G. David Felt

I agree not all after market suppliers are quality, but some are and worth it. I disagree with you on more complicated than that. If it meets DOT requirements, then there really should not be a difference between the OEM and the 3rd party company selling direct while also supplying the OEM. I have not seen complex headlights now that they are all pretty much formed plastic with reflective chrome lining on the inside and then the front clear lens attached.

Metric

I have gone from fueling every 4 days to about every 7 to 8 days on the SS. So yea, spending less money which is good on fuel. How is Auto Accident repair essential to the commonwealth? With everyone supposedly staying home, much less traffic on the roads, auto repairs are reduced and I do not see how an auto repair from an accident is considered essential unlike food or medical? I am honestly surprised that your state has that listed as essential. Repair shops here are all shut down.

Searching online, I see prices for the Corolla HID headlight assembly from $367 to $645 on Amazon and a crazy $941 on ebay, but who uses crapy ebay any more. I am surprised they are still in business. Interesting to see that depending on the Toyota dealership web site you use, prices for the HID headlight assembly run from $799 to $971 from the Miami Toyo dealership. Crazy for that auto to have that expensive a headlight assembly for a 2020 corolla. $1,100 I can see as an MSRP price but that is just stupid for a chunk of plastic and LED bulbs.

One to rule them all!

We clearly have European, Asian and Americas auto fans. I feel this is a good place to discuss the sales of segments, models, etc. here. I have pulled the latest Statista data that can be gotten for free to show here and discuss. As such, there is clearly a leadership perceived image that BMW and Mercedes-Benz have carried the last few years. Yet with that, you look at over all sales and both these companies have flipped and flopped leadership of the year in specific luxury segments but lack over all auto sales in the US. Based on the reports that @Drew Dowdell posted in January 2020 on 2019 auto sales: Ford - 2,422,698 GM - 2,887,046 FCA - 2,203,663 Tesla - 367,500 Audi - 224,111 BMW - 360,918 Genesis - 21,233 Honda - 1,608,170 Hyundai - 688,771 Infiniti - 117,708 Jaguar Land Rover - 125,787 Kia - 615,338 Mazda - 278,552 Mercedes-Benz - 357,729 Mitsubishi - 121,046 Nissan - 1,227,973 Porsche - 61,568 Subaru - 700,117 Toyota - 2,383,349 Volkswagen - 363,322 Volvo - 108,234 2019 Auto Sales Luxury Brand Sales in 2019 Large Luxury Auto sales 2019 Mid size luxury auto sales 2019 Small Auto Luxury auto sales 2019 Best Selling Trucks ranking in the US 2019 Car Sales over the last 30 years in the US. Over all Auto Sales from 1978 to now.

Based on personal experience with Mercedes-Benz I would still take the G80 over an E-Class knowing my ownership costs will be lower and reliability will be longer at a lower price.

After working all week in the house and not going much of anywhere, today is food run and pharmacy run to get the wife her meds. Will be nice to get out for a brief time.

I would take a Korean or Japanese auto every day over German built crap. Reliable and will not leave me stranded nor gouge me at $1,500 for a replacement head light. German Built Auto's, Over Priced, Over Rated!

Cool, but sad as it does not look like it was well cared for based on all the junk put in it and around it.

Sad that Cadillac has never really optimized taking their concepts to market and given much less than they could in the luxury segment. Yet still Genesis is way better, but not perfect than many out there and a side profile comparison shows that Genesis nailed it for the most part.

@balthazar Seems various universities are constantly creating new maps as are news outlets. Associated Press asked the University of Chicago if they could build a map that tracks Covid-19 infections and deaths by county across the whole US. Thought this was very good . https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus-data/2020/4/1/21203507/united-states-coronavirus-map-cases-by-county-live-updates The story points to AP chart by County of Infections / Deaths based on John Hopkins University data in association with the WHO. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nRyaf/23/ Just move your mouse over each county and the data pops up. WOW ?

Just before shutting down all Rivian facilities they made this video to give an update on the whole business. They are still focused on production starting this fall.

Love these gif album covers: Where's Waldo Social Distancing version:

Stay Safe and distant my friend. Wishing you all the best as you move around in this crazy pandemic world. New Music albums taking social distancing into effect.

I disagree that GM felt Oldsmobile was an embarrassment. I grew up with this logo: and Yet I think the best Oldsmobile logo was the following: The one thing I hate about my SS is the stupid GM square logo on the door. Honestly you should be able to sell a model based on it's name without having to say Olds, Oldmobile, Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, etc. I honestly think GM marketing was onto something of using a logo with auto name to drive individual product line awareness. Sadly too much company politics and waste of money into far too many different sell Oldsmobile versus selling Aurora. Who cares about the brand name if they do not know the products. I honestly think Genesis could take their logo and just have a Giant G in the middle and that would be good enough.

