Random Thoughts Thread

[Drew Dowdell]

1 minute ago, dfelt said:

I am sure you can find a CPO or a new sitting around in the late winter, early spring.

yeah, I'm not buying a brand new bike for my first bike in 20 years. I'll let someone else eat the depreciation. 

That said.... this is pretty much right on the money. 

[David]

2 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

yeah, I'm not buying a brand new bike for my first bike in 20 years. I'll let someone else eat the depreciation. 

That said.... this is pretty much right on the money. 

That is a clean nice 4yr old bike. 

[Drew Dowdell]

In other news. I'm going to start getting test vehicles again. My first one is a Mazda CX-5 followed by a Hyundai Palisade.  I have a huge stack of "Quick Drives" to write from the last few weeks of events. 

[ocnblu]

5 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

nice fat check in my bank account

I thought I heard you say "fat chick", I was like GET HER OUT OF THERE!

[balthazar]

Far right signage :

[balthazar]

[David]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:20 PM, balthazar said:

Far right signage :

Awesome Robert has an Olds Dealership. 😛 

[David]

Rivian had a town fair to show off their site, auto's and start to gather resumes for working at the assembly plant. Would love them to have a few more around the country of open to the public viewings of their auto's.

https://stories.rivian.com/adventurous-together

[Drew Dowdell]

Off to Houston tomorrow. News will be light the rest of this week. 

[David]

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Off to Houston tomorrow. News will be light the rest of this week. 

Have a safe trip, hope no tornadoes while your there.

[Drew Dowdell]

50 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Have a safe trip, hope no tornadoes while your there.

Fair weather forecast.

[ocnblu]

20 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Fair weather forecast.

So, no tornadoes then?

[trinacriabob]

6 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Off to Houston tomorrow. News will be light the rest of this week. 

Houston can be cool, as in likable.  At least it's a major Texan city near a large body of water.  I know summers there can be ridiculously hot.  Enjoy.

Man, I don't think the ladies with their hair in hair nets at Costco like folks who, once they catch on, are doing the "Tour de Costco" lunch. 

"I'm in the tire shop."

"I came to look around to see if there are any specials on clothing."

Blah, blah, blah.

Have you ever done that?  Sometimes, when traveling or commuting, you're driving down a freeway, it's about feeding time, and, there, like a mirage, a Costco appears.  For what I pay for my annual membership, I don't buy much, so WTH.  Then, if I do the "Tour de Costco," I might have some pangs of guilt, so I head to "Cafe 1.50" and get their hot dog (with sauerkraut) and a soft drink.

[David]

53 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Houston can be cool, as in likable.  At least it's a major Texan city near a large body of water.  I know summers there can be ridiculously hot.  Enjoy.

Man, I don't think the ladies with their hair in hair nets at Costco like folks who, once they catch on, are doing the "Tour de Costco" lunch. 

"I'm in the tire shop."

"I came to look around to see if there are any specials on clothing."

Blah, blah, blah.

Have you ever done that?  Sometimes, when traveling or commuting, you're driving down a freeway, it's about feeding time, and, there, like a mirage, a Costco appears.  For what I pay for my annual membership, I don't buy much, so WTH.  Then, if I do the "Tour de Costco," I might have some pangs of guilt, so I head to "Cafe 1.50" and get their hot dog (with sauerkraut) and a soft drink.

Love the Tour de Costco lunch. I have no guilt over it, after all they are there for you to sample and see if you like it. Nothing about purchasing now, but you might in the future. Love when the Aidells Sausage bazaar comes to town.

https://www.aidells.com/products?cid=aidells:ps:psl:ms:43034:2817&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand_Core_Exact_ADL&utm_term=adells sausage&utm_content=Misspellings&gclid=CKTVlqfwruUCFQbZDQod_bYKDw&gclsrc=ds

Love the costco special edition of Chicken sausage with Mushroom and mozzarella. 

😋

[daves87rs]

Have a safe trip!

[ocnblu]

Not my spot, but wow, what a sweetheart!  1979 AMC Pacer wagon!

[balthazar]

I always find the Costco Sample Diners supremely annoying. Most of them leave their carts in the middle of the row as they get 5 samples to feed themselves & their kids, then go station to station being just as oblivious.

