Drew Dowdell

Tesla is priced like a luxury car though. A Model-3 RWD is just a couple thousand cheaper than a 3-series.

Agreed that EVs have lower to zero powertrain noise, but one of the things I've observed in Teslas is just how loud everything else is. Wind noise around the frameless windows, road noise from the 45psi tires, cabin shocks from the stiff suspension, and creakiness from the interior more than make up for the removal of the soft hum of a nice V6. It's for this reason that I say that Tesla makes a class-leading powertrain, but as a car, they kinda suck. A mid-range VW Jetta offers a nicer environment than a model 3. I haven't driven any of the Toyota/Lexus EVs, but I'd bet that Lexus is more practiced at making their cars whisper quiet for all of the things I mentioned above than Tesla is. However, there's a new game in town with Genesis that easily matches Lexus and Buick of old in terms of quiet sanctuary.... no matter how the vehicle is powered.

I have driven one, a Limited when they first came out. I get why they didn't just carry the Avalon name over. They don't feel as roomy as the Avalon did and even though the hybrid system boasts some pretty impressive output numbers, it never felt as effortless as a V6 powered Avalon (which was a bank manager's hotrod). I am also less than impressed with Toyota's claim of an "executive luxury" interior. This is the top trim and I see nothing luxury about bronze color plastic over black plastic. Black interior is the only color available also. Exposed USB-C ports in a luxury car? Really? So what is the Crown? It's a car for Boomers who want a sedan but who can't sit down in a low sedan anymore and won't buy a crossover. I.E. the people who aged out of the Avalon.

That's what they are. Put a 1/2 inch lift on them and slightly larger tires and BAM, they are a crossover.

This could very well just be a VW, but I guess VAG didn't learn anything from 1980's GM and decided Audi needed something at this price point even though it's likely available at VW.... and SEAT and Skoda and Cupra. Next up Lambo, Bentley, and Porsche? Maybe even Ducati?

Genesis Is doing that with their electrified versions of everything except GV60 which is EV entirely. The G80 EV loses the rear seat middle hump and has a flat floor. (except on the ultra-lux models with a center console.)

Nonsense! Manufacturers can swap out the entire floor pan. And people tend to prefer traditional looking cars, regardless of how they are powered. The weird looking EVs don’t sell well the traditional looking EVs sell great. The Model-3 may have the design language of a bar of Zest, but it is still essentially a 3 box sedan. The GV60 and Bolt sell in spite of their looks but generally they are just pod cars no matter how much the manufacturers try and tell us they are crossovers.

I looks like Sindelfingen was updated in 2020 to achieve that flexibility. Alabama must not be as up to date. From the sounds of it, their new EV platform will be more directly flexible with ICE cars on the same line and there will be much more blurring of the lines between EV platform and ICE platform like what Stellantis and Genesis did.

The aesthetics are very color dependent for me. I like it in the blue and the black, not so much the red or the white. The painted "grille" on the WT doesn't look right either. The Sierra does look good, but I like the sail panels like my Avalanche. I know they are polarizing for most, but I like them and the Sierra doesn't have it. If I get the EValanche, I'll get it in blue or black.

But it's not. There's no secret 3D Chess game here. He renegotiated NATFA in his first term so any objections that he has with Canada are his own fault. There is no appreciable amount of fentanyl coming from Canada, less than 1% of it in the US comes from there. We have far more domestic production of it than what comes from Canada. Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy and other ag products is because we heavily subsidize our agriculture industry because we over-produce. We were killing Canadian dairy farms because we were dumping so much federal money into our dairy farms. But again, this policy was agreed upon by Trump back in his first term. Tarrifing Canadian oil and car parts makes no sense. We've had a robust cross-border auto industry trade for 100 years. Parts can criss-cross the border multiple times before making it into final assembly on either side of the border. Disrupting that flow only harms the US Domestic manufacturers though since the foreign companies that manufacture here generally don't hop the border so much. Honda, Toyota, and Mercedes won't be affected nearly as much as GM, Stellantis, and Ford will be. Restricting Canadian oil, which we buy at a discount due to the ease of transport, does nothing to help our energy independence. Canadians ship their oil to the US because we have more of the refineries that can process the type of oil they produce. It's a symbiotic relationship. They ship us $100B worth of oil which we refine into $300B worth of other products and cut ourselves a hefty dividend check for the trouble. Restricting that oil just raises fuel and construction materials costs (their oil mostly goes to making asphalt, shingles, and the like) for the US and reduces the profitability of our refineries. It's lose-lose. No. You can't look for deeper meaning to these policies because there is none there. His goal is to shift the tax burden entirely onto the lower classes by tariffing imports, raising income taxes on the middle and lower classes, and lowering taxes on the rich. He's modeling himself on President William McKinley, and trying to set up a new gilded age with an even larger class/income divide than we have today. It also tracks with his tacky gilded personal style.

That's been in the works since 2023.

Yeah, I dunno what I wanna do. I'm pulling back on spending. The Chrysler and the Avalanche are just about paid off. I was going to grab one of the cheap EV leases for all the mileage I'm doing these days, but now I am thinking a Volt or ELR for cheap.

Now Trump is granting a 30-day extension for car companies for the tariffs... but to what end? You can't shift an entire supply chain in 30 days.

This is a bit of a failure of Mercedes-Benz's manufacturing process. They don't have the flexible manufacturing that Honda, Toyota, and GM have where they can shift production around easily. Their plants seem to be much more model-specific. Honda can build the Civic, Accord, CR-V, and Passport from the same plant. Mercedes can build 3 sizes of the same SUV sausage at the same plant, but they can't seem to alternate between sedan and suv at the same plant.

He's planning to put 25% tariffs on the EU.

Albert is very catholic and follows it closely. I keep trying to warn him that an 88 year old man with double pneumonia, several acute attacks of respiratory failure, and a body that doesn't seem to be fighting the infection on its own (little to no fever) even with antibiotic assistance is not likely long for this world. @A Horse With No Name - we're dialing back on the politics here unless it is directly related to the auto industry. I need to wack a few of your recent posts.

Depends on the model. The EQB is the same as the B-Class. The EQE sedan is a very different interior to the E-Class, the EQS sedan is very different from the S-Class. And write this in your calendars, I actually agree with @smk4565 for once. The EQS sedan interior isn't as high quality as the S-Class. The materials feel a lot cheaper.

They hide their weight well in terms of handling when they are performance oriented because all the weight is down low on the center of gravity. It makes the weight less of an issue.

I need this cold weather to stop!! v15044gf0000ctjjqenog65opvn8sc20.mp4

At least the iX M60 has the same range as the Lyriq-V, though the Lyriq-V has higher speed charging. Lyriqs charge at 190kW, but the iX M60 charges at 150kW, so you'll be waiting longer. I have to say, after looking into the Lyriq to get these stats, it is growing on me quite a bit. At least the V is.

I wonder if the same criticism will be lobbed at the BMW iX M60 of equal weight and 0-60 performance, but with less room and a $32,000 upcharge.

I can tell that's a fake because they made a sedan a CX. CX is only for crossovers. They should have gotten a Mazda 6 badge and turned the 6 upside down. A large sedan with a Mazda 9 badge would be more believable.

You don't even need to go in anymore. Those digital jukeboxes can now take selections from your phone. You can be on a plane over the Atlantic and do it.

Happy Birthday @oldshurst442

While I'm as angry over the current state of things as anyone, I'm going to gently steer the conversation away from politics given the no-politics rule we've had in place for years. If you've got something political to talk about, it must be related to the car industry somehow.