Drew Dowdell

This thing looks really cute. Clearly the EV successor to the Soul. If they price it right, they'll sell a ton of them.

That actually looks pretty attractive and has some impressive specs. I want to see what the interior looks like.

yeah, I got the e-mail about it because I'm a reservation holder. I technically need to cancel that. Albert decided he didn't like the R2.

Was searching for an oil filter for my motorcycle and checking the fitment list, it also fits the BMW i3. Both of these share parts.

I must be in the minority, but Taco Bell never had this effect on me. I can just eat it.

Looks like we're both wrong and both right. For 2023+, all versions of the Model-3/Y except the base model have 250kw charging. The base models get 170kw. Prior to that, the standard range got 150kw and the long range got 250kw. There's some oddball configurations of Model-Y that are standard range but AWD that also seem to get 250kw charging. I've been looking into the Rivians lately and one disappointing thing is they have a relatively slow 170kW charge speed. That speed is tolerable on a Model-3 because it's pretty efficient, but the Rivians get 50% of the range from the same energy.

It's an interesting headline to brag about, but getting 1,000V installed in places is going to be difficult. I see this type of charger being installed only at large volume travel centers on highways, not in a Walmart parking lot. Toyota's solid-state batteries using existing charging technology are a more practical solution to deploy.

It depended where you departed from. Departing out of Pittsburgh, they were never the cheapest.

I don't think the numbers for the Model-3 and Model-Y are fully correct. Those are the base charge rates for standard range models. Long range Model 3/Y get 250kw charging. At least in the first generation, I don't know about the refreshes.

Tesla is planning a new stripped down and smaller model below the Model-Y that will take the low-end Model-Y's place.

Okay then. A new Model-Y is $10k more than an RX350 or X3, and $7k more than a GV60 EV. The outgoing Model-Y LR is the same price as those first two before end-of-model-year discounts.

You can't really patent a voltage. Picking a voltage to operate at is just that, a choice. They could operate at 900V if they wanted to, they just need to have the right electronics. The industry standardizing on 800V though makes it easier for the lagging companies to catch up because it means a lot more components are ready-made on the shelf.

Tesla is priced like a luxury car though. A Model-3 RWD is just a couple thousand cheaper than a 3-series.

Agreed that EVs have lower to zero powertrain noise, but one of the things I've observed in Teslas is just how loud everything else is. Wind noise around the frameless windows, road noise from the 45psi tires, cabin shocks from the stiff suspension, and creakiness from the interior more than make up for the removal of the soft hum of a nice V6. It's for this reason that I say that Tesla makes a class-leading powertrain, but as a car, they kinda suck. A mid-range VW Jetta offers a nicer environment than a model 3. I haven't driven any of the Toyota/Lexus EVs, but I'd bet that Lexus is more practiced at making their cars whisper quiet for all of the things I mentioned above than Tesla is. However, there's a new game in town with Genesis that easily matches Lexus and Buick of old in terms of quiet sanctuary.... no matter how the vehicle is powered.

I have driven one, a Limited when they first came out. I get why they didn't just carry the Avalon name over. They don't feel as roomy as the Avalon did and even though the hybrid system boasts some pretty impressive output numbers, it never felt as effortless as a V6 powered Avalon (which was a bank manager's hotrod). I am also less than impressed with Toyota's claim of an "executive luxury" interior. This is the top trim and I see nothing luxury about bronze color plastic over black plastic. Black interior is the only color available also. Exposed USB-C ports in a luxury car? Really? So what is the Crown? It's a car for Boomers who want a sedan but who can't sit down in a low sedan anymore and won't buy a crossover. I.E. the people who aged out of the Avalon.

That's what they are. Put a 1/2 inch lift on them and slightly larger tires and BAM, they are a crossover.

This could very well just be a VW, but I guess VAG didn't learn anything from 1980's GM and decided Audi needed something at this price point even though it's likely available at VW.... and SEAT and Skoda and Cupra. Next up Lambo, Bentley, and Porsche? Maybe even Ducati?

Genesis Is doing that with their electrified versions of everything except GV60 which is EV entirely. The G80 EV loses the rear seat middle hump and has a flat floor. (except on the ultra-lux models with a center console.)

Nonsense! Manufacturers can swap out the entire floor pan. And people tend to prefer traditional looking cars, regardless of how they are powered. The weird looking EVs don’t sell well the traditional looking EVs sell great. The Model-3 may have the design language of a bar of Zest, but it is still essentially a 3 box sedan. The GV60 and Bolt sell in spite of their looks but generally they are just pod cars no matter how much the manufacturers try and tell us they are crossovers.

I looks like Sindelfingen was updated in 2020 to achieve that flexibility. Alabama must not be as up to date. From the sounds of it, their new EV platform will be more directly flexible with ICE cars on the same line and there will be much more blurring of the lines between EV platform and ICE platform like what Stellantis and Genesis did.

The aesthetics are very color dependent for me. I like it in the blue and the black, not so much the red or the white. The painted "grille" on the WT doesn't look right either. The Sierra does look good, but I like the sail panels like my Avalanche. I know they are polarizing for most, but I like them and the Sierra doesn't have it. If I get the EValanche, I'll get it in blue or black.

But it's not. There's no secret 3D Chess game here. He renegotiated NATFA in his first term so any objections that he has with Canada are his own fault. There is no appreciable amount of fentanyl coming from Canada, less than 1% of it in the US comes from there. We have far more domestic production of it than what comes from Canada. Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy and other ag products is because we heavily subsidize our agriculture industry because we over-produce. We were killing Canadian dairy farms because we were dumping so much federal money into our dairy farms. But again, this policy was agreed upon by Trump back in his first term. Tarrifing Canadian oil and car parts makes no sense. We've had a robust cross-border auto industry trade for 100 years. Parts can criss-cross the border multiple times before making it into final assembly on either side of the border. Disrupting that flow only harms the US Domestic manufacturers though since the foreign companies that manufacture here generally don't hop the border so much. Honda, Toyota, and Mercedes won't be affected nearly as much as GM, Stellantis, and Ford will be. Restricting Canadian oil, which we buy at a discount due to the ease of transport, does nothing to help our energy independence. Canadians ship their oil to the US because we have more of the refineries that can process the type of oil they produce. It's a symbiotic relationship. They ship us $100B worth of oil which we refine into $300B worth of other products and cut ourselves a hefty dividend check for the trouble. Restricting that oil just raises fuel and construction materials costs (their oil mostly goes to making asphalt, shingles, and the like) for the US and reduces the profitability of our refineries. It's lose-lose. No. You can't look for deeper meaning to these policies because there is none there. His goal is to shift the tax burden entirely onto the lower classes by tariffing imports, raising income taxes on the middle and lower classes, and lowering taxes on the rich. He's modeling himself on President William McKinley, and trying to set up a new gilded age with an even larger class/income divide than we have today. It also tracks with his tacky gilded personal style.

That's been in the works since 2023.

Yeah, I dunno what I wanna do. I'm pulling back on spending. The Chrysler and the Avalanche are just about paid off. I was going to grab one of the cheap EV leases for all the mileage I'm doing these days, but now I am thinking a Volt or ELR for cheap.

Now Trump is granting a 30-day extension for car companies for the tariffs... but to what end? You can't shift an entire supply chain in 30 days.