G. David Felt

15 hours ago, David said:

WOW, Rare 2020 Cadillac CT6 Blackwing edition with only 18,000 miles @ Brotherton Cadillac NW Shoreline. Twin Turbo V8. The only hard part is the $80,519.14 asking price for a 4 year old auto.
https://buy.brothertoncadillacnw.com/shopping/inventory/vehicle/CT6-V/2020?client=T3_CPO_VS[…]ck=DealerStock&vinSlug=1G6KW5RJ9LU103644&zipCode=97201

Found out this Blackwing originally sold for $99,490.

25 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

A local dealer has one, white also with like 38k miles for $69k.     I looked at a 2020 CT6 Platinum w/ the 3.6 for $55k w/ 35k miles.   Also looked at a 2019 CT6 Sport (I think that was the trim level?--didn't have the chrome window trim)..,  I didn't realize how low the production numbers for 2019 and 2020 CT6 in all specs were, like 7500 in 2019 and 3600 in 2020...

Yes, Production was crazy low for such a popular car.

WOW, Rare 2020 Cadillac CT6 Blackwing edition with only 18,000 miles @ Brotherton Cadillac NW Shoreline. Twin Turbo V8. The only hard part is the $80,519.14 asking price for a 4 year old auto.
https://buy.brothertoncadillacnw.com/shopping/inventory/vehicle/CT6-V/2020?client=T3_CPO_VS[…]ck=DealerStock&vinSlug=1G6KW5RJ9LU103644&zipCode=97201

36 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Amazing.  Today marks 5 months of not owning a vehicle.  I use a cheap monthly transit pass.  It goes most everywhere I need to go.  I'm saving a lot of coin. 

For one, I'm going to be going back and forth a bit this year.  Then, I really want to do the research before making an auto purchase, especially since I foresee it being a lightly used vehicle in this fairly different context.

Are you thinking ICE, PHEV or EV?

Crazy but cool too, India gets their own special edition Bently that cannot be bought anywhere else.

The Rare Bentley Model Sold Only in India (kangnamtimes.com)

WOW, If Kia did make the EV9 into a pickup truck and give it the style of these images created by Hot Cars, I bet it would sell big time especially over the hideous CyberTruck that is clearly not setting the after market on fire.
Kia’s EV9 Pickup: A Miserable Design or a Future Success? (kangnamtimes.com)

Very cool updated images of the nearly done Hyundai Ioniq9 SUV.

Hyundai’s Ioniq 9: Likes and Dislikes Divided by Unique Blinker Design (kangnamtimes.com)

OUCH, $169 device allows you to hack the Tesla 3.

'White hat hackers' carjacked a Tesla using cheap, legal hardware — exposing major security flaws in the vehicle | Live Science

8 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Help needed - tech in nature - instead of going onto another thread

So, you've got a Google platform phone and, with it, a Google account.  It seems that the phone (camera gallery) and what's on my account as seen via the laptop (or desktop) is slightly off synch and it's irritating.  Since I tend to take multiple photos and then pick the one that turns out better, I purge and delete, mostly via the phone.

It looks like they are not in sync(h).  What's in the account (per laptop or desktop) seems to have more photos.

Aren't these two supposed to "talk" to each other?  How do I get them to sync(h) ... at the end of the day, at the end of the week, or similar?  How about some settings instructions for both the phone and the computer?

Thanks.

Fix account sync issues - Android Help (google.com)

Auto Evolutionary EVs

Calling all Auto Fans

Any Idea the year? I am pretty sure this is a Toronado, but not sure of the year. My coworker who knows I am into auto's took the picture of his neighbors dads car in their barn and sent it to me.

Very cool, the first non-Tesla branded V4 Superchargers are installed.

First non-Tesla branded V4 Superchargers are being deployed | Electrek

Nothing like an EV Battery Glut to start a price war pushing cost of EVs even cheaper!  

Battery price war is kicking off that could soon make electric cars cheaper (msn.com)

I really like the style inside and out. Love the color options.

Glad to see some physical buttons along with the touch screen.

7 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

For reference about the headrest trim, the 2024 Escalade-V, complete with metal (I'm assuming aluminum) speaker grill inserts on both sides of the headrest. 

Yes and I still feel the same about these not being that safe compared to a full cushy head rest.

