Drew Dowdell

12 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

White cis male from a Mormon gun lovin' and totin' family, Halloween Trump costume wearin' Utah resident no less, at that. 

 

Yeah, someone skilled with a rifle in Utah and they immediately wanted to blame a democrat 

One can acknowledge that it is a horrible and uncalled for thing to happen while simultaneously not mourning the loss and acknowledge that the world is a slight slightly better place today.

That said, its interesting watching one side tie themselves in knots trying to blame the other now that it’s come out that this was red on red crime.

when buying the oil filter on eBay, something else snuck into my cart 

On 8/31/2025 at 5:53 PM, oldshurst442 said:

I now own an Accord.  I have mixed feelings over its styling.  Yeah...I would agree that it would be the best looking affordable sedan today. I mentioned that if I was buying a sedan now Id be considering the new gen Camry.  From the general analysis it seems that now, gulp, 'tis the Camry that is more of a driver's car.  This would be the only reason why Id consider a Camry now.  The Accord drives nice. Its a comfy car. Its less of a driver's car than the TL that is for sure.

 

I think you'd come to regret that trade once the interior of the Camry starts creaking and squeaking over every bump. 

1 minute ago, oldshurst442 said:

I think the reliability mess is with the 5.7 Hemi and the DoD part of it.  The 6.4 SRT is bullet proof. And I havent heard any problems with the Pentastar.  Maybe the transmission?  

Yeah...the earlier SRT 300s were a stepping stone for the Hellcat versions.  I get it why they stepped back from offering a hotter version 300

1. 300 styling was becoming stale at that time and sales were slipping and preferred to revamp the Charger instead. While doing so, because Dodge, the need was more pressing to offer potent muscle car power for the Challenger to outdo the two other pony cars from Ford and GM. 

2. The 300 was not a muscle car. It was marketed as a luxury car with style. Mopar probably was not interested in re-inventing it as a muscle car and especially when they had the 4 door Charger and 2 door Challenger in their stable all ready to fill that niche. 

3. I guess the idea of of expanding SRT did not cross their minds even THOUGH they offered a SRT 300 anyway.  I guess they didnt want to go toe-to-toe with Cadillac Vs. 

SRT as a brand got canceled. They were a separate operation inside of Chrysler (the corp). They operated sort of like how AMG did/does.  They still use the SRT badge, but now it's just a trim-line, not a full department set free to go around hellcatting all the things.

1 minute ago, oldshurst442 said:

Why I am surprised at what you could accomplish with these apps?   I am not oblivious nor naive about it.  I guess   its because I do not use it.   

That would be nice to store my CD and LP collection on iTunes. 

I distinctly remember telling you that I have lots of Greek LPs. 33s and 45s that I wanted to digitize. I havent done so yet.  Maybe its about time to get with the program???!!!

I am STILL pissed that I couldnt buy an Equinox EV 2 years ago when I changed both cars. My wife's and mine.  I really really like the Equinox EV.  My wife too.  It would have been a fine addition to our family needs.   Of course I would have still bought a non-GM sedan for myself.  Maybe an Acura Integra or Civic Si instead of the Accord?  Or even a new gen Camry???!!!   (Yowza...what a terrible thought this is)

 

Personally, I like Plex better for storing things like CDs and LPs, but there is a bunch of technical setup you have to do ahead of time. iTunes has a lower technical threshold but is less flexible.

That said, it is a LOT of work to digitize LPs. You have to listen through each one the entire way, break up the tracks and name them manually, clean up any pops and hiss, and keep the files organized. CDs, you kinda just drop it in the laptop and it rips it at like 6x speed and downloads all the album information for you. iTunes is really good for the CD bit. dBpoweramp Music Converter & CD Ripper is a good ripper alternative (make sure to buy PerfectTunes with it to get all the album art and track info database, it's $27 and well worth the upgrade).  I think Amazon lets you store your own MP3s in their system if you have Prime and that music player is available on GM EVs.

When it happens, you won't hear about it directly. You'll feel an electricity in the air. You'll hear car horns honking, maybe some fireworks going off, you'll have 47 unread text messages. Entire nations will be celebrating.

and you don't even have to ask what it is I'm talking about.

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I despise our political leadership, but living in the Midwest is amazing, and the Midwest has amazing cities. 

We're mid-west?  We're mid-atlantic rust-belt by my estimation. 

1 minute ago, oldshurst442 said:

I love those last 300s. Probably my favorite of all the 300s in history.  Then would be the '55 and then follwed closely by the '61 and '62.  Sometimes I like the tailfins, sometimes I do not.

 Mopar Hellcated everything. Too damned bad they didnt Hellcat the 300. 

They got pretty darn close with the earlier SRTs.

My partner is really putting the miles on ours. He does a lot of business travel and the thing just works. I know they had a reputation for being unreliable, but we've had very few issues with ours now at 82k miles. The only thing mechanically I've had to do to it outside of standard maintenance was a thermostat about a month ago, it was stuck open. It would have been a 10 minute job if I hadn't also taken time to detail a bit under the hood.

