G. David Felt

Thinking old school, considering how much more space EVs are giving in smaller over all packages. Nissan has stated that the 3rd generation Leaf will start out FWD, but have an AWD option after launch. Length in growing an ICE auto is old school thinking in making room for other ice auto's and yet that is where looking at comparison of seating space, cargo space, etc. we see much more space in the EVs that are equal in many cases to an ICE one class bigger. I am only pointing out that price is an old comparison tool for like segments and that with EVs this will change as people look at the price but also the inside space and we will see a bigger mix of comparison of ICE to EV across categories.

The old days of when Ala-cart was available for building seem to be over now, mostly set packages of expensive cost for a ton of stuff not everyone will use. Sad that building a custom auto is almost gone now. I really do not think we will see custom builds or they will be very rare for people to do. Sad for sure.

Road Trip update on self-driving. @A Horse With No Name In this picture, I have put a red box around the cruise control / self driving section of the dash. On the left you can see the grey auto image representing any auto that gets in front of me and the white triangle which is the space and the white auto represents my EV9. You can have 3, 2 or 1 car length on cruise control, I usually have 2 set, but changed it to 3 for this picture so you can see the full image. The set speed is to the right and to the right of that is the steering wheel indicating that the self drive is on. If the system cannot understand the road, it goes white and over the range section on the right hand side a orange box pops up saying to take control of the wheel and a chime is sounded. Here is a 38 second video of the self driving, I put my hand close to the wheel as being the first time on a road trip using it, a truck with trailer pulled in front of me and I was not sure how it would respond. All went well, so no problems. Kia is working on per their support lane changing but is not available yet. So that is a manual intervention, but after making a lane change the self driving takes over again. This video is just cruising along. 200 miles and have to say, was very nice. Makes it easy to eat or drink something or in the case of my glasses, I had to clean them so no problem. Loved it. 20250712_104825.mp4 The EV9 truly keeps you in the center of the lane, it freaked my wife out a couple times as normally a human would go away from semi-trucks that came close to the line, but the EV9 monitors it and will adjust if it feels it needs too, but mostly just keeps going. Did this with all autos and trailers. seems to stay far more stable in driving than humans are when they are distracted with their phone or other stuff.

So Tesla has dropped 30% in new auto registrations for 2025 compared to 2024 of the same period, while everyone else is gaining market share and growing. New Cheaper models and models that compete with the Y for less could be additional NAILS in the Coffin for Tesla. Tesla's rivals in China are launching a wave of new Model Y killers to take on the best-selling SUV https://sherwood.news/tech/teslas-sales-are-down-30-in-china-and-its-not-because-of-elon-musk/

Based on the average person driving 40 miles a day, cost of gas versus electricity, less maintenance than ICE or Hybrid, if Nissan delivered the 3rd generation Leaf with 300 miles give or take 20 miles of range for less than this, I think many people will go with the leaf EV over an ICE/Hybrid as a better value. As Drew posted in response to a LinkedIn post, most folks would charge at home allowing them to save much more than what ICE / Hybrids / Hydrogen would deliver.

If Nissan delivers on the new Leaf, it will be a better value than this Mazda.

@Drew Dowdell Does it have AA/AC or did they follow GM with the Android system only and required Google store purchase to have your apps?

If Genesis would deliver some of their EV Concept Cars, that would excite me for a car. X Convertible EV Concept Genesis Coupe Concept

Interesting times for sure with Idiot47 getting his way, EV credits end September 30th along with Emission credits and with that, the Auto Industry will no longer have to buy clean emission credits to offset ICE emissions. End result, Tesla will not have the $10 billion plus sales of emission credits to keep Tesla in the black. I suspect that Q3 will also be continued shrinkage of Tesla market share and loss of sales. This is going to push Tesla into the red as a money losing company. Interesting times for sure for Tesla. The robotaxi service just had their first accident, sales are tanking, and no robots are going to be sold for personal use. A Tesla robotaxi inexplicably drove into a parked car

My son and his wife love their 2024 Telluride, bought 4 weeks before my EV9 purchase and already with almost the same amount of miles with the higher gas prices here, they are already thinking of replacing Karina's Honda Fit with an EV for Alex to use to commute into the city for his Amazon job. He does drive the Honda Fit, but coming up on 250,000 miles and lots starting to require repairs. So Alex is looking at their EV options.

Very cool that Hyundai is nailing it for playing in the dirt. A decent competitor to the Mache Ralley edition. Hyundai IONIQ 5 XRT Named Best U.S.-Built Sports Vehicle of the Year by American Cars And Racing - Hyundai Newsroom

I think it has more to do with the vendor and their software improvements. Tesla used to have huge variance between what they estimated miles of a battery pack was and what you actually got and as they improved the software and had more real-world driving data, they tweaked the software to be far more accurate. Kia has had their quarterly updates since we got the EV9 and it was pretty consistent on the old numbers. Just had a major quarterly update and this time it clearly stated that the software that manages the battery pack and predicts the range on a charge was getting more accurate due to miles driven by owners. As such, I think one of two things has happened, either A) they improved the estimation of range based on driving style or B) like Tesla and others, they are allowing less reserve battery pack and more actual driving from the battery pack based on efficiency of the whole EV in regard to how one uses the heat pump, electrics, etc. I think like anything, the first few years will not see any degradation and afterwards there will be some based on charging style DC versus slower home AC charging, driving style and feature/functions that are used.

Nope not seeing that, in fact I have seen higher mileage based on the software monitoring of the system. So degradation is not happening.

OUCH, a very solid assessment of Tesla imho. 'He's Alienated The Wrong People' — Scott Galloway Blames Musk's Politics For Tesla's Fall From 8th To 95th In U.S. Brand Rankings

Been 1 year since I installed my home Level 2 charger and have to say, I have had zero problems with it. No issues from ChargePoint and still going strong. Total cost of home charging for the year to cover roughly 19,000 miles has been $ 757.00 based on the tracking that the ChargePoint app on my cell phone does.

