GM making moves...

[SignOfZeta]

While I personally do not like the Prius at all, it seems to perhaps be the most reliable car ever made based on accounts from people I know (and since I live in Ann Arbor that’s a ton of people). Most people I know don’t even need brakes until 100,000 miles This is all mostly 1-3 gen though. I don’t know about the current spec or offshoot models. The only work I’ve ever done on them is oil changes.

However I see a lot of people out there with them that drive like they have a 5 series. Using all its power all the time, nudging at stop lights...seriously...nudging/creeping at stop lights in general is proof you suck at driving but blowing money on a hybrid and nudging at stop lights just proves you’re stupid and can’t be taught. It may be possible to just...ruin a Prius by driving like it was a Hellcat.

[DocsMachine]

I want honda to make another crx.

-I want 'em to make another NR750, but that's just me.

Doc.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

-I want 'em to make another NR750, but that's just me.

Doc.

I also would like a toyota mr2 please

[DocsMachine]

interesting fact: watch the what killed the electric car documentary in Amazon video?

-Fun fact: the electric car killed the electric car.

Electrics are nothing new. Thomas Edison had- and still has- a charging station in his home, specifically for an electric car. Most of the first non-horse-drawn trucks in New York City were electric- not only electric, but they were swapping out battery packs for fast turnaround over a century ago. Citroen, as I recall, had an electric in the 70s, and there's been a thousand others before and since.

What 'killed' the electric car? The same things that are keeping it from really catching on today; slow charge times (getting faster, but still far, far longer than topping up a gas tank) limited ranges and limited charging stations.

People are working on those problems as we speak, but all of them have inherent issues that aren't easy to solve. A gas tank costs about $40 in materials, and can be filled from empty in less than three minutes. A battery pack that doesn't even give the same range costs $10,000 to $20,000, takes forty minutes to refill from a supercharger- if there's even one in your area- and loses a significant portion of it's capacity in five years.

That's what keeps killing the electric car.

Again, people are indeed working on those issues, and there's some fun stuff on the horizon, but gas cars have a century of head-start and established infrastructure. It's gonna take some time to change that.

Doc.

[pghp8ntballer]

Ya, I totally understand the long list of drawbacks of electric vehicles.
That documentary is interesting. But it definitely eluded to petroleum industry having their way.
Not saying I'm on the conspiracy theory band wagon, just mentioning the video.
But there are some clear pollution issues that need resolved around cars and I don't think fossil fuels are the way to go.
I also know much of the electricity in America is still produced by fossil fuel plants as well. (I live very close to one).

Doc, I totally agree that this will take time to overcome. But its certainly overdue.

[DavidBoren]

The only thing holding us back, retaining our dependence on fossil fuels is money... not even the costs associated with ditching fossil fuels... but the money the fossil fuel industry has to lobby politically. Funny thing is, the fossil fuel indudtry could invest in renewable energy and still come out rich... the fucking assholes.

Anyways, we can convert all of that poisonous Bayer/Monsanto corn into fuel for internal combustion vehicles with ease. It's far cheaper to convert an older vehicle to flex-fuel than it is to buy a new car... plus, it keeps old cars out of the landfill.

There are lots of options. Hopefully mergers between unlikely partners will coax the industry in the right direction.

[gabe]

Battery day is on the 22nd. We will see if Tesla can up the battery game. If they can make a 1MM mile battery that would change a lot of things.

[SignOfZeta]

I want honda to make another crx.

crz was not good.

You’ll never have another ‘89 CRX without a ‘89 Civic to base it on and the SUV fad of the 90s killed off anything sub 2000lbs forever. Sad but true, these cars and anything like it are gone forever.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

You’ll never have another ‘89 CRX without a ‘89 Civic to base it on and the SUV fad of the 90s killed off anything sub 2000lbs forever. Sad but true, these cars and anything like it are gone forever.

I want an 86-87 crx but your still exactly right.

[SignOfZeta]

Well, it goes double for that flea weight little thing.

[DavidBoren]

You’ll never have another ‘89 CRX without a ‘89 Civic to base it on and the SUV fad of the 90s killed off anything sub 2000lbs forever. Sad but true, these cars and anything like it are gone forever.

It wasn't the SUV fad that killed the sub-2000lb car... there was a shift in the public where suddenly everyone cared about surviving crashes. Regulations changed, and cars had to incorporate crush zones and airbags and all such crap.

It's sad, too, because I am a huge fan of tiny/light cars... my favorite being the Fairlady (240Z), but I like them all... RX's, 1st gen Miatas, Skylines... I am mostly into RWD stuff, personally.

The closest we get today is the BRZ/FRS... which are cool little cars, but still take a lot of work to get down to where we want them to be.

[JasperStout]

You’ll never have another ‘89 CRX without a ‘89 Civic to base it on and the SUV fad of the 90s killed off anything sub 2000lbs forever. Sad but true, these cars and anything like it are gone forever.

Kind of like how they don’t sell mini trucks anymore either. I’d love a new 2 door s10 or Tacoma. Something that was closer to 15k and not 40k like the latest models. I guess nobody else wants one though because they stopped making them 10 years ago

[SignOfZeta]

It wasn't the SUV fad that killed the sub-2000lb car... there was a shift in the public where suddenly everyone cared about surviving crashes. Regulations changed, and cars had to incorporate crush zones and airbags and all such crap.

