Drew Dowdell

There is such a rut stuck mindset about "filling up" with EVs... it is going to take a while for people to shake it. Two main issues: 1. "It takes forever to fill up! I can fill my gas car in 5 minutes!" - So? Then don't "fill up" your EV. You don't need to, and indeed should not be, charging your battery to 100% every time. You'll shorten the life of your battery doing that. Put enough charge in to get to your next charge point plus 25 miles padding, then unplug and be on your way. The only time you ever need to fill up multiple times a day is when you are doing a 600 mile trip... and be honest with yourself on how often that happens. 2. "It takes forever to fill up! Why would I just sit in my car for hours!" - Then don't. I charged twice when I was in Colorado with the Kia Niro EV. I took a friend to lunch and found a parking garage with a charger (easy to do both with the built-in Kia app and the ChargePoint app that works through Apple CarPlay). I didn't sit around waiting for it to charge... I plugged it in and spend time having lunch with a friend outside on a beautiful Denver day. The charger wasn't the destination, the lunch was... but while I was eating, so was the car. I also charged on a visit to Boulder. I parked at a Wholefoods and plugged in to the rapid charger. Then I walked up Pearl Street (beautiful and fun shopping district in Boulder) and had breakfast at one of my most favorite places in the world. After breakfast I strolled through the shops, picked up a couple of gifts for Albert for Christmas, and slowly made my way back to the car. Again, the destination wasn't the charger, it was the restaurant and Pearl Street. But while I was there, the Niro added 115 miles of range. Then I went and drove it up and over the front range and toured the mountains a bit. Coming back down I made a bunch of stops, but generally kept it in high regen mode all the way back down the mountains. I ended the couple hours of driving with just 15 miles less range than I started with. When is the last time you recharged your gas tank by coasting down hill? You know what I didn't do? I didn't hunt around for a non-price gouging gas station within 10 miles of the airport right before returning the car to the rental company. I drove 300ish miles on that trip and spent $15 in charging fees. Can't do that in nearly any car right now.

That doesn't account for people who rent. The Blazer EV is next. They're moving right up the lineup. We already know the Escalade EV is coming which means that a Suburban/Tahoe EV is also likely... so while Traverse may be the last to go, GM is definitely working on it.

Unless I missed a post, your GP is not in #4 condition.... isn't the motor apart and some of it in pieces? #4 is that you can pull it out and take it for a spin right now. And once you get past a certain year/mileage, KBB stops being useful for valuations. Looking at multiple completed sales of Auroras online via eBay, it looks like that vintage Aurora with like 65k miles on it is more in the $7k range while KBB puts the trade in value at $2500 and private party at $3,300. A '92 Toronado with 65,000 miles in "Very good" condition KBB says is worth $850. I see them go on the FB Toronado pages all the time for $4k - $7k. If I could buy them for $850, I'd have a fleet of them and flip them for a quick $3k. They won't even value my '81, but I bet KBB would tell me to sell it for scrap. A nice '85 with low miles just sold on eBay for $17,5k. KBB is just not a good tool for something of even marginal collector status. They're only concerned with the recent model general consumer market.

It turns out a lot of the early interest over Ivermectin was due to a faulty study. There is a parasite that is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical environments. If you give a patient a steroid, as is often done with covid patients to help reduce respiratory inflammation, this parasite if already in their system can spread rapidly and kill the patient. Ivermectin is the treatment for the parasite. So patients who got the steroid and also got ivermectin appeared to recover better from covid. Eh, I think that was a message that got twisted. Fauci's early statements about masks was "please save the masks for the medical professionals because we don't have enough" and he feared the hoarding as you pointed out. Very very early on in the pandemic, the week before things started shutting down, I was in Miami to visit my parents and I stopped by a Home Depot and Walmart. Every mask, paper towel, and cleaning supply was wiped out. The day I left I stopped at Costco for gas and a slice of pizza before I got on the road and it was a mad-house with people buying pallets of water and everything else they could get their hands on. There was also questions about how well the virus could move through the air. Sure, if someone who had it sneezed or coughed on you, you'd probably get it, but would just being in the same room cause transmission? We didn't have the information on that. It was a very eerie drive home to PA with the roads and gas stations nearly empty. Two days later, PA shut down. One thing that I hope continues is the sanitation of publicly used things like shopping carts and self-checkouts. Years ago I caught a virus that is usually just a kids disease that because of the incubation period, the virus's tendency to live on surfaces, and my movements, I know where I likely got it, and it was most likely from a shopping cart at Costco. So yea, they can keep spraying down those carts, thanks.

