Drew Dowdell

It turns out a lot of the early interest over Ivermectin was due to a faulty study. There is a parasite that is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical environments. If you give a patient a steroid, as is often done with covid patients to help reduce respiratory inflammation, this parasite if already in their system can spread rapidly and kill the patient. Ivermectin is the treatment for the parasite. So patients who got the steroid and also got ivermectin appeared to recover better from covid. Eh, I think that was a message that got twisted. Fauci's early statements about masks was "please save the masks for the medical professionals because we don't have enough" and he feared the hoarding as you pointed out. Very very early on in the pandemic, the week before things started shutting down, I was in Miami to visit my parents and I stopped by a Home Depot and Walmart. Every mask, paper towel, and cleaning supply was wiped out. The day I left I stopped at Costco for gas and a slice of pizza before I got on the road and it was a mad-house with people buying pallets of water and everything else they could get their hands on. There was also questions about how well the virus could move through the air. Sure, if someone who had it sneezed or coughed on you, you'd probably get it, but would just being in the same room cause transmission? We didn't have the information on that. It was a very eerie drive home to PA with the roads and gas stations nearly empty. Two days later, PA shut down. One thing that I hope continues is the sanitation of publicly used things like shopping carts and self-checkouts. Years ago I caught a virus that is usually just a kids disease that because of the incubation period, the virus's tendency to live on surfaces, and my movements, I know where I likely got it, and it was most likely from a shopping cart at Costco. So yea, they can keep spraying down those carts, thanks.

Because Teslas are ugly. Auroras are not. What would KBB say about the value of your Pontiac in its current condition? Why would you dump money into it?

Will any of them be for transverse applications?

Yeah, the independent rear suspension on the Aurora (and Riviera, Eldorado, and Seville) is a pretty compact setup, but it had to be. The Aurora has a tiny trunk relative to its overall size as it was a 4-door outgrowth of the Toronado which was a "personal" luxury car. The Toronados from '79 - '92 have relatively tiny trunks too. I'm sure you could put a second motor back there, but you'd lose what trunk space you did have. You might be able to put the motor in the spare tire well, but then you'd need some sort of transmission/gearing to move the output and half-shafts forward to the axle line and with a motor hanging behind the rear wheels it would cause some .... interesting... driving dynamics.

The rear suspension will be your biggest issue. They don’t have room back there. Doing it on a budget probably want to stick to the original setup.

Depends on location. If you live in suburban Iowa, sure. One of the nicer parts of Philly, not so much.

Apparently Pfizer is seeking FDA approval for 4th boosters. I’m 3x Moderna, but I’ll get Pfizer if it’s approved. Mixing vaccine boosters is supposed to give a slight immune advantage. if it gets approved soon (and there is no reason not to, they already do it for the 65+ set and the immunocompromised), I’ll be eligible at the end of April.

I’d love to find a final year of the first Gen Aurora, but they are almost always beat to hell. People didn’t preserve them.

???????

That BMW is a 1998 or 1999. 1997 or 1998 I'm assuming some of this stuff is getting sold... so maybe.

Well within range of me if you don't mind a visitor

*perks up at the Motorcycles*

I'm sorry to hear that @Robert Hall. And I'm sorry I wasn't around to be aware of it.

I feel like I missed a couple episodes somewhere...

In the Kia Luxury Brand thread. Any luxury SUV competes directly with any other luxury suv of the same price regardless of purpose or styling.

Really? That’s odd. You think a Defender and an X4 are competition.

If it bases at $50k, it’s going to have significant competition when it gets here in *checks notes* two years. Chevy will have 2 EV crossovers and an EV truck in that same range. Tesla will still have their rabid fanbois. Kia and Hyundai have entries too.

I think this will do okay because it’s “cute”. It will likely be the price that’s the killer.

Post pics of your rides, but try and get them all in one frame!

This is the spiritual successor to the Neu Beetle. Retro, cute, but this time a modern powertrain and roomy enough for people/families to actually buy.

Because they operate as separate companies that share tech rather than the GM model of multiple divisions that develop together.

@smk4565, did you hack into @balthazar's account? Jaguar/LR are barely the volume of the Denali trim at GMC. I wasn't speaking of volume, I'm speaking of differentiation of purpose. Defender and Discovery buyers are not cross-shopping against the E-Pace or F-Pace, they're looking at the Lexus GX, or maybe Yukon Denali or Grand Cherokee Summit if they're open to brand-slumming it. E-Pace and F-pace buyers are going to cross-shop with Macan or X4/5 or GLE "coupe" or the Infiniti QX70 if they still made it. The Genesis GV70 and GV80 are direct broadside torpedo shots to the GLC/RX/MDX (the XT5 should be here, but it's so outclassed on the interior I can't put it in the list with a straight face) and the GLE/QX60/Aviator respectively. These are the big cushy cruiser crossovers. What I'm saying is there is room for KLB to do a better Defender / Discovery / GX460... or an Escalade/Navigator/LX (hybrid or EV only of course) then add the Stinger with a substantially upgraded interior and a "rugged" small EV (think Baby Rivian) and you've got yourself a luxury brand that doesn't overlap with Genesis.

You're thinking old style rebadging. That is exactly what I wouldn't want to do. Where Genesis is curvy, KLB should be square. Where Genesis is plush (and their higher trims are very plush), KLB should be firm and restrained. Designed with function in mind rather than flare.

Yes... but they'll compete for different people. The LR Defender and the Lincoln Aviator and Acura MDX and Porsche Macan and Lexus GX460 all start at around $50k +/- $5k Are you suggesting that there is a lot of cross-shopping between those models just because they're the same price SMK @balthazar? I'm suggesting that Genesis looks at the GLE/Aviator/Macan buyers while while KLB does the more off-roady, woodsy Defender / GX buyers There's nobody left that has two luxury divisions around the same price class except perhaps Jaguar-Land Rover. But it is exactly them who I would point to as an example of suitable differentiation. Their issues aren't from competing with each other but a host of other things.

That’s why I’m suggesting that they do not overlap, but hit different “styles” of luxury. Genesis takes on the metro-chic luxury of Mercedes. KLB goes after the woodsy “I own a working estate In Connecticut” like LandRover and the Lexus GX/LX