Drew Dowdell

All resources should have a standard national id card identifying them and their citizenship, IMO. Would be very useful. We actually already have such a thing. You can get a mini-passport that looks like a driver's license, but you have to get your full passport also.

Tim

theme song to a BBC series that keeps me motivated

The Americans who don't have passports.... the canadians probably don't want 'em anyway

There are some things that need to be national and some things that do not need to be. Emissions standards and crash standards for new vehicles should be national, Safety inspections should be state level. The biggest thing that should be national are gasoline blend standards. There is no way we need 500 different blends for this country. There is no reason MD, DE, PA, VA, NJ each need their own 10 different blends of fuel.

Alternative to number 3. Find a cheap tow and drag it to the transmission shop for a rebuild or replacement with rebuild.

well, to be fair to both Toyota and Subaru.... Subaru's AWD is much better than the FWD based AWD Toyota uses. I could see Toyota looking at Subaru's AWD for use in RWD based Lexus models, which might even be a selling point.

To what end though? How many extra Legacy Wagons is Subaru going to sell to Mrs. Soccer-Mom in RWD only guise? The WRX-STI gets it's cred by being a 300hp AWD Snow Monster with participation in off road rally sports, how many more would Subaru sell by offering that in RWD? Grandma Bluehair and Mz.Flanelwear buy their Impreza hatchback and Forester specifically for the AWD... RWD is a detractor to them. Simply put, what does RWD get Subaru in terms of volume here... a 1% increase in sales to the bargain basement shopper? I wonder what percentage of Audi models are sold equipped as Front-Track....

I very much disagree that AWD makes the car less entertaining to drive.... it really depends on what you call "entertaining". If the only thing that you find entertaining is hanging the rear end out on corners, then yeah, AWD won't be for you. But driving an AWD version of a FWD car is far more fun... and driving an AWD version of a RWD is more "sticky" if you're into cornering fast. Subaru doesn't seem to have major issues with fuel economy, on the highway they do very well with their CVT.

With that sort of mileage, assuming it has been taken care of, it is probably worth having the transmission replaced/rebuilt. Even if you don't keep it, you could still sell it for more than a few grand.

I don't think they could do rear engine again though

omg these naming conventions....

Yes, I believe Toyota has controlling interest.

I've seen cars in Florida with no hood, some with missing doors, I've seen what was once a police cruiser Crown Vic driving down the highway without a single external light installed.

The 10th Amendment puts this debate to bed pretty quickly. However, there is no reason that state level police shouldn't be able to enforce state laws on any vehicle driving in that state regardless of plates. I've seen some cars driving around Miami (FL has no inspection) that would get you pulled over pretty quickly here in PA (yearly inspection)

How many miles on the truck?

Here's another reason. If they are doing this well doing what they're doing, why would they want to change?

It's time to update your signature because it doesn't even have the Riggle Grande' Sport in it!

Gaining volume means shedding the brand's ideals... no more AWD standard for one... I don't think that is a wise move for Subaru. Maybe they should try their hand at the mid-size crossover again... and this time don't make it with a starting price $10k over the competition.

We must have had a very successful Kia dealer here in Pittsburgh because Rondos are everywhere!

I'm no civic fan, but that's not too bad.

Why? Because even if my $90 a month electric bill doubled, the total bill will still be less than half what I spend on gasoline right now. Percent doesn't matter, absolute value does.

The Supra was a no brainer.

What is your kwh charge including transmission? What is your daily commute? Should be easy to figure out the cost increase.

There are a few possible scenarios regarding his "concern" for his electricity usage of the Volt: 1. He is exaggerating the increase. 2. He can't do math. 3. He has no idea what the actual increase is (i.e. his wife always paid the bill and she said "Honey, it jumped a lot") 4. There has been a large increase in energy usage at his house but he is blaming 100% of that on the Volt when in fact some of it is coming from something else. I don't need to pre-judge. I can do math. The highest average electricity rate in the lower 48 is in Connecticut at 16.35 cents per kWh. Add another 10 cents per kWh for delivery which is typical for most states. The Volt has a 16kw battery but only 10.4kw of that is usable. A complete charge of a Volt in Connecticut will cost $2.74 per day. If he drives entirely in EV mode for 40 miles a day every day, his electricity bill will increase by $82.29. Let's buy him a Pruis. Driving in that same pattern of 40 miles a day every day and averaging 1 gallon of gasoline each day. At the $3.94 a gallon average gas price in Connecticut, his fuel bill comes out to $118.20. The Volt is a $35 a month savings over a Prius in this scenario. If he's driving a more typical car that averages 25mpg, he is using 1.6 gallons per day making the Volt a $106 a month savings. But maybe gas prices in Connecticut are too high, so he decides to move to Oklahoma where he can pick up gasoline at $3.17 a gallon, close to the nation's lowest gas prices. Happily, electricity rates in Oklahoma are the 10th lowest in the nation as well at 7.8 cents per kWh plus 10 cents/kWh transmission charge. He still drives his 40 miles a day. In a Volt, it will cost him $55.59 per month, in a Prius it will cost $95.10 a month, in a Camry LE it will cost him $152.16 a month, making the Volt a $39.51 savings per month over a Prius and a $96.57 a month savings over a Camry LE. Let's make an even more unlikely scenario: He buys his electricity in Connecticut and his gasoline in Oklahoma. EVEN THEN the Volt will save him $11.35 a month over a Prius and $68.30 over a Camry LE in fuel. I don't know what you think you're trying to prove here. It doesn't matter if he runs the Volt a million miles as an EV, his net fuel costs per mile will still be lower than any non-plug-in car out there. As an EV, the Volt costs less than 1/3 the price per mile to run than even a Prius. Electricity rates could triple and that would still be the case... and there is proof of that. Even at Hawaii's absurd 27 cents/kWh, running a Volt still beats a Prius by $15.84 a month at that state's $4.38 average gas price. (Hawaii is an oddball for energy and electricity prices will always track oil prices there because they use petroleum for over 70% of their generation) If he is so concerned about his electric bill, why was he not concerned about his gasoline bill? Surely it was higher than any increase in his electric bill.