Funny, I have had a rental Fusion tell me to take a break too, was in Oregon on some winding roads, guest it though I was swerving...
bidens incredible transition to electric cars
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mat200
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- Jan 17, 2017
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Fires, Floods, EV wrecks, just sitting in your garage charging, EV Time Bombs?...too many worries for me. I already worry about charging our phones while we sleep...
The latest iteration of Tesla's FSD is very good. I went from being constantly annoyed by it in previous versions, to preferring it. It still is dumb at parking and other things (it doesn't avoid potholes or small objects in the road), but incremental improvement will eventually deliver a system that is more safe than the average driver.
I bought Comma AI for my minivan but haven't installed it yet. It uses the vehicles existing sensors and actuators to provide level 2 autonomy. As already mentioned, there's nothing about an EV that lends itself to autonomous driving over an ICE. We're going to see an increasing amount of autonomy from all vehicles.
I bought Comma AI for my minivan but haven't installed it yet. It uses the vehicles existing sensors and actuators to provide level 2 autonomy. As already mentioned, there's nothing about an EV that lends itself to autonomous driving over an ICE. We're going to see an increasing amount of autonomy from all vehicles.
mat200
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- Jan 17, 2017
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EVs .. I would think we will better understand the risks they bring and find ways to counter it soon ..
I recall when garages for ICE cars where not attached as standard practice to the house, a hold over from the horses and live stock have their own house / barn separate from the main house.
Good reasons for a separate garage imho
I recall when garages for ICE cars where not attached as standard practice to the house, a hold over from the horses and live stock have their own house / barn separate from the main house.
Good reasons for a separate garage imho
Looks kewl but got questions, how long before it leaks, why do you need this couple of extra feet? Guess I don't get it...
Maybe turning a 6' bed into an 8"?
Then buy a truck with an 8 foot bed?
I always liked when back seats lowered to expose the trunk of a car, that makes sense to me for a car. Now we have SUVs that do the same. I once worked out of an Escort Station wagon with my 6 foot A-frame ladder fitting inside with the passenger seat down. We now have a Highlander with the 3rd row which it is easy to get a 6 footer in now...though the wife says No, haha...
Guess with 8 feet you can get more dirt/sand/rock in that truck, LOL...
Now a days many people use trucks as cars but actually we use to back in my day use them as cars too, wife and kids rode back in the bed, haha, No, but we did as youngsters fill our beds up with other youngsters on our way down to the beach...oh and a couple of kegs too
I thought maybe he was making a joke about turning a 6 foot bed into an 8 inch bed. "Maybe turning a 6' bed into an 8"
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Drop the tailgate and now you have 10 feet
I don't see many red flags hanging off of hauled stuff anymore. I use to use a red rag to nail on hauled wood...but the way people drive/texting now a days, it is hard to do/trust that anymore. Better to use a trailer to haul...
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
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imho .. If a Truck can not haul 4'x8' plywood or drywall .. it is not a truck .. it's a toy
note : a lot of what we see in terms of cars has to do with federal regulations .. perhaps DOGE can help change that.
( Trucks get cheaper tariffs vs cars iirc, and also EPA mileage is different )
note : a lot of what we see in terms of cars has to do with federal regulations .. perhaps DOGE can help change that.
( Trucks get cheaper tariffs vs cars iirc, and also EPA mileage is different )
I know this is not EV related but just sharing our Battery Generator story.
So, with the big storm that came through yesterday we lost power for 6 hours. It was mainly a high wind storm with some good rain. We had no damage but seems every time high winds come through we lose power. Good News, our battery backup that we got from our kids for Christmas worked good. We had both Refrigerators connected to it. Also, at times, cell phones. At the end of the 6 hours it said we had 2 more hours left and that is with us going into the Refrig. a few times. I think this Battery Generator (Power Station) will work for us.
To extend more time, we could turn off power from the backup to the Refrigs for a time.
Oh, while the wife charged her phone on the battery backup, I charged mine on our flashlight. Man, we love this flashlight. It is extremely bright, we are able to see our reflective dog collars 200+ feet away in the pitch black darkness of country night, you cannot see your hand in front of you. Even though the charger just maintained my phone, while using it, I was down to two LED lights on the Flashlight after 6 hours. Even charged it another 10% in that time.
