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G. David Felt

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Everything posted by G. David Felt

  1. G. David Felt
    Greencar is reporting that VW submitted to EPA and CARB their repair for the 2.0 TDi engines which is pretty much expected to be a software flash. Their story also implies that it is easier in Europe to fix all diesels than here in the US. US Politicians here are stating that due to the need for what is expected to have to be a Urea fix, changes to grill and other hardware components, that VW should be forced to buy back the half a million TDi auto's at fair market price before the news came out and crush them. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100974_volkswagen-proposes-2-0-liter-diesel-fixes-as-crisis-continues The story is a 3 page story with details about the Urea system that would be needed as well as an interesting section on what they consider to be a growing bafflement on who VW is responding to this.
  2. G. David Felt
    G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Toyota converting auto transportation fleet to CNG. Nov 23rd 2015 Toyota Corporation released a media announcement that they would start with their first CNG auto hauler as they moved to be greener in transporting their green fleet of auto's to the dealers. CNG Auto Hauler Toyota worked with Peterbilt and Cottrell to build the first of many to come. This is a Peterbilt 365 day cab tractor with an 11.9L ISX 12 G Engine by Cummins modified for CNG operation. This is a 9 car hauler with 90 gallon capacity of CNG, two type IV carbon fiber 45 gallon tanks, one on each side of the truck. Toyota states that this hauler does what every other hauler out there does but with 85% less particulate matter and 10% less carbon dioxide. Toyota is deploying this hauler out of Long Beach California where it will deliver auto's while racking up between 7000-8000 miles per month.
  3. G. David Felt
    Call me crazy but I'm pretty sure VW is done with diesels for a while. Is this what you call having KaBonged him?
  4. G. David Felt
    I dunno man... that sounds like total car failure to me.... better call Consumer Reports. I'm just saying. There's a fine distinction between hand-crafted and homemade. and I'm just saying that a single component failure is not a whole system failure..... even if the manufacturer decides to replace the whole system to get you back on the road faster Interesting conversation with a engineer friend who converted his old VW Rabbit to EV from diesel. His warp 9 motor he had bought last year was built with some less than up to par parts, the Florida company who builds and sells the warp motors contacted him and offered to have a local mechanic swap out the motor. He turned them down and said ship it to me, I will do it myself. After getting the replacement motor, it took him all of about 30 min to disconnect the cables, bolts and swap out. I can see EV auto's being a bit easier to work on than traditional motors. Should be interesting to see how mechanics deal with these moving forward. I will say that the OEMs seem to complicate the install much more than conversions. Hopefully the Bolt will be clean and simple in it's setup.
  5. G. David Felt
    Windows 10 is awesome, but it does like being left on and the default 3am update will happen and never bother you then. Just left the mother ship update itself. Course for security and reliability, MSFT is pushing out Windows 10 Pro to everyone that has windows 10 so you will get a much longer download and reboot. Yet in the future, reboots should be minimal if not non-existent and durability will get better.
  6. G. David Felt
    So how do you explain that in 2014, US sales of Hybrids were a combined total of 507,272 sold. Here is the official GOV link showing Hybrid sales all the way back to 1999 when only 17 were sold. 2000 9,350 were sold, 20,282 in 2001 were sold. I am sure an auto maker would love to have that large sales increase for a model. Now over half a million units sold in 2014. http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_19.html Notice that from 1999 to 2003 this was I believe all Toyota, no one else. Then in 2004 you have domestic and imports listed.
  7. G. David Felt
    Very sweet ride, Way to go and being classy Cmicasa. FYI, I have tried to purchase the whole car on credit card and was only able to do $7500 and then finance the rest. Did find out that if you buy through Costco, you can use your costco card to purchase the whole car at the agreed upon pricing. Have to think about this for the next auto.
  8. G. David Felt
    Nope, I expect them to drop TDi versions and go hybrid. It is amazing how many people the VW scandal has turned off of diesels.
  9. G. David Felt
    I foresee crossovers gaining, compacts diminishing and Hybrids being the sweet spot with a few more EVs coming onto the scene.
  10. G. David Felt
    That a requirement of the Fed program (I didn't read the link)? If so, that's very unusual in my experience. With the 203K program, they actually assign an inspector and he builds the list of required upgrades that must be done once the house is inspected. Most are on the frugal side, but the point is having the condo, town house, house inline with local value and building code. I have used the 203K program multiple times. Great way to get into a bigger place or even down size as my wife and I are looking to do since the kids are grown and out. Looking for a rambler. Our daughter wants to buy our current house from us as she starts her family. Great program for anyone that wants to build value on a home by restoring a worn down property.
