Leaderboard

What are you talking about? They’re new. Just because they use the same displacement as an engine from 1996 or the 1960s doesn’t make them old

The moral ineptitude and vileness of one third of the country will never wash clean. Hard to feel any sympathy at all for a country that elects the people it has elected, not just Trump. I intend to check this out.

The V4 -> V5 upgrade has been complete. I'll be spending the next week or two cleaning up some things. If you notice a bug, you can report it here - Cheers and Gears Support

"good enough" would likely serve 90-95% of half ton truck owners. The only thing it really didn't do all that well in was towing and it wasn't the towing itself, it was the lack of a 200+kWh battery, like the Silverado EV has. Reduced cost but much added complexity.

Yep. And I think they got the energy density a little higher than Tesla's. Not a huge jump, but enough to matter and bring the vehicles over the 300 mile range mark will still keeping battery size in check.

You’re now only putting in 50kw (plus or minus some from charging losses)

Showing a little home team love (about forty miles from my house) for the 2026 Stanley Cup Champs!

I'm trying to be realistic and I have to say that I feel bad for Barron Trump. Like any other kid, rich or poor, he was probably hoping for a normal childhood, yet his parents are both so controversial and getting increasingly raked over in the media. It has turned into a circus, and this kid is smack in the middle of his college education.

In everything, not just EV batteries. How often can you travel? I have heard that the time slots for transatlantic ocean travel are quite limited. Th en$h!ification of the country continues.

So now there's a "cruise addiction:" I like traveling by ship (realistically ocean liner) and I've now done 2 repositioning crossings. I went from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona on a transatlantic repositioning (sadly not on Cunard) in April. The ports of call were the Azores, Madeira, and Gibraltar. I'd been to Gibraltar before. The cable car up to the top was being refurbished, so I didn't get off the ship. It's really interesting, but it can wear on you. Port days are great but you have to pace things. I prefer sea days, where you've got the whole day to relax. There is too much food, and most of it is good. You will gain 5+pounds. Some of the people on board are weird. There are a lot of single older women, by being widowed, divorced, or never married. Some are way too friendly and you have to balance being polite and conveying being unavailable. If they didn't get their act together when they were younger, they shouldn't be putting this burden on someone now. You do ship travel with a significant other, if you have one. You should not do it expecting to meet someone because it's probably not going to happen, especially when someone has hit the wall. Some of these people are crazy - they go on one cruise right after another. I've come to realize it's an escape for some people. If you're always at sea, or in ports, or going to the dining room, shows, and planned events, you don't have to face anything you should be dealing with psychologically. You get assigned to a dinner table and, because it's 6 to 8 people, you have to be a little guarded ... I can't tell most of my jokes and make most of the comments I'd ordinarily make with friends. Everyone is usually likable enough, but, toward the end, you have to stiffen up a little bit as you disengage from any of these groups. They all have to make sure that as they go on to their next cruise, and the next one, they haven't exchanged contact information with anyone. I've done so with only a few people and that's because they'd be the kind of people you'd probably socialize with anyway. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/21-signs-youre-a-cruise-addict I have 7 of these 21, and some aren't even that pronounced: 2 - my desktop wallpaper is indeed a ship 5 - it's not so much post cruise "blues" as it is adjusting to a different schedule and having to make or buy food 7 - I have rank with just one line and that's Cunard (which operates Queen Mary 2) 8 - people don't come to me for advice about cruises; people I know approach me for all kinds of travel advice ... I don't have a sign on my head, but people know I like to travel 9 - I have bought exactly one item on each trip, so less than 10 items total 11 - I've memorized the layout of a few ships, but that's also what most of my jobs have required doing, and it wasn't about the layout of ships 15 - I could spend hours on cruise sites, but I could also spend hours on many travel and transportation sites I had November 2026 booked (Europe to the States) and am not going to go, so I will lose a small deposit. I redeemed frequent flyer miles and will be flying. But I'm keeping a reservation for a U.S. to Europe crossing for spring 2027. I only go transatlantic - it's to go from point A to point B. If you choose a basic cabin, t's not much more than the combination of a one way air ticket, lodging, and restaurant costs. The last true ocean liner - Queen Mary 2 - so they had to make it beautiful and not have it look like a floating condominium tower. I stay in the black hull area and in a simple cabin. I love this ship.

