The Automotive Thread

[knight1fox3]

I got about 60k out of the tires that came on my Altima.  They had been down to the wear strips since about 50k.  I will probably go with a little harder compound on the first set of replacement tires on the Tesla if they only last sub-30k.  

Another question (thanks for being the test pilot).  Does Tesla provide with you with an estimated annual energy usage for charging their vehicles (depending on which model you get)?  I'm curious how that would compare to annual fuel usage for a given area.

 

[Dleg]

I'm so far behind the times.  I have somewhere around 500 CDs and I haven't ripped any of them to iTunes or any other digital format, nor do I personally own an iPod.  I've been planning to get started on loading them all into iTunes, but just haven't gotten started.  Probaby because I know how much time it will take.  

 

[Supe]

After talking with TFMS last night, it looks like we're going to keep my shitbox Saturn.  Her CRV is getting up there in miles, and she is wanting something more economical to drive around town in.  The only major scheduled maintenance on the Saturn is the timing belt in another 15k miles.  I think she's going to "inherit" the Saturn, drop her CRV down to liability coverage only, and I will end up with a new daily driver.  We will keep the CRV as our dog transporter/errand car.

 

[snickerd3]

Just disable the light or put a piece of tape over it. Should be fine.   <_<

yeah but if it starts messing with the gas mileage I will have to get it looked at...  Stupid EGR.

 

[snickerd3]

Learning about combustion engine vs electric cars...the combustion won out, sorry Tesla

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Another question (thanks for being the test pilot).  Does Tesla provide with you with an estimated annual energy usage for charging their vehicles (depending on which model you get)?  I'm curious how that would compare to annual fuel usage for a given area.

They couldn't possibly do that.  The energy usage will vary greatly based on how far you drive and how hard you drive the car.  All of the EPA mileage estimates are based on an average usage of 300 Wh/mile.  There is a graph that you can display on either the dash display or center console touchscreen that will show you a chart of your instantaneous power consumption and an average line plotted over the last 5, 15, or 30 miles.  On my test drive, I was averaging about 350 Wh/mile because I was accelerating hard whenever I could, but I could see during normal use that it would be easy to keep it to 300.  Funny story...the Tesla rep was telling me that when they brought the P90D's down for the test drives at my company's party, he saw the highest average power usage he has ever seen.  Those cars were averaging over 900 Wh/mile!  

Also, somebody like me that puts <10k miles per year on a car is going to have a substantially lower annual energy usage than somebody that puts >15k miles per year on a car.  

Regardless, a full charge on my car (60 kWh) will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.20 (I think our power costs 7 cents/kWh), and I can get ~400 miles range out of two charges (which is how much I typically got out of 15 gallons of gas in my Altima).  So, $8.40 for two full charges vs. $33.15 for a full tank of gas (Louisville is averaging $2.21/gallon right now).

 

[jeb6294]

The struggle was real back in the day!

Lots of dust on this cd case...

Whatever...talk to me when you wanted to skip a song and had to hit the FFW button and try and guess where it is.  I had a car with a cassette deck that had a little switch that you could turn on so it would FFW until it would "hear" the break between songs and start playing.  That was NASA type shit right there...unless you were listening to something with pauses, or albums that had little or no break between songs, or....

 

[Road Guy]

lols, yeah I had a ton of cassette as well, I just don't have a way to take pictures of them since they are long gone.... (1990 HS graduation)

I remember I had one of those brief case looking things to hold them, I tossed them a few decades ago but I wish I had kept them around

 

[Supe]

Nothing says high fidelity like a mixtape made from holding your cassette recorder up to a radio speaker...

 

[Road Guy]

my 2nd car was a 1984 ford ranger and it had an 8 track in it. I found one 8 track at a friend of mines house, it was Alabama- not sure of the album name but it was the one that had "high cotton" on it.. played that one over and over again, but you know 8 tracks were actually more advanced because you could advance to the next song without the "FF" button

 

[MA_PE]

my 2nd car was a 1984 ford ranger and it had an 8 track in it. I found one 8 track at a friend of mines house, it was Alabama- not sure of the album name but it was the one that had "high cotton" on it.. played that one over and over again, but you know 8 tracks were actually more advanced because you could advance to the next song without the "FF" button

Not the 8-tracks that I recall.  You could advance to the next track which typically had more than one song on it.

 

[MetsFan]

I feel bad for whoever bought my bimmer.  Check this out:

[link expired]

It failed emissions and it's been in and out of service 3 times in less than 500 miles since they bought it.

 

[Road Guy]

Did you trade it in or sell it to a buyer directly? Hope they don't come looking for you!

about 4 years ago I bought a jeep from a used car dealer and didn't really look at it as close as I should. It was a rust bucket from Pennsylvania.  I kept it a year and after spending about a grand just welding stuff back on I sold it on craigslist for what I paid for it.  I was very upfront with the buyer and at the time he told me "he just wanted a jeep cause they looked cool". Then we moved to CO but I started getting angry messages from him via text once more stuff started falling apart.. LOLS  Good thing I didn't leave a forwarding address..

And never will I buy any car that ever spent any time in the NE!

 

[MetsFan]

Yeah the salt is a killer. I traded it in because I knew it had a bunch of issues and probably more than I didn't know about. At least they got a 90 day warranty.

 

[Road Guy]

& they get to tell people they drive a BMW!

 

[MetsFan]

& they get to tell people they drive a BMW!

Lol

 

[Supe]

Test drove a Focus ST last week.  Will probably end up with one in base trim.  Don't fit the Recaros, my back doesn't even touch the seat back.  The base seats are comfy, though.  WICKED torque steer, but an amazingly quick car for what it is with decent features and comfort, plus room for kid and dogs.  I don't think the dealer was particularly thrilled with my test drive - he had both hands on the door handle for most of it.  

 

[matt267 PE]

he had both hands on the door handle for most of it.  

hahahah, make him earn his pay.

 

[Supe]

They only had black, and I don't want another black car.  Told them to call me when a base model white or charcoal show up.

 

[Road Guy]

I just saw a white one with bright red mudflaps, is that a premium feature?