I could see how a 3000-death terrorist attack 18 years ago might evoke more reaction than a test 80 years ago that required 160 people to move...and if it was a local product a couple thousand miles away I doubt even that would cause much more than a blog post or two

That Kia Isuzu thing?  Hell I don’t even acknowledge the existence of front-engined Lotuses...

I’m not disparaging BMW for diversifying into mass market cars that pay the bills (although I’d draw the line at FWD, rather just see a bunch of X_Ms with TT I6s and V8s). I’m saying that Shift24 combining the fact they make FWDs with a tag line from decades before they did doesn’t legitimize them.

Everybody knows A-10s go brrrrrrt

When every model was available with an I6, RWD, and manual.  Sure there were base models, but no FWD, cute-ute, autos.

The fact that BMW still uses a tagline from when it only make sports cars, even as it pushes more mom-mobiles and status-mobiles to the masses, is an argument for marketing over substance. No one is arguing that Mazda doesn’t make a lively chassis compared to its beige competitors.

How about being untouchable by speed radar or laser?

His goal with most of these calculations is to pick a generous set of boundaries to see if it’s even in the ballpark, then try to map it on real world examples. In this case, a 1200 pound car with the area of a family sedan but also scaled up to a camper.

Here’s a fascinating website by a UCSD prof who does a bunch of back of the envelope math regarding energy projects. In this case he pushes all of a car’s requirements to their limits: 1200 lbs, 0.2 drag coefficient, minimal frontal area, maximum roof area, crazy efficient panels, and you end up needing about 30 m^2…

What would make an unbalanced system’s vibration decrease with engine speed?  Short of somehow engineering in a destructive interference harmonic at a particular RPM...

All the examples I’ve seen that claim >40% involve something like concentrating sun from a bigger area, or adding secondary, tertiary, etc layers. In other words, an expensive way of just using more panel area.

I watched these guys fall all over each other in the debates to proclaim how open borders they are and how the whole world has the right to come here by the millions. If not one candidate opposes Zuckerberg’s and Bezos’ dream of unlimited third-world labor, what hope does the American working class have?

Roads are (mostly) paid for by use taxes in the form of gas taxes, federal and state. And of course schools are subsidized: by non-school-users. If everyone used schools, everyone would need to pay full freight since the whole population can’t subsidize itself.

Solar may get cheaper, but it won’t get much more efficient.  Current panels are in the 15-20% range, with the multi-million dollar NASA panels hitting closer to 30% with bespoke manufacturing and materials.  Theoretical limits using unobtanium are something like 35%.  After that you can cheat things higher by…

A high-rise has a fraction of the roof area per unit.  And of course it’s redistributing wealth to have some people pay for others’ consumption...if we’re all paying for each other’s “cheaper” energy, it’s not any cheaper.  The only way your math works is spreading the costs of a small group who benefit across a…

Intentionally weakening their currency, whose value they control, makes them a currency manipulator. Another country weakening its currency exacerbates the trade imbalance but makes your Amazon junk cheaper. The usual “fix” is to devalue your own currency to favor exporters, at the expense of everyone holding your…

I thought for sure the i3 and i8 would be followed with a more mainstream-sporty i5, but no dice. Agree that hybrid is the way to go for practical people who don’t need a 1500-lb battery to make a gas-free statement.

The first part surprises me, I’ve only seen the crazy 40k+ examples.  Looks like the Sport starts at 36 and the Touring at 39.5.

So same story as the death of the 90s Japanese sports cars. Sell the same car for 10 years as it goes from <30k to 50k, until everyone else’s horsepower and other gains make it too hard to justify.

I think you’re blurring some pretty different groups. 200k/yr middle managers aren’t buying 5M houses, the mortgage would be more than their gross pay. They’re buying 4-500k houses, maybe more if they’re older and rolling (say) 250k in equity into the 700k house for a 450k mortgage.