For what it seems you're looking for you should look at: Chrysler 300C Hemi RWD Cadillac STS or STS-V Cadillac CTS-V (Corvette motor and 400hp as soon as you sign the purchase paperwork) The Lucerne just isn't the platform for you.

Because why would you want to take a multi port fuel injected car and turn it into a carbed car? Also, it's a ton of work (if you even can make the thing fit under the hood) for not a lot of gain, and you're still having to run it through the 4-speed 4T80-E. There are other Northstar mods out there that will get better bang for the buck.

When cars had personality ... ... 1978 Cadillac Couple de Ville A lady I knew - Velma - when I was a teenager had one of these with a Cerise Firemist Metallic exterior - sort of a light grapefruit color popular in those years. She knew I loved her car.

That's a fair point. Even if it isn't "the same", it is certainly far too similar.

@crvette_guy - I just thought of one if you really wanted a northstar and a larger sedan. You could get the final generation of Cadilac STS. The first gen CTS-V would work also, but they're harder to find cheap while also being in good shape. Still, the first-gen CTS-V is just a standard GM 5.7 or 6.0 liter and dead reliable. You can get it with a manual also. It might be worth spending a little more to go this route instead of going with a cheaper Northstar powered car in the long run.

There's not a lot of choices for RWD in the big family sedan space. Charger, 300C, Town Car, Crown Vic, or if you go a lot older, Impala, Roadmaster, Fleetwood. Crown Vics and Town Cars really don't have the performance to be doing sideways stuff. Charger/300 with a Hemi is your best bet for that. I wouldn't want to see you doing that with the Roadmaster / Fleetwood. They have the ability, but they're classics now and should be preserved. Outside of that you're looking at Germans (too expensive to maintain) or Lexus / Infiniti.

Nothing front wheel drive is going sideways when you floor it.

Have to say it was indeed a surprise to find out that Ferrari collaborated with Toyota to make the new Crown EV. Oh wait.

The concern is also largely going to disappear in the emerging generation of batteries. LFP chemistry (available in some Teslas and supposed to be coming in Hyundai/Kia/Genesis soon) have degredation curves that far exceed a vehicle lifetime. We're talking over a million miles before the batteries reach 80% of design capacity. The downside of LFP is they don't have the energy density that standard EV batteries (NMC) have, meaning you either have to be comfortable with less range or an even bigger battery pack. GM has LMR batteries on the way also. These are a medium point between standard EV batteries an LFP. They have 30% plus more energy density than LFPs. There hasn't been extensive degredation testing of this chemistry yet, but it is expected to be well above NMC and closer to LFP. Even if its 500k miles plus instead of 1 millon, it is functionally the same as LFP since so few cars reach that mileage anyway. What's interesting is that LMR and LFP could make the pursuit of super-capacitors obsolete. The only advantage super capacitors would have is rapid charging and possibly weight, but at the speeds we have today with EV charging, it might not be worth the cost for a technology that multiple automakers are struggling to bring to market.

They rebuilt the towanda plant almost from the ground up for these engines. I’ll reserve judgement for now.

No writeup on the new 2027 Silverado Silverado?!?

I'm no Hurricanes fan, but I am a despiser of the Golden Knights and love that your Hurricanes won! Congrats! It's a really fun time of life when one of "your teams" wins a championship, especially when it's a series and there's a month-long build up of the playoffs. I remember the 2019 Blues championship run and it was such an exciting month+. Everyday I was either talking about last night's game or talking about tonight's game with a fellow Blues fan coworker or friends.

I hadn't realized the Cleantalk spam blocker plug-in had been disabled during the upgrade (my fault, I should have remembered). It's active again now. The recent influx of spam should stop. Please report any spam posts you see.

