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That minimal 6.9" of ground clearance is probably just nice to have with snow. Obviously nobody is taking these on off-road trails but an extra little bit to not plow snow would be nice or to scrap less going to a camp site. I approve of it but also, if you're wanting that little extra clearance, you can just go up a size or two on your tires aspect ratio.

Crazy looks or otherwise, it also gets 36MPG, which is far better than ANY 3 row full size SUV that will see just about as much "off road" use. I see zero problem with this.

In my area at least, they now have more doses than they have willing recipients. If you've been waiting for your shot, look around to see if there are some new appointments available.

Back to our scheduled LYRIQ discussion, very exciting to see the second battery plant for Ultium battery packs being built in Spring Hill Tennessee. GM and LG Energy Solution Investing $2.3 Billion in 2nd Ultium Cells Manufacturing Plant in U.S. Interesting observation is that if your Full size truck or SUV you get 800V / 375kWH recharging battery packs, but for everything else, is a 400V / 200 kWH battery pack. I honestly think this is a mistake as gm should just standardize on allowing all auto's to have the 800V / 375 kWH recharging.

The Mercedes battery, which is of their own design, not some off the shelf Panosonic or LG, has the individual cells temperature controlled, where as everyone cools the pack as a whole. This is why a Tesla has a few 0-60 runs in it before the pack overheats. The Mercedes battery will allow you to do drag race runs all day. Mercedes has F1 technology coming to the road with their EVs and AMG Hybrids, GM, Toyota, Tesla, Ford have no F1 technology.

The thread went way off topic for a bit... at the request of the person who pulled it off topic, I've cleaned up that part of the thread. Let's keep it to discussion of @balthazar's truck please.

Tri-P loosely assembled to check fitment and that everything looked correct. Nice, don’tcha think?

Lacks the grace of the original 60's vette and the new MX5. Just plain no.

Or big hair girls with blonde hair and black roots to show back up... Electric is inevitable, although not happening in its entireity in the next ten years. Agreed. GTR still an old design though. I have a boyish crush on her, actually.

I would like to try ordering a vehicle someday, never done it, always bought from dealer stock.

Ya; I’m patient by nature, and frankly; it doesn’t seem real anyway, so it’s fine. Reminder; I signed a blank contract 12/24. But... am starting to feel a tingle... ?

I can relate to the Mustang thing. To me it's even more iconic as an American car than the Corvette. Thought hard about one when I bought the Ranger, but really needed a truck. Serious gut check moment every time I walked past a Mustang at a Ford dealer when I was truck shopping.

It may well fill a slot in my driveway next to the Ranger when the Ranger is paid off. Loved my first two, would happily be a third for me.

Seems like they would be a lot of fun on twisty, hilly SE Ohio backroads. I still love that Miata ad from a few years ago about the guy that had a Miata when he was young and gets a new one at middle age after having his soul crushed by work and family life..

Who/what? Jimmy Carter? Sure! Malaise era shorts and god awful socks and shoes Nice custom touches... Black tuxedo with a bow tie and his loving, beautiful bride by his side.

I'm just waiting for Jimmy Carter to come out and tell me to put on a sweater... that thing just yawns malaise...

Was in the 50s yesterday, 80 today! Used the furnace last night, AC now......Spring.

Yeah, that last bit is true. Part of the reason drug trials take so long is that it is hard to find people willing to try a new drug. Researchers have to beg and bribe people to do it. With the Covid-19 vaccine they had 100s of thousands of volunteers. Additionally, the FDA cleared everyone’s Outlook calendar and made these drugs top priority for review, so that greatly accelerated the process. Normally it’s difficult to get approvals done because it’s hard to get everyone in a room together. Covid gave everyone substantial motivation to get this done.

Name: 2021 GMC Sierra 1500 Duramax Category: Vehicles Date Added: 2021-01-06 Submitter: balthazar 2021 GMC Sierra 1500 Duramax Dealer today said still waiting for order acceptance. States my timing was perfect; GM builds the trucks in runs (proper term: 'allocations') of a particular engine. GM is going to do a run of the 3.0L Duramax next. If I had missed that allocation, it might be 2-3 months longer wait for the next batch. Should get an update in a week or so that order was accepted.

