Drew Dowdell
Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Charge Port Detail
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Rear V-Series Badge and Spoiler
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Rear Quarter Window Graphic
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Front Three-Quarter Action Shot
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Digital Dashboard and Infotainment Display
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Rear Three-Quarter Action Shot
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V V-Series Embossed Seat Detail
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V V-Series Branded Alloy Wheel Detail
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Interior Cockpit Overview
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Rear Seat and Panoramic Roof
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2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V Front Three-Quarter Studio Shot
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From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - NACS Charting port with charging cable connected -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Carbon Fiber rear air splitter -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - V-series trunk badging -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - D-Pillar decoration -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Front, driving on a mountain road -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Navigation screen -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Rear, driving on a mountain road -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V - V-series embelishment on seat -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Wheel featuring V-Series badging -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Driver's seat and dashboard, facing front. -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
Cadillac OPTIQ-V interior, rear right seat, facing forward -
From the album: 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V
Cadillac OPTIQ-V - Front-Side in blue. -
These are fun! Maybe we should make an AI Carspotters thread.
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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.
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We reported back in April that Cadillac would be releasing a V-Series version of their OPTIQ EV for the coming model year, joining the Cadillac Lyriq-V in the V-series lineup. Today we finally get the details. 519 HP, 3.5-Second Sprint, and NACS Charging While the base Cadillac Optiq already makes 300 horsepower, the OPTIQ-V bumps that up to a robust 519 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque when the car is in Velocity Max mode. That is sufficient to sprint to 60 in just 3.5 seconds. Carrying an 85 kWh battery pack, Cadillac's preliminary range estimate comes in at 275 miles. Naturally, that range would decrease with a lot of Velocity Max driving. For charging, the OPTIQ-V is the first GM vehicle to come standard with the NACS charge port. Home charging at 240V is available at 7.7kW, 11.5 kW, and if a 100-amp breaker is available, 19.2 kW. DC Fast-Charging allows the OPTIQ-V to take on power at a rate up to 70 miles in 10 minutes. Accessing Velocity Max is done through the V-Mode button on the steering wheel or in the drive mode app in the center screen. V-Mode allows the driver to customize their experience and pre-select performance settings that are activated by the V-Mode button. Drivers can select from Launch Control for maximum straight line acceleration and Competitive Mode for extra traction management to enhance agility. Handling is managed by Continuous Damping Control (CDC) dampers. Brembo performance brake calipers are standard on the front and available in blue or red with a V-Series logo. When you want the car to take over driving, Super Cruise is standard and available for use on approved roads. All Go, Plenty of Show Cadillac makes sure other drivers know you're in something special with V-Series specific looks. The front fascia is unique to the OPTIQ-V, complete with the signature V-Pattern mesh lower grill, high gloss black front splitter, and body color lower trim. A Carbon Fiber package is available which upgrades the front splitter, rear diffuser, and rear mid-spoiler to carbon fiber. Wheels are 21-inch satin graphite alloy by default or optional 21-inch dark painted sport wheels are available. The roof is painted black standard with a panoramic fixed-glass section while two new limited-edition exterior colors: Magnus Metal Frost and Deep Ocean Tintcoat join the color palette. V-Series badging is placed prominently around the exterior. The Inside Counts Too Optiq-V offers two interior color schemes: Noir with Santorini Blue accents or Noir and Sky Cool Gray with Santorini Blue accents. An additional darker accent fabric is woven from yarn made from 100-percent recycled materials. Standard genuine carbon fiber trim decorates the center console. The standard audio system is a 19-speaker AKG Studio unit with Dolby Atmos paired with a 33-inch diagonal LED display. Starting price for the OPTIQ-V rings up at $68,795, including destination charges and before taxes and fees. Check out the 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V photo gallery for more angles on this electric pocket rocket. View full article
