G. David Felt

Cadillac is going to get killed on this by auto reviewers and by @smk4565. The first review I have read of the 2020 CT4-V and while the reviewer likes the auto, he clearly points out it is not the ATS-V, but that is OK as a Blackwing is on it's way. Yet he then points out that this is using a Turbo 4 from the Chevrolet Silverado 1500. Honestly, I understand why Cadillac is doing this, but they are going to get hit for it in the press until the Blackwing arrives and it better kill the old ATS-V. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/reviews/2020-cadillac-ct4-4dr-sdn-v-series-preview/ Diesel Gate is alive and well as the German Courts have ruled VW MUST BUY BACK 60,000 Diesel auto's in Germany giving current value of the auto based on Mileage and then crush them. This will add on billions more the the $33 billion VW has paid out worldwide to date. Diesel is dead. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/26/vw-diesel-buy-back-germany/

Retailer

Once a focused Aerospace powertrain company, IRP Systems has totally during this Pandemic changed into a EV powertrain provider company. Clearly there is money in the business as they raised $17 million in Series B funding to support their change from an Aerospace company to an auto powertrain supplier. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/electric-powertrain-provider-irp-systems-raises-17-million-in-series-b-funding/ Seems Tesla has cut prices across the board as a base Tesla 3 now starts at $37,990. https://electrek.co/2020/05/27/tesla-cuts-prices-lineup/

Seems France is doing a second round of Auto Company bailouts. After the first initial $5 billion secure loans to keep Renault and other french auto companies alive, France is now moving forward with an $8.8 billion Euro auto industry bailout which not only give additional life to Renault but also many EV auto startups. Here to keep the auto industry going with production is $3 to $5 thousand dollar incentives to buy an auto. If you go EV you get $6 to $7 thousand dollars towards the purchase of an auto. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/frances-8-billion-euro-auto-industry-bailout-includes-support-for-evs/

Here is a bit of Irony, seems the oil industry is backing moving to pure EV oil tankers. Have to say this is funny as heck as a consortium of Japanese companies are working to change all shipping to Electric vessels and their first target is the oil industry that is supporting this change. Now this is NOT the Super Oil Transport tankers, but what would be coastal delivery ships. Much like in Europe where you have electric ferries moving people and auto's around. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128265_electric-oil-tankers-a-slick-use-of-renewable-energy

Smoothness of the V6 over the Turbo 4 is very noticeable even though you have a bit less torque, the V6 just drives so much better I think on the Cadillac CUVs which is my experience as having them as loaners for maintenance at the dealer.

That is where the gov needs to rebuild the damn roads. Stop trying to save every little thing built eon's ago.

Distributor

I do not see a problem with the Turbo engines as long as you follow their scheduled maintenance in the owners book. This is the biggest problem in that many owners ignore basic maintenance with a Turbo engine that can easily eat through the protective elements of the synthetic oil and then with bad habits of stomping on the engine it burns rings or other problems. Turbo motors have higher maintenance than non turbo motors. I remember my brother inlaw who bought a buick Regal GX with the supercharged motor and he had it blown at 75 or 80 thousand miles and complained that Americans cannot build auto's to last. I asked him if he did the required maintenance on the car as the supercharged motor has specific needs to be done according to the scheduled owner manual and he said no, you just drive the auto and occasionally get the oil changed. This is the attitude that many have and why they went with Asian auto's who had basic do nothing NA motors. Yet this same man bought Acura's and thinks they were the world till just recently. He traded his wife's car and his in for a pair of RDX's with Turbo motors. Her RDX has had water leaks and electrical glitches. His has had nothing but problems with the Turbo motor. Less than 15,000 miles and two Turbo's later still having issues. I told him to use the lemon law and have ACURA take them back. His response was maybe, I will look at Honda as I hear they are good auto's. I cracked up laughing and told him same company, different name. He did not believe me till I proved it to him. Now he is looking at Toyota. Go Figure, Lemmings wanting no responsibility. Pathetic. Here is some good info for you. Pro's and Con's of buying a turbo auto. https://www.samarins.com/check/turbo-car.html Another review between turbo 4 or NA V6 https://www.autobytel.com/car-ownership/advice/v6-engine-vs-4-cylinder-turbo-engine-which-is-best-133466/ I personally would go NA V6 even though you loose a bit of Torque. I think it is smoother.