For $19, you can't beat it...
We have bought several of these, giving out as gifts.
So, with the big storm that came through yesterday we lost power for 6 hours. It was mainly a high wind storm with some good rain. We had no damage but seems every time high winds come through we lose power. Good News, our battery backup that we got from our kids for Christmas worked good. We had both Refrigerators connected to it. Also, at times, cell phones. At the end of the 6 hours it said we had 2 more hours left and that is with us going into the Refrig. a few times. I think this Battery Generator (Power Station) will work for us.
To extend more time, we could turn off power from the backup to the Refrigs for a time.
Oh, while the wife charged her phone on the battery backup, I charged mine on our flashlight. Man, we love this flashlight. It is extremely bright, we are able to see our reflective dog collars 200+ feet away in the pitch black darkness of country night, you cannot see your hand in front of you. Even though the charger just maintained my phone, while using it, I was down to two LED lights on the Flashlight after 6 hours. Even charged it another 10% in that time.
For $19, you can't beat it...
We have bought several of these, giving out as gifts.
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I believe it was federal regulation that caused vehicle sizes to increase. The MPG requirements were based on wheelbase, so it created incentive to make larger cars that were allowed worse MPG.
CAFE (California) is also a huge market that tends to dictate what vehicles get made for the rest of us.
I'm almost 1 year in the Tesla, and still feel it is by far the best vehicle I've ever driven.
This is an article about one of my hot points with the newer cars, EV or not. Last car I bought I purposely went to a last year's model to have real buttons for the climate controls instead of having to hit the right button on the touchscreen. I have 2 cars now where it's a pain in the ass to just use the radio.
The Latest Car Technology Is Starting to Drive People Nuts
Article is behind a paywall but a couple of the graphics can be seen.
The Latest Car Technology Is Starting to Drive People Nuts
Article is behind a paywall but a couple of the graphics can be seen.
I am with you, my 2025 RAM 1500 tailgate sucks. It has an electronic latch that get stuck, from what I read, all of these types of trucks do the same thing. I made the mistake a few times slamming the tailgate like we all use to do prior to these light weight gates. Once stuck, it is a hit or miss how to get it back to where you can open it. I had to turn off the truck one time. I can't imagine driving up to a job site with bed full and can't open it. I am even hesitant to even sit on the gate, we use to get 3-4 people on the old ones.
Next, the Shifter is on the dash, a turn knob. This has been frustrating, if you over turn and miss reverse and go to park, the thing fights you to get back to reverse, it has some kind of motor to stop you from putting it in park while in drive sort of thing. Believe me it is too easy to misdial, they need better clicking positions on it or go back to console shifter. (This happened to me, at night, I reached down, while driving, to turn down the A/C (It is still a knob), well it is to the right of my Shifter and about a half inch smaller, yes you guessed it, I grabbed the Shifter...
Speaking of touch screens, they Suck too, try touching something on it while on a bumpy country road. Obviously the new engineers don't drive vehicles, bet the Uber to work...
BRING BACK the Knobs!!! lol
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Wow, it's even worse than I realized. I could write a mini novel about all the things that suck in our 2019 Subaru. Two of my "favorites" are that the radio crashes, and the dash display sometimes says to shut the engine off when it's not running. Without the screwed up tech, it's a good car.
Regarding physical buttons and knobs which are way more functional than screens (I can type better on an old Blackberry than touchscreen), many cars have voice control capability. Push a button, and tell it what you want... I've been meaning to get in the habit of using it more often.
You're correct. I have 2 cars that have voice recognition, and that's part of the problem. It's hard enough to remember the proper vocabulary for even one of them, but for me anyway, learning two different command languages and not getting mixed up is close to impossible. It's hard enough to remember that it's stalk up for wipers on one, and stalk down for the other, one has separate start and stop buttons while the other has a start/stop toggle button, plus at least a dozen other close to exact opposites. I sometimes think the designers have a contest to see how many things they can do differently from the others. Thank goodness they all do the pedals and steering wheel the same way.