Edited October 23, 2019 by balthazar

[David]

2 hours ago, balthazar said:

I always find the Costco Sample Diners supremely annoying. Most of them leave their carts in the middle of the row as they get 5 samples to feed themselves & their kids, then go station to station being just as oblivious.

I have gone to just moving their carts and when they get upset, I remind them they have responsibilities to more than feeding themselves.

[balthazar]

[daves87rs]

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

I always find the Costco Sample Diners supremely annoying. Most of them leave their carts in the middle of the row as they get 5 samples to feed themselves & their kids, then go station to station being just as oblivious.

Sam's Club had quite a few like that too....

[ykX]

Motor Trend's 2019 Best Drivers Car ranking:

12. Toyota GR Supra

11. Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye

10. BMW M850i XDrive Coupe

9. Lamborghini Urus

8. Bentley Continental GT V8

7. Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

6. Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S

5. McLaren Senna

4. Jaguar XE SV Project 8

3. BMW M2 Competition

2. Ford Mustang Shelby GT350

1. Porsche 911 Carrera S

Man, I really want that Shelby ...  

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

Will cars EVER come close to looking this good again?

[riviera74]

17 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Will cars EVER come close to looking this good again?

Probably not.  Between energy efficiency and a sameness imposed on by engineers, I highly doubt it.

[ocnblu]

7 hours ago, balthazar said:

Will cars EVER come close to looking this good again?

Designed at a time of optimism.  Now, with all the oppressive regulations, design is an afterthought.  Design is "taboo", except on rare occasions.  Too much "safety", not enough daring.

[David]

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

Will cars EVER come close to looking this good again?

I actually think we can surpass this in having better looking sedans, trucks and SUV/CUV, we just have to figure out how to be energy efficient while giving style.

We have much in history to pull from!

It is now the Challenge to Engineers to NOT take the lazy way out of just using a Jelly Bean design to achieve getting an auto built.

[balthazar]

It's not being lazy. It's being artificially and onerously constrained by CAFE, NHTSA, IIHS and the federal government.

- - - - -
I learned today that the first pedestrian fatality in the U.S. occurred in NYC in 1899.
The offending vehicle was an electric taxi

On a related note: also recently read that the federal is finally drawing up the requirement for electrics' artificial noise generation, to be in effect up to 18.5 MPH to be comparable to IC vehicles for low-speed noise/ to alert pedestrians. There goes the (quiet electric) neighborhood.

[David]

52 minutes ago, balthazar said:

It's not being lazy. It's being artificially and onerously constrained by CAFE, NHTSA, IIHS and the federal government.

- - - - -
I learned today that the first pedestrian fatality in the U.S. occurred in NYC in 1899.
The offending vehicle was an electric taxi

On a related note: also recently read that the federal is finally drawing up the requirement for electrics' artificial noise generation, to be in effect up to 18.5 MPH to be comparable to IC vehicles for low-speed noise/ to alert pedestrians. There goes the (quiet electric) neighborhood.

I will politely disagree with you on the statement of being lazy. We have beautifully designed auto's that were very efficient in slipping through the air that you have posted of lovely curvy auto's and with today's tech, we can easily reproduce them far better than the by hand metal work that went into them.

Constrains to reduce pollution is needed IMHO to improve quality of Life, yes GOV has gone overboard at times, but we clearly have science to prove the detrimental affects of Bunker fuel, diesel and even regular gas emissions. Without the gov regulations, we would still be breathing dangerous leaded un-burnt hydro carbons or worse.

Please post the link to the Electric taxi accident, would love to read it. Thank you in advance.

I think the noise thing while I get why for the hard of hearing and blind is useless when we can build better cross walks.

For me, I can say if I can hear the noise in my auto, I will find a way to disable it.

[balthazar]

Well, I've posted a quarter million lovely curved autos here; I have no idea which you might be thinking of.
But 'history' and 'reproduce' sounds like straight up retro. That could work, but likely it would not. Meanwhile, we all have to suffer looking at BMWs and nissans.

The question I have is, if electrics ever gain a foothold in the market, will aerodynamics in the name of CAFE be able to get tossed in the dust bin??
- - - - -
I don't have the link for the article, but the man's name was Henry Bliss.