I haven’t made any updates here in a while because, well, it just runs. I haven’t needed to do anything to it. Coming up to an oil change that I do on both bikes every September. We took it on the back of the truck to Rehoboth Beach for vacation in July and yesterday I took it out to a client in Altoona PA, 250ish miles round trip. It performed beautifully and cruises effortlessly at <censored> mph even over some steeper mountain highways. Gas range is a little short and I required 2 stops for gas, 42 mpg up and 45 mpg back.

17 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a great evolution! Someone who  at the Sam’s Club near me owns one of those final ones

50 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Pandora?  Sounds like a great app.   But Im not the one to pay for music that I  already own.   As far as music that I do not own. Well, I am waaaaaaay past that stage in life where I need to own music. Or rent it.  I got plenty of bought music. All the standards possible.  New standards?  Again, I am waaaay past that stage.  

 

As always, there's an app for that. I have a Plex home server, mostly for video. You could load all of that music on one and have a built in app on your dash to access your entire CD library from the PlexAmp. License for the software is a one-time $120 (I bought it 10 years ago when it was like $70).

No more USB sticks. Just be your own private streaming service. You can share with friends too if you wanted (I share my movies with @Paolino).

..... but not if you have a GM EV. 

That said, you could also store all of your CDs in Apple iTunes on your phone...... 

..... but not if you have a GM EV. 

Just now, oldshurst442 said:

I dont know as I dont use these things. 

I prefer Google Maps over Waze but that is as far as automotive style apps for CarPlay or otherwise that I have an opinion for.   

Radio is still my choice of entertainment in my car. Albeit now its AM radio. Sports talk radio.  I have a shyte ton of CDs that I have MP3ed on a USB that I use in my cars.  I also used a youtube downloader to MP3 on said USB stick.  In other words, I got a shyte ton of music on my USB stick. Personalized playlist with I dont know how much music. Hundreds of songs.  Greek, disco, rock.  Ill go weeks before I listen to the same song twice in my car.   

Youtube at home is where Ill learn about new music.  Since I do not have an urgent need to learn about new music, youtube is effective enough.  

But thank-you for informing me about what GM is doing as I had NO idea.  Ill agree, it sucks that they gate keep this way.  

I know you travel a lot, and Im assuming this app is worth gold to you.  If you cant replace this app with a worthy one, yeah...I get the frustration!!! 

Even if you don't use many apps. Imagine GM deciding which music you can listen to because they have some sort of agreement with TimeWarner to favor just their library. That's basically what's going on here. 

You might actually like Pandora.  You create an initial play list based on songs that you know and love already, and it plays those, but then it analyzes that and suggests other songs you might also like. You get a thumbs up or thumbs down on your CarPlay screen and that not only adds that song to your playlist or not, but the app learns more what you like and tailors future suggestions around that.  You can have different playlists for different genres.  From the perspective of learning what you like, Pandora seems to have the best algo of all the music apps. And it's cheap, like $6 a month.

The downside is that you can't use it to play a specific song that you want to hear right now. 

15 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

I do not think GM will budge on the Apple CarPlay thing.   GM has got their own software, as you know, and Im more than assuming and guessing that GM is betting all of their software egss into their own software development basket arrogantly not caring about anything else other than their own technology.  Im also assuming and guessing that they are very confident in their software. 

They shouldn't be that confident. They're not a software company.

15 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

I don not know how well their software works in the real world, and Im guessing not very good on how many youtubers are whining about it, but at the same time Ive listened to some other youtubers actually surprised that it worked well enough to even forget about Apple CarPlay.  

But most of the whining that Im hearing about is just that most users are familiar with Apple CarPlay and that they do not know GM's software all that well and have NOTHING to do with how well GM's software works.  

The problem is that GM gate-keeps apps. If they allowed unfettered access to the Google Play store for anything that was Android Auto compatible, I'd have less of a problem with it. But the fact that GM limits me to the apps they approve is a BIG problem.  I'm an Apple Music and Pandora music user.  I also use a few other streaming apps for free radio stations in Europe and my local NPR station, only Pandora is available in-dash none of the rest are available on a GM EV. 

You prefer Waze over Google Maps? Too bad.  I have an excellent weather app called MyRadar that shows updated rain radar maps on my CarPlay display..... GM says "too bad". I know it sucks to do, but sometimes I have to take Teams calls from the car, I can do that with CarPlay. In a GM EV? Too bad.  I have a widget for TripIt app in car play that shows my travel itinerary and will even update me on screen if my plane is delayed.  GM says "Oh well, you don't need that". 

THAT is my issue with not allowing Car Play or Android Auto. GM deciding what apps are best for me and you. 

I'll note that all of these apps exist in the Google Play store and would be available if GM ungated them.  Volvo uses the same base OS in their vehicles and doesn't gate-keep apps so they should all be available in a Volvo. (But I have no way of checking). 

The perverse effect is that even though Volvo has CarPlay, you need it less in a Volvo because you can just get the apps that you want from the Google Play store.

8 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Only thing that will kill the EV is what the Germans have announced with a stupid monthly subscription to unlock the full EV potential of HP and other features. 