'75 by my source (and via my experience). Those are commonly termed 'emission Q-Jets' that incorporate a host of features undesirable WRT performance. Those carbs routinely are shunned. The fact that there was a unilateral move to 800 cfm at a point where HP outputs were down by 50% tells you what was going on; airflow to overcome emission 'burdens', not enable greater power. True, but note that was done almost a decade before the 800. CFM is CFM, and that's all that counts. ?

First off, MB is NOT a battery pack of their own design, it is a JOINT R&D between MB and CATL of China. Second, CATL will produce the final joint designed Lithium Ion battery cells to be used in a battery pack by MB. 深化合作，引领未来，宁德时代成为梅赛德斯-奔驰电池领域头部供应商 (catl.com) Click the link, it will auto convert to English for you if your using a modern browser. This was also covered here by Bloomberg. Mercedes-Benz and CATL as a major supplier team up for leadership in future battery technology - Bloomberg MB has started LIMITED PRODUCTION of the battery cells at their own German R&D site, Mercedes-EQ starts production of battery systems for the new EQS | Daimler > Innovation > Digitalisation > Industry 4.0 Interesting observation is that they are using a similar design as gm Ultium battery system, rectangular packs of cells allowing them to have various sizes of the over all battery pack with an integrated liquid cooling system just like gm, ford, VW, Audi, Porsche, etc. etc. etc. MB has production in various locations and is using an 8-1-1 of rare earth elements for their cells. Nothing ground breaking in the design. Global battery production network of Mercedes-Benz | Daimler > Innovation > Digitalisation > Industry 4.0

Really? Their own “design”? Well, they may have “designed” it but that’s it. “Mercedes-Benz will source batteries from Chinese firm CATL for its upcoming EQS electric car. Scheduled to launch in certain markets next year, the electric luxury sedan is targeting a range of 435 miles, as measured on the European WLTP testing cycle.” And you think that’s an up sell for Mercedes? LMMFAO!! Sorry, but I’ll trust LG and their decades of experience on Batteries over some no name Chinese company. It’s also not some “off the shelf” battery either. Where in the hell do you come up with this nonsense? How to say “I don’t know what I’m talking about” without actually saying “I don’t know what I’m talking about”.?

It’s only not standard, Max Trailering is not available with the TD.

I agree, I thought it was a well done modern twist too. Modern powertrain, suspension, etc. with an old body that still looks sharp in the 21st century.

Opposite of what @A Horse With No Namesaid, i think they look quite beautiful. Yes, they're different but this is certainly one of the best "put an old body on a modern car" jobs I've ever seen. It just seems quite well done, to me.

This is an adorable little girl....that I don't want to run into in a dark ally...

For those that love the Miata but would rather have a 60's era looking Corvette, this Japanese company is doing just that, a modern Miata underpins this 60's era style corvette. Only problem I see is the crazy price to import it from Japan to the US. $69,700 ? Rare Rides: The 2020 Mitsuoka Rock Star, Believe in Your Dreams (thetruthaboutcars.com) Rock Star | Models Line-up | Mitsuoka Motor (mitsuoka-motor.com)

$750/month for 84 months

@balthazar So on your hot looking bad boy, what Packages did you get? Like the look of the black package, but wow $1,100 bucks. ? X31 Off-road and protection package along with Max Trailering package look good IMHO. ? Interesting that they have a Dynamic Fuel Management removal option.