[balthazar]

I see Bollinger has released pricing for it's 2 planned-to-be-produced models.
For those of you who expected the built-inna-backyard stark minimalism and Lego styling to logically mean it would start around $40K, guess again.

No; Bollinger has leapfrogged BOTH the Tesla Model X AND the mercedes g-wagon, with a starting price for either at $125,000. For that you get very very little creature comforts, a 100 MPH top speed and a 200-mile range.

Good luck.

Edited October 27, 2019 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

built-inna-backyard stark minimalism

 

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

Good luck

This reminds me of that old cop show intro when they're on the shooting range and the target suffers so many hits to the heart it ends up with like a 32 inch hole where its chest USED to be.  Your name is henceforth Sniper Balthy.

[balthazar]

^ I mean; c'mon already. Lamborghini pricing there. For what?
- - - - -
 

[David]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

I see Bollinger has released pricing for it's 2 planned-to-be-produced models.
For those of you who expected the built-inna-backyard stark minimalism and Lego styling to logically mean it would start around $40K, guess again.

No; Bollinger has leapfrogged BOTH the Tesla Model X AND the Mercedes g-wagon, with a starting price for either at $125,000. For that you get very very little creature comforts, a 100 MPH top speed and a 200-mile range.

Good luck.

Agree, I think Bollinger is too late to the party with too little tech and clearly not enough financing to get it going. Very narrow attraction as a specialist auto that will not be around in 10 years I think. At this point between the traditional OEMs and Tesla / Rivian plus the Chinese, I think the chance for an electric startup here in the US or Europe are over.

[balthazar]

There really isn’t any ‘party’. If and unless EVs become price competitive, they will only ever be a niche product.

[David]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

There really isn’t any ‘party’. If and unless EVs become price competitive, they will only ever be a niche product.

Totally Disagree with you, the future is EV. Not for you and those not willing to embrace change, but the future is EV, 100 years from now, ICE will be a niche special permit item to own and mostly in Museums. 

[balthazar]

Let me put in a different way.

I am totally, completely ready to embrace a 2020 Porsche 911 first thing tomorrow morning.

Place you best guess; what's stopping me?

[Robert Hall]

2 hours ago, balthazar said:

Let me put in a different way.

I am totally, completely ready to embrace a 2020 Porsche 911 first thing tomorrow morning.

Place you best guess; what's stopping me?

It's not a truck, so you would have no practical or business use for it.   Couldn't rationally justify the cost. And it's not 50-60 years old--too new and modern for you. 

[balthazar]

Cost. No way interested in paying that much for a depreciating asset. There are hundreds and hundreds of other much better values. I wouldn’t even put that much into my ‘59, and I love that car.

Which is precisely the opinion of most vehicle consumers.

Which is precisely what's keeping EVs as a niche segment after a full 20 yrs (since the hybrids).

Edited October 27, 2019 by balthazar

[daves87rs]

On 10/26/2019 at 9:50 AM, balthazar said:

Will cars EVER come close to looking this good again?

We can hope.....

[balthazar]

[Robert Hall]

Enjoying the fall weather...cool at night, 50s-60s during the day..trees in color and leaves falling.... first pic from my backyard yesterday, other pics from a local beach I visited yesterday after work.  

[Drew Dowdell]

On 10/22/2019 at 7:07 PM, balthazar said:

I always find the Costco Sample Diners supremely annoying. Most of them leave their carts in the middle of the row as they get 5 samples to feed themselves & their kids, then go station to station being just as oblivious.

That's why I do Sample Lunch at costco without a cart. 

[frogger]

Haha me too, there is one about a mile from our office I will often just grab one consumables item (kirkland paper towels, bathroom tissue etc) after doing a sample lunch to supplement a  packed lunch that was too small.

 

[ocnblu]

[ocnblu]

 

[Drew Dowdell]

That front end just looks weird.

I'll be getting my first test car in a number of years tomorrow.  It's a Mazda CX-5 Signature.  Get your questions ready. Palisade will be coming later next month. 

[balthazar]

CX-5 ; be prepared to be sporadically annoyed.

[balthazar]

See that caption; stock-bodied '57 Plymouth, with a little help from it's big brother the 300, hit 183 MPH at Bonnevillle.

[daves87rs]

4 hours ago, ocnblu said:

 

Well, I like it better than the Trax.....