G. David Felt

Welcome, Glad to have you here and Yes we would love to see your Auto. Add it to the Garage. Again, welcome, look forward to you posting.

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Auto's Needing a Diet! Featured on MSN Auto but written by Motor trend I found the story of 15 cars that should go on a diet an interesting read. They do offer their own list of which auto's these 15 should be more like and they are those that lead the segment in lightest weight and why we want lighter auto's. http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/research/15-cars-that-should-go-on-a-diet/ss-AA8urEK?ocid=UP94DHP#image=1 You can review the story above to see which auto's they compare each one too. I for one am thinking of the question, what other auto's deserve to go on a diet and should be on this list instead of the 15 listed. What are your thoughts? #15 - Bentley Continental GT Convertible - 5400lbs #14 - Lexus RC F - 4000LBS #13 - Mercedes Benz S550 - 4700lbs #12 - Dodge Challenger - 3800lbs minimum with V6, 4000lbs + with V8's and options #11 - GMC Terrain - 3900lbs with 4 cylinders, Denali edition with V6 passes 4000lbs #10 - RAM 1500 - 5100lbs #9 - Ford Taurus - 4100lbs with EcoBoost I-4 #8 - Buick Enclave - 4700lbs #7 - Bentley Mulsanne - 5900lbs #6 - Lexus LX 570 - 6000lbs #5 - Ford Edge - 3900lbs #4 - Dodge Dart - 3200lbs #3 - Hyundai Genesis Sedan - 4100lbs #2 - Chrysler 200 - 3500lbs #1 - Chevrolet Sonic - 2700lbs With the first question asked of what other Auto's this got me to thinking about a few more questions but I will start with my original question. 1) What other auto's deserve to go on a diet and be put on this Bloat List? 2) Do all Auto's need to go on a diet just because of MPG or is there a valid reason to keep an auto heavier? 3) Over the next 15 years, which top 3 materials will make up auto's? Aluminum, Carbon Fiber, Plastic, High Strength Lite steel, etc. 4) Will we come to a point where using lite materials cause more bodily harm than using steel with engineered crumple zones? 5) At what point does weight reduction not play a big role affecting Diesel, Petrol, CNG, or Electric powertrains? 6) Why do other industries not have to become more fuel efficient? 7) When does the Marine industry have to finally start building efficient powertrains like the auto industry? Example many boats consume gallons per hr for a mere nautical mile. Using the Bayliner 215 model, top speed (46.7mph) has the boat consuming 19 Gallons per Hour. At best cruising speed (22 mph) you are consuming 5.2 gallons per hour or the equal of 4.3 miles per gallon. These are just some questions that this brings up. Sound off on your thoughts about the weight of Auto's and their fuel consumption.

I think most of us would agree that we hate the Gov mandating MPG for Auto's. One place I do not agree with is subsidizing new technology. For a limited time using tax dollars to prove alternative concepts work is a good thing. But now that we know EV's can be done, time to get rid of the subsidizing and let the market play out.

Far be it for Germans to admit that the Americans build a superior V8 engine.

Fine with me

Very True, China has been buying up and trying to lock in materials at a very low cost.

No, they should be on reasonable wages. The ones in Dublin only managed to get such high wages because they have a very strong workers' union and they managed to strong arm the local leaders into giving them a lot of what they were asking for. Yet $50,000 Euro's at todays conversion equals $56,220 US Dollars a Year. That is really not that much. Bus drivers in the US here are in the news due to earning $100,000 US dollars a year or $88,936.32 Euro's. That is pretty crazy for driving a bus. Some make even more with the crazy amount of overtime. The $100k ones are usually clearing that after overtime.... that's not their base. Typical base salary in my area seems to be about $60k a year, but starting wage is $17.05 an hour after your training period ends( About $35k a year assuming no overtime) . During the training period, you only make $10 an hour. If you do a lot of overtime because your collegues call in sick... then yes you should be compensated for it. If you're dedicated, never call in sick, and take lots of overtime, I see no problem with a bus driver making $100k... they did the hours for it... pay them. Just saw the Snohomish Bus flyer for new drivers here in Snohomish county where I live. This is what they have listed as hourly pay plus paid medical, dental and vision. Training period of 9 weeks $19.77hr. Year 1 $21.75hr year 5 $27.50hr Flexible schedules and rotating holiday work. So it would seem the bus drivers at least here in washington are making a fair wage for what they do.

If we get to SDC then I expect the US will have to have a large WIFI network coast to coast to allow the auto's to communicate and manage all the merging, driving, passing, etc. to minimize accidents and problems. This will then take all driving away from people who do love to drive.

