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Right now, I have Florida on the brain. So, when I think of glass, I think of glass block, seen often in Miami Beach. I also think of this song, "Heart of Glass" ... one of her "top 3:" Then, as I was posting, a strange coincidence occurred to me. From what I know, Deborah Harry (Blondie) is native to Miami but, upon being adopted as an infant, was raised in New Jersey.

Snowy and 32 now...this weather definitely has me dreaming of trips I want to take once the world gets to a 'new normal' and I feel like getting on a plane again (2022? 2023?). I want to take a couple vacations to places I've lived before... Want to go to Denver...see friends, see some of my favorite places..go up in the mountains. And I want to visit Marathon, Florida and the Florida Keys..see my old neighborhood, visit old friends...enjoy the sunsets. In the short term, I'm getting psyched up for my new job that starts Feb 8th. New technologies, new company, new adventures in WFH.

Sometimes it's not that the glass is half full or half empty, but that there is no glass..the glass is only imaginary.

When you make obtuse irrational points that can be interpreted a number of different ways it doesn't exactly give warm fuzzies.

I'm pretty much only automotively bigoted.

Boring can be good. It can reduce stress, blood pressure, insomnia, etc. Right now, a lot of us can handle boring and dull just fine.

It will take time, but in a model-generation or two, the costs of building BEVs will come crashing down as @ocnblu's worst fears materialize. No longer will there be unique powertrain combinations. Every manufacturer will have two electric motors, small and large, and possibly one Large+ for anything from a Vette to a 3500HD. And with that, there will no longer be any reason to have a different motor in a Vette compared to a 3500HD. The personality of the motor can be controlled 100% by programming, but otherwise be physically identical. Want a Corvette race tune in your Yukon Denali? That's just a download at your Local Buick-GMC dealer. Power outputs of the motors can be programmatically controlled too. Did you buy a Trax with the base power setup, but 3 years later you got a big raise and want to upgrade it? Put your credit card info into the Chevy MyLink and it will download the unlock key to upgrade your power. Now here is where it the economies of scale kick in: GM currently manufactures a 1.0T, 1.2T, 1.3T, 1.4T, 1.5T, 1.6T, 1.8T, 2.0T, 2.5, 2.7T, 3.0T, 3.0 Pushrod, 3.6, 3.6T, 4.0T, 5.3, 6.2, 6.6,..... with multiple variants of those and I'm sure more that I missed. Even in terms of just gasoline engines, that is absolutely insane that GM does that. With the "small" electric motor, they could build everything from 2.5 down (in HP) to have a single part number for the powertrain. The 2.0T on up to the 5.3 could have a second part number. The 6.2 and up could have the third part number. I don't even have time to count up the number of transmissions that go with that list. So that means a GMC Acadia and Chevy Trax could have the same motor part number, but with changes to the software, have different power outputs. Now, the Acadia has all the same hardware under the hood, no transmission, it becomes significantly more profitable for GM to sell. It's the Encore/Trax scenario on steroids. The Corvette and Escalade and Sierra 3500 and a Box Truck all share the same motor (paging @smk4565). Want AWD? Pop another motor on the other axle. Once they get to this stage of being able to pump out just 3 powertrains to support their entire lineup worldwide, prices for EVs will come crashing down. To infuriate @ocnblueven more, expect companies to start sharing powertrains even more than they do today. I could see Honda and GM in some joint partnership to make motors together such that a CRV and Equinox will have nearly identical parts for motive power. @ocnbluis absolutely correct in where this is going, the only part I don't agree with is his view that it won't happen. From a business perspective, the board rooms at Honda, GM, Ford, Mercedes, Volkswagen are all eyeing up this exact scenario and salivating at it. The only unknown is how long it will take to get there.

I am saying this to be helpful and not hurtful but honest to God I think you need to talk to a mental health professional and have a serious check for some form of Clinical depression. Depression is nothing to be ashamed of but like any illness needs to be addressed with medication and/or therapy with a good therapist. I am saying this out of brotherly love and not sarcasm. Get help dude. Your employer may even have ab Employee Assistance program to get you started.

