surreal1272

Yeah, I don't know how Dave missed pone key thing about the VW. When speaking of the "versatility" of the Kia vs the VW, he forgot one key thing. VW already has a 60 year head start in the 3rd party/aftermarket conversion race. VW minibus's have been on the conversion trip since they first arrived here and that market is actually pretty huge and is in the only thing that qualifies as a "van lifestyle" in this country right now. The things that have done with those is amazing and the new Buzz has already been subject to the aftermarket game. https://electrek.co/2024/08/08/customizable-campervan-conversions-for-the-vw-id-buzz/ https://www.siestacampers.com/blog/vw-id-buzz Again, one has to put their preferred brand pom poms down and look at this objectively.

I’ll find Jimmy Hoffa before you find a successful “lifestyle” van market in this country and I am a van fan from way back. However, like station wagons, that is beyond a tough sell in this country. At least VW had the good sense to give theirs hope by giving it some style. All the great tech in the world doesn’t change that fact for the Kia. Again, that thing is hideous regardless of the lifestyle choice lol.

I have already been to Kia's website and understand its versatility. It will also, again, never make it here as a consumer level van if at all. Even if ti does, half of those "features" will disappear for the U.S., like how your Kia honest have the near 360 captains chairs in the 2nd row like they do in overseas markets. Lastly, you said it looks cooler, and while looks are truly subjective, I could poll 100 people and count on less the number of fingers on one hand and that would be the number folks would say the Kia looks better than the VW. That thing is hideous on the outside.

I get it. You own a Kia EV so you break out the poms poms for them at every jump now. However, to any naked eye, no one in their right mind would say that the PV5 looks “cooler” or even looks good compared to the VW (and I am no VW fan). That profile has horrible design proportions and nothing about it screams “cool”. Even more so is that is not even for the consumer market here. That is a Euro model. Sorry but just nope.

What, exactly, did you expect from a company that still sells itself as a "Muscle car" company and has been doing well with it for well over a decade now? I see it as less "pathetic" and more having it both ways. Whether the tagline is true or not is irrelevant. The general consensus, from the ICE and especially muscle car crowd, is that the lack of a "rumble" from under the hood makes EVs seem like appliances and thus "soulless" (never mind the quirky look of the early models and even some still today). They have literally done market research towards this very thing (Stellantis). They know their audience so I would say "pathetic" is the opposite of what's going on here.

"GM is just as reliable as..." Also GM: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/gm-facing-safety-probe-into-870000-suvs-and-pickups-how-bad-is-it-184430468.html

Yeah, just a hundred variations of the stupid number/letter game and models during those years, like the former M-Class lineup, that have come and gone. Enough with the naming semantics game. You whined for years about Cadillac not having names and now that they do, you still nitpick it.

50%? Not a chance when the lightest GAS powered crew cab Silverado is 4700 lbs and they mostly tip out at near 3 tons. This would do good to get down to 7,000 lbs but even that won't happen with the current EV platform. The bigger weight problem is all that battery underneath.

I actually like the look but at near 9,000 lbs., holy smokes! Instant pot hole maker lol..

The LC500 is just a damn fine looking car, regardless of who makes it. Lexus mucks up a lot of exteriors (and not just with the "predator" grill) but the LC500 is not one of them. I feel you on that. A year ago, it was my right hip (post surgery) and I was doing the same thing as you for a few weeks lol. Rest and recover.

Correction above:

And prices started going up as a result. He now wants additional 1930s level tariffs without any situational awareness about what actually in the 1930s. Sadly, tariffs are not as easily removed as they are instilled.

Funny how you point this out like it ONLY affects Apple users. Come on. This affects ALL smartphone users.

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/ford-stalling-f-150-lightning-203840273.html But Ford is committed to EVs.

With zero committed in the U.S. for the next 3-4 years while the competition has multiple EVs coming out during that time. Oh and since we are talking numbers, here are some for you. (and I saw, after the fact, that @G. David Felt covered this more thoroughly lol), I'm going to simnply it here. Total EVs offered by: GM-9 (7 if you remove the outgoing Bolt models) and this DOE NOT include their commercial EV lineup (Bright Drop). Ford Motor Co.-3 which does include a fleet majority sold Transit. But you think Ford is committed to US EV production. You can wax semantics until the cows come home but all the facts and related articles were posted as proof here and it tracks with what Ford has done (or not done in this case) with EVs. Present models excluded, they have no real product plan compared to the competition and that is a fact.

Thus supporting my statements about their overall "commitment" towards EVs. It's not that the product is "bad" because it isn't. It is, however, bad planning by Ford to dial it down while the competition is dialing it up (looking at companies like Kia here). It's okay though. Farley gets to roll around in his Chinese EV while his company flounders around with their own EVs.

Doesn’t matter the date of the 3 row and you are making my point. All those other choices are not EVs and you left out the part where they thought EV demand had cooled hence their above statements. Meanwhile, Kia has a three row EV rocking the roads here while Fire kicks the can. Point being they have, in fact, dialed down their EV future so my original point stands about taking them seriously right now. That can change but right now, the proof is right there in front of you and sitting in the Ford CEOs driveway (all the way from China). This is not an attempt to dog Ford. Just stating the obvious facts. Remember. We are talking about EVs only, not EVs, hybrids, and ICE.

Are we going to act like they didn’t do and say the things mentioned in the article below? I also never said one word about the product being bad. Thats putting words in my mouth. They have, however, pushed back several potential EVs hence my statement above. https://www.wired.com/story/ford-steps-back-from-evs-and-says-hybrids-are-the-future/

Maybe when they actually get serious about EVs, they will do this. Maybe when their CEO stops driving around town in his Chinese made EV (that he admits he doesn't want to ditch), they will do this. Somehow, though, I doubt it. They have spent the past year slow walking back from EVs and production so the thought of them adding in some 800V set ups is far fetched, at the moment. It starts at the top of Ford and Farley has shown that he is not that committed to the EV game. And until I see some actual fruits of their labor, the Skunk Works project is aptly named.

With a minimum two year window before it even comes out, it will be above both of those figures. Count on it.

And there is nothing wrong, at all, with offering that as an option. Would never be my choice but I can definitely see the need for it by others. I dig the overall look of the Scout lineup too. Going to be way too much coin but it does offer more choices in the EV realm, so, again, a good thing.

Meanwhile Ford's own CEO won't even represent his EV products on the road because he prefers to drive one from China. Seriously Ford. https://www.yahoo.com/news/ceo-ford-says-hes-driving-115916540.html

Sadly that stretch of I-140 is always just one washout or rockslide away from being unstable for months at a time. Always hate driving that stretch and this perfectly illustrates the reasons why.

I have an old high school friend that lives just outside of Asheville. NC and she said that while her family is safe, the sheer level of devastation there can not possibly be overstated. She has lived there since e'98 and said that every flood that came before this one seems like a light rain shower now. Just unreal.

It catches the eye alright...like how pink eye catches your eye. For the same reasons, it needs to be gone lol. And Happy B-Day btw!