4 hours ago, ccap41 said:

About as difficult as the EV Escalade. Probably impossible on both. 

Funny enough, it's damn near the same exact setup. 

Ya nailed it as you have touch or the rotary dial and I think again that it is too much touch versus a balance of touch and physical that I think it should be.

Honestly, nice looking is being nice as it already looks dated on the outside and the inside they have gone touch pretty much everything and as such with no physical buttons, I have to wonder just how easy it is to make the basics work.

I also would have serious concerns about the head rests as that metal crown around the seat I can see hurting people seriously in a crash and having some bruises by just smacking it in normal use. 

I honestly have mixed feelings as some things are nice others are WTF were they thinking. Very weird SUV.

I feel they are trying to make the old older work with the newest new of tech and just not getting it to blend well.

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

AI Carspotting.

I was playing around in Davinci, an AI graphics generator.  I have a bunch of cars that I had it make. Most were duds, but some came out hawt!  I'll post them here over the next few days and see how you like them.  I'm debating if I should make this its own thread or not.  Let me know what you think.

First up, what AI thinks a 2025 Oldsmobile Toronado would look like.

I'm digging the shooting brake style with the long hood. Also props on the new logo. 9 out of 10.

Another shooting brake style that looks like it came from the GM design department. I can see this being platform shared with a Cadillac based on the lighting and grille details. 7 out of 10.

Not sure what's going on here, but it must be an EV with the cab being that far forward.  I do like the grill opening though. 4 out of 10.

Probably too retro for the general public, but proof to Tesla that you don't have to be boring to be aero. 8 out of 10.

This looks like it would be Alpha platform based, shared with the Camaro, and thus likely too small for my tastes in a personal luxury coupe. The grille is "intriguing" though. 7 out of 10.

A rear half door! But unfortunately, the proportions are wrong and that grills says Riviera rather than Toronado. Still, if it brought Olds and the Toronado back, I'd buy it. 7 out of 10.

10 out of 10. No notes.

 

Which ones do you like?  I'll have more tomorrow.

Pic 2 looks off to me, pic 3 is a red WTF mess to me. The rest I love. Please point me to this AI generator as I would love to play with it. I also think AI generated auto's should be it's own thread. This is Great!!! 

Some cool Science. Seems we have natural Superconductor Mineral that can be made in the lab purified to be a perfect superconductor with only one catch, still has to be lowered to -449F.

For the Science Geeks, you can read the massive paper released by multiple colleges here that confirm this work.

Nodal superconductivity in miassite Rh17S15 | Communications Materials (nature.com)

For those that want a less nerdy version, read Tom's Hardware write up.

New research shows naturally occurring mineral is an 'unconventional superconductor' when purified | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

End result is that a natural superconductor has great potential in the electronics world for advancements.

On 3/18/2024 at 7:12 AM, David said:

So I posted this in my company Slack auto channel and am reposting it here to share my crazy Sunday with the Wife who is now considering retiring the SS for a new auto.

Interesting, my SS that the wife drives has started to have gremlins. As such upon my return on Saturday from my work trip, she complained to me about not feeling she can rely on the auto. I asked her what she would like to do since I picked the SS for her and over all she loves the power, AWD of the 2008 Trailblazer SS AWD, but at approaching 300,000 miles, it is coming time to retire rather than put money into the auto. She responded that she would be open to an EV.

So, Sunday we spent the day driving EVs to check them out. My wife's response to the following EVs we drove: 

BMW - Nice to drive, was fine with the interface, but the exterior was just ugly with the big kidney grill in the front and weird pinched rear end look. Still will consider.

Mercedes - Interface was fine, driving was nice, liked the interior for the most part, but what were they thinking with the Jellybean shape? Hard pass.

Cadillac - Nice to drive, exterior was far better than the Mercedes or BMW, Failure in that they do not support Android Auto / Apple carplay. As such not acceptable. Yes, there is the * that Lyriq has a limited support for Android Auto, no Apple Carplay and the sales rep did say that GM was moving away from it with their Android system that is voice controlled and easier than using your cell phone. Wife was not impressed with the limitations, wants full support of her Ultra S23 in the auto.

Hyundai - Was not wowed with the style exterior, but interior loved it and roomy for me. Loved the full Android Auto/Apple Carplay support. A solid candidate to consider.

