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Yes, 15-20k for a basically utility electric bike is way too much. Also, it lost 2WD so will be not as good off-road as the original. It is cool for the novelty aspect but that's about it. If anything I would take the original one, even though it is also overpriced at $12-14k if I am not mistaken,

@dfelt Actually in Europe electric bikes are extremely popular. I know in some countries they had to make new laws limiting age and requiring protection because a lot of kids were riding them and getting into bad accidents. Here is one cool announced recent;y: Ducati electric assist mountain bike Autoblog

SO far reviews of QX50 which has that technology were disappointing. Doesn't seem to deliver on the promise.

I like it too. It looks cool and good for HD doing finally something advanced. I think getting electric as a toy at the moment is a good idea vs something you need to use daily.

I can't watch the video you posted but quote from this article: "The upshot is that mud tires traditionally don’t do well on snow and winter road conditions. A winter tire, all-season tire or all-terrain tire is almost always a better choice for winter condition" And that LTX is all-terrain tire, or in case of dfelt Defenders they are rated for mud and snow. My wife's car Premier tires are all-seasons. The sipes you mentioned are basically same as grooves but designed not to distort the tire profile. "Sipes are used in place of smaller, individual tread blocks for several reasons. While smaller, individual tread blocks would increase traction, they would increase the risk of tread block distortion, which would reduce fuel efficiency, handling performance, and tread life. Sipes are a more effective feature for increasing traction and surface area without negatively affecting fuel efficiency, handling performance, or tread life."

As far as I know the winter tires get good snow and ice traction using two functions: rubber that doesn't become hard with cold temperatures and deeper groves where snow gets packed since snow on snow creates the best traction and deeper groves allow better penetration of tire into the snow (good analogy is look at the winter boots sole and you summer sneakers). The Michelin all-terrain he got is not super nobby but more than a regular road tire. On Tire rack seems people have positive reviews on snow traction of these. Michelin LTX A/T Even Blizzaks recommended for crossovers or car have deep groves

I think I know why we have different experiences with the tires. My colleague just got Michelin LTX truck tire for his Tundra, it is a truck tire and it looks nobby, looks like tire that will do well in the winter. The tire I got for wife's MDX is Premier LTX crossover tire and the thread is pretty shallow. It handles beautifully on dry and wet and but not so great in the snow or ice. It also pretty quiet. From my experience it is hard to beat a dedicated winter tire really, if you look at Tire Rack testing results even the best all-season tires are not nearly as good as average winter tires for snow and ice traction.

I am not really a truck guy but on this picture RAM looks the most visually appealing to me

In my family I drive the car I want (but of course needs to be practical enough for our family, that's why it is a sedan) and my wife drives the car she likes. Her car is usually does the family car duty most of the time but it is also something my wife enjoys driving. My car has manual transmission so she can't even drive it even if she wanted. Sometimes, it creates an inconvenience but I was not ready to sacrifice my driving enjoyment for some sole-less appliance. However, after I am done with my current car the plan is to get cheap practical daily and a weekend fun car.

@dfelt This is all very cool, what you did with the house, I am currently trying to make my house as efficient as possible as well to minimize heating and cooling bills. However, this is not a home improvement website. Your cars are still are big gas guzzlers regardless of who uses them and how they are used. So until you actually show pictures of the converted electric Suburban or Bolt/Tesla on your driveway it is still hypocritical to criticize others while driving an Escalade. And you got no argument from me personally regarding the electric cars, they are the future, just not the present, not yet.

@dfelt Everybody has their own life circumstances, nobody is judging that. However, to be fair you have probably the most gas guzzling, most inefficient fleet of cars among the members here, yet you preach the most about saving gas and going electric. Kind of hypocritical, don't you think so?

Have a classic car calendar at work, November is 1950 Oldsmobile 88, what a beautiful car

I think it probably is very fast and fun. However, it is a beautiful car, I would rather they restored and painted the body in some cool color.

Autoblog Another one for @dfelt "The Merc pairs an electric powertrain with an untouched-looking exterior, save the lowering and a few hard-to-spot details that point to its heavily modified character. Look underneath and you'd see a full Art Morrison custom frame. The patina, sometimes overdone, looks lovely here over the greyish green paint. A Derelict badge and one of Ward's signature lizard sculptures are apparent on closer inspection. Underneath the original gas cap is a cleverly placed Teslasupercharger connector, and behind the license plate is a CHAdeMO receptacle. Inside, lovely period-appropriate fabrics and leather set off the more involved details. Power windows operate via the original manual window cranks. Digital gauges made by Andromeda have a vintage design. A/C vents now perforate the dash but look like they could have been original. Same with the new switches, bezels and so forth, which operate modern components. The coolest part is under the hood. The battery controllers and some of the Tesla-sourced batteries (there's a full 85-kWh set of Tesla batteries spread around the car) are placed underhood and slightly resemble a V8 engine. The electric motors, which make roughly 470 lb-ft of torque and the equivalent of about 400 horsepower, reside where the traditional transmission would be. Even the underhood wiring gets a vintage-style woven cloth loom. The EV conversion was "co-engineered" by Icon and Stealth EV."

I knew this will make @dfelt to orgasm Very cool concept

@dfelt I am sorry, but you just making empty excuses and incorrect assumptions. Chevy Traverse that is in your least reliable list recommends only oil changes up to 97500 miles, where they want people to replace transmission fluid and spark plugs. Most of the new cars are required only oil changes and checkups up to 100k miles. BTW Traverse rated bad because of the transmission issues, nothing to do with maintenance. Same issue Buick have with Enclave.

And what exactly are you getting for the extra $20k?

What exactly are you getting in this truck worth $55k? People complain here about fully loaded mid size cars or CUVs cost more than $30k or close to $40k. And they seem to be ok that a regular truck now costs $60k?

LOL, I was waiting for people saying CR is biased and paid by certain manufacturers. You guys are so full of sh@t. These rating are based on subscribers filling out the questionnaire about THEIR cars. My friend has a subscription and he does that questionnaire every year (noting btw all the issues he had with his Odyssey and Outback). So apparently all subscribers that have Ford and GM are undercover Toyota agents or secret Asian car lovers.

I didn't have car in HS, where I grew up it is very expensive to own a car and driving starts at 18, so no cars in high school. When I started working in US I bought used 1996 Mazda MX-6 with almost 100k miles in mint condition. 2.5L V6 (!), 5-speed manual transmission. It was a great car, but unfortunately designed for people under 6 feet tall (I am being 6'1" was somewhat an issue). Loved that car and drove it till it had 200k miles, than got a better job and was getting married so needed something more sensible. Not exact picture of my car but it was just like this one.

I live in NJ, most of the time it is either wet and heavy or icy around here.

That's what I have on my wife's car Premier LTX, good tire but winter traction is just ok, not great.

Michelin Premier LTX I got for my wife's car were rated even better than Continentals for snow traction on Tire Rack but I was somewhat disappointed last winter. I guess hard to beat real winter tire. I guess it is just a matter of how much snow you really getting to make it getting winter tires worth it.

I installed Michelin Premier on my wife's MDX last year. They are very quiet and have great handling in dry and wet, but snow traction was a little disappointing since they were rated very highly by Tire Rack. I think the previous tires did better on the snow but were definitely not as good on the dry and wet. Just put Michelin Pilot Sport all-season on my car, will see how they will handle the winter and some spirited driving.

Soon coming to NJ as well thanks to our governor ...