With few exceptions, the majority of cars on the road have no excitement anymore. You think 350k Camry and another 400k RAV4 buyers a year care about their car making "vroom-vroom" noises from that oh so meaty 2.5 liter 4-cylinder? I went with my best friend to test drive some cars.... we looked at a 2-door Jeep Wrangler 2.0T, a Bronco Sport 2.0T, a 4-Runner (didn't like, didn't drive), and a Ford Flex. He hated the sound and feel of the 2.0Ts and really liked the V6 in the Flex.... why? because the Flex was quiet and had a lot of torque (not how he described the torque, but I knew what he meant). And that's what most people actually want... something not noisy, but still has instant low end torque. Price aside, I could get Albert a Model S Plaid+, plug it in for him for a few hours every Sunday, and functionally it would be no different than now when I take his 300C to Costco every Sunday to put gas in it. He'd never notice the difference. There are those of us who like the sound of an engine revving, but we are in an extreme minority. As soon as EVs come down in price relative to income and charging stations are wide spread, ICEs will become a niche vehicle. People just don't care. If they did, the Camry/Accord 4-cylinders would not have been best sellers for so many years. The Equinox/Terrain combo is something like the 6th or 7th best selling vehicle in the US right now and I'll tell you no one wants to hear that awful 1.5T doing its job. GM did a pretty good job at silencing it. You may not like it, but these are the factors that GM is working with.

You continue to be wrong on these two points. I will have YOU know, I just got a new flip phone.

I cant believe Im actually gonna post a Debbie Gibson song on the internets. But..somehow, the song seems appropriate in this thread, even though I never really liked this song nor Debbie Gibson Im fully 100% on board with Gen E!

Notice how Balth’s dissent is still up and how it differs in tone and lack of bigotry? Do better and maybe your posts will stay up. I do not allow transphobic comments on this site.

The shitty Tesla Model S interior looks worse before you even get to the stat sheet. You'll never get me into a Model S with those interiors even if it had a 1,000 mile range. A Cadillac interior, 300 would be sufficient.

Perhaps, but you have to suffer thru daily life in a toyoter in the meanwhile.

That wasn't what I was saying at all. You (and likely he) have preconceived notions regarding EVs and will dream up as many reasons for why they won't work for you as @Davidcan dream up reasons why he can't fit in the front seat of something. What I was saying was that if you wrote down his primary wishes in a vehicle (Good git'up, good economy, good reliability), an EV Equinox would suit his needs just fine. A 1.5T mid-range Equinox is just one QuietTuning away from being a sensory deprivation chamber as it is. Listening to that 1.5 making the sausage is not an experience improvement.

Up skiing after a busy weekend. Had to laugh to see the EV charging spots covered in packed snow. Will post more after I get home of all the projects I did. Interested to hear what ya think of my projects. For now, off to go ski and up my natural Endorphins for happiness ?! Stay safe all, relaxe and realize that to quote @Robert Hall the glass is neither half full or half empty, it just might not exist at all. Only you put the limits on what you achieve in life!

That’s merely a reflection of the “Do as I say, not as I do” policy he seems to follow.

For the record, I had two posts deleted in the last two days yet I’m not on here claiming some kind of pseudo censorship. I know my posts went too far both times and I’m fine with that. Interesting that you’re the only one here complaining. Cars were turned into rolling appliances decades ago so your “cell phone” reference is actually how the new generation of future buyer will see it, thus leading to sales for that market (price willing of course) and that market is getting larger every year, whether you want to admit it or not. Your dinosaur mentality regarding EVs, or really anything different from your “norm” apparently, is outdated and becoming less and less relevant with every passing day. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the tech in your home and current ride and think about where they were both at thirty years ago. It’s been changing and will continue to change and so will cars.

I havent listen to the video. No need. I knew this was coming a couple of years ago. It was just a matter of time. GM really has no other choice. This was a decision that the majority of the world leaders took. All car manufacturers have to comply. For better or worse, BEVs are the way forward. Technology will catch up (and surpass) to where we are with the internal combustion engine... Choices? I really didnt have a choice when GM went all in with FWD and shytty 4 cylinder Iron Dukes, buzzy Quad 4s and 6 cylinder engines to replace ageing, emissions controlled, choked up V8s. Nor did I have a choice when right after that, GM took away its 6 cylinders to give me turbo 4s and turbo 3s and cancel sedans for CUVs... Besides, Quebec produces hydro-electric power, so when I charge my next car, instead of pissing my money away on foreign fuels, Ill be pissing my money and it will go directly into my home economy. All is good on all accounts. Hoping EVs lose some weight along with torque vectoring across those 4 wheels and happy times will be here again...for performance oriented vehicles. Because as we have it now...FWD, top heavy, turbo3 and turbo 4 cylinder CUVs just dont cut it for me... If I want to buy a Chevy or just American without breaking the bank...for a performance vehicle...

That’s been known for years.

I still wonder how dealerships like that survived with like 5 cars in inventory.