Kia - Again the exterior was not bad, but not wowed by it either. Interior was nice and fit her well, but the tight bucket seats of the EV6 were super tight for me and she said it would not work for us due to my size as no one could sit behind me. EV9 was great, anyone can sit behind me and was very spacious for both of us. Liked the style much better exterior and interior was very nice to her. One to consider, only thing was the poor slow charging speed for L1/L2.

Genesis - GV60, she liked exterior was fine, Interior was very nice. It fit us fine though no one could sit behind me. Interface was very easy to use. But she even asked them if there was a bigger version for the GV70 or 80 and they said not yet, it was coming.

Ford - F150 Lighting she liked allot about it exterior and interior wise, just was hoping for a mid-size rather than full size vehicle so would think on the truck. Mach e she liked, we both fit comfortably and clearly anyone could sit behind me, as the lead developer who is 6'2" tall stated, the EV was designed to handle tall people. Major dislike was the salesperson who was very pushy and made comments that told my wife he was a male chauvinistic pig. He actually to me to man up as the wife would drive whatever I decided for her since I was the man. Big mistake, if we go with a Ford, it will be a different salesperson and might even be a different dealership.

Rivian - Exterior and Interior were big wins for her, she loved everything about it and even the test drive was great. Sadly, Rivian is off the list as she asked the counselor about Android Auto/Apple Carplay and no support, no plan for support. FAILURE big time.

Tesla - She wanted to look at the Y. We went in and over all the experience was good, but no one can sit behind me. The counselor went over the interface and then offered for us to take it for a drive. Wife asked if it supported Android Auto/Apple Carplay and the Answer was no, and then they said a major failure. Musk knows how to build a superior interface, and no one needs those old cell phone connections, only Bluetooth to use your phone. With the crazy way to start the EV and lack of cell phone support she passed on even test driving it. 

One thing my wife did tell me was that an all-software app interface is a failure point to her. She wants physical buttons for the basic stuff and then will be happy using the touch screen. 

Not sure what her choice will be, but she is going to think on this.

So it is narrowed down to the following 2 options:

Not sure what she is thinking, but due to the differences in 400V for the Ford EVs versus 800V for the Korean autos, she has decided to go with the Korean options. So this coming weekend, another teste drive time to see how it plays out for her.

Some very cool tech to help batteries and food.

Startup deploys AI to expedite development of cutting-edge battery technologies without sacrificing accuracy — here's how it works (thecooldown.com)

Biochemists deploy AI to develop dairy alternative from pineapples and cabbage: 'It tasted exactly like milk' (thecooldown.com)

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

You have a Rivian?

No, but have been joined to their email alerts and they sent out their latest email on the Tesla chargers, R2 and other updates coming to the R1 line.

Got my email on this, this morning, very cool.

3 hours ago, ccap41 said:

That's all I'm worried about. I'm not going to spend a sht ton more money having a 19.2kW charger installed for the 1 day every 3 years I empty the battery, get home for 2 hours, and have to again drive enough that I couldn't make it back home...  

I can understand this, but then this is part of my daily life. With two kids with their own families and grandkids it is not uncommon for us to be out and about for the day, come home for a bit before heading out to help with the grandkids and their afterschool activities. Plus, with family that is living from both sides north and south of us, it would not be uncommon to drive 75 miles down south to deal with my wife's side of the family, see the nieces/nephews and then up north to my side to see folks and with both our parents in senior years with health issues, also moving back in forth. Course this is why Sun puts on about 15,000 miles a year on the SS.

We all have different use cases.

@ccap41 @Drew Dowdell Thank you both, this is the kind of dialogue I feel the Auto buyers need to be made aware of and the various use cases in understanding as I feel most DO NOT really understand this and give into the FEAR Mongering of News Stories.

While I still feel that everyone should have the same charging rate capabilities, I also understand both your points.

I do feel that this will change electrical across the WORLD over time due to the need of charging.

So I posted this in my company Slack auto channel and am reposting it here to share my crazy Sunday with the Wife who is now considering retiring the SS for a new auto.

Interesting, my SS that the wife drives has started to have gremlins. As such upon my return on Saturday from my work trip, she complained to me about not feeling she can rely on the auto. I asked her what she would like to do since I picked the SS for her and over all she loves the power, AWD of the 2008 Trailblazer SS AWD, but at approaching 300,000 miles, it is coming time to retire rather than put money into the auto. She responded that she would be open to an EV.

