“I get my enjoyment from the computer doing the thing as well as it can be done.”

If I’m understanding it right, it has no automatic function except the clutch. There is no “auto” mode that you can use until you want to play. You still get to snick through the gears with an honest-to-god, H-pattern shifter with what looks to be connected to the actual gearbox, instead of a computer. Would I prefer…

The government said, “Hey, airlines! You want money to stay afloat? You gotta keep service going, even to small markets, if you want the cash.” So they did. And then the government said, “What pandemic? We don’t even wear masks! Also, the economy is very good! Here’s a bunch of money to prove it in the form of…

1) People don’t start using public transportation until the cost or inconvenience of vehicle ownership becomes prohibitive.

Assuming I have the kind of money to have one of the big German cruisers, I probably also have the money to have multiple vehicles. And the luxo-barge is the one I’d choose to cross continents, so the recharging time and infrastructure might make that model less desirable for now. Mercedes’ research bears this out.…

Because people don’t buy cars off a spreadsheet. People buy cars because of what they think it says about them to other people. Trucks and SUVs are often image-conscious choices, even if the buyer doesn’t need the capacity or might be better served by a minivan. The same is true for luxury brands, even if the buyer…

I have a 2018 with the “driver assist” features, and if all the new hands-free/collision-avoidance systems work as well as mine do on the current generation, everyone who relies on them is going to die.

Having owned both the V10 gas and 7.3 diesel versions of this, I can guarantee you that the efficiency gains are far more than 20%. The V10 gets 6-10 mpg. The diesel gets 13-19 mpg. It’s one of the few instances where the increased cost of the diesel actually saves enough fuel to be worth it.

Exactly. I personally do not like the man, but what else is he supposed to do that’s likely to be more effective in a crisis? Management-by-committee is fairly ineffective in normal times, and these are not normal times. 

It won’t. People who want a Tesla will buy it if it’s their preferred form factor.  Those folks aren’t looking at whatever $60k-worth of X3 or GLC gets you. They might consider a hybrid Lexus, if they’re the kind of that people who think you can save the planet by buying a new car, rather than simply being early…

I’m that guy who generally winds up in the sales manager’s office when buying a car, arguing over every line item on their computer screen. And what I’ve found is that they way they value trades is looking at what recent similar vehicles have gone for at auction in the area, and then they tack a little bit onto that…

I think they mean that the black plates take away the giant, reflective target cops use for their laser guns and therefore negatively impact their revenue enhancement activities.

*I’d* love it if they did that. But I’m pretty sure if you created a lineup with three sports cars and two CUV’s, you’d get fired from your armchair CEO position pretty quickly. Consider how many C/SUVs Toyota has. C-HR, RAV4, Venza (soon), 4-Runner, Highlander, Sequoia, and Land Cruiser. Did I miss any? That’s what…

This is all well and good, but somehow, units with owners’ data still on them can be bought on eBay. Whether Tesla itself bears any responsibility for that is unclear, but seems unlikely, unless they’re selling old parts after upgrades are performed. 

IIRC, the wagon was never available with the stick shift. But maybe I do not RC. 

We’ve now come to the point where a lack of smartphone integration is a bigger deal than the lack of a manual transmission. On a sports car. Maybe it’s time to turn in my enthusiast card. 

If that’s the case, the street isn’t really available for public, pedestrian-friendly space, which seems to be the purpose of the closure to begin with. And that exact space-inefficiency and its attendant cost convinces those who can manage without private automobiles to forego them. They still benefit from taxis,…

You seem to think that cars don’t do anything good, and that removing them will make people’s lives better. But they move people. Sometimes they move people that would otherwise struggle to move themselves. They move heavy things that people can’t. They allow people (some of whom are the very ones most at risk for…

Yeah, maybe. But I suspect wishful thinking. Oil and its derivatives are likely to be pretty cheap for a pretty long time. Subsidies needed to keep renewables and alternatives price-competitive with $20-50 oil will be low priorities for the world’s governments, who just borrowed a year’s worth of economic stimulus.…

I’m aware that *you* didn’t say this, but I’m noticing a trend where individuals are dismissed as lazy, financially illiterate, or both because they can’t survive a few months without income, and yet multi-billion-dollar global corporations are given a pass when they find themselves in the same position.