Much appreciated, thank you. That is crazy and sad that GM, Toyota, Nissan in this day and age have allowed sloppy manufacturing to happen. Demming and Drucker were right about needing to keep a close eye always on quality for long term success. I do not blame your friend and hope GM does right by him and all the others. I think a 10yr / 100,000 mile powertrain warranty is proper here.

Nope have not missed those, the V8 mess at GM is another reason I choose to not go back to the General, too much poor-quality control and sloppy sales at the dealership has made me choose the direction I have gone with the EV9. Sadly while the news of people unhappy with the GM V8s has made the rounds, GM seems to be avoiding a true recall. Not sure how this will affect them in the long haul as I have to think customers will remember and avoid the Hybrid / EVs of GM due to the problems with their V8s. Please post the press release on the recall from GM as I have not seen any, nor any media saying GM is doing a recall, just stories about unhappy folks and their V8s. Thank you, Happy 4th to you and your family, may the kids enjoy it.

Correct, those were EV9 recalls, but lest you think I would just give Kia a blanket pass, their ICE have had large issues with the engines and I would not tend to recommend them for the most part. That was the point I was making on an expanded response. Just as Toyota is replacing lots of engines, Nissan announced today they have a huge engine replacement now due to poor manufacturing as I posted in the random channel.

Nissan is joining Toyota in engine recalls, engines failing due to poor quality internal bearings and other parts, engine replacements Nissan said in its announcement that 443,899 vehicles have been recalled, including: 2021-2024 Nissan Rogue – 348,554 vehicles 2019-2022 Infiniti QX50 – 84,536 vehicles 2019-2020 Nissan Altima – 5,685 vehicles 2022 Infiniti QX55 – 5,124 vehicles Nissan recalls over 440,000 vehicles. See the impacted models. Seems Tesla sales dropped 14% for the quarter, greater than the estimated 11% drop. Tesla Second Quarter 2025 Production, Deliveries & Deployments | Tesla

Well it looks like most auto's will see a 2K to 3K price increase for those that are mostly made with parts in America, but others will see a 4K to 15K price increase. Most auto companies are rushing out 2026 models early as they put the price increase there rather than anger Idiot47 by calling the tariff what it is, a taxation on Americans. Trumps 25% Tariff Impact on the Auto Industry

@trinacriabob Seeing her here singing the song, this is so proper for our current situation.

So proper for our messed up Democracy today! Awesome unique voice, I also thought it was a guy the first time I heard this song.

Lucky me, the American EV9s that have been built does not affect me. Fasteners on the second and third row chairs was not an issue, I had them torqued just fine. Instrument cluster issue never affected me, but I got the software update and still no issue. I do not use the smart parking assist feature nor does my wife, we got the software update fix on our last service visit. My interior ceiling panel was not one of the affected recalled units. Seat Belt retractor issue was also not an issue as it did not affect my EV9 as part of that recall. Driveline differential unit was inspected and found torqued to the right spec. Not an issue. I suspect that the reason my EV9 has not been affected by the recalls is it was part of the initial launch units which Kia spent I believe more time on making sure everything was right before shipping from Korea. I know that a Gen 1 unit can have it's issues, but so far, been one of the most reliable autos I have owned, especially being a Gen 1 unit. The whole point in posting about Toyota is that if @A Horse With No Name wants a Rav4 Hybrid or older ICE version, that is fine with me and his choice. I just want to point out the recalls and make sure he does his due diligence to ensure that any issues are addressed before one buy new or used. That goes for you @ccap41 or @surreal1272 or anyone here, even @ocnblu as I would not want anyone to get a lemon or buy and have to deal with expensive repairs. No one deserves to have to deal with that. Happy 4th to everyone as I hope you can find solitude in the destruction of our democracy.

Yes Kia has plenty of Recalls and I would NOT recommend any ICE product from them. Honda has also had plenty of recalls, but I would actually say more reliable than Toyota in the last Decade. The Honda Prologue I made them aware of the issue when they bought this last weekend. Overall, they are very happy with it and understand that software updates are a thing that will happen as Honda has committed to have quarterly updates. We will see how it goes. Overall, still loving my EV9 and how solid it has been. Yes, a few weird glitches in the software, but the latest update from Kia seems to have fixed it.

Just be careful, the quality like many has issues if you buy used especially. I have a friend who whole family has been Toyota for generations and their extended family in Mongolia has been Toyota and lately they have had issues with their Rav4's. Just traded it in on a Honda Prologue. They were tired of the repairs. Currently, there are recalls affecting certain 2024 Toyota RAV4 vehicles due to issues with brake caliper bolts that may not be properly tightened, posing a risk of brake failure. Details of Current Recalls 2024 Toyota RAV4 Recall: Issue: Some vehicles may have bolts that secure the front brake caliper and wheel hub bearing improperly tightened. This can lead to potential detachment of the brake caliper or front wheels, increasing the risk of a crash due to reduced braking performance or loss of vehicle control. 2 Action: Toyota dealers will inspect and tighten the affected bolts free of charge. If any components are damaged, they will be replaced at no cost to the owner. Notifications to owners began in early February 2025. 2 2 Sources Additional Recalls: 2013-2018 RAV4: A recall was issued for certain models due to battery issues that could lead to a short circuit and potential fire risk. This recall involved over 1.8 million vehicles and required replacement of the battery hold-down clamp and related components. 1 2020-2021 RAV4 Hybrid: There was also a recall related to airbag deployment issues, which required inspection and potential replacement of the Occupant Classification System sensor. 1