Drew Dowdell

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.

No worries! Welcome to the site. We've been around for over 12 years and some of the regulars here go back that far. They're all nice guys though, so don't let that intimidate you.

that Chrysler looks like two different cars spliced together.

heh, the name is Drew, not Unimatrix 01. Unimatrix 01 is just my nerd way of saying I'm the head Admin around here. It is a star trek reference. I use to be "C&G's Dear Leader" until Kim Jong IL kicked the bucket. ... but good idea on the Ranger. I'm truck shopping also, but have found the Ranger to small for what I need it to do.

Welcome, Are you joining us from somewhere in the EU?

well, they aren't sold out of all 500s, just the electric version.

You are simply wrong about wind power. GE would not be putting huge R&D numbers at it otherwise. There have been a number of recent developments in wind power that change the financial and generation landscape of wind entirely. Turbines that run on 1/3 the wind needed to run the currently deployed models, turbines that store energy for later use, interconnected turbines that prep themselves for changes in the wind well before it reaches them. The American mid-west is the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. With a properly upgraded grid and these modern upgraded turbines, it could be the dominant power source in the U.S. If that guy's Volt is a company car, the reason he is "concerned" about it is because he likely wouldn't be paying for fuel in a gasoline car, the company would be. The cost of electricity in the US could triple and it would still cost less per mile to fuel a Volt than it would to run a Cruze. While we're throwing around anecdotes, a friend of mine has a Volt and he now only buys gasoline every 4 months down from every week from an old Pathfinder, his electric bill has increased $30 a month. So, he went from spending $280 a month (assumption: 20 gallon tank at $3.50 a gallon) to $40 a month (monthly electric, plus 1/4 tank of gas). He picked up a lease when GM was running specials on the Volt so his lease payment plus running costs on a brand new Volt are less than just the fuel costs of a paid off Pathfinder. The price of electricity could increase by over 9 times in this case and it would still be less expensive to run the Volt. Put more simply: Concern troll is concerned. I can run the numbers again for a Cruze if you like, but I promise you the cost per mile to fuel a Volt is still far less than a Cruze Eco. (2 cents per mile for the Volt, 9 cents per mile for the Cruze Eco highway mpg)

Nice! We love seeing projects around here. Sorry yours was stolen. Any plans to try again?

who pays for it, when do you run out of money, it don't grow on trees, except for when you can print it yourself. We can agree there are no absolutes. I Just spoke to a guy who has a Volt for a company car. He is glad the company is supplementing his electric bill as It has raised his bill more than expected. He loves the car but voice a concern that if the removal of coal for generating power is removed how much will it increase the cost of electric power and the cost to operate any electric car. He feels if the cost of electric energy goes up it may hinder any move to electric cars if gas remains stable in price. I thought this interesting observation. that's the natural observation. at some point when they have you by the nuts and the need is confirmed, someone (the govt or the energy providers) are going to stick to you to your threshold of pain. Minneapolis city has had some ridiculous idea of trying to turn power into municipal only and takeover from excel energy. what we need is a system of more competition for energy so there is not 'one source to buy' from for all the energy. having the ability to say 'eff you your rates are too high' would be nice. If you lived off the grid and created all your own power on site with some sort of system, at some point they would figure out how to tax the equipment you have because someone was not getting their cut. We all pay for it. Doing the right thing just costs a little more initially but pays for itself in the long run. We've spent $3.7 trillion, and counting, on the wars in middle east... and that isn't even counting the first Gulf war. We could have, instead, spent half of that on Wind, half that on Solar, and had quintuple redundancy for our energy needs... we would be an exporter of electricity to Mexico and Canada and 57,614 fewer of our soldiers would be dead or wounded. That Volt guy is a concern troll. The Volt cost per mile is less than 1/3 that of a gasoline powered car and the statement "if gas prices remain stable" is absurd. Wind is dropping in $/mwh to the point where it is now less costly than building a new "scrubbed" coal fired plant. We are living on borrowed time for many/most of our current coal fired plants. They will need to be replaced relatively soon. One of the reasons electricity is so cheap is because we're continuing to burn coal in facilities that were paid off decades ago. Once those facilities need to be replaced, electricity isn't going to remain cheap for anyone because the replacements, no matter what the fuel, are expensive to build. So grab your ankles for coal or grab your ankles for wind. Either way, you're grabbing your ankles.

Can we all agree here that doing the cheapest thing is not always doing the smartest thing?