Drew Dowdell

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

They've been redoing most any sidewalk corner approaching an intersection along with new lighting

Yup! That's new ADA grant funding through the Biden Bill. 

On 6/17/2025 at 12:52 PM, ccap41 said:

This is supposed to be in line with inflation, which is understandable, to an extent. I believe this may be the smallest year over year increase since 2017. i think this year is just a 3c increase. 

And, in all fairness, I've noticed a ton more road construction since 2017. Yes, it's inconvenient, but there were a lot of bad roads. Now, there are a lot less and there's still plenty of construction in the area. In fact, it's currently taking me about 15 minutes longer to get home for the next couple weeks due to "emergency bridge construction". It sucks, but I understand it and also appreciate the nicer roads. 

OMG yes about the road construction! Between the Biden infrastructure bill and the new investments by PennDot and funding to the local municipalities to fix roads, it is sometimes impossible to get around here.  It's also not just roads, utility companies, especially water and sewer, got a lot of fresh funding for projects too.  I get that there is a lot to catch up on, but it's making it really hard to get about. 

On 6/17/2025 at 2:30 PM, G. David Felt said:

Yes, it has been fluctuating and many here have followed the mynorthwest site for prices. They had $5 over the weekend and now it is down in the Mid $4 range.

Currently their news story Washington’s gas prices: Are you paying too much? shows $4.37 now a gallon with a gas tax at 55.4 cents per gallon.

 

23 hours ago, ccap41 said:

They're just using AAA's website for their data. 

 

A ~50c/gal swing in two days is insane. 

I think the issues in the middle east are causing some regional price fluctuations based on fear and greed. The prices here haven't budged and are actually pretty low for summertime. 

On 6/17/2025 at 9:32 AM, ccap41 said:

48.3c/gal as of July. It's gone up every July for the last like 6 years. When it first went up in 2017, that was fine. It did need to go up to maintain the roads. I believe it had been a very long time prior and I understood that. It's since gone up every year. In 2017 it went up to 19c/gal and it's ballooned up to 48.3c/gal. 

Honestly, that's actually a good thing that it goes up every July. The problem with many states, and this isn't just gas taxes but all taxes, is that they don't index taxes to inflation, and then the governments are forced into drastic budget cuts and big jumps in taxes.  I work with local governments in PA and time after time I see this play out.  They pat themselves on the back for keeping property taxes low and not raising them for 6 years and then boom, they find themselves in a deficit which local towns are not allowed to run in PA.  Then there's a big tax hike and everyone gets pissed.  I'm working with one town where the population of the town is very affluent, but the town is going broke because of the tax structure.  They rely on property taxes, but the county hasn't reassessed property values in 30 years. So you have parcels that are worth 6-7 figures being assessed for tax purposes at like 100k.   And now everyone is stuck because if the properties get reassessed, the property taxes jump a few hundred percent. 

Having the gas tax go up a little bit every year is the smarter way to do it. 

2 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Not very far, but forest service roads or farm roads. Some heavy potholes, maybe some grass, gravel washouts and the like. Nothing my 2WD Ranger won't handle with the differential lock, but I want to go to some more difficult places-more remote. 

Unfortunately, none of the low-cost crossovers will be particularly good with that.  The Maverick Tremor might do okay with it's locking diff, but at a base price of $43k, I have a hard time calling it "low-cost".

On 6/10/2025 at 4:01 PM, ccap41 said:

That sounds very smart on GM's part. That way they're only really making like 3 packs and adding them together for various uses. I'm sure other companies are doing things similarly, I just don't know about it. 

Thank you for the information. It's much appreciated! 

While I think a lot of auto enthusiasts would agree, I think the masses think the opposite. I know a lot of people who just want all black interiors. Well, I think everybody I know who's bought a vehicle recently has wanted an all black interior, for whatever reason. 

I'm more of a fan of dark brown leathers. I'm a sucker for that. 

I think people settle for all black interiors.  When the choice is cloudy-day gray or all black, people opt for all black. 

Just now, G. David Felt said:

This was based on using copilot from Bing search engine.

Create an image of a modern Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

Copilot always puts its cars on 32" wheels.

3 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Interesting that the logo looks like Acura a bit.

The Aurora did have an A logo.

ChatGTP-Paid did a lot better with a modern 1994 Oldsmobile Aurora

On 6/11/2025 at 12:07 PM, G. David Felt said:

DeepAI https://deepai.org › machine-learning-model

I like the Deep Image site. Here are some I have created to date:

Uhh...

The prompt "Imagine a 1994 Oldsmobile Aurora as a 2025 EV"

The prompt "modernize a 1995 Cadillac Eldorado as a 2025"

Can we make an AI Carspotters thread instead for this stuff?

why do they make them all into rebadges of a 1977 Camaro?

6 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

This reminds me of a function I preferred in the MKC to the Navigator. Both vehicles I remote start 99% of the time, whether I'm walking up to it or it's super hot/cold and I actually want the climate adjusted prior to getting in. I prefer the remote start so I feel better about just driving right away as opposed to feeling like I need to wait for the RPM to drop as it's more warmed up.  The MKC I could just hold the brake and press "D" to start driving once I'm in the vehicle. The Navigator I need to press the brake and tap the ignition button prior to being able to move to Drive. It's very minor, but I prefer the way the MKC worked with this process. 

Lincoln did their pushbuttons right.

Acura did not. WTF is this crap?

Good Idea Honda, let me spill my tea right in there.

GMC managed to screw it up for a few years too.