So, Sunday we spent the day driving EVs to check them out. My wife's response to the following EVs we drove: 

BMW - Nice to drive, was fine with the interface, but the exterior was just ugly with the big kidney grill in the front and weird pinched rear end look. Still will consider.

Mercedes - Interface was fine, driving was nice, liked the interior for the most part, but what were they thinking with the Jellybean shape? Hard pass.

Cadillac - Nice to drive, exterior was far better than the Mercedes or BMW, Failure in that they do not support Android Auto / Apple carplay. As such not acceptable. Yes, there is the * that Lyriq has a limited support for Android Auto, no Apple Carplay and the sales rep did say that GM was moving away from it with their Android system that is voice controlled and easier than using your cell phone. Wife was not impressed with the limitations, wants full support of her Ultra S23 in the auto.

Hyundai - Was not wowed with the style exterior, but interior loved it and roomy for me. Loved the full Android Auto/Apple Carplay support. A solid candidate to consider.

Kia - Again the exterior was not bad, but not wowed by it either. Interior was nice and fit her well, but the tight bucket seats of the EV6 were super tight for me and she said it would not work for us due to my size as no one could sit behind me. EV9 was great, anyone can sit behind me and was very spacious for both of us. Liked the style much better exterior and interior was very nice to her. One to consider, only thing was the poor slow charging speed for L1/L2.

Genesis - GV60, she liked exterior was fine, Interior was very nice. It fit us fine though no one could sit behind me. Interface was very easy to use. But she even asked them if there was a bigger version for the GV70 or 80 and they said not yet, it was coming.

Ford - F150 Lighting she liked allot about it exterior and interior wise, just was hoping for a mid-size rather than full size vehicle so would think on the truck. Mach e she liked, we both fit comfortably and clearly anyone could sit behind me, as the lead developer who is 6'2" tall stated, the EV was designed to handle tall people. Major dislike was the salesperson who was very pushy and made comments that told my wife he was a male chauvinistic pig. He actually to me to man up as the wife would drive whatever I decided for her since I was the man. Big mistake, if we go with a Ford, it will be a different salesperson and might even be a different dealership.

Rivian - Exterior and Interior were big wins for her, she loved everything about it and even the test drive was great. Sadly, Rivian is off the list as she asked the counselor about Android Auto/Apple Carplay and no support, no plan for support. FAILURE big time.

Tesla - She wanted to look at the Y. We went in and over all the experience was good, but no one can sit behind me. The counselor went over the interface and then offered for us to take it for a drive. Wife asked if it supported Android Auto/Apple Carplay and the Answer was no, and then they said a major failure. Musk knows how to build a superior interface, and no one needs those old cell phone connections, only Bluetooth to use your phone. With the crazy way to start the EV and lack of cell phone support she passed on even test driving it. 

One thing my wife did tell me was that an all-software app interface is a failure point to her. She wants physical buttons for the basic stuff and then will be happy using the touch screen. 

Not sure what her choice will be, but she is going to think on this.

36 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

The charger is L2 capable, i just don't have an outdoor 220v outlet. They give you two connectors with the charger.  One is for your standard 110v plug and one is a 220v plug. 

I actually don't see any issue with 7.2Kw for at-home charging. I guess you may need more if you had a truck and actually drove 200+ miles a day and needed to fill a massive battery overnight. 11Kw is more than enough for something like this, IMO. 

If you completely drained the 96kWh battery, it would still be easily charged overnight in less than 9hrs at that rate. 

Plus, if you were actually trying to maintain your battery, you wouldn't be charging to 100% every time anyway so it would be even less time. 

Yes I get all that you said and most EVs have it set for 80 to 90% charging level unless your on a road trip and at a DC then you can choose to go 100%.

Point I am making is that if all levels of ICE fuel at the same rate, why not have this for all EVs. Yes charging overnight would not be an issue, but if you had been out and about and did not charge the night before and got home with only 10% left and needed to go out in a few hours, having a fast L2 charger (19.2kW) versus the Bolt (7.2kW) levl 2 charger would get you juice into the battery pack fast so you can run out later.

I also have to believe that if an OEM standardized on a top charging controller economy of scale would push down the cost and their whole product portfolio would benefit with all EVs having the maximum capable charging speed.