Bet @ocnblu is in the far back seat causing a ruckus!

Weird the Tesla main blog area states 1 to 2% a month if not plugged in. In regards to the battery, Tesla you are right does have a deep cycle 12V battery, but originally with the Roadster it used the main battery and in 2010 according to this detailed blog changed to a 12V battery to keep things set for electronic settings. Very weird considering you could do it with the Lithium. Need to dig into this more to find out why as I am curious. https://teslatap.com/articles/12-volt-battery-compendium/ Good info here on the Tesla's and the various 12V batteries each version uses along with a detailed image of where this battery is located. Chevrolet Bolt when looking at the web site does not indicate any 12V battery, but I thought about it and dug up an owners manual and it does have a standard 12V battery for basic such as settings in the auto and access into the auto. Very weird as I would think they could use the auto main battery better for this. Page 22 of the owners manual states it does have a 12V battery in addition to the main power systems battery. https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2018/Chevrolet/Bolt/2018-chevrolet-bolt-ev-owners-manual.pdf @Robert Hall I am sorry, I am wrong both Tesla and the Bolt have 12V lead acid batteries for basic settings in the auto info saving and access into the auto. if something happens to the high power system, you can still get into the auto via the 12V battery. In regards to the discharge of the main high power battery pack, Chevrolet and Tesla official web sites are stating 1 to 2% reduction for just sitting. As @ykX has mentioned, looking around I do see Tesla owners who have posted up to 30% depletion upon sitting and it is clearly based on where one lives as the heavy drain seems to be common in cold weather areas.

There is a new Business for you, build quality unique replacement push button covers for the Mach e and what appears to be push button access on the up coming Cadillac. Very cool I think to go back to this type of access.

Robert, due to technology with battery conditioning, depending on where one lives, an EV can sit for a month and only loose 1 to 2% of charge unless it is very cold or very hot and the management system to keep an optimized temp kicks on and then at most 10% of charge. Both Chevrolet and Tesla have sections on their sites about battery conditioning and battery life. No different than over time, GAS will evaporate a small amount out of your tank, batteries will loose charge. The better the design of the electronics, the longer the battery pack will hold a charge. This is one area where I am interested to see how well the engineering is as my Escalade ESV Platinum, if it sits for a month, the battery will be dead. Cadillac has like every other luxury make a wide variety of devices that need a trickle charge to keep everything saved and ready for use. GM supposedly on their new High flow electrical system took this into account and the 2021 Escalade's are NOT supposed to have the electrical drain. Ford also has stated that they have built into the Ford Mach e capacitor holding capacity to keep the auto electronics stable for up to a month with no connected charging. As such, the trickle drain on traditional 12V batteries in auto's that do not get driven much should be minimal for those with updated modern electrical systems and especially in EVs. Hope this helps answer your question. No, The electronics in both the Bolt and Tesla models have large capacitors to store power to keep settings and power up quickly, etc. All power comes from the main single battery pack.

AAA is reporting that the National average for a gallon of gas has hit $1.997 per gallon. First time since early 2000's that gas has become this cheap. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/31/gasoline-prices-2-dollars-gallon/

BYD of China is launching their updated Flagship EV sedan in June using a Lithium Iron semi-solid type of Blade Battery with 50% increase in energy density. The fire resistant battery pack will have a range of 376 miles at 40% less size than competitors battery packs. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/30/byd-blade-battery-han-ev-safety/ We are living in interesting times of Tech Change.

Seems Jeep is moving forward with a Full EV / Hybrid assault as they will have the fastest and most capable off road and on road SUV's across the planet. Jeep clearly says there is a market and they will continue to make Hellcat versions of all their auto's, but they also need to move to cleaner emissions and that is where the EV's and especially hybrids will benefit everyone especially those that do go off road and need range plus the ability to power devices like cameras and laptops in the outback or on the Rubicon trail. Hybrid Wrangler will become the fastest on pavement and off road as it uses a pure electric drive train with generator for range plus increasing the ability that the wrangler can do off road by allowing the controllers to turn only those wheels that have actual grip giving better off road capabilities while reducing wear on the planet. Very cool tech coming. @Robert Hall Seems your next GC could be a high Mileage Hybrid that would get crazy gas mileage. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/31/jeep-hybrid-electric-plans/

BMW is also going to give Hydrogen another try with a new Hydrogen X5 CUV out in 2022 as a 2023 model with a new 374 HP Hydrogen power train. I question that this will go anywhere but they have a commitment with the German Government and Co-developed with Toyota who is paying for the research to deliver a working power train model with so many auto's to be built. Toyota is looking to use it in medium duty trucks which will help remove toxic diesel particles. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/30/bmw-hydrogen-technology-detailed/