G. David Felt

Dentist fear

Buick has become the first to incorporate the first Yelp Reservations experience for an in-vehicle platform. Make your restaurant reservation anywhere nationwide. To Quote the Buick Press Release: Within the Marketplace app, Yelp Reservations allows customers to search for restaurants in a 25-mile radius of their vehicle’s location and reserve a table for up to 10 people. This is the first time Yelp Reservations has been embedded in vehicles. Users can segment their search by types of cuisine, such as Seafood or Mexican, and view the restaurant’s rating and general price range. The app also lets drivers call a restaurant directly. “Whether drivers want to make a dinner reservation on the go, or get recommendations for restaurants in a new city, the newly added Yelp Reservations brings simple convenience to the car,” said Sam Russell, director of Buick Marketing. “Making new features like this available for vehicles already on the road enhances our vehicles with unexpected new benefits for our customers.” With more than 160 million reviews, Yelp is a trusted resource for connecting consumers with great local businesses. With the availability of Yelp Reservations, Buick drivers can learn about the best restaurants nearby and easily book a table at participating restaurants. https://media.buick.com/media/us/en/buick/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2018/nov/1102-yelp.html

Gotta Love this GMC picture of showing the WHOLE family of Trucks and SUV/CUV in AT4 Premium Off-Road package as a lineup for 2021. AT4 models are engineered to add an extra level of capability and technology tailored to customers’ wants and needs. That vision is consistent across all AT4 models and the level of capability matches the needs of customers in each segment. Professional Grade engineering highlights of the AT4 lineup include: Sierra AT4 offers a 2-inch factory lift, skid plates, Rancho® monotube shocks, a standard MultiPro Tailgate, available Carbon Fiber Bed and available Mud-Terrain tires. Sierra HD AT4 features an off-road suspension, skid plates, Rancho shocks®, a standard MultiPro Tailgate and up to 15 innovative camera views* that helps benefit not just trailering, but visibility over rough terrain and in tight corners. Acadia AT4 features an Advanced Twin-Clutch AWD System for increased capability on mixed surfaces, All-Terrain tires and Traction Select with Off-Road Mode. Canyon AT4 comes standard with off-road tuned suspension, an automatic locking rear differential and 31-inch Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac® tires. (available Spring 2020) Yukon AT4 offers air suspension with 4 inches of adjustability, an electronic limited-slip differential and a 15-inch head-up display. (available Summer 2020) Terrain AT4 will feature a rugged exterior, confident capability and advanced technology. (available Fall 2020) About GMC https://media.gmc.com/media/us/en/gmc/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/jan/0115-at4-lineup.html

Lots of interesting stuff happening as GM by divisions starts to release more info on their EV programs. First is a interesting video on their Ultium batteries. This clearly shows how versatile they can build the battery packs. https://plants.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/bcportal.html/currentVideoId/6157651202001/currentChannelId/Most Recent.gsaOff.html Multiple-cell-configurations-within-Ultium-modules.mp4 They have released a video of a side profile of the new Chevrolet Bolt morphing into the Bolt EUV. I was able to download the video and as such, way more visual detail than on the posted web sites below are showing. https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.html chevrolet-bolt-euv-teaser-1598391287.mp4 https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33799068/chevy-2022-bolt-bolt-euv-tease/ https://www.autoblog.com/2020/08/26/2022-chevy-bolt-euv-teaser-video/ https://www.carscoops.com/2020/08/chevrolet-teases-2022-bolt-euv-and-ev-confirms-super-cruise-for-electric-suv/ https://insideevs.com/news/440899/chevrolet-bolt-euv-production-summer-2021/ Have to say the upcoming update to the Chevrolet Bolt and the EUV is nice looking and should sell even better than the old Bolt. Truly a much more CUV look.

Mouth Destruction

High

Under

That is cool, I think they might have made it considering I did not find any in the latest report which covers auto's up to 2017. https://www.iihs.org/ratings/driver-death-rates-by-make-and-model WOW, Mazda and Hyundai are stand outs for the safest auto's. 64 auto's are top picks for 2020 and FCA and Mitsubishi have not gotten any awards for any models this year. Volvo has gotten the top safety pick but no top safety pick plus where GM has. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/64-vehicles-earn-2020-iihs-awards-thanks-to-state-of-the-art-safety

chemical

I usually have 15,000 miles a year on the SS, no more than 6,000 miles on the Escalade as that is our road trip auto. With the Pandemic, the Escalade has a total so far of 207 miles from using it to load up groceries and supplies for the seniors in the family and delivery to their homes. The SS as of August has a total of 4387 miles put on it so far. I suspect at most maybe 8,000 miles this year. Staying home, working in the yard and garden, just not taking any chances with my wife not having a thyroid, just gotta be safe and smart.

