Another part of living in society is accepting that other people will do things you don’t like, and you have to live with it. 

The weapons-grade hideousness aside, BMWs have no clear brand identity. Lexus is syrupy reliability (and, yes, also ugly). Mercedes is conservative authority. Genesis is upstart. Audi would like to remind you that it exists.

The tax credits don’t make EVs cheaper. They make EVs *look* more expensive. What consumers can and will pay for a given item is pretty much determined by those basic market principles you pointed out. When there’s a tax credit, it drives the list price up, because the transaction price follows the market. And the…

Minivans. They’re objectively better at doing pretty much anything than, say, a Toyota Highlander, and if you *do* buy some 3-row crossover, exactly no-one thinks you’re a rugged individualist who drives to muddy trailheads to do outdoor sports. They think you’re a parent. And I think you just paid $10-$20k more to…

Yes. This. Consumer reports does not, as far as I know, survey owners of older cars. So as long as the dealer is responsive, fixes the issue, comps me a loaner, and doesn’t make me pay for anything, I’m going to be happy. I’ll be considerably less  happy if my older, out-of-warranty car repeatedly needs 4- to 5-figure…

Once upon a time, people who had done well for themselves drove big Cadillacs and Lincolns. They loved the size, comfort, effortless power, and giant trunks. CAFE regulations have basically made it impossible to sell such vehicles in any kind of volume, but those same people want those same characteristics. So they…

This. We had an EV. It only took a couple of times where the only charger in range was broken or out of service for us to replace it with a PHEV. I do not want to have to go fetch a household member with a pickup and car hauler because there is simply no way to get the EV charged enough to make it home, which in…

Did they also retroactively refund all the premiums he paid since the children in question turned 14? Somehow, I doubt it. 

Ah, yes. The driving excitement of a high-pitched electric motor whining through its  1-speed transmission. Seriously though, part of the nostalgia for these cars is the mechanical, analog experience. Modern regulations and market requirements don’t allow for that. If any of these were actually produced and sold,…

I mean, there’s a little bit of nuance here. European regulators, particularly, were telling car companies that the most important emissions to cut were greenhouse gases. Many European nations tax consumers each year based on the amount of CO2 their cars emit. Diesel engines emit less CO2 than gas. Diesel fuel was…

You lament ripping the nation apart in one breath and then propose doing just that in the next. I’m confused. 

We had a leaf. We charge at home and almost always left with a full battery. It’s quite hilly where we live, and it quickly became obvious that the rated range was for 72 degrees, on flat land, driving very slowly. Summers were about 75% of rated distance. Winters basically halved the range. It was a giant pain in the…

I want to cross continents in a Bentley, not stand around next to the poors waiting for the damn thing to charge. 

You mean manufacturers figure out how to sell what people want to buy?! Amazing! As long as operating costs aren’t prohibitive, a significant segment of the population is going to want and purchase powerful, convenient, inefficient vehicles. Expensive gasoline, registration fees by weight or CO2 emissions, etc. are…

Maybe it’s the “adjustment factor” that’s been applied to behind-the-scenes MPG measurements? The standard VW id.4 goes 209 miles on 45 *useable* kWh of battery. A gallon of gas contains 33.7 kWh of energy. So the id.4 goes 209 miles on the equivalent of 1.335 gallons of gas, or 152 MPGe. Which is less that half of…

I understood him to say something I and others have been saying for a while: it’s not either petroleum-fueled ICE or BEV. There are other technologies. Just mandate that carbon emissions fall and leave the “how” to whatever technology rises to the top, rather than subsidizing or mandating BEVs that, for the…

The best analogy I can offer is vinyl records. Lossless digital formats are better in pretty much every measurable way. But a good record player attached to a decent tube amp sounds… different. Warmer. Analog. Because what you can measure and what you can experience are different things, and data points don’t make me…

The fact of the matter is that I no longer think of BMW when it comes to sporty cars. They’ve spent the last decade systematically eliminating all the characteristics that made them anything other than a less reliable Lexus, right down to the garish, oversized grilles.  

The most sophisticated AWD and traction-control systems on earth won’t help you if you have the wrong tires.

We live about 40 minutes from a large-ish city. My husband decided he wanted an EV and bought a Leaf S Plus. The car was always charged at home and left here at 100%. It took exactly 2 trips where he didn’t have enough range and the chargers were broken/full/wouldn’t accept whatever app he had to add to his phone to…