It's sad, too, because I am a huge fan of tiny/light cars... my favorite being the Fairlady (240Z), but I like them all... RX's, 1st gen Miatas, Skylines... I am mostly into RWD stuff, personally.

The closest we get today is the BRZ/FRS... which are cool little cars, but still take a lot of work to get down to where we want them to be.

No, it was the SUV boom. The standard vehicle is now an F-250. Every car has to be made to survive being rear ended by an F-250 or Trailblazer. The bullies won. There is no way to make a CRX or early Integra if the crash bar has to be located 12” higher than it used to be. The disparity in hight had to be addressed and in the US $$$ talks. Your aunts GMC Acadia is the reason we can’t have a MR-2 anymore.

[DavidBoren]

Oh, got it.

[Mr. Hick]

If we had any brains we would have diesel powered turbines and electric motors, just like our trains. Battery packs are incredibly horrible on the environment and very short lived. diesel engines run for tens of thousands of hours and electric motors are easy to manufacture.

[DavidBoren]

I understand that there is more involved than just pouring vegetable oil in the fuel tank... but we do have the technology to make bio-diesel and recycled fuel that can be used. And if this is all just wishful thinking anyways, might as well wish for renewable diesel to be used.

[Mr. Hick]

Straight, Old-Fashioned Dinosaur diesel is still better for this planet then the insane amount of strip mining involved in poorly developed nations for the batteries we use. Those same batteries are also almost completely non-recyclable and destined to end up in a land fill.

[DavidBoren]

I think 90% of the emissions crap put on vehicles, especially diesels, is actually worse... engine runs less efficiently with restrictive exhaust and stupid cams that can't have "too much" overlap, p!ss being added to the exhaust... nonsense.

Diesels can be made to burn a variety of fuels, the combustion can be made cleaner and more stable and more powerful with propane injection, bio-diesel is better run as a mix anyways... treat the whole thing like a flex-fuel gasoline/ethanol system, but with diesel/vegetable oil/propane.

And then you make it hybrid. The best part is all of this can be done to older vehicles/engines as retroactive conversions... keeping old vehicles out of the landfills.

[SignOfZeta]

Just because its “bio” doesn’t meant it doesn’t f s up. The issues with diesel have not so much to do with the fuel anymore. It requires a TON of after treatment to make a diesel as clean as a gas car and by then you’ve choked off half the gains. The NOx issue is probably insurmountable in itself but even worse than that are new issues related to diesel emissions and human health.

If want true progress you need to forget this idea that somehow your personal carbon foot print is completely up to the car you drive. If you want to stop the sea from rising just move closer to work and don’t eat so much beef.

My other car is a TDI wagon from 2014. I do like the stuff, I just think it’s day is done for passenger cars. It’s here to stay for decades in heavy vehicles and industry though.

[glaman5266]

Eat more venison.

[gabe]

I'll probably catch hate but honestly f**k diesels. We have a ton of diesel bros up here and even though the diesel die-hards claim they make less measurable emissions than a gas car (pretty sure they don't) you can just see the soot pouring out and smell how awful the exhaust is. My worst nightmare is getting trapped behind a diesel truck in traffic and breathing that crap.

The diesel commuter car people will claim they can be made cleaner and more efficient than gas but then why did VW have to cheat on the emission testing? Another thing I've noticed is that diesel engines ramp up REAL fast in emissions when they start getting old/out of tune. Gassers tend to get worse at a much slower rate.

[shadow191]

Lot of guys down here "roll coal" too - so annoying. None of those guys is making less emissions because they've taken out all of the emissions equipment, otherwise you don't get that giant cloud of soot.

Diesel isn't cleaner than gasoline, it emits less CO2 because of higher MPG which is why it's so popular in Europe because they have limits on that. But in other emissions, it's actually higher.

[glaman5266]

The only thing holding us back, retaining our dependence on fossil fuels is money... not even the costs associated with ditching fossil fuels... but the money the fossil fuel industry has to lobby politically. Funny thing is, the fossil fuel indudtry could invest in renewable energy and still come out rich... the fucking assholes.

Anyways, we can convert all of that poisonous Bayer/Monsanto corn into fuel for internal combustion vehicles with ease. It's far cheaper to convert an older vehicle to flex-fuel than it is to buy a new car... plus, it keeps old cars out of the landfill.

There are lots of options. Hopefully mergers between unlikely partners will coax the industry in the right direction.

Yup. Money talks. The oil industry makes way too much money & is way to comfortable to change anything. They're all gonna be dead by the time the earth is beyond fixing anyway. It sucks. Even with all the potential money in alternate fuels & technology they're still not going for it. That's sad. I mean, petroleum was a budding, "uncertain" industry at one point, and look how that turned out.

As for bio/corn fuel, there are other issues with that as well. Not tech oriented, but in terms of farming. Sure, corn fuel can be a good thing to a point, but when the benefits it offers don't offset the subsidies that farms get (read: taxpayer cost) for growing it & the fact they're growing that stuff instead of actual food it gets a bit disconcerting IMO. The world will eventually have a population so large it'll be insanely difficult to feed everyone, as if it isn't already difficult. I'd rather have food than subsidized corn for biofuel. Saves taxpayers money & we get actual food. But that's another topic...

I do find these partnerships interesting. Especially with foreign manufacturers working with the lagging NA auto makers. I guess I don't even know whey they're interested in doing it. Portfolio diversity? More access to the NA market? Access to different tech? I mean, why would one of the greatest & most popular motor companies in the world wanna work with GM?