Permanent Car Spotters

[Robert Hall]

Went to the beach today and on the way home saw a Cybertruck for the first time in traffic...Ohio plate 'CYBRTRCK'.   Hilarious looking, like a rolling dumpster from behind.   Also saw a sharp clean black w/ red interior '87-90 Mustang GT convertible rolling top down.  Saw a bright orange C8 Z-06 parked at a restaurant.  At the beach I saw a modded, beat up early 90s Firebird w/ hole in the hood, chrome air cleaner sticking through, big wheels and tires. 

[ccap41]

On 7/16/2024 at 11:02 AM, G. David Felt said:

Saw my first BMW M series Hybrid plugin SUV at work here today.

They're ugly things but they go like stink. 30 miles of electric range isn't too shabby for something with 644hp. 

Edited July 22 by ccap41

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

They're ugly things but they go like stink. 30 miles of electric range isn't too shabby for something with 644hp. 

I can't wait for the refresh into something palletable. 

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

They're ugly things but they go like stink. 30 miles of electric range isn't too shabby for something with 644hp. 

 

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I can't wait for the refresh into something palletable. 

The thing is a fat pig that does not fit in the parking stalls and slower than stink on charging. Pretty bad, found out it is a salesperson here at Dell and they have stated they love how fast it is, but the battery is so small for any real pure electric driving and the charging is slower than crap. They charge as they get free parking for less cost charging than the cost of parking in the garage. 🙄

[ccap41]

48 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I can't wait for the refresh into something palletable. 

Yep. they're just awful all-around. It isn't like the sedans who just have a nasty grille section. These are more of a mess from bumper to bumper, IMO. 

34 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

 

The thing is a fat pig that does not fit in the parking stalls and slower than stink on charging. Pretty bad, found out it is a salesperson here at Dell and they have stated they love how fast it is, but the battery is so small for any real pure electric driving and the charging is slower than crap. They charge as they get free parking for less cost charging than the cost of parking in the garage. 🙄

Nobody with a plug-in hybrid really cares about charging speeds. They're only using this because it's free to them. Level 2 is more than enough for any plug-in hybrid (well, the Ram REV or whatever may be a different story, but it's not out yet). 

30 miles of range is plenty. Realistically, anything more than that has too heavy of a battery and may as well just be a full EV as you lose efficiency with either wasted battery weight or wasted engine/transmission weight.

[G. David Felt]

28 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Yep. they're just awful all-around. It isn't like the sedans who just have a nasty grille section. These are more of a mess from bumper to bumper, IMO. 

Nobody with a plug-in hybrid really cares about charging speeds. They're only using this because it's free to them. Level 2 is more than enough for any plug-in hybrid (well, the Ram REV or whatever may be a different story, but it's not out yet). 

30 miles of range is plenty. Realistically, anything more than that has too heavy of a battery and may as well just be a full EV as you lose efficiency with either wasted battery weight or wasted engine/transmission weight.

Around here with traffic congestion back to PrePandemic levels, the 30 miles would seem like enough but it seems when you live on the Eastside, then your 20 miles one way is too long to get to work and back and if it is hot where you use the climate control, then 30 miles is more like 25 or so, so I get the drive to work, charge, drive home and charge, but your right, might as well get a full on EV. Still an Ugly Porky Pig of an SUV and I love SUVs, but this one just does not click for me.

[ccap41]

2 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Around here with traffic congestion back to PrePandemic levels, the 30 miles would seem like enough but it seems when you live on the Eastside, then your 20 miles one way is too long to get to work and back and if it is hot where you use the climate control, then 30 miles is more like 25 or so, so I get the drive to work, charge, drive home and charge, but your right, might as well get a full on EV. Still an Ugly Porky Pig of an SUV and I love SUVs, but this one just does not click for me.

If it's traffic congestion, you should actually be getting more than a highway/city average rating, A/C or not. That's one of the biggest advantages of an EV, their incredible city ratings as they're constantly recouping energy decelerating or traveling at speeds where drag from windspeed is next to zero. 

[G. David Felt]

42 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

If it's traffic congestion, you should actually be getting more than a highway/city average rating, A/C or not. That's one of the biggest advantages of an EV, their incredible city ratings as they're constantly recouping energy decelerating or traveling at speeds where drag from windspeed is next to zero. 

Yes that would be true if in the actual city creeping along, but around here having to take a freeway that is one hour to go 15 to 20 miles on the freeway is terrible. Freeway is far less efficient than local driving with regen on. I have not heard or read anything that BMW has very good regen, so freeway creeping is pretty bad on battery power.

In the last 5 years the King County area has grown by 1 million folks with no improvement in the freeway system, just more congestion. As such, driving from my house which was a 15 to 20 drive in 2019 if I was not in the commute traffic to downtown Seattle is now 30 to 35 minutes. If I am in the normal commute traffic it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. As such, working from home is the best to no have to deal with 2 to 4 hrs. a day wasted on the freeway commuting.