I didn't know about this. I know that he did one year at NYU in New York City and it wasn't the greatest experience for him so he transferred to some kind of satellite campus or program of it in DC. It is the only First Family that I've seen in my lifetime that has such questionable people. Most of the time, the extended family just stays out of the picture ... like they should.

Valid points made, interesting read. Opinion: Move over, MAGA — it’s time to take America back

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 does the crossing from April through December. From January up to April, she is on a world cruise to keep her mostly in the southern hemisphere. At other times, the crossing takes 7 days. She goes from New York to Southampton UK. She obviously has to do the journey in the other direction, too. That's quite a few crossings. Interspersed might be some cruises to the Norwegian fjords, the Mediterranean, and New England with Eastern Canada. This is the only ship dedicated to doing the transatlantic crossing most of the year. Most of the other cruise lines do repositioning transatlantic twice a year. They go from mostly Florida to the Mediterranean in April and they come back in November. For that, it is a limited window, but there are a lot of lines doing it with at least one of their ships: Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America, Carnival, etc. It's a great experience, and you might get to stop at Bermuda, the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and/or Gibraltar. The ships run quite a bit slower at ~16 knots, and those crossings take about 14 days. You do not want to be accosted by overweight older women who are Trumpers and might even attend a Bible study or two. They will not make your day. However, there will be some interesting people aboard. If you choose to ignore just about everything around you, the experience can be incredibly relaxing.

Wow, incompetent leadership truly has put the U.S. behind the world in EV tech. A battery pack equal to the density of gasoline. CleanTechnicaCATL Developing 12,000 Wh Per Kg Lithium-Air Battery - Cl...CATL said this week it is developing lithium air batteries that could have an energy density of up to 12,000 Wh/kg.Imagine a 3,600 mile battery pack equal to the size of today's 320-mile battery pack. The amount of weight they could drop by going with just a battery pack 25% the size of today's 100kW battery pack would still be a 900-mile range battery pack at 1/4 the weight.

American, European and Asian automakers just got put on notice by China. BYD’s $10,300 EV Gets LiDAR While America Still Treats It Like Luxury Tech - Autoblog Only auto's that have LiDAR are going to truly deliver self driving auto's. In a sad note due to INCOMPETENT Idiot47 and his administration as well as the Lemmings of GOP in the House and Senate. Mercedes-Benz Faces US Sales Ban Over Chinese Ownership Ties | automotive | informed, clearly Mercedes-Benz may be shut out of U.S. market under congressional bill Mercedes-Benz faces sales and production risk in US over Chinese-linked ownership Kiss the 11,000 manufacturing jobs goodbye, plants closed and the estimated 163,000 jobs at parts and supporting companies goodbye if this bill get approved. Another destruction by Idiot47 and his lemmings. Ignorance is destroying America. This is a sexy SUV I would love to drive BYD Gets 100,000 Bookings For A $36,700 Electric SUV Americans Haven't Even Heard Of - Autoblog

That is certainly your opinion but I stand by it. That thing is hideous and just looking at the profile of the two, the $650K Ferrari looks way too similar to a $40K Toyota. That is not a Ferrari. That is a $650K bar of soap with wheels. You are right about the rest of it though. Just a whole lot of “meh” for that kind of coin. If it had a different logo attached to it, then it might look okay. However, if no one told us this was a Ferrari, we would never have guessed it was. That is my point here. Nothing about it says Ferrari and it looks very stale and boring for the price point.

Right on both counts. The Lightning would be perfectly fine for my needs though I do wish it had faster than 150kw max charge speed. If it could have been 250kw like most of the Teslas are, that would be been a significant improvement. That's really my only complaint about it. They ride great, drive great, have amazing torque. The only "truck" stuff I ever do is haul motorcycles and that has zero noticeable impact on my Avalanche MPGs. TBH, I still don't know where I'll go next. I could end up in a Lightning, or a Scout, or a Silverado EV, or a Rivian R1T. Because of some potential coming shifts in my driving habits, I'm leaning Silverado EV for now even if I have to grit my teeth about the CarPlay issue. Range and charge speed will take priority.

I think "the coast is clear," thus, no olive branch ... also, greetings from Sicily - - - - - Q: An Italian, a Greek and a Spaniard go to a bar. Who pays? A: A German.