VW Sells You Less Horsepower Then Charges A Fee To Give It Back

Total BS if they go this way. Not a fan of subscription fees for using the auto you bought.

All we can do is kick up as big of a stink as we can to get this nonsense to stop.   I beat up GM on social media as much as I can about the EV-Carplay thing.

13 hours ago, ccap41 said:

In all seriousness though, the Hyundai Genesis R-Spec 5.0 is a really cool car. I saw one of these the other day and completely forgot they existed prior to Genesis being its own brand. I do love me a large sedan with a V8 under the hood.

Similarly, the 2019-2020 K900 was a proper luxury sedan that looks imposing going down the road. These are the years of its only refresh and it lost the V8 in favor of a turbo V6 but it gained tech and looked great.

5 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

True, if the Odometer has not been played with, but you still have a 1996 tech auto in 2025. 30 years later, hard pass.

I’m perfectly fine with 1996 tech. I’m getting more suspicious of modern tech because of the issue of spying.  I think my 300C hits a sweet spot on technology in that it has things like car play , automatic braking, and adaptive cruise, but it’s not calling home and telling mom every time I accelerate too hard.

On 7/28/2025 at 5:44 PM, smk4565 said:

$60k SUVs with 4 cylinders is what will bring on the era of EV's.  That and batteries getting cheaper.  Once you can get a 400 hp EV for the same cost of a 200 hp 4-banger, ICE dies.

This is a 328 hp / 326 ft-lb 4-cylinder, but I think your point holds.

On 8/25/2025 at 5:31 PM, oldshurst442 said:

 

Looks like Buick's front end design language. Mainly the headlight design language but also the front end coming to some sort of peak making it seem that Acura is trying to mimic Buick.  Granted that Acura's front end comes to an end in form of a peak while Buick is rounded, but still.  Weird also that Honda has dropped GM with their EV partnership...

Honda...get your own face, will ya???!!!

Its not even appealing. Not on Buick, not on Acura either... 

Like a crossover version of the Buick Electra Concept in China

19 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

The 3 major airports in NY are all terrible and should be bull dozed, then rebuild modern. The remodels are a joke that they have done, especially at Newark.

6 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

How many billions is that going to cost?   

 Have the Red States fund them...

I mean... they're actually already doing it. LGA is in the final stages of a total rebuild now.  EWR is getting completely rebuilt too.  That said, there's only so much they can do with the real estate they have. It's kinda the reason for the weird design EWR had in the first place. They were trying to cram more gates in.

LGA was NEVER intended to be the major hub that it is. It was suppose to be for short haul flights (by our modern standards) mainly and when JFK was built, that was for the longer haul stuff.  LGA had to extend the runway into the Hudson to accommodate the larger planes.  The airport was originally built in 1939.

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled beautiful cars thread.  Please keep it to cars.

Can we stick to cars please?  I'll clean up this thread later today.

Samples, lots more to come.

   

 

Keeping this non-political, but still educational on the topic of alternative types of voting.

On 8/13/2025 at 5:17 PM, ccap41 said:

Thank you. You didn't necessarily answer it wrong. Buuuut I need one step further back.. what is Ranked Choice Voting? I've never heard that term before. 

The basic idea is that no one can get elected without 50% + 1 of the vote. We would no longer have elected officials who win with 43% of the vote.  People who don't get their first choice have their votes moved to their second choice candidate.   That way, people can now safely vote for third-parties without fear of having their vote thrown away and helping elect someone they dislike.   For example, people who voted for Jill Stein may have selected Hillary Clinton as their second choice back in 2016 and that would have produced a very different 10 years for all of us. You don't have to vote for every candidate on the ballot. If there's only 3 candidate you like out of 5, you can vote for just your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pick, leaving the others off. 

In the NYC Mayors race, there was an active campaign by supporters of the progressive side to encourage people to not even rank one of the competition. It worked.  Most people picked the two progressive candidates, and their combined vote was well over 50% (56% from memory), making Zorhan Mamdani the winner of the primary.  The two candidates actively campaigned together and said, "Hey, pick both of us and rank which one of us you'd like first". The runner up is highly likely to end up serving under a Mayor Mamdani after the general election making the voters for both candidates happy. 

13 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I'm sorry, but can you dumb this down even more for me? I feel like I understood the rest of what you said, but this line goes over my head. 

Right now, states and even cities can institute Ranked Choice voting, but it might only be for certain elections.  Zohran won the primary for NYC mayor partially because of RCV.   But that's only NYC. State level elections are the traditional sort, you pick between two parties or you throw away your vote on a 3rd party. 

In the general election in NYC in the fall, voters are going to get to choose between 4 candidates, the current Mayor Adams (running as an independent this time), former governor Cuomo (was running for the democratic nomination, lost to Zohran, now running as an independent), Zorhan Mamdami who won the RCV democratic primary, and a no-name republican nutjob who will lose.

My position is that all elections, whether for president or dog-catcher, need to be ranked choice and every race should have a box for "none of the above". 

If I interpreted your question wrong and you don't understand how RCV works, Balletopedia has an explainer and video on ranked choice voting.