For people who work from home and rarely go out to seniors that want minimal maintenance, the lease is a great deal for a new auto IMHO. I have a Neighbor who is like me a computer engineer, always has worked from home. He works for Comcast as his specialty is the 4K encryption for streaming. He has a 2004 Toyota pickup, manual, manual windows, manual door locks, AM/FM radio. Base model and it still has not gone over 75,000 miles. 16 years old. Crazy, but says he will hold onto it till it hits 100,000 miles. If he was actually into auto's, and wants something new every 3 to 4 years like my brother in-law, this would be for him.

I wonder if the limit is due to wanting the electric assist to not fail?

Acidic

Labor Day is almost here and the Lease deals around the country for EV's are going gangbusters already. Leading the charge is Hyundai with a $140 a month Lease deal on their EV Ioniq. Check out all the deals listed here: https://electrek.co/2020/08/24/huge-labor-day-ev-lease-140-mo-deals-and-discounts-prices-less-than-gas/

Jeep Ram recall on the EcoDiesel engine due to a failure of the camshaft that can result in a stalling risk. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129358_diesel-ram-1500-and-jeep-grand-cherokee-models-recalled-for-stalling-risk

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!

Back on track for non political jokes. Q: What is the similarity between electric cars and a man's penis? ? ? ? ? A: They are both Touch to Start! ? ? ? Q: What is the worlds more favorite electric car still? ? ? ? ? A: Lightning McQueen ? ? ? Q: If Dodge makes an electric car, what will it be called? ? ? ? ? A: Dodge Chargeable ? ? ? Q: Why did Elon name his electric auto the "Tesla"? ? ? ? ? A: Because "Muskmobile" didn't pass the smell test! ? ? ?

According to an interview done by Steve Fowler at Auto Express UK, Thierry Bollore the new CEO of Jaguar Land Rover is considering taking Jaguar pure EV to be a Tesla / Polestar competitor and would start with the new Baby Jaguar concept they built. This is a Tesla 3 sized luxury 4 door sedan. This comes after so many stories about the Flagship XJ EV being postponed as they focus on ICE auto's. Jaguar has confirmed that due to the success of their i-Pace CUV, they are moving forward with delivery of the XJ EV in 2021. Castle Bromwich will be home to all electric auto's that they make including the Road biased Range Rover EV. This comes after sales of the Jaguar XE dropped 28% in 2019. As such, the board with new CEO leadership feels it needs to aggressively move to an all new replacement of the XE with this all electric baby Jaguar. Jaguar management is also closely watching Polestar and especially their Polestar 2 EV. The all new MLA EV platform would allow replacements of the E-Pace and F-Pace to be a priority once the XE and XJ are launched. Jaguar according to the story is on pace to launch plug-in hybrids of the E & F Pace that will get a facelift along with a move to a Hybrid as a stop gap measure till they are replaced with EVs. There are also talks of a smaller electric Jaguar as Jaguar has signed letters of agreement to work with BMW on a electric version of the BMW 1 & 2 series that will go electric and this would bring in a much smaller footprint Jaguar below the XE and i-Pace. A big question is that the F-Type sports car while being considered a must by some executives on the Board could fall to the history bin as it only sold 6,000 in the last financial year globally making it the second worst performing auto in their portfolio behind the XJ which will come out next year in the dramatic clean sheet design. https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/jaguar/353006/new-baby-electric-jaguar-take-tesla-model-3

Pet Rock

Like a Rock!

Seems Test Mules for Chevrolet Silverado are going to have the same Multi-Feature tail gate according to pictures snapped and published on this site. https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/08/chevy-silverado-with-multiflex-tailgate-spied-completely-camo-free/

Company Tag lines

Graphene: 200 times stronger than steel, 1,000 times lighter than paper, 98% transparent, conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature and can convert light at any wavelength into a current. Final feature is it is the 4th most-abundant element in the world and universe. https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/new-inventions/graphene.htm Good read on the stuff and how it will radically change everything from cell phones to EV's. From supercapactors to faster charging and denser solid state batteries that way less. This is a game changer and up till recently was a super material that will change many things, but then a new feature was discovered that will help really boost solar cells and batteries is the new superconductor displacement angle that MIT discovered in experimenting with dual-layered graphene. Expect cellphones to laptops to take advantage of the Graphene benefits first with new products coming out in 2021. This will allow charging to be 5 times faster, battery life to last 3 times longer and battery cycles to last 5 times longer before replacement. Samsung and Huwei will be the expected first out with tech that uses the new solid state graphene batteries. One company is already selling various base products to be used in production. https://www.graphenea.com/ Graphene batteries are expected out in 2023 that will give 20% increase in capacity over Li-Ion and 15% energy density increase. Solar cells will be out that are 20% more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. From auto parts to water desalinization, Graphene is going to change the 21st century for everyone.

One thing I miss is in our 76 Olds Station wagon, the crotch coolers. Front seat driver and passenger had them. It was great. Not found on any modern auto that I know of. My 94 GMC Suburban has ceiling AC vents along with floor heaters in the back.

Job One