  11. G. David Felt
    Done, +1
  12. G. David Felt
  13. G. David Felt
    Could this be the New Electric MicroBus VW had shown in the past?
  14. G. David Felt
    Spill the story! Try to find a house for sale in Franklinton, NC and see if it's the one I'm looking at. Remember, I'm a single, young, first-time buyer, so keep it reasonable. OK, First time buyer, some benefits you need to take advantage of. First off, EVERYONE can be a first time buyer in each state, so you only have to have a 3.5% down payment minimum, more you put down, lower your mortgage payment. Second, If you do not mind fixing up, look at foreclosure and Short sale. Some great bargains. Third, Take advantage of the Federal Gov 203K Loan program. This is a program aimed at Distressed properties, those in short sale, foreclosure, etc. The benefit is as follows: Say the house is in Foreclosure, original value at current building code would be $200,000, Foreclosure bank price is $100,000. The 203K loan program allows you to take out a mortgage up to 80% of the current year value. That is $160,000, so you could borrow $160,000, $100,000 to pay the bank, $60,000 to use to remodel the place to your standard. You do have to bring the house up to current year code, so some of the money would need to go towards double pane windows, new roof, insulated doors. etc. You can either do the work yourself or hire someone. The benefit is a worn down house gets a new life and updated to be like new at a fraction of the cost. Check out all the details here. http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/housing/sfh/203k Best of luck to you.
  15. G. David Felt
    Where do you get that the VOLT in Hybrid mode gets abysmal mileage? Green Car reports in real world driving they average 41 MPG in extended range mode. That is pretty awesome. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096237_2016-chevrolet-volt-50-mile-range-41-mpg-five-seats-all-new-photos Plug in car says when you take pure electric mode into account with the extended mode you are at a real world of 50mpg. http://www.plugincars.com/epa-rates-chevy-volt-93-mpg-or-60-mpg-or-35-mpg-depending-106498.html GM's own VOLT web site is conservative stating an average of 40 mpg. http://gm-volt.com/chevy-volt-faqs/ No matter how you look at it, the car delivers well on giving great MPG and performance fun. So how do you state this is abysmal?
  16. G. David Felt
    Except the Malibu cannot drive on electric only power for "X" number of miles like the Volt. Two different types of cars IMO. Not exactly the same, but that's my point. Someone will come in and think 'the volt is too small' and then you just qualify them, do you really need the plug in? Would a cheaper car with more room make sense to you? You can snag an electric intender who is not yet ready to pay the full price for a plug in, so chevy can downsell and get those people. They may not come in wanting a hybrid, but if you show them the plug in and back them down to the hybrid then that MSRP on the Bu Hybrid looks like a bargain, and they haven't compared it to the Fusion or Camry. Saying it has 'a good part of the same hybrid system as the volt' adds value because its not the same 'low grade hybrid' like the fusion or camry. Not everyone who comes in to look at the volt is going to decide they need the plug in. When you get the people to make the decision, then you can downsell the Malibu and they will think you are giving them more value. But then for states with tax breaks like Washington where you pay no sales tax plus alternative fuel tax break and the federal tax break you loose 12,000 in savings. That makes a hard sale to then try and move them to a bigger hybrid that they have to pay sales tax on and does not have a federal credit.
  17. G. David Felt
    Precisely why I'm crazy and I happen to live in Canada of all places. That is ok we forgive you for living in Canada. After all eventually Canada and Mexico will get annexed into the Great NAFTA Country of North America.
  18. G. David Felt
    Buy a House, real estate is the only long term wealth one can count on.
  19. G. David Felt
    Very cool Barn Find, but is the rust bucket really worth $180,000? https://www.mecum.com/lot-detail/FL0116-229950/0/1969-Dodge-Daytona/Automatic/ Then again better than the overturned 18 wheeler in Mississippi that dumped 100 cows on the freeway running loose. http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississippi/jackson/100-cows-on-i55-after-18wheeler-overturns/36910780
  20. G. David Felt
    Machine
  21. G. David Felt
    That was great, Gandhi would be proud.
  22. G. David Felt
    Sounds like Squirrely mathematics to me.
  23. G. David Felt
    Space Travel
  24. G. David Felt
    Yawn, nothing to get your panties in a twist about. Move on.
  25. G. David Felt
    So Porsche is loosing itself in stupidity of using numbers and names to re-badge the same old crap. Tiny auto's for tiny people.
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