and as a result the range dropped by as much as 12%. On top of that, Level 3…

Yep. That’s from Newport Beach, CA to Downtown Los Angeles and Century City. Fortunately it’s not a daily commute since my wife worked from home about 3 days a week..before the pandemic. I think she’s been in the office a total of 20 times in the last 3.5 years, solely for birthday/welcome/farewells of her colleagues.

Used Toyota Mirais are so cheap in the Southern California area ($7K-$15K for a 3-8 year old car). Not sure how long these cars are built to last and if there are any technical issues. Seems to be the biggest issue is that refueling stations are hard to find and can go offline at much higher frequency than public ele…

Can’t help but remember how resilient kids are:

Not for me that aren’t. My two 10 year old used EVs would beg to differ. Bought a 20K miles old off-lease Fiat 500e for $7,300 out the door and added 58K miles to it in 7 years. The car paid for itself in fuel savings and toll-lane fees in less than 1.3 years. The icing on the cake was that it saved my wife about…

Like in many situations, it depends. My wife and I dipped our toes into the world of EV ownership back in Spring of 2016 after test driving our friend’s leased Fiat 500e. We looked into lease one for as low as $49/month, but the $1340/yr insurance was too much to swallow. Instead, we opted to buy a used…

I’m with StalePhish on this one. Tesla’s (at least their S/X) control arms and links are junk.  Perhaps this kit would be an improvement.  As for aero, that’s the last thing an off-roader cars about when you’re rolling a good .5-3 mph over the terrain.  I don’t think kit is everyone but I’m sure you’ll have a couple…

Exactly. The color match from the metal body panels compared to the plastic bumper covers never quite matched either. I recall the rear bumper covers had a common sag and gap after a few years.  

My wife wanted to switch to a BEV back in 2016 after driving her friend’s leased Fiat 500e. I was looking into the 1st gen Leaf (we happened to test drive a prototype back in 2010) since they were more in number (hoping for more support and lower cost repairs) but my wife wanted a sunroof and more style. Lo and…

I’m with you.  I’m not sure how much more of an added cost to production building a Torsen or LSD would be compared to an open differential.  The difference is amazing when you have the car on the corner.

Not sure about the road rules of Italy, but this seems completely avoidable and all drivers who made the illegal pass ought to be charged and prosecuted. I’m assuming a solid white line means no passing. Just look at how much danger the blue car and MC rider were put in minding their own business in the opposing…

My wife and I bought two used EVs which are now about 10 and 10.5 years old. We decided to switch to an EV after our friend lent us his Ford C-Max PHEV which got about 20 miles solely on electric. We were amazed that 90% of our driving behavior were trips less than 20 miles but that my wife’s office was a good 44…

I’m not sure that they do. I think they’re just more pro-active about it rather than letting the crime happen and then doing post hoc analysis.  I’m in the US, and the levels of violent crime and organized crime is ridiculous here.  Gang members, cartel associates, drug dealers, pimps, and smugglers are known but…