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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    OEMs have GOT to stop with the disingenuous advertising. The car is not "$55,500", you pay $63,000, and MAYBE you get some (or all) of a credit on your taxes. Or nothing. Volvo has no idea (and why would they even care). So the actual prices per above are : $63,000 and $55,000. And the volvos this year are $33,700 to $52,300. Instead of electrifying Volvos, they've created a new, luxury-priced 'brand', assumedly to justify charging more than ever before.
  2. balthazar
    Sharky ~ Shoddy ~
  3. balthazar
    I did take my dad (he was reluctant) to look at a gold '62 Studebaker GT Hawk. That car was, IIRC $1000, and to be fair he did look it over, but again- it was too old (this would have been 1985-86). I asked him about it about a year ago- he didn't remember seeing it. I can still picture the black vinyl interior and the dent in the top of one front fender that must've come from a baseball bat wielded in anger, and I can pick out the house on Pennington Rd where it was. Always liked the GT Hawks.
  4. balthazar
    Me too- it's were all my windfall billions will go; building semi-production '50s concepts. I wonder if Tesla will EVER have enough money to afford building a concept vehicle.
  5. balthazar
    "Evasive Steering Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Active Blind Spot Assist, Active Brake Assist with Cross-Traffic, and Pre-Safe Plus." oh my god; no.
  6. balthazar
    Took exactly 3 entire years from the unveiling to having the $35K version available. Model 3 is due for a refresh next year and the bulk of it's pre-orderers haven't even gotten their first car yet. I don't want to hear another mention ever again that GM is slow to produce an unveiled production-intended vehicle.
  7. balthazar
    Until Blu checks in here, I get to be the old man. I was 12 in 1978. I was already into vintage iron then, tho of course I didn't own anything (neither did anyone in my family). Somewhere I have a 'top 5' list I used to do, when it struck me, I'd list the cars I liked that week. The vast bulk was vintage stuff even when I was in my teens; '50s/60s domestic iron. Reel back from the despair : A Porsche 911 barely broke into the high 14s, a Trans Am was pulling down low 15s, and these were 'fast' cars. A Ferrari 308 was a 15.8 sec car!! Sorry if I couldn't get excited. - - - - - When I was... I think 16, I told my father I wanted to buy a car I'd found. It was a flattop '59 Catalina, it had no title, no ignition key, and someone had heaved a cement block thru the rear wrap window. It was $50 but it might as well have been $5000- dad said no way and he didn't even see it. When I was 23, I bought my '59 Invicta. THAT was an event of high lust, especially when held up against the anemic plastic junk of 1989. No contest.
  8. balthazar
    Are some folk listing their picks if they were 12, while some are listed their picks from WHEN they were 12? Horsey- you did a '69, a '70 and a '68. Izz confoozed.
  9. balthazar
    • Granted on Sonic vs. Cruze size. • Acceleration is immaterial in these classes- no one is buying based on 0-60 and no one is racing these. • "Couple grand" is nothing I think people would be happy at hearing. Regardless, such would need to be line-itemed into any discussion of being 'financially cheaper'. • Leaf is the ONLY EV I'm aware of that has come down in price, even tho it's a mere 8% over 8 years ($33720 > 29990). It's priced competitively with ICE cars, Bolt is probably on the fence there, but everything upcoming is insanely priced. OEMs know via Tesla's example : #1 volume EV seller by far, RAISING pricing, can't make any money. That's all I was really saying. People should be able to buy whatever they want if they can afford it. But it's far too early to claim owning an EV, on average, is cheaper than owning a comparable IC vehicle. You pass the pump by, and electricity is an intangible cost in your household bill, but -for me at least- I want to see the bottom line.
  10. balthazar
    Beefy ~ Creepy ~
  11. balthazar
    ^ Don't know that 'keeping the doors open' is all that pressing. Note that the Cadillac dealer count was reduced by about 33% in the last 10 years.
  12. balthazar
    Much cheaper at the bottom line? Bolt: $36K, Sonic: $15K. $21,000 surplus to buy fuel for the Sonic. If a Sonic gets 30 MPG composite, drives 10,000 miles/year, that's 333 gals of fuel. At $3 per, it would take 21 years to erase the $21,000 savings. I'll be willing to strike out the Bolt's charging costs vs. the Sonic's oil changes. That's a LONG time to make it financially cheaper. If that's an EV buyers end game; more power to them, I like long term planning. We'd have to see what the battery replacement cost when it happens in those 21 years, tho.
  13. balthazar
    As an isolated, disjointed factoid, that's cool. But a Model 3 Perf starts at $62,000.
  14. balthazar
  15. balthazar
    Like I said- a hatch is a lower-height CUV.
  16. balthazar
    Annnnd.. just like the Impala, there is definitely a 2019 LaCrosse out there. Cmicasa & O442 have to pick again! :D
  17. balthazar
    Good quick resolution vibes to you, blu! Here's a deliciously greeny Caddy to ferry those vibes ~
  18. balthazar
    • Not sure a tesla model S 75 fits the bill here; it's not a model or trim, just less copper windings on the motor. In looking at the Cruze hatch... I know it's said that American consumers don't buy hatches... but think about it- other than ride height, this Cruze and a Trax are functionally the same - they're BOTH hatches. There's not a CUV on the market without a rear hatch. Esp fleshed out like Cmicasa suggests- it's a strong case for keeping cars around- convert/keep as many as feasible as hatches only. I can tell you when we were shopping & settled on the Sonic LTZ turbo, it was the hatch or no Sonic at all.
  19. balthazar
    ^ [50 year timeline, minimum]
  20. balthazar
    'During' shot of a current job, Horsey you might appreciate. Circa 1.5-in thick Elm, stripping the bark off but leaving the edge live/natural. I really like how it's turning out so far. Going to be a bar top along an angled wall.
  21. balthazar
    I like to watch that video with the sound turned off, so I can imagine it's a full electric train. That chugga-chugga noise is so annoying, and I'll bet the engine is dirty & sooty.
  22. balthazar
    Was it only limited to CA? Why? Maybe that explains the 2018 Kia Soul EV calendar year sales being a paltry 1,134. Some of the issue very well may have been price. Gas Soul in 2018 was $16.5K and the EV version was $34K. New circa 240 range puts it into the 'serious' EV tier; it should do better. Unless, of course, with the nearly doubled range, kia bumps the price up accordingly. The price disparity is too great as it is.
  23. balthazar
    How did car insurance sneak in there?? And keys??? Is there some movement afoot to banish keys? Are keys a problem/inconvenience somehow? No to 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 Maybe/probably yes to 1, 3, 5, 9, 10
  24. balthazar
    Define "us".
  25. balthazar
    I'd disagree with some of your historical claims, and wonder where you encountered your information.
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