Electric

Seems an AMG version of the New G-Wagon is coming. Interesting that they have gone independent suspension coping what you get on the Hummer H1 as the suspension on the new AMG G-Wagon. No more solid axles for G-Wagon. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/26/mercedes-amg-g-class-wagen-4x4-squared-spied/#slide-2235479 Another round of German auto's coping what was created in America and only now is the best luxury SUV? ? In other sad lay off news, McLaren is laying of 1,200 employees as the future is not so bright for the super car maker with the Virus going crazy around the world. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/26/mclaren-lays-off-1200-employees-coronavirus/ RIP the almost 350,000 deaths from Covid-19. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Give birth in your old Minivan and maybe FCA will give ya a new Plugin Hybrid minivan. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/09/12/woman-gives-birth-moving-car-video-jimmy-kimmel-chrysler-pacifica/?icid=autoblog|trend|woman-who-gives-birth-on-video-in-moving-car-gets-another-surprise Amazing that the dad video recorded the birth while driving to the hospital. Scary. Have to say that this next story is very cool. I like Lulu. Total Aluminum car, very cool build, so many more photo's on the web site. 1,530 lbs of dry weight, 4 banger crate motor from GM for 275 HP / 295 lb-ft of torque. Total cost of build was $35,000. He has Lulu 2 in the works with a new 1,000 lb dry weight powered by a BMW inline 6 motorcycle motor. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/18/lulu-home-built-car-mickey-thompson-indy-harvey-aluminum-special/?icid=autoblog|trend|meet-lulu,-an-all-aluminum,-home-built,-indy-inspired-masterpiece The last story that has me cracking up is the top 3 luxury auto's that consistently carry the biggest discounts off MSRP pricing. #1 for years has been the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and it has now been replaced by the 2020 Aston Martin DB11, course #2 is still the S-class followed in 3rd place by the Audi A8 sedan. Seems the Germans build luxury auto's with a Heavy discount built in. LOL https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/06/biggest-discount-aston-martin-db11-may-2020/?icid=autoblog|trend|2020-aston-martin-db11-tops-this-month's-list-of-discounts

Torque The greatly misunderstood requirement for moving an auto. More important than HP.

Yup, Kroger owns Fred Meyers out here on the West Coast and their fuel used to be Top Tier, but then Kroger bought them and then first thing they did was replace the pumps with new pumps that have a side panel where you have to pay $14.99 to add detergents and other stuff for your auto that they say keeps the injectors clean and all this marketing BS. Does not matter that they dropped the price to be even with Costco, they charge for everything that Costco already offers and Costco usually comes in a few pennies cheaper. The SS requires premium and as such Costco only offers regular or Premium and their Premium here is about 15 cents cheaper than everyone else and the SS runs like a champ. As such, I let my sisters families use my Kroger/Fred Meyer points to get cheap gas for their auto's which they do no seem to care about unlike me. Happy Post Memorial Day week everyone! I hope this finds everyone healthy and safe. Seattle area is drizzle after a very wet weekend, temps in the mid 50's this day with low 70's and sun by Friday here supposedly. State is in Phase two of opening up, but with infections still running about 300 new cases a day and deaths at about 10 to 15 a day, I have no desire to be out and about in the mass of Humanity. Stay safe and healthy everyone., Wishing you all the best.

Gigawatt

Electrical Harness

Watching oldies, back to the future series of movies, Underworld series, except when working in the garden, have not done much this weekend.

Here you have your facts wrong, Costco is a top tier fuel with detergents. I have found Shell especially runs terrible in my auto's and yet Costco runs great. Never had a problem. Costco keeps their filters clean and has all their certs clearly displayed on their top tier status with detergents. There is no reason to pay more money at Shell, Cheveron, Esso, Exxon, etc. The spec's today have really taken away any benefit those gas stations have. One place to stay away from is the Krogers, Walmart, etc. discount gas stations where they want you to pay extra for detergent when you pump and clearly have no standards on when they change fuel filters, etc.

Here is one Chrysler performance car I really liked even though it is a sister to the Mitsubishi version. Only 55K miles on it and the current bid price is $12,100 on Ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/143606587133 Chrysler Conquest TSi. To me this was a Hot Turbo Muscle car that I liked from the 80's. Course was in college and could barely fit in then, now, forget it. Still a cool car.

Mercedes-Benz EQA is spotted with very little camo on it, giving the best look yet at what this subcompact EV CUV will look like. 11min video by a rabid Tesla fan teen who has been documenting the new Tesla 4 factory or what is now known as Gigafactory Berlin. The size of the site that is now prepped for ground breaking and construction start is impressive.

Very Excited for the Hummer by GMC EV Truck and SUV. What they keep releasing is making me like the auto more and more. Gotta Love the removable top design on it. https://www.gmc.com/electric-truck/hummer-ev?evar36=MRM_eml_GMC_HR_2022_HummerEV_May_adhoc_0520_16465263280

Not who can afford a new auto, but who wants to take on payments during this Pandemic when an Old Classic debt free is just fine for rolling along.

Fakeness

EVs

Auto registrations are set to fall 18% this year for EV's sold globally. Yet this is smaller than what analyst say will be at least a 23% reduction in ICE auto registrations. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-electric-research/electric-car-sales-to-fall-but-not-as-much-as-other-vehicles-research-idUSKBN22V0DD Analyst are projecting a bumpy 3 years for auto sales globally. Bloomberg projects that EV will account for 31% of overall auto fleet by 2040 and account for 58% of new auto sales by 2040. This is expected as ICE auto sales hit their global peak in 2017 and have been tappering off since. The pandemic will cause an even bigger hit to over all auto sales with ICE having the biggest drop. The figures have implications for the Oil and Electricity Markets. Bloomberg is forcasting that by 2040, EV's will remove 17.6 million barrels per day of Oil Demand up from 1 million today. The report also shows growth for Hydrogen fuel-cell auto's which would be in the heavy-duty commercial market.