I didn't even know this existed. It was the background music for a photo montage on YouTube. I know next to nothing her except that she was in "A View to a Kill," the last 007 film for Roger Moore. I did not know about her music. She's not really easy on the eyes with her severe look. But this particular cut is easy on the ears and good for interstate driving.

After doing a bunch of research on this, it isn't so much Honda/Acura are limiting charging speeds as it is the battery pack total size directly correlates to the rate of charge they can accept. The Prologue and non-SS Blazer EV have 85kWh batteries at 288 total volts and the ZDX/Lyriq/Blazer EV SS all have the larger 102kWh battery at 345 total volts. Because of the way the Ultium platforms have multiple pack sizes that can and are linked together to make larger or smaller packs, the total pack volts varies based on the application and why the Hummer/Silverado/Sierra EVs can charge at 800v when they're still on 400v architecture. Because kW = amps * volts, the bigger packs have more nominal volts because they have more cells. Below is a Prologue example and change the 288v for the Prologue to 345v for the larger packs of the Lyriq, ZDX, or Blazer EV SS and you get 190kW for the maximum (or do the math for the other chargers, as well)

I am looking for a good starter car and am thinking of a 2009 Buick Lucerne super. Is that a good starter car? if not, any suggestions?

I don't know how it took so long for me to learn this, but I just learned the 2025 Prologues (and Blazers) received a new front motor with more power and, I'm assuming, it's more efficient. The AWD Touring models gained 13 miles of range along with 12hp and 22 lb-ft to make it 300hp and 355 lb-ft of torque up from 288hp/333lb-ft.

A new pastor was visiting the homes of his parishioners. At one home, it seemed obvious that someone was at home, he knocked but no one answered, even after repeated knocks. He took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of the card and stuck it to the door. At the next service when he reviewed the offering, he found his card had been returned in the basket. A cryptic message under his "Revelation 3:20" was "Genesis 3:10". Reaching for his bible to check the citation, he broke out laughing. Revelations 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid for I was naked." Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones? Pass it on!

There have been plenty of studies done and I will post them here if your interested in the pure science. End result is that depending on the EV manufacturer, some loose range faster than others. Yet for the most part, EV battery packs will last far longer than the fear of the ICE folks are trying to say you will pay for. Pure science EV Battery Degradation Assessment Under Standard Drive Cycles Using Simulated EIS Lithium-ion battery degradation: Comprehensive cycle ageing data and analysis for commercial 21700 cells - ScienceDirect Early prediction of lithium-ion battery degradation with a generative pre-trained transformer | Nature Communications Battery Lifespan | Transportation and Mobility Research | NLR Reports based on outside the US studies: The EV Brand With The Slowest Battery Degradation Isn’t Tesla New study of 1,300 EVs busts battery degradation myths, Kia and Tesla top the list | Electrek Kia beats Tesla in battery capacity retention over time as used electric vehicles exhibit remarkable longevity - Notebookcheck News https://internet-satelitarny.eu/2025/10/31/new-mega%E2%80%91study-of-1300-used-evs-just-blew-up-the-battery%E2%80%91degradation-myth-heres-who-tops-the-list-hint-not-tesla/ Yes, they are new engines with old displacements and marketing that I find funny as I think due to all the V8 issues GM has had especially in the States where they say to use 0w-20 and yet for the same engines outside the country they say to use 5w-30 GM seems to be spinning to take hold of their old reliability that folks remember from the 80's and 90's here. Just my own take on how I am seeing things as GM tries to get in front of their engine issues.

Sadly all kids are affected by their parents, I hope he just does not become as narcissistic as his dad or brothers. He is starting with some other rich people a energy drink company. I wonder if he will actually try to grow it or as soon as he thinks he has gotten what money out of it, will abandoned it.

Wow, Airbus has surpassed Boeing for the longest flight plane, over 11,000miles range or 10k nautical miles. Can anyone imagine being in coach for 22hrs. https://newatlas.com/aircraft/ultra-long-range-airbus/