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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    The MB hatches were unbelievably cheap shitboxes too- not un-akin to a Chevette (which was RWD also). MB has a long history trying to introduce a palatable but cheap hatchback shitbox to market :
  2. balthazar
    Obviously it gained weight over the original aluminum 4, but as a point of reference- a stock '71 Vega wagon was just over 2200 lbs.
  3. balthazar
    ^ The lease vs. finance payments sure can get widespread.
  4. balthazar
    Perfect car for ocnblu right here: it's green, has utility/cargo space for his Birkenstocks, frisbee & portable cookstove, not to mention the 6.2L Escalade LS engine. It even has a clutch pedal (tho it appears to be wired up under the dash- can't have it all) ~
  5. balthazar
    You don't assume every other brand sells at sticker price, do you? Incentives, special cash, bonus cash, etc is the norm. New '19 Ram in my area is averaging 16% off sticker. S-Class is averaging 7% off sticker (which is actually the same dollar amount- around $7000). EVERYTHING is overpriced.
  6. balthazar
    What a trippy bit (the 1986 portion) ~
  7. balthazar
    yyyeeeeppp. People thought automakers were immersed in 'planned obsolescence' - that's the Prime Directive of the entire computer-involved industry.
  8. balthazar
    All rain here, lots of it. Tried shoveling it, didn't go so well. Will try again later. - - - - - Above the parts counter of a 1941 Buick dealership, still standing somewhere in Iowa ~
  9. balthazar
    EV vs. ICE is not like the auto vs. the horse. It's like 1 breed of horse vs. another breed of horse you merely give different feed. Functionally & physically they're the same, just like EV/ICEs. - - - - - Ask yourself this : why doesn't Mercedes (2 mill global sales) handily outsell it's mainstream rival ? toyota (10 mil)? It's supposedly a better automobile and mercedes would HAPPILY sell 10 or even 15 million if they could. Why -like their tagline from the early '00s- isn't there a mercedes in every driveway?? The answer is price- the Dec '17 ATP of a toyoyo was $33,9xx. This is the market limitation of EVs- they're almost all in the luxury price tier and the ones announced for future production are likewise in very elevated price tiers. How are OEMs going to move 98% or even 50% of the market into the luxury price tier? 'Battery prices are coming down' doesn't come close to answering that, and we've seen Tesla only raise pricing/refuse to build an 'affordable' model. If they can't do it being the #1 EV brand, how will any other brands do it? EV will NOT become a mainstream sector without addressing pricing. And I've yet to see evidence they can.
  10. balthazar
    '03 Chevy Cheyenne. I see it.
  11. balthazar
    Took the road trip from NYState to central Florida- car was a '72 Sedan deVille. I was a kid, I know I spent at least some time laying on the rear floor- my head near the one door, my knees over the trans tunnel. I don't recall any bumps down there, but the wheelbase was 130". My one buddy has a bunch of varied cars; one is a '67 Catalina. He keeps it because he was born in '67. I really don't get that- there's no correlation. Every vintage vehicle I own is older than me- I've bought what turned me on. Olds- go get yourself a '70 442; you're allowed! - - - - - Ford built 5 of these 1952 crew cabs for 2 separate special orders (they actually have only 3 doors). Must be one of the first crew cabs. This one is getting restored to original.
  12. balthazar
    "He was a Nazi" "He was a grotesque man, absolutely nothing nice whatsoever to say about Henry Ford." "Hitler only read 2 books while he was in prison, one of them was Henry Ford's. Horrible horrible man." Like Henry Ford's book made Hitler a genocidal Nazi. What a group of raging, do-nothing, hyperbolic douches.
  13. balthazar
  14. balthazar
    I believe it's merely a gimmick: 50 Nm = 37 lb-ft. It bumps the numbers.
  15. balthazar
    Yep, and no one in politics on any level in the state gives a shit. - - - - -
  16. balthazar
    I'LL TAKE IT !!!
  17. balthazar
    I've only got a toyoto boycott working over here; it's Bill that's boycotting Tesla (and electric lights). :D
  18. balthazar
    WHOA WHOA WHOA! Multi-billionaire throwing people out of work struggling to pay of holiday credit card bills! BOYCOTT!
  19. balthazar
    BMW has no design direction- they merely tweak the same few details. For decades. Literally no advancement, nothing new. Here, they selected the grill, upped the size by 10%, and took the rest of the day off. You owe them a 'thank you' card, BTW.
  20. balthazar
    I've never been on a public bus. Never taken uber/lyft. Been in a taxi only once. All this despite living in 2 major cities during 4 years of college. Trains are the only thing I've been on numerous times. Just haven't lived in areas where public transportation was around. Plus my work is 100% non-condusive to public transportation. I think it's great its available for those that can take advantage of it, but it's certainly not a thing that everyone should try to take part of.
  21. balthazar
  22. balthazar
    RE RoHall's garage, I think Horsey was right- 2 car families were not automatic then, and your garage was likely intended for 1 car and lawn stuff/whatever. My parents were married in '64, didn't get a 2nd car until... hmmm, might have to ask my pop. He had a '70 Catalina (bought new), then he picked up a used circa '72 Nova in the mid '70s, and I think he traded that on the '77 Safari he bought new- by then there were 3 kids.
  23. balthazar
    Another Jerseyian here, so I can relate. Wife & I have already (jokingly) started talking about which states are a new possibility (most under the guise of ruling out those that aren't). Standard of living is very high and there's a ton of employment opportunity... but yeah; Jersey has 2 major cons: congestion and taxation. We're good staying until retirement, but the way the [usual politicians] continually crank taxes up on everything, they're bulldozing people to the borders. Whoever stated that 'economies of scale' lower prices has yet to explain how the most densely-populated state has the highest property taxes in the nation. My town would moan when one of the major corporations left, talking about ratables being down, so they had to raise taxes to compensate. Then a new, bigger corporation would settle in... and they raise taxes to provide services. I guess they assume no one is paying attention- too numb from the 10,000 needles into the vein.
  24. balthazar
    7-series is a dinosaur (although I will say the interior looks pretty nice). But the people you bought one to impress are only seeing the outside, and the body is 20 years old at this point. BMW exterior styling; paddling in a circle.
  25. balthazar
    Just saying- why not embrace your identity- use Korean mountain names- fits better with 'kia', dudn't it? Further, kia could have korean holiday sales events, like 'Seollal Sales Days' Feb 4-6, and 'Chuseok Sales Days' on Sept 12-14; grab the shoppers who missed American holiday sales events. Makes sense. ;)
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