balthazar

Yeah... but it burnt to the ground FASTER THAN ANY OTHER SEDAN!!

Sounds like toyoter had an OK/not too bad year last year. Good for them. In other words & generally speaking (not just a single year); no better than average... which is exactly where I came into this sub-discussion.

• If I walk out my door, and my vehicle isn't in the driveway waiting for me / doesn't fire up & drive, that's 'unreliable' in my book. I 'relied' on it doing its job and it couldn't. Maintenance is one, expected thing. Running to the dealership 3 or 4 times a year to fix something unexpected the OEM did wrong is a PITA. "Is your car reliable?" 'Sure is!' "Wh-where is it right now?" 'At the dealer getting its engine sludge cleaned out, it'll should be done by the end of the week. But it sure is reliable!' "Didn't you have the front subframe replaced just last year?" 'Yep, but they gave me a loaner car that time, too.' "How... how is that 'reliable'?" 'Well, when it works, it sure works!'

Toyoter reliability is marginal, they’ve been recalling just about everything they’ve built for the last 15 years to fix either assembly mistakes or engineering mistakes. It hasn’t been 2005 in a long time.

If everything is 'wanting' to change, then nothing currently in use is any good. And if nothing at any time is any good, then it stands to reason the change will also not be any good. OR... some things may well have evolved to a point they are optimized, and are not in 'need' of 'change'. That is certainly very real. Counter-question : should General Motors be shut down / discontinued, in order for other to 'have their shot' at being a 'major player'? That would be a huge 'change'...

I'll also go ahead and predict another PR problem for Big Gov't with some groups for "gutting emissions standards" (by pushing back for 5 years). Like the last time an auto-related standard was allowed to remain as is instead of a future accelerated standard. Let's me ask this question; if a person leaves their long-time spouse to live/start a new life with another, do they therefore 'embrace change'? Not all change is automatically & unilaterally good for everyone. There is no 'universal standard'. In order to see issues clearly, that always has to be on the table.

They have other options, too. Heavily fine those that buy IC (randomly & without warning), or 'imminent domain' the IC vehicles and auction them off for funds for further BE incentives. Perhaps jail time for the IC consumers, that's usually a behavior modifier. But seriously, these arbitrary numbers based on absolutely nothing have almost zero chance of being met. ^ I believe you were talking about Big Gov't here. B.G. has no accountability, so they have no literal need to 'cover their ass'. Which is why what's actually going to happen is what I initially stated- they'll just shrug & do nothing other than come up with yet another completely arbitrary date based on nothing. What's been unsaid here is that the contingency that does not want BE (and we have NO IDEA -when push comes to shove- how large that contingency is), there will undoubtedly be a run on IC vehicles the closer the supposed 'ban' looms, swelling those IC numbers / reducing the BE market share percentage. A temporary inverse bell curve.

Has the Gov’t stated the protocol if BE sales in ‘25 are only hitting -say- 6 or 7%? Will they halt IC sales to meet the (completely arbitrary) percentage… or just shrug?

Got other exhaust manifold separated. Boy- a ton of rust came out of that one. I believe I can reuse these but they're going to take some clean up work- a couple hours worth, then paint them with exhaust 'cast iron' paint. I found a dyno test; the repro 'Ram Air' manifolds are only good for an average of 7 HP over stock pieces. Not worth the money if you already have.

Ya: pre-tax. You are tipping on what the restaurant provided, not on the tax that goes to Gov't.

Wishing you two the very best, Dave! - - - - - Looks like Oregon didn’t ‘summerize’ their power cables! ?

46 is the ABA of the Model 3. Tesla as a brand's ABA is 54.

• 3-4 years ago is 14 YEARS into Tesla's existence. • Model S may be a luxury model, the Model 3 & Y are not. Model S gained some market share in its price tier, granted. Of course, the Model 3 has significantly cannibalized the Model S's sales since, which is why Musk combined the sedan & CUV's sales numbers together; to mask the fall. • 46 is only a few years younger than most other brands. It's not grabbing "young" buyers. Across ALL segments, buyers 24 & younger make up less than 1% of new vehicle purchases. Jeep outguns Tesla in buyers aged 25-54 : 55% to 45%. Plus, BE vehicles post the highest percentage of 65+ aged buyers, at 32%.

Mach-E only has like 3-4 months of sales performance out there, give it some more time. Tesla is 18 years old. Tesla "didn't happen" in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 or even really in 2012, 2013. How old is the Mach-E again? Young buyers aren't buyers. Model 3 buyers' average age is a whopping 46.

But they're NOT choosing Tesla for the interiors. Hence my post. Tesla doesn't seem to have the ability or desire to put a luxury interior into their products, and in an industry era where just about everything has moved upscale. That's going to fester into a very tangible problem.

The world had gone label mad.

"Lincoln volume' means; the volume that Lincoln averages out at. They've been steady since 2015, which is all up since '08-14, and only slightly below where they were in the mid '00s. The brand has its customer base and it keeps buying a steady stream of Lincolns. Your claim was "Lincolns don't sell" but obviously that's baseless nonsense... still tied to an arbitrary sales volume you think needs to be met. You're creating this conspiracy theory doom scenario that sales are plummeting, the brands makes no profit / has no revenue, and has no forward business case... yet that conspiracy theory seems to be based only on personal conjecture. I've never seen a stand-alone Lincoln dealer, so your further 'dire service scenario' conspiracy theory doesn't fly. Here's a circa $50K Tesla interior, and a same price range Lincoln sedan interior. Once Lincoln is also electrified and that variable is equal... who's going to chose the Tesla interior?

One side head & exhaust manifold separated. Had to heat each bolt, and heads were corroded enough to make me bounce between 13mm and 9/16 sockets. Overall, not too much of a struggle.

You're STILL mentally linking volume to profit / 'success'. Volume is LARGELY irrelevant... Lincoln is not "selling less cars", they're selling a consistent 'Lincoln volume' of vehicles.

Profit is not directly linked to volume. Look no further than Tesla's volume & lack of profit. Lincoln's 2021 sales thru May is 45K units, on pace to deliver 108K this calendar year. That's up from last year (105K). I'm sure every OEM would daydream about having 50% of the market, but profit is profit / a good business model. I don't ever worry about how many model/calendar year sales a brand logs, what's important is the company is healthy/profitable; that drives the future. Is Daimler pleased selling 2 million plus units, or would they "be happier" selling 5 million units and double the profit? These are meaningless questions.

Lincoln has been running in the low 100K - 112K since 2015; a consistent, low-volume brand.

What are you talking about??

I have a worn owner's manual, a worn Protect-O-Plate book (but not from my car), a mint accessories catalog. Was looking at picking up the deluxe sales brochure and an Electro-Cruise mini-brochure. Have lots of print ads...

Made 4x4 'pestle' out of wood, beat harder on the pistons, about 10 times in 2 circuits, and they broke free. Worked the crank back & forth, until I had free movement and numerous rotations. I suspect that the 2 cylinders that did NOT drain the Marvel Mystery Oil out were the culprits. Got the trans disconnected and separated. Happiness. Roto HydraMatic has no torque converter!