Because Teslas are ugly. Auroras are not. What would KBB say about the value of your Pontiac in its current condition? Why would you dump money into it?

Will any of them be for transverse applications?

Yeah, the independent rear suspension on the Aurora (and Riviera, Eldorado, and Seville) is a pretty compact setup, but it had to be. The Aurora has a tiny trunk relative to its overall size as it was a 4-door outgrowth of the Toronado which was a "personal" luxury car. The Toronados from '79 - '92 have relatively tiny trunks too. I'm sure you could put a second motor back there, but you'd lose what trunk space you did have. You might be able to put the motor in the spare tire well, but then you'd need some sort of transmission/gearing to move the output and half-shafts forward to the axle line and with a motor hanging behind the rear wheels it would cause some .... interesting... driving dynamics.

The rear suspension will be your biggest issue. They don’t have room back there. Doing it on a budget probably want to stick to the original setup.

Depends on location. If you live in suburban Iowa, sure. One of the nicer parts of Philly, not so much.

Apparently Pfizer is seeking FDA approval for 4th boosters. I’m 3x Moderna, but I’ll get Pfizer if it’s approved. Mixing vaccine boosters is supposed to give a slight immune advantage. if it gets approved soon (and there is no reason not to, they already do it for the 65+ set and the immunocompromised), I’ll be eligible at the end of April.

I’d love to find a final year of the first Gen Aurora, but they are almost always beat to hell. People didn’t preserve them.

???????

That BMW is a 1998 or 1999. 1997 or 1998 I'm assuming some of this stuff is getting sold... so maybe.

Well within range of me if you don't mind a visitor

*perks up at the Motorcycles*

I'm sorry to hear that @Robert Hall. And I'm sorry I wasn't around to be aware of it.

I feel like I missed a couple episodes somewhere...

In the Kia Luxury Brand thread. Any luxury SUV competes directly with any other luxury suv of the same price regardless of purpose or styling.

Really? That’s odd. You think a Defender and an X4 are competition.

If it bases at $50k, it’s going to have significant competition when it gets here in *checks notes* two years. Chevy will have 2 EV crossovers and an EV truck in that same range. Tesla will still have their rabid fanbois. Kia and Hyundai have entries too.

I think this will do okay because it’s “cute”. It will likely be the price that’s the killer.

Post pics of your rides, but try and get them all in one frame!

This is the spiritual successor to the Neu Beetle. Retro, cute, but this time a modern powertrain and roomy enough for people/families to actually buy.

Because they operate as separate companies that share tech rather than the GM model of multiple divisions that develop together.

@smk4565, did you hack into @balthazar's account? Jaguar/LR are barely the volume of the Denali trim at GMC. I wasn't speaking of volume, I'm speaking of differentiation of purpose. Defender and Discovery buyers are not cross-shopping against the E-Pace or F-Pace, they're looking at the Lexus GX, or maybe Yukon Denali or Grand Cherokee Summit if they're open to brand-slumming it. E-Pace and F-pace buyers are going to cross-shop with Macan or X4/5 or GLE "coupe" or the Infiniti QX70 if they still made it. The Genesis GV70 and GV80 are direct broadside torpedo shots to the GLC/RX/MDX (the XT5 should be here, but it's so outclassed on the interior I can't put it in the list with a straight face) and the GLE/QX60/Aviator respectively. These are the big cushy cruiser crossovers. What I'm saying is there is room for KLB to do a better Defender / Discovery / GX460... or an Escalade/Navigator/LX (hybrid or EV only of course) then add the Stinger with a substantially upgraded interior and a "rugged" small EV (think Baby Rivian) and you've got yourself a luxury brand that doesn't overlap with Genesis.