Sharks, alligators, hurricanes...all part of the weirdness of Florida. Florida Man doesn't fear them, though.. Though for all the craziness, I do have a fondness for the Florida Keys, Miami and S. Florida in general... and the writings of Floridian Carl Hiaasen, who I saw announced his retirement from the Miami Herald yesterday. His colorful novels set in Florida are often hilarious. I'd love to have seen Miami and Miami Beach in the 1940s, when my father spent 4 years stationed at Miami Army Airfield with his work in the Army Air Forces Transport Command there and in the US Virgin Islands.

Over the course of CES 2021, Cadillac dropped a few bombs upon the critics and car enthusiasts with their PAV Pod and eVTOL. However, they also unveiled their “EV Flagship” known as the Celestiq. Following the recent reveal of what would be Cadillac’s first electric vehicle, the Lyriq, in August of 2020, the Celestiq will be a hatchback while the Lyriq is an SUV. The Celestiq will be a four-seat hatchback with standard all-wheel drive. However, it will come with up and coming technology in its four-wheel steering, allowing it to make sharper and more precise turns. The vehicle will also come with transparent glass roof panels that each passenger can control to different levels of transparency, as well as a large LED display that stretches across the entire dashboard and personal screens for the rear passengers. The Celestiq will be powered by a 100-kWh battery pack allowing it to have a 300+ mile range but will most likely come with a six-figure price tag. However, Cadillac asserts that it will be bespoke and hand-built in the Detroit area and be completely customized for individual customers. So if you are looking for a 4-seat luxury hatchback EV, start saving up for the 2025 release. View full article

The Cadillac EVs will likely cost more than Teslas at the start. The first EVs are supposed to be flag ships, there’s not going to be a Model 3 or Model Y competitor right away. I trust Cadillac SuperCruise more than Tesla AutoPilot. It’s safer.

This I like. Some big time Parthenon action going on at its grille, which is interesting, but the C pillar and the landau roof are only "slightly" on the thick side. This Riv has to be given credit for venturing out onto its own, so to speak, and not scabbing onto the obscure "safety" of sharing a LeSabre platform and powertrain as it did in its previous iteration.

This is the link to the 51 minute video where Mary covers how GM is planning the change over to an all EV future and moving everyone into an EV. I encourage folks to watch it with an open mind and then debate the pros and cons of her plan. https://players.brightcove.net/1050888044001/bNJ5EPvlNA_default/index.html?videoId=6222187724001 Thank you,

I'm referring to cash-flow specifically, but yes. They've survived on selling these credits for a while. But at the same time, Elon needs to know that as GM and FCA-Stellantis start moving to more BEVs, that source of funds is going to dry up and Telsa better be able to stand on its own.

That is why all auto makers are looking to reduce BEV costs everywhere.

That's interesting, because when I visit NYC or LA, one of the things I loath most is getting in a beat to crap but still operating Prius V or Escape Hybrid. They take those things right up to their regulated mileage limit and it's not the batteries that kill them. My sister managed to kill her first year Escape Hybrid.... by running it out of oil. Every car has the potential for drivetrain issues. I'm seeing lately how Hyundai/Kia and FCA are having problems with their 2.4s and having to do engine replacements due to catastrophic oil loss. (Yes I know that particular 2.4 is related between all three companies). As for her Pruis, you can get a reconditioned battery for like $900 plus install. If the car doesn't have over 200k miles, it would be worth it to pay for the replacement and then just sell it for a few grand. Even a 175k mile Pruis is worth about $5k and a 100k can fetch $12k - $15k. So throwing away as much as $15k to save $1,500 doesn't seem to make much financial sense to me. And no car company is trying to shed the planned obsolescence. They've gone exactly the opposite direction even on regular ICE cars. Honda and Toyota are just as guilty of it as GM and Ford. Ford, when asked what the upgrade path was for owners with Sync who wanted to go to Sync3, the direct quote from the executive was "Buy a new car...". But batteries aren't going to be what kills high mileage EVs, just like it isn't what kills high mileage Hybrids. When I needed to repair the cruise control for my CR-V, all I needed was the small plastic disk the cruise linkage would tug on, but the only way to get the replacement part from Honda was buying the entire throttle body for about $800. I ended up fixing it with a Dremel and some zipties instead.

True.

I prefer the mechanical aspect of automotive ownership, and all of the attendant, potential joys of it. It is a pitiful excuse to have to listen to an off-putting, droning hum, or worse yet, fart sounds, a la Tesla's tongue-in-cheek announcement.

The Bolt for what it is, should be about $25k and not $40k to compete with a gas car. The Bolt is comparable to a Chevy Trailblazer. So until they can suck a ton of cost out of the Bolt, gas cars aren't going anywhere.

GM wants electric cars because that is what investors like. Tesla is worth $800 billion and GM is worth $70 billion. GM (and every car company) wants investor money and want to look like a tech company like Apple or Google. I think EV's will replace V12, V10, V8 most quickly because high power vehicles are expensive, probably V6 gets phased out in like 10 years. But if you look at what they are proposing and with what EV's cost, I don't see a a small-mid size EV crossover with say 250 hp, 250 mile range going on sale for $25,000 any time soon. And those $300k Camry's and 400k Rav4 sales in the $25k range aren't going to be replaced by $50k electric SUVs with $1,000 monthly payments.

Your brother is exactly the type of consumer that, baring outside influences, would probably be suited to an EV just fine once cost and charging station network is addressed. I agree with you on the difference between the 1.5T and 2.0T, night and day... the 2.0T will easily break the front tires loose. And it's not hate... it's facing the reality of where the market is today. I knew when I bought my Avalanche I was most likely buying my last V8 ever, which is why I want to keep it forever. I may get one more round of ICEs in my driveway, but eventually I'll convert Albert first and then me (though the Avalanche will stay). I've never had the urge to shift my own gears, but I can and do appriciate the novelty of it. I just don't see it as a requirement for my day to day driving. My commute to work is already infuriating enough, 45 minutes to go 12 miles, that shifting manually would add no joy to the drive. The only thing I would point out as contrary to what you said is your insinuation that EVs can't leap off the line... they can and do. Not every EV is a Nissan Leaf. It wasn't the 2.0T that killed it for him, it was the bouncy ride. I told him that the 3.6 would be more to his liking as he drives a V6 Liberty now, but the ride is what killed it. He works from his car and also does trips home to NYC. He needs something more comfortable for being in all day. He's also very tall, so that's what killed the Bronco Sport for him. His dream car is the Defender, but that isn't in his budget right now. He likes the boxy look of his Liberty and is attracted to the Flex... so who knows what he'll end up with. I've found some MINT Ecoboost Flex Limiteds for him with like 15k miles for about $27k. If they pipe sound in for the 2.0T, I certainly didn't hear it. It was me who hated the sound. He hated the turbo-lag and lack of "Go!". I didn't drive it, but I'm sure I'd have hated it to. I have no patience for turbo-lag any longer.

I understand the 1.5EB 3 in the Escape/Bronco Sport (and possibly the 2.0, IDK) have artificial (V8?) engine noise piped through the speakers to mask the fact that these aren't the good old days. I'm on the verge of choosing a new vehicle (surreal: too many skid marks/pearls of wisdom in my Colorado already!) and it kind of hurts, but it will not be a gm product. I cannot give Mary money to spend on her hare-brained scheme. Bronco Sport 1.5 Big Bend 2021 Escape SE with Sport trim pkg 1.5 2022 Rogue Sport if it is not electrified 2021 Rogue 2022 Tucson 2022 Kona 2022 Maverick 2021 Compass 2021 Renegade Trailhawk If I could afford a V8 Durango, I would in a heartbeat. If Dodge made a small truck, I would in a heartbeat.

And you continue to prove my points (on your assumption that you're right, that you're not the actual "glass half empty" type, and your choice of tech). Congrats. It's a nice addition to being accused of being trans-phobic (with good reason). There's an old saying that applies here. If there are 49 people in the room with you, having a discussion, and 48 of them say that you're wrong, guess what? You're wrong. Yet you go through cars like they are underwear on a 15 year old boy.

My wife has been watching Wayward Pines; I saw a handful of episodes, but then did my usual & jumped ship. I get antsy. Was also watching 11.22.63 - I think I saw 5-6 of the 8 episodes. I liked that one.

That's one way to look at it! What gets me is when people go further out into water that has sharks and they're in those inflatable boats with motors. That's just insane. - - - - - Good morning, folks: Seawall Blvd. on Galveston Island's main road fronting the Gulf is apparently obsessed with sharks,* too! * unmistakably a white ...

Automakers load the dinner plate, but the diner may just push the vegetables off to one edge. Was talking on another board, and one 'future embracer' was claiming that the 'GM of old' always dictated what buyers got, but NOW, with BE's, people get what THEY want; that GM has changed. But it's the exact same scenario even worse, since so few people actually buy BE's currently. What dave87rs posted above is the more logical, the most encompassing; find a way to offer both and let the buyer decide. Look at the fractured catalogs of OEMs now- I read in passing that Mercedes has 100 models- that's crazy. Model counts will have to radically decline, but both powertrains can co-exist.

They all looked like they were 20-30 yrs old. People that age very seldom buy new vehicles. Average Tesla buyer age? 54.

Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

I’ll pass.

I’ll pass.

This is refreshing: brand new desktop after just over 10.5 year run on the prior one. ?