I think Hanlon’s razor is wrong. Its generally correct to ascribe malice to things like this vs incompetence. 

It’s the worst on cars that have “automated manuals”

My favorite is cars that are clearly automatics listed as manuals.

I’m an older outdoorsy type and drive a sedan but that’s exactly what I want it for. Throw my hiking, running, or biking gear into the bed and rinse it down once I get back home. Instead of what I currently do which is put the rear seats down and awkwardly load my bike sans front tire into the trunk and putting my…

I’d drive one as well. But then I also have one of these so...

If it’s going to rupture ear drums, and possibly tear anything that gets too close to the nozzles to shreds with 1500 mph blasts of air, this is clearly something that has no chance in hell of being allowed to be used on the road. In that case, why bother being limited to the shitty impulse of compressed air instead…

This right here. I’ll assume this would be considered an exhaust and fall under noise level regulations that most states have. Pretty sure 27kg/s of air is going to well exceed 100db.
Although I’m sure this is just Elon being Elon and this never has a remote chance of being reality in a production car. 

I’ve turned Jalop into a Saw sequel.

95% of my daily commute and trips to the store, I never reach a speed higher than 40mph. I would get a scooter/moped, but I feel they’re...wait for it...unsafe. Also, no weather protection and next to no cargo capacity. However, a cheap little car - hell, even a golf cart - can easily hit 35mph and can be fitted with…

The motorcycle argument is interesting because most motorcycles can do speeds unthinkable by something like one of these tiny EVs. I think the reason motorcycles get a pass on things like safety is because they’ve been around long enough, and there are enough of them, that any attempt to change the laws gets little…

Find me an “American” product and most of the time it’s still made in China or comprised of a high percentage of parts made in China. I will purposely try to find things not made in China for political reasons, but it happens very regularly that the cheap brand, the mid level brand, and the high end brand are all made…

So, would I feel safe in something like this on the freeway? absolutely not. BUT, would I feel safe in something like this on my drive to work in traffic that never goes more than 25 miles an hour? Yep. Just as safe as on a motorcycle or a scooter. I still need an ICE powered car because I have to do long drives to…

“- The vehicle itself is made of spitwads and straightened-out paper clips.”

Lord forfend us against the safety nazis. I ride a motorcycle. Millions of Americans, and billions of humans world wide ride motorcycles, motorbikes, and scooters. I can absolutely guarantee you that this Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is already “safer” than any motorcycle.

Very well said.  Thank you.

Yeah, no. My TLC was directed at people who clutch pearls about an abstract notion of “safety” every time a non-US market vehicle is presented as a conduit for reassuring themselves that they are socioeconomically above someone else.

It’s not about safety, it’s about pointing down and laughing. “I am concerned about…

It is nearly impossible to get many Americans to care about how Black Americans are treated by the US government. Getting them to care about people (oftentimes non-white, oftentimes poor) outside of the US seems less likely than me being vaporized in a tokamak.

My top level comment was directed at someone like you. Please read it and understand you are part of the reason why we cannot have alternatives to crossover SUVs at the moment.

So to answer your question, me. I would. I’d take it on every residential, surface road, state road, and county road around me. It’ll be just…

I need to make sure that everyone understands the reason we don’t have things like the Hong Guan Mini is entirely political and social, not technical or economic. It would be literally illegal to build similar low-cost cars here because our transportation laws metastasized in the 1950s to 1960s to center around the…

Two Eastern Washington stories in two days, one about homophobes and one about racists...