That sounds like it would be a good rant, maybe you’ll feel like it later… ?
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And they are also a manufacture that has yet to turn a profit.
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Pod cars!
I used to love driving. Then I moved to Seattle. Driving in this city is no fun whatsoever.
US road trips are good, but driving still isn’t fun. All those dull straight roads and ludicrously low speed limits.
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I guess?
Haven’t I mentioned that I live in Michigan? The state with the worst roads in the nation? The car just turned 7, and will very likely need new front suspension by next year. Ball joint clunks loudly over every bump.
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Geez… this makes sense!
Well I certainly wouldn’t expect a Model 3 to fair any better, perhaps you should shoot for the Model X?
This reminds me of a discussion I had with a coworker. Here in NC we pay $0.34 cents worth of state tax per gallon of gas, which in theory goes toward maintaining the roads. Yet I am unaware if an electric vehicle pays such a usage tax. Eh, if enough cars go electric the government will figure out a way.
Allow me to quote myself:
I suspect as a loss-leader for Toyota, they just don’t make them as well as they used to.
[edit in response to your edit]
They want to increase registration fees for electric and hybrid here. Fully electric cars, fine. Hybrids, not OK until or unless heavy haulers pay fees commensurate to the damage their overloaded vehicles do to the roads.
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The Prius is a cheap car (I have had one, this isn’t mindless abuse) and an Acura isn’t. But what I noticed with the Prius was two things; trim rattles and the problem of brakes getting blocked with mud through sheer lack of use. The brakes had to be dismantled and cleaned at 35k, and the shoes were hardly worn at all.
However…I have serious doubts as to whether Tesla will achieve the price/performance of the projected model 3. I know a bit about the industry - I started in powertrain R&D and have worked for component suppliers - and the fact is that designing and building a car is enormously difficult. Companies like FIAT still struggle to get the reliability expected by Honda and Toyota owners, VAG managed to have big problems with the dual clutch gearbox due to a design decision that was questionable in hindsight, and I’ve had to have a Mercedes auto box replaced under warranty due to a faulty shim - which should never, ever happen. If you think that modern car production lines really started in the 1980s, the big boys have had 30 years to get it right in volume cars - and Ford, Honda, Toyota and Skoda are extremely good at it. Tesla are trying to reproduce 30 years of volume car R&D in just a few years. Even companies like Porsche have struggled with problems as they have gone from low volume to high volume, and Porsche has profits to invest.
I could be wrong and I hope to be around long enough to find out, but the Model 3 could turn out to be the Windows 1 for Tesla.
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That was my plan for my ancient Insight, but it got Malachi Crunched about a year ago at 13yrs/150k.
I now have a gas guzzling sedan that needs to be replaced by the T3 asap.
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I have nothing against driver aids – things like lane departure assist, blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control, pre-collision braking, and rear brake assist are all great technologies that can be lifesavers.
The problem here is that Tesla has implemented a semi-autonomous system calling it “autopilot” and despite all the disclaimers in the world saying that you shouldn’t rely on it this clearly isn’t happening as witnessed by any number of YouTube videos of people on public roads letting their cars drive themselves. Even the guy in the story had previously posted a video where the Tesla avoided a completely avoidable accident for him when he wasn’t paying attention to his driving (and he admitted as much.)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again it’s very possible that this accident would have happened even if he was 100% paying attention in manual mode or was in any other car. We’ll need to wait to see what Tesla/NHTSA says after their investigation is done.
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Yep. It’s a tough business, for sure.
Prii are by far the most common taxis in my city (Vancouver). Drivers claim them to be by far the best economic proposition (despite being a little expensive to buy). Low gas costs and very low servicing and repair costs. They’re pretty horrible to ride in, though.
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Top 5% of First World problem.
Tesla car was involved in crash while in autopilot mode
ETA:
I just re-skimmed the content, I didn’t realize the family had died.
RIP.
If this tractor trailer made a left turn where he would be hit by oncoming traffic driving at the speed limit, and did so anyway, and the Tesla failed to slam on the brakes, I think it’s fair to criticize the Tesla for not slamming on the brakes, but the vast majority of blame for this accident would be on the tractor trailer. Making a turn across oncoming traffic that forces the oncoming traffic to notice you and slow down is illegal and highly dangerous. Hard to see how the Tesla is at fault here.
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one company, different brands : ) [and the modular system is pronounced, cars of similar class from, say, Skoda and Seat are more or less technically identical]
I would only want it as an option. Sometimes driving is a pleasure. I took off yesterday and drove up River Road to New Hope. Gorgeous day, gorgeous drive. Great to just pull over when a view catches your eye. Washington’s Crossing Park:
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Mass transit is cheaper, but in many areas such as Seattle, is slower, less reliable, smellier, and more likely to get you accosted by random drunks or homeless.
My wife used to take a bus across town and would constantly get catcalls or creepy dudes hitting on her. She was also late to work at least once a week because the bus either wouldn’t show up, show up late, or just drive past. I was more than happy to get her a civic once she switched jobs and stopped working downtown.
As far as the sense of freedom? Man I love driving. I have a car that’s great for driving and I bought it specifically for that.
I would give it up in a heartbeat for a car I didn’t have to drive that I could get for a semi-reasonable price in a few years and then throw money at a weekend track car, like a used Miata.
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I too love driving and I drive a sporty car. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to take public transit. I live in the Seattle area, but if I want to take a bus to work I have to either walk half a mile uphill one way, or drive/walk/bike a mile the other way to a park and ride. Then I have to wait for a bus. I live 3 miles from work, so screw that; it’s less stressful on most days to just sit in traffic like everybody else.
I am not against fully autonomous driving or driver aids, but I am against this notion of semi autonomous driving that allows drivers to actively not pay any attention to what’s going on and you end up with people like this on the roads: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/this-goddamn-ad-voices-infiniti-q50-1637505450 (here’s a link to the ad, which is no longer visible in that link)
