G. David Felt

Rich have gotten richer, the rest of us poorer. People wonder why we are giving such huge tax breaks and money to companies and the 1% when the rest of us can barely afford to buy a new auto let alone a home. Welcome to the 21st century.

WOW, This is very crazy to see on the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis EVs for Regen/1 peddle driving. Clearly the software needs an update. I wonder if there is a way to see what the OTA updates have been for the EVs? @Drew Dowdell do you know if there is a webpage for Hyundai/Kia/Genesis for software updates? I have not found anything yet. Update, seems that Hyundai/Kia/Genesis has without a federal mandated recall issued an update for all EVs with 1 pedal driving. Not Exactly a Recall: Hyundai to Update EV Brake Lights - Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com)

LOL, BMW won most of the Worst at CES Awards, guess the press is not impressed with BMW tech focus. CES 'Worst of' awards puts spotlight on security and privacy concerns (usatoday.com)

The focus on additional profits in the EV generation of autos. Does make me wonder what other distractions will happen with a system that allows games and uses those tiny hand controllers. Never got into the Xbox or PlayStation due to the small controllers compared to a mouse and keyboard of a computer. But then each to their own as Tesla owners seem to love playing with their tablet screen in their auto as they wait for charging. Wish I could have taken a picture, but the Tesla charger at a Fred Meyers in Totem Lake Kirkland Washington yesterday was full of 20 auto's charging and about 6 more waiting. It was crazy, with everyone moving to the NACS standard this need for self-entertainment will be a positive win for the auto companies. @Anthony Fongaro Wonder if you can play a game on this system and then pick up playing it on your home console system?

One thing that will never change and that is change will always happen and while I love old auto's, I am so ready to move beyond to EVs and the future. So while I am happy to chat about the past and all things auto's, I do focus more on the future of what is coming and that is clearly a turn off for some that want to just stay in the past. Sad, as I enjoyed seeing his posts about his auto's and what he was doing. Would be nice to have an update on his hold car he was getting going again in the garage at his home. I will say that I am very excited to see the release of the Genesis GV90 EV SUV.

Will be interesting to see how this does in the auto market if they build it.

I agree, happy birthday to @balthazar I think the lack of folks wanting to stay focused on ICE, old autos drove him to other areas on the internet to chat with others as I have not seen him pop in to comment on anything in the last year plus I think.

Does not help with Tesla cutting prices in China again. I think Tesla is going to learn the hard way that selling on price alone will not make a profitable company. Interesting times for Tesla that is for sure. Gigapress is going into production for so many legacy OEMs that it will be interesting to see how the auto repair business and 3rd party parts deal with this especially if Insurance moves to a total format of dealing with auto wreck claims.

Write up is from June 15th 2023 but the ending of the article is imho very true about hydrogen. Here's How Electric Cars Will Evolve Over The Next Decade (topspeed.com)

MORPAR Time

Once Hertz move the bulk into their sales section, it will be interesting to see if they are all high miles like the less than 700 that are currently on the listing. It would seem the EV is a popular rental cause how else would one get all those miles on them. Mileage on a used EV in the 50K to 70K range is not low by any means. Even the vew Bolts/Bolts EUV were all much higher than I was expecting, especially for the price they are charging.

Will be interesting to see what the mileage on the additional Tesla EVs that go up for sale as so far the ones they have listed are all high miles so it does not seem to be that folks are not renting them to drive as 50K to 70K miles to me is a high mileage rental auto. Agree that they FAILED in properly setting up folks to be successful with renting an EV as people are interested, but will give up when it is harder than a traditional ICE auto to rent.

Curiosity gets the better of me, so looked for Washington state to the Oregon border. I found the following: 4 Tesla Model 3 of which only one I would consider as it has only almost 34K miles, rest are high mileage. 1 Tesla Y 1 Chevy Bolt 1 Chevy Bolt EUV. In using auto trader website, I find 1,084 used EVs for sale. Those in the same price range as above are much lower in mileage. Course also plenty of near new EVs being sold as Certified by dealers. I honestly do not find Hertz sale prices for these EVs motivation for me to consider them for buying. Used Electric Cars for Sale Near Me in Seattle, WA - Autotrader

Very interesting, guess the resale on other OEM EVs is doing much better with real CEOs at the helm rather than a drug using erratic Musk.

WOW, I thought it was still on sale as I saw a story some where about the crazy poor Fiat sales in North America. EDIT: Has to see if I was imagining things and found the story of 2023 sales. WOW Fiat Sold Just 605 Cars In The U.S. In 2023 (Update) (msn.com)

Currently I see it in the current form as a Fiat 500 competitor which is NOT selling here as the few that wanted a 2 door micro auto has them and sales are terrible. Totally agree with Drew that if they go 4 door to be in the Renegade/Compass size it will sell well especially if they keep it in the mid $20,000's for pricing.

? Can you say distractions? I knew you could. Yes #1 thing will be all these software distractions that are being added to an auto. Question I wish I could have asked during the presentation is, HOW DOES THIS HELP the safety of the auto while the person is driving it on the street?

Yup, ChatGPT is a HARD NO in my auto!

Listening to the daily mix of Jazz on Spotify!

Agree that finding a competent doctor who is not caught up in crazy politics or watching their back over malpractice insurance is a hard thing to do now a days. I have all but one doctor switched to new ones close to my house and so far so good, but I can tell in my new heart doctor that he is a bit standoffish. I will give him this year to see how he does as he does have good reviews.

@Anthony Fongaro Do you mean 8ft box or what does the eight-inch box mean?

This is an interesting read. U.S. Money Supply Hasn't Done This Since the Great Depression, and It Usually Signals a Big Move to Come in Stocks (msn.com)

@Robert Hall Like you, the R34 is my over all favorite for the Skyline series. When I saw the Midnight Purple, I immediately thought of the following auto that I drove in college over in Kobe. This is what Midnight Purple on the R34 was and what it should be again.

I will say this, while the specifications are cool on this GT-R, it LOST something in this version as the Skyline R33 and R34 still has greater appeal to me in style than this version does. I was excited to read that they brought back Purple till I realized the Midnight Purple is not the Skyline Purple that was popular in Japan and is just another Black version with hints of purple depending on the angle of view. I do like the Millennial Green they offer.

I will add one CHEERS to Hyundai/Kia/Genesis who sees sales and potential customers by pushing ahead with EV development and production in the U.S. as well as for Global Markets to battle Tesla and the Chinese where a big JEERS goes to Ford and GM for caving into the crazy media, big oil and delaying the EV transition.