Sadly, EV or ICE, freeway crawl is still worse than city driving especially during the summer here. Thought I get it things are hotter where you live. Hybrids do much better than ICE and plugin are just meh in what owners of them have to say that I hear.

[ccap41]

10 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Yes that would be true if in the actual city creeping along, but around here having to take a freeway that is one hour to go 15 to 20 miles on the freeway is terrible. Freeway is far less efficient than local driving with regen on. I have not heard or read anything that BMW has very good regen, so freeway creeping is pretty bad on battery power.

In the last 5 years the King County area has grown by 1 million folks with no improvement in the freeway system, just more congestion. As such, driving from my house which was a 15 to 20 drive in 2019 if I was not in the commute traffic to downtown Seattle is now 30 to 35 minutes. If I am in the normal commute traffic it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. As such, working from home is the best to no have to deal with 2 to 4 hrs. a day wasted on the freeway commuting.

Sadly, EV or ICE, freeway crawl is still worse than city driving especially during the summer here. Thought I get it things are hotter where you live. Hybrids do much better than ICE and plugin are just meh in what owners of them have to say that I hear.

Averaging 15-20MPH sounds more like stop and go rather than creeping along. Averaging that sounds more like traveling between 30-10MPH, plenty of opportunities for regen. It's certainly slow but not so slow that an ICE is just idling along at 5-10mph. Regardless, averaging 15-20mph sounds pretty ideal for an electric vehicle. 

[Robert Hall]

Also reminded the other day how Ohio has no safety inspections...saw a 90s GMT 400 era Chevy pickup rolling down the road with crazy front wheel camber and the bed sides rusted and flared out/sagging on each side, rusted front fenders and doors.    Also was behind for a while a mid 90s S10 pickup, riding lower on the left side than the right with what I thought was a big mud flap flapping in the wind on the right...but it was ahead of the rear wheel.  It pulled off later and I got a good view of the right side, the 'flap' was a big chunk of rear bed side/fender that was rusted out and hanging loose behind the cab ahead of the wheel arch... 

[G. David Felt]

4 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Also reminded the other day how Ohio has no safety inspections...saw a 90s GMT 400 era Chevy pickup rolling down the road with crazy front wheel camber and the bed sides rusted and flared out/sagging on each side, rusted front fenders and doors.    Also was behind for a while a mid 90s S10 pickup, riding lower on the left side than the right with what I thought was a big mud flap flapping in the wind on the right...but it was ahead of the rear wheel.  It pulled off later and I got a good view of the right side, the 'flap' was a big chunk of rear bed side/fender that was rusted out and hanging loose behind the cab ahead of the wheel arch... 

I so facepalm this as I totally agree with you, I have come to feel Washington state needs to have yearly vehicle safety inspections. I am seeing so many autos from the South/Southeast that are in terrible condition driving on the roads with same issues or worse, accident damage that has fenders, bumpers, etc. bent way out that could hurt people as well as cause damage to other autos. The number of autos I am seeing on the road with no taillights, single headlight, no markers working, third cyclops brake light not working, time to make people realize driving is a privilege earned and not a right and driving dangerous autos on the road is a danger to all.

[Robert Hall]

Took a Sunday drive out east into the rolling hills, on the way there saw a gorgeous dark turquoise '68 GTO convertible w/ white interior, rolling top down. Also a gorgeous '69 Buick Electra convertible in a silver green w/ matching interior, top down.   Came up behind a black w/ yellow stripes late model Camaro w/ Hertz Hendrick #24 logos...must have been a special edition for Hertz.  Followed a sharp recent silver blue w/ white stripes Mustang Shelby GT500  with a nice burble tune.  Saw a yellow T-Bucket Model T hot rod w/ an older guy w/ long white hair and beard driving.   Saw a sharp metallic gray Ferrari SF90 and a clean black '66 Ford Fairlane 2dr about a mile apart on a backroad..Found a tasty Mexican restaurant in the small town of Middlefield, Ohio. 

I think I need sheepskin seat covers for the Caddy like I have in the Jeep...black leather seats get warm on a hot day, even w/ the AC cranked down. 

Edited July 29 by Robert Hall

[G. David Felt]

CoWorker bought themselves a brand new Cadillac Lyriq

[Robert Hall]

Came out of Ace Hardware this morning, saw a gorgeous black CT5-V series parked near my CT6.  On the way home, saw a gorgeous copper w/ white interior  '62 de Ville convertible parked in a small lot, top down.   Beautiful weather today. 

[G. David Felt]

Ran some errands this morning and saw a mint condition CT6 Blackwing in glossy black burbling along the road, sounded really good compared to the crack high pitch noise of the mustangs and other luxury brands. Cadillac nailed the defined muscle sound of the exhaust. Noticeable, but not annoying.