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We reported back in April that Cadillac would be releasing a V-Series version of their OPTIQ EV for the coming model year, joining the Cadillac Lyriq-V in the V-series lineup. Today we finally get the details. 519 HP, 3.5-Second Sprint, and NACS Charging While the base Cadillac Optiq already makes 300 horsepower, the OPTIQ-V bumps that up to a robust 519 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque when the car is in Velocity Max mode. That is sufficient to sprint to 60 in just 3.5 seconds. Carrying an 85 kWh battery pack, Cadillac's preliminary range estimate comes in at 275 miles. Naturally, that range would decrease with a lot of Velocity Max driving. For charging, the OPTIQ-V is the first GM vehicle to come standard with the NACS charge port. Home charging at 240V is available at 7.7kW, 11.5 kW, and if a 100-amp breaker is available, 19.2 kW. DC Fast-Charging allows the OPTIQ-V to take on power at a rate up to 70 miles in 10 minutes. Accessing Velocity Max is done through the V-Mode button on the steering wheel or in the drive mode app in the center screen. V-Mode allows the driver to customize their experience and pre-select performance settings that are activated by the V-Mode button. Drivers can select from Launch Control for maximum straight line acceleration and Competitive Mode for extra traction management to enhance agility. Handling is managed by Continuous Damping Control (CDC) dampers. Brembo performance brake calipers are standard on the front and available in blue or red with a V-Series logo. When you want the car to take over driving, Super Cruise is standard and available for use on approved roads. All Go, Plenty of Show Cadillac makes sure other drivers know you're in something special with V-Series specific looks. The front fascia is unique to the OPTIQ-V, complete with the signature V-Pattern mesh lower grill, high gloss black front splitter, and body color lower trim. A Carbon Fiber package is available which upgrades the front splitter, rear diffuser, and rear mid-spoiler to carbon fiber. Wheels are 21-inch satin graphite alloy by default or optional 21-inch dark painted sport wheels are available. The roof is painted black standard with a panoramic fixed-glass section while two new limited-edition exterior colors: Magnus Metal Frost and Deep Ocean Tintcoat join the color palette. V-Series badging is placed prominently around the exterior. The Inside Counts Too Optiq-V offers two interior color schemes: Noir with Santorini Blue accents or Noir and Sky Cool Gray with Santorini Blue accents. An additional darker accent fabric is woven from yarn made from 100-percent recycled materials. Standard genuine carbon fiber trim decorates the center console. The standard audio system is a 19-speaker AKG Studio unit with Dolby Atmos paired with a 33-inch diagonal LED display. Starting price for the OPTIQ-V rings up at $68,795, including destination charges and before taxes and fees. Check out the 2026 Cadillac OPTIQ-V photo gallery for more angles on this electric pocket rocket. -
The tests get harder regularly.
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I have used both. I have a couple of favorites on AirBnB that I return to. Turo needs to be the right situation. There's a guy who rents out his Model-3 near me who I've used because renting his car is cheaper than fueling my truck.
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I'm on some AirBnB host facebook groups and it is really location dependent. If you host Airbnb or Turo in an area that gets a lot of international/canada vistors, you're down. If you host in an area that gets a lot of domestic travel (think Smokey Mountains, Interior of the country), you're not seeing a change. That said, Turo is screwing it's hosts lately and a lot are leaving the platform.
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You're correct, it's the V6. I was thinking Tacoma and got my engines mixed up. The Crosstrek doesn't offer one, but generally with Subaru, you want the turbo models for reliability. The non-turbos aren't bad, but they've had head gasket issues some 10 years ago. I don't know if those are resolved or not.
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Toyota 4-cylinders had the same problem the Hyundai/Kia engines had, insufficient oiling. Their issue was 10+ years ago though and Toyota blamed it on the customer and improper maintenance. For Hyundai/Kia, it is largely limited to an earlier 4-cylinder design while Toyota had similar issues with their V6 back then also. While Hyundai/Kia's issues are not limited to engines with turbos, a car with a turbo is much harder on oil, so when the engine started to go it only made the issue worse. However, Toyota has a more recent issue with engines blowing up, specifically the new 4-cylinder hybrid being used in the iForce-Max trucks. There's a manufacturing defect that allowed metal shavings to get into the crank bearings and was frying engines at a fairly young age. Toyota has a program set up to replace these engines, much like the Tacoma frame rust recall.
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I’m in favor of traffic circles because they actually improve traffic flow and you can get through them faster. I’m talking about aggressive “smart traffic lights”, speed humps on major neighborhood arteries, and artificially slow speed limits that don’t get enforced so you end up having a mismatch of people who obey the speed limit and people who drive the natural traffic flow speed limit. For example, there’s a road near me that is 50 miles an hour for most of its length but then it drops down to 35 miles an hour even though the road itself doesn’t change. The speed limit was dropped because people in town complained. But the speed limit isn’t enforced so now you have some people who do the speed limit of 35 and other people still trying to do 50. This is a fairly large road and 50 is entirely appropriate for it. With smart lights, they are able to detect how quickly the traffic gets from one light to the next, and if the traffic light feels the traffic is moving too fast, they start turning red more often to slow the traffic down. All that does is aggravate people, and then people speed more than if they could just pass through a few green lights. At their worst, the lights will only let three or four cars through even if a bunch of cars are backed up behind and then change very quickly back to red again
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I think many of the “traffic calming “ techniques that civil engineers are using today end up having the opposite effect. I think they end up angering drivers, and while it might slow the driver down at that exact point, they end up speeding up in between the traffic calming devices. Further, it just makes traffic worse and angers drivers even more.