No, they should be on reasonable wages. The ones in Dublin only managed to get such high wages because they have a very strong workers' union and they managed to strong arm the local leaders into giving them a lot of what they were asking for. Yet $50,000 Euro's at todays conversion equals $56,220 US Dollars a Year. That is really not that much. Bus drivers in the US here are in the news due to earning $100,000 US dollars a year or $88,936.32 Euro's. That is pretty crazy for driving a bus. Some make even more with the crazy amount of overtime.

Like you while I like a properly tuned set of performance exhaust, I have also come to appreciate the silence and in this respect the fast response that electric motors provide.

Yeah, they're supposed to double the global lithium-ion battery production which should bring the cost of such batteries down, but if that would prove to be such a profitable venture there'd soon be a lot of competitors from China getting in as well. Batteries are more likely to be commodities rather than premium products IMO and the US can't really compete in such a market with producers from countries wil much lower workforce costs. Except where you automate the assembly system so you do not need much labor. Ten you can easily compete and China is no longer the world low cost leader of labor. They have a growing middle class that is demanding pay and benefits and like India is no longer the cheapest place to assemble cheap products.

Missed this news from Nov 5th of last year. Their SUV was pushed back to 3rd quarter release at the earliest to allow for more quality testing. http://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-delays-model-x-suv-to-spend-more-time-testing/#! This does explain why their web site has changed so much. Wonder what has forced them to push back? Clearly something did not go right in crash testing, reliability or something. That is a negative in the short term. I see in this same story CEO says they will ship 2000 fewer S models due to upgrades on the assembly line taking longer than expected during last summer. Seems plenty of excuses to explain delays and shortfalls. Interesting story just released on why the Chevy Bolt will not beat the Tesla Model 3 but it is so vague that the only point I see is the gigafactory helping everyone including tesla. http://www.bidnessetc.com/33325-heres-why-chevy-bolt-will-never-match-up-to-tesla-motors-inc-model-3/ Another story just released last week about the Model 3 and how they hope it is not pushed back multiple times like the Model X as that makes it's release some time in 2018 not 2017 like the Chevy Bolt. Here the wonder is if Tesla can stay up with the big boys once they start producing. http://mashable.com/2015/01/14/tesla-model-3-price/ The next 3 years are going to be very interesting to see what really happens with the drop in oil and natural gas, both petrol and CNG auto's have gotten cheaper to drive so it could push off the EV race.

Chevy Bolt could be the Little Engine that Could and end up hurting Tesla. My gut tells me Tesla will end up a supplier to the large auto companies and someone will buy up his portfolio to use it in new auto's where they can deliver a wide spread of product and recover the costs for a profit.

Interesting, Their web site http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx used to have a ton of details about the Model X including pictures of the gull wing rear doors, you could build one with colors and interior, etc. but now the whole web site has been updated. You no longer have access to the roadster section and the only place you have details is on the Model S. Makes one wonder what is going on in the Tesla Camp when you can no longer get details about a specific model.

Only if it was self driving so they could play without causing an accident. But then people are doing this already while they drive on their cell phones.

Tesla night not be in the auto business long term if his battery plant takes off in building battery packs for other auto companies as here he is ahead of many companies. So it will be interesting to see what happens with Tesla. Having a 400 mile range battery pack is far ahead of everyone else. So if he can produce this in quantity at a proper price point, then he will end up making money and he can stick to his 100K dollar auto's while everyone else builds variety of lower priced auto's that he supplies the battery packs for. I doubt GM would want to buy battery packs from him since they have invested so much in the volt system but who knows, you get to a point where eventually you buy up your small competitor and I am sure Tesla would sell at a profit.

Be interesting to see what the Impasse is. Does this mean that Mitsubishi will need to find a new partner or merge to survive against the larger giant auto companies?

Lovely old car, I love that these cars have the ultimate vent. Crouch cooler. Perfect for us guys on road trips. Clearly been driven very little, nice and clean for what it is. Someone will love it to death.

Very cool, I love projects. This one reminds me of the Van conversion in Corvette summer. Look forward to some pictures also.

But would that recover R&D costs? Plus federal crash testing costs?

I agree that GMC is the better looking of the two. Shame GM cannot see that people want these packages in base cabs also.

Interesting, wonder if they can build and sell them profitably since the TT is a limited market appliance.

Interesting but I guess with the majority of the market going double or crew cabs they are taking the safe approach to building a more custom looking ride.

Correct Drew, the Silver Square GM badge was gone for the 2009 model year. I still have them on my 2008 Trailblazer SS but I could not find anything on 2009 models on any line.