I let my friend with the Streetfighter ride the r nine t and now he's considering trading for one. His issue with the Ducati is that he finds it hard to ride calmly.... he can't just go out and cruise because the bike wants to go fast all the time. That's a problem if you just want to commute to work on your bike a couple of days a week because it make the commute exhausting. I've taken the bike to work 4 times now and it's just perfect. It is completely happy just puttering along at moped speeds while we slog our way through suburban rush hour traffic.... and when I want to pull on the throttle it's ready to go fast. You can get on my bike at a lower cost, mine only cost what it did because of what I was looking for. But you can get a 2014 R nine T original (lower to the ground, higher end suspension, higher end brakes, more instrumentation, shorter rake) for $8,280. Or you can get a 2018 R nine T Pure (my bike, lower to the ground, shorter rake) for $9,250, but this one has upgrades, including one that I plan to do which costs about $700. Mine was $10,900, but it only had 2,600 miles (hit 3,000 last night) and also has upgrades like the wire wheels, heated grips, and stability control. The seller also threw in the bag + mount, phone mount, and a throttle lock. I feel like I got a fair deal because even though I plan to do upgrades, absolutely none are necessary like that bag + mount would have been had I bought it without. I've had it at speed now that I agree with the reviewers that more higher gears would be good.

If for some financial reasons I will have to get rid of the Mustang, used Miata is my plan B. Cheap to own and run and lots of fun.

ah.... I must have misunderstood.

Seems gm and Mary are on Times latest cover. https://time.com/collection/time100-companies/5953738/general-motors/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=time100-companies&utm_term=_&linkId=117255298

They are a riot to drive.

^^^ depending what she got under the hood and yeah, if she could fly, she a sports car! Im willing to bet that your Buick could whip that little Miata's a$$ in a straight line any length. 1/8, 1/4 and the full mile. It wont matter to your Buick. However...to all that diss that little Miata, the Miata AINT about that. It IS about the enthusiastic driving. ALL driving. NOT just the straight line driving. Its about hitting the high revs, getting in and out of the corners, using ALL of the horsepower and balancing the car neatly going to and leaving the curves... When in the straight line, it AINT about leaving two strips of rubber and smoke behind you, its about cornering speed, USEABLE exit speed and then punching it and revving it high and unto the next corner... THIS is what little Miatas are all about. If we are truly car enthusiasts, then we all, hopefully, understand, that there are many types of enthusiast cars that do many kinds of and specializing in many types of enthusiast types of things.

In this era, that is correct. The consolette was an option on the Deluxe trim and only existed as a storage box between the front seats and did not intrude into the front flat floor. I don't think the Toronado got a console shifter until 1986, but that one was a horseshoe shifter.

A car that size doesn't need a lot of torque.

Sounds like this song was too much for one Florida woman ... https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-woman-beats-roommate-over-repeatedly-playing-le-freak/ar-BB1ejuS0?ocid=msedgdhp The song:

No pics (other than OEM); it’s still in transit. RE ordering; that’s true... except custom orders for ‘21 are closed already (they are for the mid-size pickups). OEM :

My sister and I got our 2nd shots of Pfizer on Monday, quick and easy. I really haven't had any side effects, a bit of fatigue but that is probably due to being awoken at 4:30-5 am 3 days in a row by the dogs. She had some all-over-soreness and out-of-it feeling, but slept it off.

Just got my 2nd Pfizer shot. No line, no waiting, quick and easy.

The AZ vaccine doesn't use raw mRNA like Pfizer and Moderna. The AZ vaccine (And J&J) use an actual virus (adenovirus) to deliver DNA instead of RNA. That DNA is then used to make the mRNA The AZ vaccine hasn't been approved for use in the US because..... it never passed the Phase 3 clinical trials. Whether or not it will in the future, we don't know... but pointing at the AZ vaccine and saying "This isn't safe, the system is broken" when the system prevented it from being released to the public in the first place seems a bit.... off?

The first studies are coming in from analyzing the data and it seems those that get Covid-19, 1/3rd of them have what they are calling brain disease. Neurological-psychological damage, very scary for the world and the long term affects on people. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/06/health/covid-neurological-psychological-lancet-wellness/index.html Very happy that the same data is showing long term protection by those that get vaccinated and Pfizer is working on a booster shot. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-04-01/pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-protection-lasts-at-least-six-months

Proper testing and certification is in place to avoid things like that: Official: EU agency to confirm AstraZeneca blood clot link (apnews.com) A top official at the European Medicines Agency says there is a causal link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots