Recent content by dbsb3233

I haven't noticed any Audi logos, but yes, they share the same underlying platform and some of the same parts. But I haven't taken off any panels. 😉

After forking over big bucks trying to chase "the ultimate" this year (a Porsche Macan EV and a Lucid Gravity), it's reminded us that there is no ultimate. Only varying degrees of satisfaction/frustration. They all have their problems, they all have their bugs, they all have weak software...

When I joined these forums in late 2019, the Green River EA station had not been announced yet. That made the route nearly impossible to safely traverse in the MME (not fully impossible, but we'd need a 100% charge in Grand Junction which is not where we live so it's a 90 minute DCFC to do...

First Edition here. Sold mine yesterday (upgrading to a Lucid Gravity). 72k miles. Mostly road trips, across 38 states. Overall we loved the vehicle and had few big problems with it (getting stranded 1000 miles from home with a failing HVBJB in 2022 notwithstanding) . Relative to many other...

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything we can do to kickstart an OTA. It just retries based on Ford's schedule. Which in the past for me, seemed to take anywhere from 2 weeks to months.

Yep. It all hinges on cost. Most obvious cost reduction is no driver. But also, things like no leather seats, no fancy sound system, no sunroof option, no tow package, no 18-way seats with massage, no paint upgrades, no high end wheels, etc etc. All the stuff that makes a personal car...

Yep. Ford too. Trucks, SUVs, and other truck-like variants. And the US might have lost much of that market too if it weren't for the Chicken Tax (which became a permanent 25% tariff on light trucks that still exists to this day).

Depends on the cost. Rideshare is too expensive to displace much personal car ownership. But cut those fares by 50% or more and the financial case gets much more compelling for millions of people at the margins. Some 2-car households become 1 + robo use, saving $thousands/yr. Some seniors give...

Lately, yes, their offerings have improved dramatically over even just 5 years ago. Worth noting that there was a ton of government subsidy involved in that, for whatever people want to make of that tactic for attempting to monopolize/dominate the market. But even then, it still costs less to...

Toyota had a temporary increase in China sales early this year, but that was an anomaly (promotional deals). Latest data shows the decline has resumed (6.9% drop for all of 2024, 6.6% drop in the latest reported month this year). China is going heavy into EVs (47% market share and rising fast)...

Not just Americans cars. China has been pushing out foreign competition from their domestic market for a few decades now. The growth of the Chinese auto industry this century is rather alarming. They're trying to monopolize their domestic market, with eyes on doing the same to other markets.

People can want Ford to be making more EVs all they want, but it's pointless without doing so profitably.

That's the way we usually road tripped the MME as well, typically ~2 hours on the road and a ~30 minute DCFC stop. Not because we wanted to stop that soon, but because I play it pretty safe on range and charging. I like to leave a 2nd station in range as backup, just in case. That commonly...

It is made up. :cool: Just making a point. Also, I mean within the context of EVs that are overwhelmingly tilted toward 0-60 speed vs range (relative to ICE vehicles). EVs tend to have way faster 0-60 speed than ICE but way less range than ICE. If we were talking 8 second 0-60's it would be...

Exactly. For 95% of drivers, EV range means WAY more than 0-60. It always puzzled my why more EV makers don't offer a different gear ratio that seems like it would shift some 0-60 to range instead. Although maybe it doesn't work that way? It's the way it works with a manual transmission ICE...