5 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

It's just some multiple of their other packs. Optiq gets 85kW, Vistiq and Lyriq get either a 95kW or 102kW.  Double the 102kw pack and you get an Escalade iQ pack.

Now, those are usable sizes. Because of the peculiarities of lithium ion batteries, they keep some in reserve.  Because there is double the pack in the IQ, they can release more reserve power, so I think the total is more like 212kW, but the hardware is still the same.

@ccap41

The Equinox was originally suppose to be offered with a 65kw battery. The base Evalanche has a 119kw battery.
The Equinox and Optiq have an 85kw battery - The extended range Evalanche has a 170 kw battery.
The Lyriq and Vistiq have a 102 kw battery - The Max range EValanche has a 205 kw Battery.

Any differences where the number isn't exactly double is most likely just a software configuration. 

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I guess I should have asked more pack sizes. I assumed it was the trucks + Escalade EV. 

It's just some multiple of their other packs. Optiq gets 85kW, Vistiq and Lyriq get either a 95kW or 102kW.  Double the 102kw pack and you get an Escalade iQ pack.

Now, those are usable sizes. Because of the peculiarities of lithium ion batteries, they keep some in reserve.  Because there is double the pack in the IQ, they can release more reserve power, so I think the total is more like 212kW, but the hardware is still the same.

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

I think it's funny how half of your comment is "let's move forward in design" while the other half is "keep the design in the past".  🤣

There's a difference between styling cues and functionality though. I hated the Ford and Mini turn signals that returned to center after activation because it removes a sensory input while driving.  Old folks like me have muscle memory to overcome. 

Same goes for most of the new dumb designs of gear selectors now because they are not intuitive. Tesla puts it in the freakin touchscreen.  The new GM one on the column is quite good because it is an electronic homage to old column shifters. As someone who has two column shift vehicles today, it's a modernization I can support. The new Hyundai column shift is "meh" because it's just the Chrysler dial but on a stick.

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

That's interesting how GMs packs work, two packs each charging at 150/175kW. Cool information. Thanks for the knowledge. 

Which ones are the small packs and what are their large "double" packs? 

The BIG full-sizers are the double packs. EValanche, Sierra EV, Escalade IQ, Hummer EV, etc.  Vistiq and smaller all have the single layer battery. 
I think (I'd have to look) some of the low range EValanche work trucks might be single battery also. 

On 4/22/2025 at 9:06 PM, smk4565 said:

This thing looks worse than the EQS.  2 things that car companies need to get rid of is the bar of soap design and the yoke steering wheel.  And I just saw Mercedes is going to steer by wire and showed a yoke style steering wheel.  People don't want yokes in a car.  

I actually like it. I think it moves forward with design. We don't need to hold onto portholes and toothy grills anymore. 

I completely agree with you on the yoke. Just give me a normal interior please.  Genesis really gets this right in the G80 EV.

11 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Yup, sorry, 80%, but still it is way more than what Cadillac is doing and I feel they need to do better in this regards.

Will edit my post to reflect the 80%

8 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

20-80, 10-80, or 0-80%? 

So, the Ultium platform is only 300kW charging or higher when you have the really big batteries, and that's only because they are actually two regular batteries sandwiched together. The DC-Fast charger can take the 300 kW/350 kW charge and split it over two battery packs at 150kW/175kW each. The smaller EVs have a single battery pack that can take on power either at 150 kW or 190 kW. 

150kW is what the base Teslas charge at. 250kW is what the higher end Teslas charge at. I don't see 190kW in the Optiq-V as being a big letdown. Most people are going to charge it at home anyway. 

On 4/11/2025 at 9:17 PM, trinacriabob said:

Okay, but much nicer than the outgoing model.  That one was more blah, as you say.

Yes, all hard plastic given the price point.  I think there's a lot of value in LE form for current times.  Camrys last a long time and, with HEV, it came close to just sipping fuel.

How did you feel about interior quality as far as creaks and rattles?  My experiences in Toyotas lately have not been positive. On some vehicles, even new ones, they feel 20 years out of date.

7 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Are there details on just everyday power numbers when you're not sprinting from a stop? Like, I'm just rolling around and floor it, what's it putting out then?

I don't know. Good question.

3 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Why Cadillac, why can you not have more warm inviting color options for the interior. The black and gray thing is so overdone, and this blue accent is just cold and NOT inviting to me for a luxury product line.

I dunno, I think that's pretty cool.

These are fun! Maybe we should make an AI Carspotters thread.

On 6/5/2025 at 10:02 AM, A Horse With No Name said:

 

But it, a Maverick, or a Subaru Crosstrek would be perfect for how I use vehicles. Getting into interesting areas to camp and hike. 

How Off-road do you go?

16 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

One thing that makes me feel less "sorry" for them are the hotel charges and guest taxes that people pay.  These are often in the 14% to 18% range.  A lot of people fill up hotels, whether motels, airport hotels, or fancy downtown hotels.  Think of all the revenue that brings in and how it can pay for stuff.

Hotel and other travel related taxes are popular in destination states because "other people" pay them and largely can't vote against them.  Florida does the same thing with hotels, rental cars, and theme park tickets. It works in Florida and California, but not so much in Iowa.

Tolling roads doesn't necessarily mean lower gas taxes. Illinois and PA routinely compete for second highest gas taxes in the country and here in PA we have the highest cost per mile toll road in the world. Part of that is because the turnpike was privatized and the money squandered, so now the state probably will be bailing them out.